1.
Multi-Stakeholder Approaches to Developing
Ecotourism Destinations
El enfoque de trabajo en red de los actores locales para el desarrollo de
los destinos de ecoturismo
Ideas + Oportunidades + Soluciones
Max A.E. Rossberg, Deputy Chairman

2.
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What is the European Wilderness Society?
The community based European Wilderness Society
identifies, designates, manages, promotes and lobbies to
protect Europe’s
wilderness,
the
continent’s
most
undisturbed areas of nature.
The leading wilderness protection organisation in Europe.

3.
Who is Max A. E. Rossberg

4.
• Educated in Germany and Canada
• General Manager for Logitech, IBM others in Canada, Ireland, Scandinavia
Central Europe, Eastern Europe and Spain
• Went to school with Thomas Mapother (1974) in Ottawa, CDN
• Senior Partner Protected Area Consulting Tourism Strategies
• Deputy Chairman of the European Wilderness Society
• Happily married for 30 years with my wife Anni and 4 kids
• Based in a UNESCO biosphere reserve in the Austrian Alps
• UNWTO Focal Point, CIPRA, IUCN, AMA, IAPA, etc.
Motto since High School: Walk the Talk!

5.
The Tourism industry

6.
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Defining Tourism
“Tourism may be defined as the processes, activities and outcomes
arising from the relationships and the interactions among tourists,
tourism suppliers, host governments, host communities, and
surrounding environments that are involved in the attracting and
hosting of visitors” (Goeldner & Ritchie, 2006: 5). As a result, one can
see that tourism involves numerous stakeholders that are all involved
in the delivery of tourism-related services.

7.
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Mass Tourism industry facts
1) One billion arrivals 2012
2) 1,8 billion expected by 2030
3) Tourism generates more revenue than most industries
4) Tourism is based on trends and innovation
5) Tourism is controlled by selected few (Oligopolies)
6) Tourism is capital intensive and privately controlled

8.
Mass Tourism Travel habits
1) Length of stay worldwide dropped to 10.4 days
2) Length of stay in Austria down to 3,8 days
3) Germans in Spain spent €95 per day/€1.284
4) Ecotourism is a small and fragmented market
5) Customer Milieus are becoming more diverse
6) LOHAS are still marginal
http://www.tourismusanalyse.de/de/zahlen/daten/statistik/tourismus-urlaub-reisen/2013/reisekosten.html

9.
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Mass Tourism Boosterism
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Tourism seen as inherently good and should be developed
Cultural and natural resources should be exploited
Boosterism is practised by two groups of people:
• Politicians who philosophically and pragmatically believe that economic
growth is always to be promoted and
• by others who will gain financially by tourism.

10.
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Mass Tourism Boosterism
•
Tourism Boosterism continues until there are:
• no more resources to exploit that
• the real or opportunity costs are too high, or that
• political opposition to growth can no longer be countered.

11.
Mass Tourism principles
• Tourism is an extraction business oriented industry
• It is not sustainable
• It is often the only source of a regions incoming capital
besides government subsidies
• It is based on growth
• It is cost sensitive and profit oriented
• It typically is its own reason for demise

12.
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Mass Tourism Lifecycle
Destination areas carry with them the seeds of their own destruction as they
become more commercialised and lose the qualities which originally attracted
tourists
•Exploration
•Involvement
•Development
•Consolidation
•Stagnation
•Decline or Rejuvenation

13.
Is Ecotourism the alternative?

14.
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Why responsible tourism at all
The concept of a more responsible tourism emerged as a reaction
to the negative impacts of mass tourism as well as a more holistic
approach to the general sustainability discourse to achieve
environmental, economic and socio-cultural aspects of tourism
development. Tourist areas are jumping on the bandwagon due to
lack of alternatives, consultants, government pressure and public
hype.

15.
Ecotourism or Sustainable Tourism
Ecotourism is a subform of sustainable tourism, used to describe zero
impact travel to relatively undisturbed natural areas to understand the
culture and natural history of the environment, taking care not to alter
the integrity of the ecosystem, while producing economic opportunities
that make the conservation of natural resources beneficial to local
people.
Source: The International Ecotourism Society.

16.
Is there an Ecotourism market?
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How many travelled by car, plane or train to this congress?
How many did a Co2 offset?
Who based his vacation decision on Ecotourism aspects?
Meeting customer expectations is almost impossible
Ecotourism is currently more a marketing hype than a real
product

17.
Is Sustainable Tourism achievable?
Tourism will never be completely sustainable, but it can work
towards becoming more sustainable. The need for
sustainable/responsible planning and management is
imperative for the tourism industry to survive as a whole. It
offers broader opportunities for rural areas than Ecotourism.

18.
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Sustainable Tourism Model
Murphy & Price in Theobald 2005, p. .175

19.
Tourism: The saviour?

20.
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Why is tourism so interesting
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Often the only potential direct source of income
Local unemployment could be reduced
Public support for rural areas could be increased
Investment in infrastructure could be financed
Training of local management could be improved

21.
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Tourism challenges of rural areas
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Rural areas are often in less developed regions
Multitude of local interests especially if it is a PA
Often poor local infrastructure
Government funding often the only source of capital

22.
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Tourism challenges of rural areas
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Government funding increasingly under pressure
Few local tourism professionals available
Management skills are scarce – networking seldom
Depopulation due to urbanization pressure
Lack of local Marketing Knowhow and funding

23.
Uniqueness of rural areas
Peneda-Geres NP © PGNP Archives

24.
What can a rural area offer?
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Unique landscapes
Unique experiences
Unique flora and fauna
Unique wildlife
Unique destinations
Unique cultural and social traditions

25.
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What can a rural area NOT offer?
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Guarantee of wildlife sightings
Uncontrolled access
Uncontrolled growth opportunity
Events specifically for tourists
Stop of the natural community processes
Tourism specific infrastructure

26.
Must Do´s
Borjomi-Kharagauli NP © Konstantin Gabrichidze

27.
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Many ways to Rome
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Define long-term objectives
Define how locals in the region will benefit
Define a long term investment strategy
Define the basic tourist infrastructure
Define the carrying capacity limits
Define the benefits to the local economy
Involve all stakeholders

28.
The Stakeholders
Borjomi-Kharagauli NP © Konstantin Gabrichidze

29.
Stakeholders
Involve ALL stakeholders of all genders, ages, social status, political affiliation,
marital status, cultural heritage and nationality living in the region
DO NOT JUST FOCUS on local tourism professionals

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Get them Involved
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Clear objective understood by everyone
Bottom up approach – minimize management!
Step by step approach
Regular meetings and perfect communication
Work without subsidies to encourage local ownership
Take risk and encourage dissent
Take them serious regardless of outcome

31.
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Sustainable Tourism Planning
• Establish tourism development objectives and policies
• Ensure that natural and cultural resources are maintained and conserved for
present and future use
• Integrate tourism into overall development policies and patterns of a region and
establish linkages with other economic sectors

32.
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Sustainable Tourism Planning
• Provide rational basis for decision-making by public and private sector
• Co-ordinate development of the many elements of the tourism sector
• Optimise and balance economic, environmental and social benefits of tourism,
whilst minimising impacts
• Provide an appropriate physical structure for the location in which development
is taking place

33.
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Sustainable Tourism Planning
• Establish guidelines and standards for development
• Provide necessary organisational and institutional framework
• Provide framework for effective co-ordination of public/private sectors
(After Getz, 1987; Hall et al., 1997)

34.
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Sustainable Tourism Planning
Step 1: Conduct preliminary studies
Step 2: Community knowledge of tourism
Step 3: Determine level of participation
Step 4: Determine appropriate participation mechanism
Step 5: Collective decision-making
Step 6: Development of an action and implementation plan
Step 7: Monitoring and evaluation

35.
Reasons for Failure
Borjomi-Kharagauli NP © Konstantin Gabrichidze

36.
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Design Stage Failure
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Ambiguous or conflicting objectives
Absence of analytical detail
Too much emphasis on physical development
Inadequate market assessment
Projects only evaluated on financial basis
No consideration of impact on host community economy or environment
Poor involvement of local stakeholders

37.
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Implementation Stage Failure
• Miscalculations regarding use and control of land
• High debt/equity ratios
Lack of co-ordination between public and private sectors Poor communication
• Failure to produce planning legislation in time
• More concern with profit than with quality of product
• Public opposition
Poor location or design of the facilities

38.
Pros and Cons
Borjomi-Kharagauli NP © Konstantin Gabrichidze

39.
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Economic Impacts
Positive
Negative
Economic growth
Foreign Investment
Value of real estate rise
Standard of living increase
Infrastructure improvement
Local products demand
Inflation
Foreign Labour and Investments
Speculation
Wealthy and poor spread
Neglecting other sectors
Loss of ownership

40.
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Tourism Commercial Impacts
Positive
Increased destination image
Improved infrastructure
Negative
Uncontrolled destination image
Facilities for tourism only – two sided
coin

41.
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Environmental Impacts
Positive
Environmental values
Environmental awareness
Maintenance of biodiversity
Preservation of heritage
Negative
Destruction of habitat and ecosystems
Exceeding physical carrying capacity
Loss of heritage
Architectural pollution
Resource conflicts (water)
Increase pollution
Traffic congestion

42.
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Social Impacts
Positive
Negative
Influx of new ideas
Cultural exchange
Quality of life
Increase local identity
Local participation
Improved living conditions
Local knowledge less worth
Loss of cultural uniqueness
Loss of community values
Overcrowding
Prostitution/Alcohol
Changes in community structure

43.
Tourism in EWS areas
Peneda-Geres NP © PGNP Archives

44.
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Mix of Partners
The European Wilderness Society certifies protected and wilderness areas, tour
operators and local business partners in Europe. All of them must meet a certain
set of criteria. In addition the European Wilderness Society has just launched a
new Website www.wilderness-travel.org to promote sustainable tourism in
protected areas.

45.
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Quality standard for local business
• Quality Standard is defined as a part of overall the European Wilderness Society Quality
Standard
• that includes the principles Wilderness and Environmental Values, Management
Effectiveness, Visitor Management Strategies, Sustainable tourism development
strategy and local business partner. Each principle has a set of Criteria and each
Criteria a set of Indicators
• An independent quality audit is the basis of certification
• Quality Standards for local business partners focus on environmental, socio-economic,
communication and partnership aspects
• The aim is to show how well managed wilderness protected area/s provide a benefit
to the local economy

46.
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Quality standard for tour operators
• International tour operators (usually small or medium size) are well known for their
sensitive, environmentally friendly operation
• These partners have an interest and commitment to introduce to their clients a
wilderness experience but simultaneously respect environmental, social-economical
and ethical standards as defined above.
• Each Tour operator signs a letter of understanding defining the European
Wilderness Society principles.

47.
Summary
Polistovsky NR © Polistovsky Nature Reserve archive

48.
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Sustainable Tourism can help rural areas
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It
It
It
It
It
It
It
needs to be managed bottom-up
must meet a set of sustainability criteria
must be aware of the limitations the region
must be locally owned and operated
must involve community stakeholders
should not be the only source of income
should be long-term oriented

49.
The European Wilderness Society
works to identify, designates,
manages and promotes Europe ’s
wilderness, the continent’s most
undisturbed areas of nature
www.wilderness-society.org