Why community-based tourism is so important October 23, 2007
Posted by Clarissa Hughes in : Community, ecotourism , trackback
The concept of the Peace Parks is gaining recognition for the vision that it is. I have written about it many times before as a model that shows the way forward for people and the planet. The embracing symbolism of transfrontier conservation areas cannot be overstated because it will only be by a process of inclusion and integration that humans will continue to exist as a species. If we fail to acknowledge and sanction the right-to-life of all of creation we will be left with a denuded and over-used earth unable to support humans.
We have a choice and the time for making that choice is now. We cannot afford to put it off.
One idea that is gaining ground in Africa is that of community-based tourism.
Africa finds itself in the position of having some of the best reserves of natural resources in the world and with the rapacious consumption of the West, and now the East, Africa’s resources are in hot demand. At present they range from minerals to arable land for biofuels. In the future this may well extend to water resources too. Faced with poverty, skills shortages and in some cases, bad management, many African governments are sorely tempted by the mountains of cash offered for their resources.
Tourism has for many years been seen as another pillar of many African economies, and an offset to the idea of removing Africa’s resources. In tourism the idea is to add-value to a resource; not to strip it out of the country. Many countries have successfully developed their tourism industries to the extent that a majority of their citizens are employed in the industry.
What is now being recognised is that ecotourism (which is rural by nature) must include the local communities. The temptations of the outside world are too great for communities who, if not earning their incomes from sustainable sources, will allow concessions to mining companies and biofuels farmers.
In 1993 I started the first ever (to my knowledge) community tourism initiative in the Okavango Delta. The idea was very simple: I provided a central booking office and transportation into the Okavango where the local mekoro (dugout canoe) polers would take over and show the tourists their paradise. It worked extremely well and became the forerunner of many other similar enterprises. Happily the mekoro polers have, as a result of these initiatives, organised themselves into the Okavango Polers Trust. They self-regulate their members and provide the booking facility themselves. Their service has expanded to include a camp in the Okavango as well.
This is an excellent example of how community tourism results in a sense of responsibility for the owners of the resource. Empowerment is not passive, as in merely donating a portion of your profits to the local trust. It is about being accountable and mature in preserving a natural resource, which in turn extends to wilderness, biodiversity and species conservation.
Both Botswana and Namibia have made great inroads in community tourism with the help of their respective government policies. Kenya has also embarked on that road with several initiatives in Maasailand. And now the Southern Africa Tourism Services Association (look for Colin Bell’s speech “The Emperor has No Clothes) is being urged to embrace these ideas.
Community-based tourism in Africa is the future and the only way that Africa’s people and wildlife can co-exist. With the problems facing the world Africa is also in the position to set an example with these powerful examples of co-operation and inclusion.
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