Presentation Transcript

1. Responsible Destination Development and Stewardship

   Harvard E -118 November 17, 2011
2. Destination Stewardship Indicators UNWTO Initiative Indicators of Sustainable Development for Tourism Destinations (2004) Still the most comprehensive “bible” of issues related to decisions on tourism destination management only available for sale from UNWTO Indicators Procedures to form basis for Stewardship Plan Formulation of vision and mission statement Scope of destination planning to be undertaken set out in objectives statement Participatory planning process Goals established according to local needs Indicators considered through review process Situation Analysis Expert field review of destination issues Indicators tested and narrowed according to context Action Plans Indicators finalized as performance measures with stakeholder input Monitoring and evaluation
3. New GSTC Destination Stewardship Program Destination stewardship is a process by which local communities, governmental agencies, NGOs, and the tourism industry take a multi-stakeholder approach to maintaining the cultural, environmental, economic, and aesthetic integrity of their country, region, or town. In other words, to ensure that the destination retains and enhances the distinctive attributes that makes it attractive to beneficial tourism. http://new.gstcouncil.org/programs/destinations Criteria review in process Early Adopters Program launching now
4. Creation of State of the Art Decision Making Tools for Destination Planning
5. Principles ofDestination Stewardship Landscape/Marine ecosystem conservation and management for tourism Establishment of system of key points for monitoring across destination Protected Areas, Cultural Monuments, Coastal Areas and Beaches, Coral Reef sites, other sites vital to economic development of tourism in country Development of key indicators for monitoring Development of system of “alarms” and reporting when points of tolerance are exceeded Along lines of limits of acceptable change (LAC process)
6. Principles ofDestination Stewardship Monitoring of Health of Vital Support Ecosystems for Destination Wetlands/Mangroves Watersheds Water quality Air quality Establishment of Key Indicators LAC type process
7. Principles ofDestination Stewardship Human Well-Being Support Availability of Key Human Services Waste water treatment Solid waste management Transportation systems Educational systems Communications systems Health service systems Healthy, affordable food availability
8. Principles ofDestination Stewardship Economic Capacity to Reinvest in Human/Environmental Capital Tax system for Tourism % to marketing % to human services % to conservation of ecosystems Municipal tax system in destinations Amount gathered from tourism facilities Amount spent on support of tourism facilities Amount required to support tourism facilities Human services Ecosystem services
9. Principles ofDestination Stewardship Political capacity to respond to local destination stewardship goals Tourism Related Laws Best Practice Gap Analysis Economic Valuation of Destinations Tourism $$ generated direct and indirect Economic value of conserved ecosystems for destinations in terms of tourism $$ Investment required to preserve monitored ecosystems Cost evaluation of managing destinations for human services Current economic capacity to support human needs in destinations Investment required to provide required human services Cost Benefit Analysis Required investment in key ecosystems Required investment in human needs services Benefit analysis in terms of tourism $$ generated
10. Principles ofDestination Stewardship On-going review of local needs Official Stakeholder reporting systems from destinations Ecosystem indicators via LAC style review Availability of key human needs services Availability of economic resources to support human/environmental capital Political capacity to support destination stewardship goals
11. Sierra Leone and El Salvador:Emerging Destination Development
12. Key Assets of a Formerly War Torn Country, 2nd Poorest on Earth
13. Early investments
14. Community Stakeholder Involvement
15. Protected Area Strategy
16. Wildlife Attractions
17. Reviving Infrastructure & Attracting Socially Motivated Investment
18. Identifying Lynchpin Attractions Matching Markets to Potential Investment Creating an environment where government can enable Social and Environmental Economy
19. Bioregional Planning to Prevent Destructive Uses of Valuable Landscapes
20. El Salvador: Creating Biodiversity Based Sustainable Livelihoods
21. Objectives Create a more diversified economy that conserves biodiversity Attract more value-added tourism to region Create capacity to manage tourism sustainably Bring more economic opportunity to the poorer segments of society
22. Intensive Stakeholder Process & Field Surveys
23. Informal Opinion Surveys
24. Market & Economic Baselines Studies
25. Business PlanningSMEs & Micros
26. Site Selection & Architectural Planning
27. Destination Planning & Rebranding Ecoexperiencias El Salvador Ecoexperiencias El Salvador
28. Market & Supply Chain LinkagesTogether with Product Development
29. Final Product Development & Marketing Program
30. Course Outlook Difficult to establish level playing field in destination world. From Emerging to Fully Developed Destinations have widely different challenges What types of destinations will benefit most from Adopting Standards? Cart and Horse issues Is it better to enable political capacity to understand need, provide clear monetized reasons to undertake sustainability planning at municipal as well as national level? Or Use outside international monitoring to provide general auditing and standards Combination? Which comes first, cart or horse? What about local capacity to undertake the work?