Tourism Value Chains: Conservation International’s

Innovative Approach

An innovative approach to economic growth, poverty reduction and creating

business incentives to conserve biodiversity

Ecotourism Program: Who are We?

Ecotourism Program; PPC or Conservation Strategies Travel & Leisure; CELB Global Tourism Team

Ecotourism Program

Neel Inamdar, Senior Advisor of Ecotourism Program

Nina Kolbe, Sustainable Tourism Development Advisor

Kathryn Kelly, Manager of Ecotourism Program

CELB

Jamie Sweeting Senior Director of Travel & Leisure

Seleni Matus Advisor to MesoAmerican Reef

Rebecca Rogers Coordinator of Travel of Leisure

Global Tourism Team: over 20 CI staff around the world

Ecotourism at CI

Historically CI has engaged in tourism through the following:

• Community Engagement• Enterprise/Destination Development• Policy and Planning • Capacity Building

Ecotourism Today

Increasingly CI is engaging with the private sector to implement sustainable tourism practices across their supply chains.

• Partnership with ATTA; to disseminate good practice guidelines to tour operators.

•Partnerships with cruise line associations

•Hotel Siting, Development and Design guideline

•Partnership with Responsible Travel to promote sustainable tourism operations

Madagascar

3 year project, funded by USAID working in two biodiversity corridors.Objective: Working with partners at the local, national and international

levels, CI aims to increase the competitiveness of micro and small enterprise (MSE) in the tourism industry in Madagascar.

Good Practice Adoption

2 year project, funded by UNEP-GEF, implementation in 2 regions of Ecuador and one in Belize.

Entitled “Mainstreaming Biodiversity Conservation into Tourism Through the Development and Dissemination of Best Practices,” the two-year project will support sustainable tourism and conservation by developing and implementing best practice adoption.

OLD MODEL

Crystal ball city Hub

Headquarters

Headquarters

LEARNING MODEL

Headquarters

Tourism Learning Initiative

Key Learning Themes

Themes Protected Areas Value Chain Analysis Concessions

Learning Activities

Case Studies, South-South Exchanges, Technical Support Trips, etc.

Learning Activities FY07

Gudaigwa Case Study

The Gudaigwa Cultural Village Eco-tourism project, located in northern Botswana was a 7 year project led by CI and partners. It is considered by CI and a wider audience to have failed in its objective of establishing of a viable, sustainable and profitable community based tourism enterprise during the time which CI was involved.

CI’s Tourism staff wanted to learn from this failed project so S. Africa staff produced a case study to unveil the errors during implementation of this project.

Learning Activities FY07

Canaima, Venezuela Technical Support Trip

1. Create and test a model for technical support within the CI Global Tourism Team under the Institutional Learning Initiative

2. Support the Venezuela country program addressing identified issues related to Canaima National Park, in particular the challenges faced by the Tourism Standards Project (Ecoparador and the Tourism Master Plan)

Tourism staff from CI-Ecuador (Salvador Cazar and Steve Edwards), CI-Venezuela (Daniela Vizcaino) and Headquarters (Neel Inamdar)

What we learned at the workshop

CI & Ecotourism Programs’ Learning Initiatives Tourism Value Chain Analysis

Using TVC Project Cycle to guide through process How to decide between ecotourism and other value chains How to do Value Chain Analysis How to develop strategy How to design effective implementation plan How to monitor performance and assess impact

Value Chain Analysis:

What is it?

Value chain analysis focuses on the dynamics of inter-linkages within the productive sector, especially the way

in which firms and countries are globally integrated

What is a Value Chain & Why has the tourism program adopted VCA?

The full range of activities that are value- enhancing and go into bringing a product or service to market.

• This concept has been extended beyond individual organizations & can be applied to whole supply chains and distribution networks.

• This enables the tourism program to understand the flow of inputs, processes, relationships, and costs to evaluate if tourism is a viable economic activity

• VCA- based project cycle supports the development of a competitiveness strategy that will enable sustainable tourism activities to provide local benefits and funding for conservation

Why is it useful/ relevant in tourism and conservation work

The principle objectives for utilizing tourism in conservation are summarized as[1]:

To finance conservation Concessions, user fees, trust funds etc.To reduce negative impacts on biodiversity Planning, managing, assessing, monitoring and sharing Policy, legal framework, regulations and agreements Standards, guidelines and best practices (communities, private sector, protected areas, visitor

management)As a sustainable economic activity Alternative livelihoods Entrepreneurial capacity (communities & private sector) Enabling EnvironmentsTo create constituencies for conservation Community, NGO, government and business engagement Partnerships and alliances Capacity building, education / interpretation

In order for tourism to be able to achieve the objectives listed above, it needs to be a viable economic activity -- and to determine if it is viable, you need a diagnostic tool…

[1] 2006 CI Tourism Strategy meeting in Costa Rica

The Value Chain Framework in Tourism

Destination

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Tra

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Pro

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ervi

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Nat

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und

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our

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arke

t

Enabling Environment

Supporting Services

Global

National

Local

Cross- cutting services

(Includes financial, legal, and management services, market information, business training, etc.)

Sector specific services

(Provided by actors in the supply chain (by buyers or suppliers) or by actors specializing in tourism services who are not in the value chain)

Low-end BudgetIndividuals

Low Volume & Low Cost

Mid-range BudgetLarge Groups

High Volume & Low Cost

High-end BudgetIndividuals & Small GroupsLow Volume & High Cost

OutboundTravel Agency/Tour Operator

OutboundTravel Agency/Tour Operator

OutboundTravel Agency/Tour Operator

InboundTravel Agency/Tour Operator

InboundTravel Agency/Tour Operator

InboundTravel Agency/Tour Operator

Excursion AssemblersExcursion Assemblers

With Contracted Guides

Hotels Acting as Excursion Operators, Using Mostly

Freelance Guides

Taxis, Rental CarsBus Lines, Rental Cars, Mid-

Range TransportPrivate Vehicles

(Usually Owned by Hotels)

Hostels, Low-end Hotels, Motels

Motels, 2-3 Star Hotels High-end Lodges/ Hotels

Food Stalls, Low-end Restaurants

2-3 Star Restaurants High-end Restaurants

Forest PatchesMarginalized Natural/

Historical/ Cultural AttractionsNational Parks

World Heritage SitesPrivate Parks

Labor Handicrafts Food and BeverageOther Materials for

Tourism EnterprisesFurnitureBuilding Materials

Transportation TransportationTransportation

TransportationTransportation

Transportation

Community Awareness

Ecotourism Assessments

- Linking Community Tourism & Conservation: A Tourism Assessment Process

Tourism Good Practices Guides

--Good Host Effect--Mountains--Marine--Deserts--Rainforests

Product Development

- Business Planning for Environmental Enterprises- Ecolodges: Exploring Opportunities IFC-Ecotourism Development Vol. I & II

Marketing

Monitoring and Evaluating

Mapping Impact of Tourism

Concessions Agreements

-- Summary Report on Concessions Best Practices-- Example Concessions Library Memorandums of

Understanding

Industry/ Value Chain

Selection

Value Chain Analysis

Developing

Competitiveness Strategy

Implementation of

Action Plan

Monitoring Performance and Assessing Impacts

Value Chain Project Cycle

Overview

Corresponding Tools in the Ecotourism Toolkit

Value C

hain Analysis M

anual

When selecting an industry/ value chain there are three main components to consider 1) good growth potential, 2) the size and type of impact, 3) industry leadership.

Analysis of the factors and relationships influencing competitiveness-- objectives of this stage are to analyze findings to identify actors, roles, relationships as well as their key constraints and opportunities for increasing competitiveness.

Develop a participatory competitiveness strategy that emphasizes creating a process in which industry stakeholders are the drivers of the competitiveness strategy, able to sustain competitiveness, while donor interventions minimize adverse market distortions.

Develop an implementation action plan that provides guidance on how to initiate and sustain a competitiveness strategy.

Establish a performance monitoring and impact assessment system that provides information to program managers and implementers that are critical to assessing the effectiveness of particular interventions so that changes and modifications can be introduced to optimize project impact before a project ends.

Using the TVC Project Cycle to Guide You Through this Process

Value Chain Analysis

Developing Competitiveness Strategy

Implementation of Action Plan

Monitoring Performance and Assessing Impacts

Industry/ Value Chain Selection

Economic benefits from tourism, including using tourism receipts to fund conservation depends on sustainable tourism activity

Economically viable tourism activities in the long-run depend on strategy development

We use the value chain project cycle to develop the strategies

Successful competitiveness depends on capacity to innovate and improve

Your role: Facilitate strategic change in tourism sectors

The Nature-Based Tourism Value Chain Project Cycle serves as the framework for designing competitive, sustainable tourism projectsCI uses these five stages of a nature-based tourism value chain project cycle to systematically

develop comprehensive and effective strategies to increase the business incentives to conserve biodiversity. This allows us to:

In essence, it is a uniform methodology that is replicable and clearly delineates how and why interventions are chosen. The interventions are prioritized by the stakeholders and are decided only after a thorough value chain analysis, including benchmarking key determinants of success, is completed.

Monitor performance and assess impact of tourism on conservation by clearly linking tourism activities to conservation efforts

•Develop multi-year strategies with stakeholders to sustain competitiveness

Design interventions that are both high-impact and sustainable

Prioritize addressing the key constraints with stakeholders

Diagnose and evaluate constraints and opportunities

Utilize end-market information to inform upgrading strategies

•Ensure that the private sector is driving the process

•Engage in tourism in a systematic way