Ecotour - CI and the Tourism Industry

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The relationship between environmental sustainability and poverty is becoming increasingly clear. Whenever communities make unsustainable demands on ecosystems, the resulting ecological breakdown leads to impoverishment, social tension and conflict. The rapid loss of unique ecosystems damages the livelihoods of some of the world’s poorest people; drives unique biodiversity to extinction and contributes to climate change. Tourism provides a unique and valuable tool to addressing these challenges.

CI has offices based in Washington DC and complemented by eight technical specialists located in regional offices in China, Botswana, Madagascar, Suriname, Ecuador, Bolivia, Brazil and Mexico. Our tourism team can:

Work with investors to develop unique products or model businesses that support conservation

Provide in-country specialists to support local business partners to develop innovative products in strategic locations for biodiversity and promote an enabling environment with regional and national governments for tourism development

Support travel industry operators dedicated to improving their economic, social and environmental performance

Verde Ventures is a $7 million investment program managed by Conservation International (CI), which strengthens small and medium-sized enterprises that are strategically important to biodiversity conservation. To date, Verde Ventures has committed $1.2 million as loans to four tourism businesses in four countries positively impacting over 300 local people through employment within these supported businesses. In the next three years, Verde Ventures plans to invest a minimum of an additional $2 million in ecotourism projects in CI’s priority areas.

Achievements

We have demonstrated how tourism can help provide financing for, and better management of, parks and protected areas. In partnership with the Ghana Wildlife Service, we built a canopy walkway and visitor center to help attract tourists to Kakum National Park in Ghana’s Central Region. In addition, CI is now working with private investors to build international quality tourism accommodations in Central Suriname Nature Reserve

We created the Ocean Conservation and Tourism Alliance, a partnership with the cruise line industry that focuses on reducing the environment footprint of cruise ships and promoting ways that the cruise lines and their passengers, crew and business partners can help conserve biodiversity in the areas that the ships visit

We have developed practical guidebooks for a variety of key audiences including communities, small business owners, hoteliers, marine recreation providers and tour operators. In partnership with George Washington University, we have produced a manual for assessing tourism’s potential, for use by donors and practitioners, and are writing a specialist training course

In partnership with the Prince of Wales’ International Business Leaders Forum, we have produced the first set of guiding principles for Sustainable Hotel Siting, Design and Construction. Nine of the world's largest hotel companies - including Marriott, Hilton and Starwood - actively supported the development of the book and are now determining how best to implement the principles outlined

In partnership with the National Geographic Society, we have organized the World Legacy Awards, to showcase and reward best practices in tourism management for biodiversity conservation

In partnership with the International Finance Corporation and the Overseas Promotion Investment Corporation, we have demonstrated the triple-bottom line impacts of investing in eco-tourism. The success of our debt and equity investments has demonstrated to the larger commercial financing community of the investment viability of eco-tourism

CI has many tourism partnerships that include specialist institutions (National Geographic Society), academic centers of excellence (George Washington University), major industry associations (Cruise Lines International Association), international agencies (United Nations Environment Program) and governments (the President of Madagascar invited CI in 2005 to appoint a national tourism advisor to his office). This formidable network creates the opportunity for CI to capture and share learning related to the critical pressure points in the tourism supply chain.

CI is currently reviewing its tourism strategy to improve our return on investment in six core areas:

Establish mechanisms for tourism to help finance conservation efforts

Promote creation, and better management of protected areas, by developing better linkages with the tourism industry

Promote better business practices within the private sector

Foster better destination management in priority conservation areas where tourism is a key threat

Build capacity of key audiences to better manage tourism developments

Ensure tourism developments result in improved human welfare of local communities

Please feel free to contact us at ecotour@conservation.org if you would like any further information.