PATA Adventure and Responsible Tourism Conference, Paro, Bhutan February 2012

The Tigers Nest monastery, Paro Valley

Bhutan, the land of the Thunder Dragon.  Thanks to PATA, The Pacific Asia Travel Association and the Tourism Council of Bhutan, I was able to attend the Kingdom's first international Responsible Tourism Conference in February 2012.  To many Bhutan has almost mythical status as both a tourism and spiritual destination.

From a tourism industry perspective, it is one of the few countries in the world that does not seek to massively increase its tourism industry, and one that actively manages most of its tourism through a rigorously enforced "minimum daily spend", and thorough per-organization of all visits.

My hotel - the Ugyen Phendeyling

Tourists, with the exception of Indian, Bangladeshi, Maldivian and Sri Lankan must pre-organize their visit with an approved and registered Bhutanese operator and pay a minimum spend of $250 per day, per person ($280 if in a group of four or less), making budget travel virtually impossible.

The fee is broken into two components, a $65 royalty that goes directly to healthcare projects, the remainder being used for trips... you pay the same whether in a tent or up to 3 star hotel... but you can upgrade to a variety of higher star accommodations, and of course pay significantly more.

 

Capped Langurs by the Tiger's Nest

Currently Bhutan receives around 33,000 fee paying tourists, with another 11,000 or so mostly Indian visitors.  The full fee includes all transport and is fully guided.  As conference guests we were except from the fee, which also gave us the relatively unusual benefit of being free to do what we wanted without a guide, on top of conference activities and tours.  Just walking around the valley, it was clear that few locals had met with any foreigners before, even in Paro valley, where most tourists will visit at least once.  Something amazing being invited into someone's house who's never met a foreigner before for tea!

Prayer flags are ubiquitous in Bhutan

So what is Bhutan like?  In short, amazing.  Visiting in February where the nights reach minus 15 but with daytime temperatures of plus 15 and stunning blue skies, visible wildlife and a strong Bhutanese culture and identity, it is different.  People are well educated and support their cultural identities and want to maintain this, on the whole.  Pristine environment, windy roads, monasteries, prayer flags, shrines, and some of the most distinctive food ever... the main staple is the chilli pepper, spiced up with even more spicy chillies, served with melted cheese and red rice.  Its the hottest food by far I've ever tasted.

The conference itself was different, probably because of location, and that Bhutan is considered a specialist market.  The opening was by Anna Pollok, a leader in promoting industry wide responsible tourism, and not just a marketable niche product.

 

With the guides in Thimphu

Is Bhutan worth the fee?  Well, that depends whether you've the money or not!  But one thing's certain, they won't be scrapping it in the foreseeable future.  

For Bhutan, Gross National Happiness is the economic system that governs the country's development, it will be interesting to see if this model is exported to other countries in the future and indeed can be maintained in Bhutan long term.  For more pictures click here

Ecotourism Feasibility Study - Que Phuoc, Quang Nam

Thu Bon River from Dui Chieng Village

Que Phuoc is one of the few relatively stable homes of the critically endangered Grey-Shanked Douc Langur.  Que Phuoc is located in central Vietnam, only about two hours from the growing tourism Hub of Hoi An, Vietnam's third most visited location, after Saigon and Hanoi.  There is a huge potential market for developing a sustainable, community based ecotourism initiative based around these beautiful primates, but of course, this must be managed extremely well.

Explaining village tourism assets

My role in this was to conduct a detailed feasibility study into developing an appropriate type of tourism initiative, with a high involvement from the local community, to meet the conservation objectives of the Douc population.

 My work has been centered around three main areas: market analysis, site based tourism resource analysis, and community workshops and consultations.

The team wades to the Douc habitat

The feasibility study has identified possible interventions for three different project options, one based upon best practice Douc viewing tourism, one around village based cultural tourism, and one around  private sector based concession.  In each case a system financial benefits for conservation (through a local Village Patrol team) and communities (through a Village Development Fund) has been suggested.  The study also develops an outline donor plan and budget.

Click here for pictures.

Pu Luong Ecotourism Project

Rice paddy terracing is common in Pu Luong

Pu Luong Nature Reserve is a gorgeous limestone karst landscape just three hours by car from Hanoi, home to Thai and Muong ethnic minorities, as well as a well preserved, but exploited forest system, home to the critically endangered Delacor's Langur.

It's a lush landscape

As with many similar landscapes and communities, there are considerable threats from land encroachment, population growth and development that forces the local community to exert increasing pressure on the natural resources that they rely on for their livelihoods.  Forests are becoming degraded thus threatening local livelihood security as well as biodiversity.  Additionally, large scale tourism development has been mooted by the Provincial People's Committee and associated departments, development that would significantly alter the character of the landscape, damage natural resources, place increasing pressure on biodiversity, whilst at the same time further marginalizing the local population.

Community members in consultation workshop

Up to 4,000 international tourists visit the site annually, mostly on pre-booked trekking packages with adventure travel companies, who subcontract to in-bound operators, who in-turn subcontract to a local operator.  Some local homestays have been created by a previous NGO project, but problems exist with theequitable distribution of profits from the tourism product, to an extent where tourism provides only negligible financial gains to the community.  Thankfully, a forward thinking project funded by Irish Aid allows for a comprehensive and well planned ecotourism (or perhaps "cultural tourism") project to be developed in the Nature Reserve.

My role was to lead and capacity build a national team from Fauna and Flora International through the ecotourism process to develop an equitable and pro-poor ecotourism plan to guide the two year project.  This was completed in five main stages:

1. Meeting with provincial, district and commune decision makers

Water wheels for irrigation and power generation

We held formal meetings with key provincial departments in Thanh Hoa City, to introduce our project objectives and needs.  This was followed up with meetings at District and Commune level, to ensure all were clear about the project and it's purpose.

2. Conducting an extensive tourism resource survey in the nature reserve

The team travelled extensively throughout the nature reserve, meeting local communities, observing key social, cultural and natural features, and other tourism related resources and issues.

3. Holding in-depth community consultations

Rice paddy on the valley floor

The project was centred around the needs and wishes of the 3,000 people that live in the reserve, and these communities are the key draw factor for tourists.  We held workshops in each village to allow communities to make informed decisions about the type of tourism development they would like to see in their landscape.  This valuable information showed communities did not wish to see large scale investment or landscape change affect them -this would be the key information used to develop the plan, and provide a strong argument against heavy development from provincial agencies.

4. Developing an equitable ecotourism plan for Pu Luong

The plan identified 18 key action points to achieve comprehensive sustainable and equitable ecotourism in the nature reserve.  Of these, the following were identified as priorities:

Ladies carrying fuel wood

• Develop and implement tourism zoning and management (using Recreation Opportunity Spectrum methodology)
• Implement guidelines, codes of practice and regulations to ensure low-impact and equitable tourism
• Establish and support a community tourism association
• Develop local Value Chain to add-value to tourism
• Work with in-bound and local tourism operators to ensure they allow more financial benefits to reach local communities
• Implement entry fee system to fund conservation activities
• Develop small scale handicraft programme, utilizing existing skills and products
• Implement tourism awareness training to key stakeholders

5. Developing, discussing and agreeing next steps in a multi-stakeholder workshop

The team ran a final consultative workshop with key stakeholders including nature reserve managers, tour operators, provincial decision makers and local communities.  Here, wishes of the local communities were presented along with the above action points.  Discussions were held, and pledges made for support, and importantly, approval was publicly agreed to support the plan.

Village consultation workshop

A year later and the project is going strong, with key milestones having been met, with a local community tourism association set up, various trainings completed and improvements in the value chain from support of tour operators.

Key challenges as always remain the large number of provincial agencies that are responsible for management of different aspects of the nature reserve, big business pressurizing inappropriate development for the site, and local capacity to ensure project momentum is maintained.

Click here for pictures.

Sustainable Tourism Development for UNDP Con Dao Sustainable Use Project

Con Dao has many undeveloped beaches

Con Dao is a small group of islands off the southern coast of Vietnam, and was once home to the notorious "tiger cages": prisons where political and regular criminals were held during the French and American times.  The island is unusual in Vietnam conservation terms, as it has a relatively low level of poverty and subsistence fishers and farmers due to the high government population (it is also a military garrison).  Con Dao has a surprising level of marine biodiversity in Vietnam, with possibly South East Asia's best Turtle nesting beaches, a small population of Dugongs, as well as Dolphins regularly visiting its waters.  There is a good amount of coral and reef associated species.  The island is also home to a crumbling French colonial town that is rapidly being replaced with modern buildings.

Park Patrol Boat

My role within the project was to represent WWF in providing sustainable tourism advice and input into the development of the Management Plan for Con Dao.  This involved working closely with the National Park Authority, stakeholders and other Tourism Development planners working in the islands.  As part of my work I identified key project interventions and a system of marine wildlife viewing, water-sport and tour guiding regulations and codes of practice.

Click here for pictures.

Tour Guide and Leading Skills Training for Rangers and Private Sector Guides in Con Dao

Group leading in the forest

As part of the UNDP Con Dao Sustainable Use Project, WWF asked me to develop curriculum and deliver an ecotourism and guiding training programme for staff of Con Dao National Park and tour guides from the main hotels and resorts on the island.

The course was a week long vocational training programme, backed up with theory in a classroom situation followed by practical sessions in the National Park.  Key knowledge and skills included:

Classroom discussion

Basics of tourism
Introduction to Ecotourism
Objectives of Guiding - Who, where, when and why
Cultural awareness
Interpretation skills
Risk assessment planning
Emergency scenario planning
Guiding skills
Delivering a good talk

Team building excercise

Environmental education skills
Specialist groups
Leading school groups
Follow up training

The course was well received by participants, especially tour guides from the commercial sector.  Click here for pictures.

Transport for Tourism Project, Con Dao

Suggestions for improving fishing boats

As part of the larger UNDP Con Dao Project, local boat operators had expressed an interest in becoming involved in the tourism industry.  These were originally mostly in-shore waters fishermen who would be affected by zoning withing the Marine Protected Area boundaries.

A market analysis showed there was currently only one boat on the island available for boat trips, and that there was a demand for boat trips from an increasing number of both international and domestic tourists, who were often unable to take a trip on the sea.

By far the largest challenge was to convince the local authorities that fisherman could be involved in tourism - citing legislation stating it was illegal for fishermen to transport tourists, and that new boats would have to be purchased, thus making it near impossible for the target group to be involved in tourism.  The UNDP project had already purchased a boat for the Con Dao National Park - initially cited as a patrol boat, a glass-bottom tourist boat was purchased instead, at high cost.  This may have encouraged decision makers to place barriers in the hope of additional boat purchases from the project and subsequent commissions.  Needless to say this put the National Park Authority Tourism department in a perceived direct competition with potential small scale operators.

Workshop with the Island leadership

Citing stated goals of the UNDP Project AND District poverty alleviation decrees, a multi-stakeholder workshop was held to alleviate these issues, and provide a way to allow poor fishermen to be involved in tourism.  Solutions were suggested that included boat training from the military, economic support from the department of finance, access support from the National Park Authority, and rescue support from the Border Military.  It was agreed that existing boats could be upgraded to provide more comfort for tourists, and each agency publicly stated their full support for the local fishermen, which was recorded and shown on TV that evening.

A simple project which allowed local fishermen to continue what they were good at, with some extra training support and interpretive materials added in the process too.  By far the most successful aspect of the project was to "create an enabling environment" to allow the activity to take place.  Click here for pictures.

Nui Chua Sustainable Tourism Plan

The park has interesting geological features

Nui Chua is a beautiful National Park and Marine Protected Area situated in Ninh Thuan Province, on the south-central coast of Vietnam.  It consists of Vietnam unique dry forest with a mountainous landscape that includes large glacial deposited boulders.  It is home to a population of 2,000 Rag Lai ethnic minorities, as well as a significant population of Black Shanked Douc Langurs and considerable birdlife.  The park is under serious encroachment pressure from the surrounding population living in the Park's buffer zone, and has a plethora of heavy development projects targeted, many already approved by government.  The park also has a significant problem with goats introduced by a previous NGO project.

Squid fishing in the core zone

Proposed developments include:

• 750 room hotel and casino "ecotourism" complex, located in the centre of the core zone, on Nui Cuha mountain, the namesake of the Park.
• 1,000 room resort complex and golf course on the Park's northern beach.
• Road building through the core zone for tourism.
• Two 250 room hotel/resort complexes in the southern part of the park.
• Vietnam's first Nuclear Power Station

I was requested by WWF to lead a small team to compile a sustainable tourism plan for the National Park Management Authority and the Provincial People's Committee to strongly discourage the proposed developments for the national park and to suggest what perhaps may be considered as more appropriate alternatives.

Turtle nesting beach

Developing the plan had three main stages:

1. Gathering development information from provincial departments

2. Conducting site visit, rapid biodiversity assessment and community consultations

We conducted community consultations in the 4 communes within the Park and Buffer Zone.  This was to establish what changes they would like to see in their landscape, and what tourism activities, accommodation and infrastructure they considered appropriate.  The community clearly did not support massive development, but did seek improvements in livelihoods.

Map planning

3. Drafting outline plan

Naturally the plan called for provincial decision makers to reconsider large development projects, perhaps relocating them outside of the National Park.  20 detailed action points were suggested, the priorities including:

• Implement clear development zoning and regulations for the Park
• Ensure heavy development was situated outside of the core zone, with the park used for recreation and light tourism supported by local communities
• Implement tourism awareness training for key stakeholders
• Setting up a forum where local communities were informed of, and involved in all tourism development planned for the Park
• Set up a marketing team to encourage visits from the adjacent Nha Trang Hub
• Provide support to local entrepreneurs wishing to become involved in the tourism industry

4. Delivering the plan through a formal provincial level workshop

A Vietnamese meeting room is
not complete without Uncle Ho

Key challenges in a project such as this is to maintain good-will with partner agencies, especially the Provincial People's Committee and the National Park Management Authority, who supported and sponsored the heavy development in the park.  Clearly from the start, WWF could not support such development in a national park.  However, support from the local community favoured less intensive development, although there was a strong wish to create local employment.  At the present stage, little development has so far taken place, though a community has been relocated from the northern beach, pending construction.  Where plans to build the casino resort and road in the core zone have been scrapped, it is likely that construction of the nuclear power station will go ahead within the next decade.

Click here for pictures.

Community Based Tourism in Trao Reef Locally Managed Marine Reserve

Fishing boat in Trao bay

Trao Reef is a locally run marine protected area project located to the North of Nha Trang City, and is unusual that it was genuinely requested, and run by the local community, who were becoming concerned at falling fish stocks in the bay.  A very different style of project (with a fraction of the funding than the similar project running in Nha Trang at the time) was set up to protect primerily the coral reef in the bay, as well as provide wider benefits to the community.

The Community Team

My role was to evaluate the market for, and design, a community based tourism product suitable for the community.  With a major tourism hub of Nha Trang nearby, there was a market for deeper and more meaningful experiences provided by the typical Nha Trang budget boat trip.

Diving in a lobster cage

Pilot trips were set up and activities, though small scale, were successful.  The biggest challenge was finding and maintaining a suitable and sympathetic tour operator partner in Nha Trang.

Click here for pictures.

The Glass Bottom Basket Boat

Mr Xay and his boat

Basket boats are a traditional coracle used by the poorer fishing communities in central and southern Vietnam, they are also a cultural icon and of intrinsic appeal to visitors.  So why not combine this with a little modern technology and build one out of plastic and install a glass bottom? - perfect for viewing coral in shallow water (they have a very shallow draught), are quiet, suitable for non-swimmers to view coral, and they don't risk spilling petrochemicals over sensitive habitat.  They also have tourism appeal and are relatively cheap and could be purchased using a micro-credit scheme.

The objective of the project was alternative income generation and livelihood support, combined with a little ecotourism, environmental education, guide training and interpretation.  Working with poorer fishers previously involved in squid fishing the project set out to provide comprehensive livelihood support to participants - changing their livelihood from a primary exploitative sector to the tertiary tourism service sector: less people fishing in the marine protected area.

Traditional basket boats

Key components of the project included:

• Finding willing participants in the target group
• Working with the fisheries university to make a prototype boat or less than 6 million VND
• Provided access to micro-credit scheme so participants could purchase their boat
• Developing training programme that included coral reef identification, basic environmental protection, marketing, financial management and basic English
• Developed simple interpretive guide and phonetic language guide
• Developed trials 
• Developed regulations permitting activity and limiting maximum number of operators, linked to wider tourism management plan
• Developed system of cooperation with local operators to provide guests
• Provided on-going start up support to operators 
  
  

Mr Hien

Successes included participants paying off loans in the first season and earning a better income than from fishing..  Five years later participants are still earning a decent livelihood through their basket boats, being joined by others.  The project featured on the BBC Really Wild Show! in the UK.

The most significant challenge was provincial departments took much convincing of the feasibility of the project and the suitability of poor fishers being involved in the tourism industry, which took considerable perseverance to achieve.  Click here for pictures.

Sustainable Tourism Adviser for Hon Mun/Nha Trang Bay Marine Protected Area Pilot Project

Hon Mun Island, the MPA Core Zone

I first came to Vietnam as a professional Volunteer with the UK based charity VSO.  My two year assignment was the Hon Mun Marine Protected Area Pilot Project in the sunny Vietnamese seaside town of Nha Trang.  The four year project was implemented under IUCN using the project staff sets up and capacity-builds a local management authority method.  Funders included the Global Environment Facility, the World Bank and Danida.

Colourful Corals

The waters of the MPA contained very high diversities of hard and soft coral, as well as abundant marine life.  However, fisheries were declining, and biodiversity and thus livelihoods being lost rapidly.  The project sought to tackle these issues.

My role was as the Sustainable Tourism Adviser to project and MPA Authority, with a specific task of working with the five communities living withing the nine islands that made up the marine protected area, a total of 5,000 people.  

Nha Trang City Beach

I worked with my Vietnamese counterparts within the MPA Authority, ran regular training in sustainable and ecotourism, worked with the local commercial sector, developed tourism micro-projects in the bay, developed interpretive materials and a visitor's centre and worked on tourism training programmes in the island communities.  The project introduced me to the trials and tribulations of the development and NGO sector, as well as the difficulties of working in Vietnam.  I worked with some fabulous local counterparts, built large stone models of coral, worked with a Tourism Professor from my home University in the UK, and got to witness the transformation of a provincial town into a major tourism destination.  And I did get to work with a BBC film crew on the Really Wild Show, and met Michaella Strachan (and took her dancing to the sailing club!), as well as meet some of the worlds leading figures in marine conservation.

Diving

Key tourism activities included the ubiquitous budget party boat trip, small scale beach day resorts, the occasional jet-ski and Vietnam's largest diving destination. 



With retrospect, the main problem of the project was that it failed to take into account its setting.  It was a rural marine conservation project designed for rural communities, not Vietnam's premier and fastest developing beach tourism site.

Boats being serviced before the Tet holiday

For example, a quarter of the budget was spent on sustainable aquaculture projects - villages and aquaculture cages were relocated by the provincial authorities to gain access to the "Most Beautiful Bays in the World Club".  Much emphasis was placed upon the micro-credit scheme, which saw slightly bizarre results including local residents being persuaded to purchase cows (no grazing land available), pigs (pigs died because they were kept in a barrel without light to prevent theft - no training), rabbits (dying due to alcohol poisoning and starvation - rabbits arrived before training), ostrich farming (thankfully this one didn't happen), purchase of bigger fishing nets and lobster fishing, sport net manufacture (people earning 15 cents a day), rattan basket weaving (supported by a local factory, but no mechanism to continue after project funding ended)... and so on.

Scuba diving boats

For my work, as Sustainable Tourism Adviser with a remit to work with local communities, the biggest challenge was the MPA Authority, who wanted to develop their own mainstream tourism business that had no place for local community members.  What was not mentioned in the project description was that four of the communities were living on an island that belonged to the military, and no tourism activities were permitted to take place there.  Also, the provincial development plan stated that all people living within the MPA would be relocated over the course of the following five years, with the islands to be sold off and developed as tourism resorts.

Mr Hien's grandchildren, Hon Mot

Tourism has since boomed in Nha Trang as it has become a popular destination with Vietnamese tourists.  Islanders have been relocated from most villages, and various tourism resorts have been constructed or are in the planning stage throughout the MPA.  The core zone of Hon Mun remains heavily over exploited by tourism, as no curbs have been placed upon tourism numbers, type or activity, and local fishers appear to have been allowed in to fish within the core zone.  Local dive operators have tried to create a dive association to challenge the MPA Authority, but as made little progress: competition is fierce and Nha Trang remains one of the cheapest places in the world to dive.  Click here for pictures.