Promoting Indigenous Tourism
Indigenous tourism needs to abide by certain guidelines.
With all the different types of tourism, sometimes it’s hard to sift through and find the ones that are truly worth the effort. Poorism? Not so much a fan, thanks. Staycation? Uh, no.
But here’s one that absosmurfly should be on your radar screen if you’re interested in socially conscious tourism, ecotourism, or sustainable tourism: Indigenous Tourism.
Indigenous tourism experiences, products, and destinations are those that are owned and operated by indigenous and local communities embodying traditional lifestyles. Back in 2005, at the International Institute for Peace through Tourism’s 3rd Global Summit on Peace through Tourism in Thailand, the Indigenous Tourism Forum participants developed a list of guiding principles for how indigenous tourism be conducted:
- Tourism must provide economic, social, cultural and environmental benefits for host communities while having minimal impacts on these sustainability factors.
- Poverty alleviation must be a primary goal of Indigenous tourism development.
- Tourism development must be community approved and controlled.
- Tourism must be co-managed by government and host communities.
- There must be true and demonstrated respect and recognition of Indigenous cultures by the tourism industry.
- Development of Indigenous tourism must be participatory, with appropriate roles played by government, NGOs and community based organizations, host communities and the tourism industry.
- Tourism needs to be complementary to the local and Indigenous economy.
It’s not clear if these guiding principles have been widely distributed and accepted in the tourism or international development fields. The Forum also put together some recommendations on how to plan, implement, and maintain an indigenous tourism effort in a manner that is culturally respectful, including the following topic areas: community determination, empowering communities, defining community, community ownership, private public partnerships, tourism frameworks, and skill development, among others.
But what about the tourists? As laypeople, it’s difficult for us to find valid indigenous tourism opportunities, ensuring they are what they say they are instead of some sort of Disneyesque version of what we think local culture may be. See this Washington Post article for a sad and disturbing commentary on this phenomenon.
Planeta.com, a site that bills itself as the global journal of practical ecotourism, is right now holding its 2010 Indigenous Tourism and Biodiversity Website Award, together with the Convention on Biological Diversity. The fifteen projects in the running receive votes from the public (that’s you!) and from a committee of highly experienced professionals in the field. Of course, these fifteen projects and those that were up for the award last year are good models of web marketing and even more importantly in our opinion, positive examples of indigenous tourism experiences.
But there are so many more indigenous tourism opportunities that are not able to compete for this award because they either don’t do the web or they are simply not among the top selected for the competition. In that case, we say as a tourist, you have to do your research. Find out as much as you can about the operators of the tour or hotel. Are they locally based and involved in the operation? Can you communicate with others who have participated in this experience and can answer some questions for you? What can the owners tell you about the local people and the impact of this tour or lodging on them? What evidence can they provide? Find out the information you can so that you may make a reasoned decision on whether this is the right tourist experience for you. Yes, the effort may seem tedious but it will be worth it – both to you and to the indigenous communities you are visiting.
I think you are right regarding Indigenous tourism. Its becoming exploited for all the wrong reasons. The tourism award you refer to ITBW Award appears to be a self gratifying marketing promotion for the organisers. Does it really help those involved there communities are victims of “tourism exploitation” or is it merely helping to acquire “funding resources” using “unfortunate indigenous communities” to profit financially for independent interests of their won?
Having spent a life in tourism, 5-star to no-star rating operations around the globe, I have come to the conclusion that you cannot develop indigenous owned & operated tourism without it first learning from mainstream “commercial” tourism.
Indigenous operations may start with:
1. No electricity (means no communication, no refrigeration, lighting, or music)
2. No drinkable water (this introduces health & duty of care issues)
3. No communication (naturally without power; hence cannot respond to, or take a forward bookings)
4. No reliable transport (airport transfers & tours are sourced out & much more expensive)
5. No start up capital, and naturally no working capital (no real assets, hence no loans provided by main stream lenders)
6. No understanding off, or business skills (especialy essentials such as: administrative, accounting, marketing)
7. No potential to produce sufficient profit to pay commissions to agents (hence no market visibility,…stuck in oblivion)
8. No sufficient language skills (oral or written) to operate a business
Hence these issues have to be identified, learned, and addressed by indigenous operators. This process cannot happen without the private sector (the skill component), and the public sector (the finance component) getting involved over a period of time.
One day back in 2002 I heard of a milestone leap being contemplated, the World Bank was financing such a project.
In 2004 it had started, in 2005 I jumped in, and by 2010 it had become the largest & fastest growing organisation tackling the above issues (over 300 destinations and growing fast).
It is called http://www.whl.travel .
I am only a minor franchisee (www.vanuatu-hotels.vu) with a tiny destination, but the support received to assist my indigenous suppliers (free websites for all suppliers as a start!) in my destination is brilliant.
So there is hope, we can make a big difference. My experience and knowledge is being passed on, the first indigenous operator we registered on our site was barely breaking even in 2005, they are now turning over close to a million Aud$ pa (with profit margins “commercial operators” could only dream of). We are their main source of booking revenue.
I have never thanked a bank before, but in this case “Tank yu tu mas World Bank” as we say in Vanuatu bislama for the opportunity.
Tropical regards from Port Vila, Vanuatu
John Nicholls
John - thanks for your thoughtful reply. We are big fans of WHL and its partners - good luck in your venture!