responsibletravel.com and Conservation International have joined forces to promote a new type of tourism that is changing the way we travel...
Tourists these days want a genuine insight into the life of remote communities, but a lack of resources and knowledge of Western demands means local communities setting up tourism ventures often find it difficult.
So, to give these communities a chance to set up viable businesses, responsibletravel.com and Conservation International have teamed up to start a Community Based Tourism programme.
Together, we want to promote them on the responsibletravel.com web site and guide books, and also introduce them to specially chosen operators who may be able to incorporate them in their itineraries.
After decades of watching tourism from the side-lines, communities, often based in remote locations in developing countries, are offering tourists the opportunity to stay with them to share their cultures and lifestyles.
These are usually profoundly different from our own and this relatively new way of travelling encourages sustainable development of the villages whilst allowing visitors to live side by side with the local people.
Rather than spending an hour at a reconstructed 'tribal' village, we're invited to be part of village life. This type of holiday allows us to discover local habitats and wildlife, and celebrate traditional cultures, rituals and wisdom. And by doing this, the tourist helps support development and conservation.
Community based tourism is a two-way street where tourism both provides local employment and income for education, development and conservation initiatives, while at the same time giving the tourist a unique opportunity for cultural exchange and interaction with members of a remote tribe or community.
This way, the community becomes aware of the commercial and social value placed on their natural and cultural heritage, and is encouraged to become actively involved in the conservation of these resources.
Since many of these projects are by their nature small-scale and off the beaten track, responsibletravel.com and Conservation International (CI) have launched an initiative to provide free marketing for community based tourism ventures, giving them a wider audience across the globe.
Even more importantly, we want to connect community based tourism projects with likeminded tour operators from the 160 tour operators whose holidays responsibletravel.com currently markets. We believe that it will be these partnerships that are the key factor in generating regular bookings for the communities.
Justin Francis of responsibletravel.com said: “
Working with CI, we intend to bridge the gap between the rapidly increasing number of tourists interested in authentic responsible tourism and small scale community based tourism ventures that may fail if tourists and the industry are unaware that they exist.”
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By partnering with responsibletravel.com, we will be able to provide smaller community based tourism projects with the opportunity to use a branded and well-known mechanism so that they can connect and market their sites directly with tourists and tour operators all over the world,” said Neel Inamdar, CI ecotourism business advisor.
He added: “
CI and responsibletravel.com will be the catalysts to help market conservation and community based sustainable tourism.”
One example of a successful community project is the
Chalalán Ecolodge in the Bolivian Amazon, a joint initiative of the rainforest community of San José de Uchupiamonas and Conservation International (CI) in Bolivia.
Here you can travel up the Beni River in a dugout canoe and enjoy a walk through the forest with your local guide who will share their extensive knowledge of plants and animal behavior.
You can learn about the San José community's history and stories, as well as the making of traditional Tacana handicrafts before enjoying a dinner of "dumoquavi", a traditional dish (river catfish wrapped in leaves).
Created in 1995 by a visionary group of San José villagers, the ecolodge provides employment opportunities through nature-based tourism, a much-needed economic alternative to logging. CI's goal at the outset of the Chalalán project was to create a viable ecolodge that was wholly owned and operated by local managers and staff. As such, they trained villagers in marketing and management, house keeping, food preparation and how to guide tours.
In February 2001, the full ownership of the lodge was handed over to the community and today 74 families benefit from its employment and management. The Chalalán Ecolodge is already being successfully marketed through
responsibletravel.com and we also have community based tourism projects in
Ethiopia and
Thailand.
Conservation International has been working with many local communities to help them conserve their environments; however, until the launch of the responsibletravel.com / CI initiative, they had been lacking the means to market their destinations to the responsible traveller. We're hoping that this project will allow more people to enjoy genuine cultural experiences, as well as helping the local communities.
Interested? To find out more, or to get involved visit our community based tourism pages.
