My journey through Naibunga Lower Community Conservancy brought me to three women’s groups, one in each of the communities that collectively own and manage the conservancy. The first encounter was in Koija, where the Chui Mamas were already at work when I arrived.

I met them with pangas and hoes in their hands, bent forward at the waist, some weeding the communal farmland with their bare hands.

From a distance, the eyes of some young ladies were on the mzungu, following my steps from the moment I crossed the gate. They were standing untroubled with their babies wrapped around their upper bodies, under the quiet acacia tree, whose branches were holding everybody’s bottles and belongings.

One of the elderly ladies stood up as soon as she heard Stella, the interpreter, calling for their attention. Tiny drops of salty sweat were decorating her face with geometrical perfection. Beauty moulded by decades of sun and rural life in a challenging land.

The permaculture farm is only one of the activities running under the umbrella of the “Chui Mamas” Resource Centre, which brings together approximately twenty women’s groups from across the Koija community, one of the three communities that form Naibunga Lower Conservancy. The women also run a soap-making lab, beadwork production, and a newly opened tailoring workshop, which will soon start providing school uniforms to local schools. Collectively, they manage a beekeeping project comprising 200 beehives, which supply between 10 and 15 kilos of honey per harvest, twice a year.

In 2024, with support from partners, including San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance (SDWA), Loisaba Conservancy, Powering Africa Recharging Conservation (PARC) and their local conservancy, the women established a system to promote community development through conservation efforts. The core idea was that by creating alternative sources of income and providing environmental education, the women would stop cutting down trees to produce charcoal for sale.

The spinning top was moving on the rough surface of red mud while the women took turns sharing their stories with the interpreter and me. I heard struggles, but also determination and, above all, conviction in the choice they had made.
“So we have joined hands and decided, instead of chopping trees and destroying the ecosystem, we looked for another alternative to living”, says Metian Kididing, one of the ladies.

Wangui Naiputari, chairlady of the Chui Mamas, adds, “We volunteered to cultivate this piece of land with our bare hands, so we could plant food products”. She concludes by saying, “But despite all the challenges we have endured, we have strived to make our projects a success so we can bring change as women”.

I left the farm with my heart full of joy and gratitude for their time and trust, holding tight to the little bag of hibiscus flowers I would use to prepare some refreshing tea back home.

Visitors, though, besides buying some fresh crops and their own bags of tea directly from the women, can also extend their guided tour with a tasting of the organic products while looking at the plants and fruits still hanging from the branches.

L’article The women of Naibunga Lower: Chui Mamas, choosing another way to live est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

I’d just crossed the Equator a few miles before entering the town, and I knew for sure that the sun was at its zenith; both the car temperature and my skin could confirm it. However, the heat couldn’t mask my excitement at taking the bumpy road again and leaving civilisation behind.

This time, though, I needed a map. The majority of Kenyans I had shared my travel plans with hadn’t heard of Naibunga Lower Conservancy either, including my experienced driver.

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The adventure for me really started when the car turned left at Il Polei village – thirty miles away from Nanyuki’s shops – and I saw Ellens Rock disappearing in the back window, waving goodbye to Rosemary and the other women of Twala Tenebo.

I noticed Gabriel, the driver, breathe a sigh of relief as soon as we left the village after the sharp left turn, because the road became smooth again and his car stopped its shaky, bumpy dance over the terrain.

The road rose swiftly, and not long after, we were presented with 360 degrees of green and open spaces, except for the few tin roofs of Il Polei village, quickly disappearing from our sight below the hill we were still climbing.

I was still finishing the fresh fruit on my breakfast plate when Francis Sapuro – the Conservancy Manager – entered the living room of the lodge where I had comfortably spent the night.

We had exchanged a few emails and briefly chatted over the phone when I was still in Naivasha. Now, on Maasai land, it was time for me to fully understand the place I had been invited to by the Kenya Wildlife Conservancies Association – KWCA.

Like all the other Community Conservancies in Kenya, Naibunga Lower is fully owned and managed by the local communities that traditionally call this place home. Its legal history began in 2004.

It has a population of approximately 8,300 individuals, who belong to three communities:

• Koija
• Ilmotiook
• Tiamamut

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I was delighted to hear that Kajwang, as Francis is known here, had modified my initial schedule so that I could meet with the three women’s groups – one from each community – in the context where they operate daily.

One of the main reasons tourists visit the northernmost part of Laikipia County is to see the charming and rare black panther, the dark-pigmented leopard. This is, in fact, one of the few locations in East Africa where one can spot it. When visitors come, they also find themselves immersed in a peaceful and remote environment, and I tend to believe that more and more people are consciously choosing this tranquillity over the long queues of vehicles in the far more famous and glamorous Maasai Mara — or soon will.

If someone is in search of a deep travel experience, this is the place to be. I learned from the lodge’s local Maasai guide, Peter, who showed me around on the evening of my arrival, that the opportunities to encounter wildlife are naturally increased by the fact that animals and humans coexist nowadays, as they always have traditionally.

Seeing elephants, zebras, impalas, giraffes and other animals can happen unexpectedly, and perhaps more often than announced when you are outside the perimeter of the lodge.

Human-wildlife coexistence is a reality in the Community Conservancy.

We were walking in the bed of a temporary river that had dried up again that morning, as it does regularly in this season, when Peter told me about his latest encounter with an elephant while grazing his family’s cows a few days earlier. For a second, I realised that the chance of meeting an elephant on its evening stroll wasn’t that remote after all.

I spotted animal footprints crossing the riverbed; wild noises came from the distance. “There must be a cat around; those noises are a warning sign from the other animals moving away”, Peter commented and continued walking calmly, his stick resting across both shoulders, his arms comfortably lounging on each end. I mirrored his tranquil steps, but my legs felt slightly wobbly for a moment. I blamed the sandy terrain, not the emotional reaction that was going on inside me.

I was on Maasai land, walking on the land of his ancestors. I held that thought for a little longer, until my legs felt steady again. I took another step in the dry riverbed. This is how things are here, unfiltered.

I swallowed the last sip of my freshly brewed coffee and deeply thanked Kajwang for the interesting briefing on the conservancy’s governance.

At that moment, a rush of anticipation came over me. I quickly stood up and grabbed my bags with a broad smile, then stood waiting next to the solid wooden table. My intentions were clear to all: I was ready to meet the women.

L’article The women of Naibunga Lower: A hidden gem of Northern Kenya est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

Can you describe the situation prompting the recent joint statement?

The situation is that there are a lot of boats on the sea, a lot of people using it. Malta doesn’t have abundant visible wildlife, so when dolphins or turtles do appear, people rush toward them, usually out of enthusiasm, not malice. I think it’s mostly a lack of knowledge and lack of information, which pushes people into an improper way to approach these animals.

There’s already a Code of Conduct for this, isn’t there?

Yes. ACCOBAMS, the Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and contiguous Atlantic area, has published voluntary guidelines that predate my own career in the field. There’s not a law, but… as human beings, we don’t need a law to do the right thing. Malta’s Environment and Resources Authority and Transport Malta have both since run awareness campaigns echoing those same rules. This shows that the message is spreading, even if enforcement remains limited.

What is EcoMarine Malta’s responsibility as a tourism operator?

We have the responsibility to share this knowledge and to become ambassadors of the sea. That means teaching people to enjoy nature without being a burden: no touching, no feeding and no chasing. On our boat tours, rather than simply telling passengers what not to do, we let them see the difference for themselves. When we apply the code and they see the dolphins behaving naturally, doing whatever they want, they don’t ask to go closer. They just participate in what is happening. Often, the dolphins reward that patience by approaching the boat on their own.

Behind the statement is real data. Tell us about the research.

Between late 2023 and 2025, EcoMarine Malta ran a passive acoustic monitoring project, leaving an underwater recorder in the water to capture dolphin vocalisations independently of boat activity. We recorded 1,200 hours of vocalisation. Combined with nine years of photo-identification data gathered during our tours, the recordings showed dolphins consistently present in one area, night and day, in good weather and bad weather. This allowed us to identify it as a scientific hotspot rather than relying simply on an impression. That evidence became the basis for one of the statement’s central requests: a mandatory speed limit for all vessels in the zone to reduce both collision risk and underwater noise. Noise interferes with dolphin communication and can trigger the same anti-predatory stress response they show around sharks, which is especially dangerous for mothers with newborn calves.

Why does approach angle matter so much — coming from the side rather than head-on?

From the back, they can get scared. From the front, they feel attacked. Slowing down roughly 300 metres away and approaching from the side allows the animals to see, hear and assess the boat calmly. If they don’t perceive you as a threat, they can also choose to approach you.

The statement drew 29 endorsing organisations, but EcoMarine Malta didn’t claim the lead.

That was deliberate. It’s not about who is the leader of this action. The result is the most important thing. What united such a varied group, from ranger units to environmental NGOs, was simple: everyone cares about marine life, about the sea and about respect.

Has government engagement followed?

Yes. We have had renewed meetings with Malta’s Environment and Resources Authority, while operators such as EcoMarine Malta continue to act informally as eyes on the water, reporting both good and bad behaviour.

The statement also calls for a formal public reporting system. Giving this responsibility to the general public means everyone becomes more conscious of how they behave. The idea would be to have escalating warnings before any fine, with penalties reserved for repeat or severe offenders.

The mission is not to punish, but to create more information for a better conservation plan. I’m working for the people of the sea, the dolphins, the turtles and the seabirds, not against the people on land.

L’article On Malta’s waters, a fight to protect dolphins and a model for responsible tourism est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

The first of this series was about the event at ITB Berlin in 2019, which hosted communities from the World Indigenous Tourism Alliance (WINTA) and counted with the presence of Ben Sherman. What at the time was an unusual event happened thanks to the crucial support provided by Rika Jean-Francois – the historical pillar of the Responsible Tourism content of the fair – and to the suggestion and determination of the co-organisers Marcus Bauer and Susanna Hagen from Respontour.

After that, I was thrilled to report from the stage of the 2023 event at the ITB Berlin. That event highlighted the voices of Indigenous and Community-Based Tourism enterprises across the world and celebrated the recognition given to them in the form of Awards for their relevance and achievements.

This year’s event was hosted on the Asian continent. It had the same kind of protagonists, but they were all local to the land we were in. Nepalese community members involved in tourism got on stage with a microphone and an audience ready to listen. 

1. Connecting communities

The Community Connect Event was organised in Kathmandu by the Community Homestay Network (CHN) on 26 May with the support of the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) and other international strategic partners, including USAID.

The day celebrated the conclusion of the first edition of this event, which started almost two weeks earlier and saw 30 international delegates. Amongst them, travel designers, tour operators, media and journalists participated in four exposure tours (i.e. FAM trips) across more or less known tourist areas of Nepal. I was one of those delegates, and I had the good fortune to visit very remote indigenous villages that had never received international tourists before. But I will leave the stories of those encounters for another time and place. 

When Community-Based Tourism entrepreneurs got on the stage, after a few speeches and another panel of experts, I was already celebrating and looking forward to hearing them present their grassroots experiences from a place of deep knowledge and authority. However, it went beyond that, and it moved me to the core, because of what happened both on the stage and below, in the hall.

2. Panel of innovation

There are a few reasons why I believe that the gathering was innovative and powerful. First and foremost, the panel loyally represented the gender proportion usually present in community tourism. Those who work with the segment know that worldwide Community Tourism is generally led by women, who, for different reasons, find in these activities the space and relative freedom that their societies don’t always reserve for them. The reality is that women often rediscover themselves as entrepreneurs while becoming financially independent and managing tourism activities within their community. For the organisers, it was the most obvious choice, given that the homestay’s owners of the Community Homestay Network are predominantly women.

Although not a complete surprise to me, it was a pleasure to see that of the four speakers on the panel just formed on the stage, three were women. In addition to that, those women represented different stages of women’s empowerment. Shila Amatya, Isha Mahato and Premmati Pun not only come from three different geographical regions of the beautiful and culturally still unknown country, proudly wearing their traditional outfits, but they also brought different levels of experience, engagement and history with tourism and tourists, which was a helpful opportunity to showcase the diversity of possibilities that exist.

Shila is the President of Panauti Community Homestay, the very first homestay of the CHN project. In her firm posture and calm but resolute tone of voice, she brought a decade of experience and strength that grew steadily day by day from the shyness of an inexperienced businesswoman hiding behind the curtains of her home. Today she is celebrated in her own community and beyond and continues to nurture the warmth and inner qualities of other women who look to her for inspiration. 

Isha – the young, sweet and very shy Isha – couldn’t stop her emotions from making her voice thinner and shaky and her eyes from avoiding the camera and any direct contact with the audience. She seemed uncomfortable, but only because she has never sat on a stage to talk about herself, not to mention that it was her very first time in the capital, Kathmandu. In Barauli village, Isha is one of the fierce leaders of the women’s group, and on that stage she was not alone but rather was representing her very successful Homestay project located near the bank of a river and  Chitwan National Park. There, the women are empowered and now have more voice and rights within their traditional Tharu community.

Premmati, host of the Narchyang Community Homestay in the beautifully unique Mustang region, was the more mature of the three and the least timid. In her case, I believe that her age and the challenge of a life exposed to nature have made her care less about judgment and given her freedom from the initial fear that an unknown audience has probably inflicted on her other two colleagues. Before listening to the translation of her messages, I could feel her strength and confidence through the tone and the vibes of her words. She brought the fierceness of a determined woman, accomplished through the work of responsible tourism.

3. Content matters, but preparation is key

The stage was not just a window on exotic realities, and important open questions were brought up and discussed on the panel. The argument whether human-animal conflict is merely a problem or also an opportunity, but also issues related to climate change and the building of resiliency in traditional communities were discussed, as well as the unexpected surge of overtourism problems in Nepal and the role of Community Tourism in it.

Bikal Khanal – Chief Purpose Officer at Royal Mountain Group, was a great moderator because he made the panellists feel comfortable and created space for the sharing of their stories and experiences without any sort of pressure or demand. “Just share who you are and what you’ve done. We are here to listen and learn.” This was his attitude, an anthropological and ethnographic attitude, I would say. The one that is needed when we work with indigenous communities.

It was clear, though, that that was not the first time they had met. They knew each other – very well in fact – and they had been working together for a long time. During that time, they had developed a relationship. When it comes to Community Tourism, it is not enough to bring representatives on stage, mark their presence in the event and tick the ‘doing well’ box.  Two things are very clebehinar to me regarding this modality of tourism, as I often reaffirm: it must be based on a long-term relationship and, obviously, on trust and mutual respect. 

In addition to that, crucially, it requires careful preparation, and the event brought clear evidence of the value of that. As encounters don’t happen by themselves, sharing stories can only happen if there are certain conditions in place, and if an appropriate space was previously designed for it. The ‘authenticity’ and depth of the conversation are proportional to the degrees of foundation work done before and behind the scenes.

Preparation matters even more in this context simply because Community-Based Tourism is a matter of delivering a message to an audience that is usually culturally distant. How is the message delivered, who is telling the stories, what are their beliefs and preconceptions, and what does the audience want and know about them? Answering these questions is mandatory if we really want to allow different futures and paradigms to unfold.

4. Celebrating new possible futures

That day, the majority of the audience was ready and prepared, and seeing their peers on stage, powerfully sharing their stories and gradually shaping the tourism experiences in their own terms, was an inspiration for all of the other community members invited to participate. 

Eyes on the stage, mind focused on the speeches, arms stretched to frame and record the messages on their devices. The flashes of their cameras were highlighting the faces, and detailed memories were stored proudly for the future.

Last but not least, the event also provided a new reference for those who didn’t know much about Community-Based Tourism before and warmed the hearts of those who, like me, have dreamt of witnessing this kind of moment for so many years.

Sharing the local community stories through the protagonists’ voices is the first step of a journey that should necessarily include their active participation in the decision-making process, which is exactly where Community-Based Tourism starts. This journey takes time and many grassroots efforts, but the results create positive change for the whole society and our planet, as we are finally starting to realise.

Moreover, there is a lot of learning on the way, part of which was beautifully and warmly presented on that stage last May in Kathmandu. 

L’article Communities on stage in Nepal est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

Stronger together

To make the Responsible Tourism Mission possible over a such vast territory, the Madhya Pradesh Tourist Board (MPTB) relies on public-private partnerships that enhance government efforts in an efficient way. It starts by recognising local organisations, companies and NGOs like Pashoo Pakshee or Haritika who are already active and rooted in the place, which makes them the ideal strategic partners to implement the actions with a more widespread reach.

The partnership and collaboration, recognised and supported by the last of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), come alive in the creation of multi-stakeholder networks across the State. The collaboration with the private sector is nourished not only within the tourism industry but also in other technical sectors such as environmental protection, organic farming and alternative energy solutions, bringing together different skills and competencies, enriching the overall results while strengthening the individual business partners.

The MPTB collaboration strategy also includes other government departments and agencies from the areas of Culture, Education and Agriculture, among others.

The six-head structure

To avoid the risk of overwhelming an unfamiliar audience, I will avoid describing the whole system of which we are just scratching the surface, and I will focus on the general framework of the six-project structure implemented by the RT Mission.

The ‘ecosystem’, as it is referred to in the RT Mission, is articulated in a series of interlinked and complementary projects:.

• Rural and Tribal Tourism 
• Safe Tourism Destinations for Women 
• Responsible Souvenir Project 
• Homestay development 
• Clean & Green Destination Project 
• Project Humsafar 

It won’t be possible on this occasion to explain all the projects in detail, each one of which is a little world in itself. 
However, I can make a remark that can clarify the nature of their impact.

Women empowerment is a pillar that runs across the board of the whole mission, and it is present in all the projects of the ecosystem. In practical terms, it has been established that women’s participation must represent at least 60% of the total of each project. Women are also the ideal people to be involved in the ‘Responsible Souvenir Project’, which provides training as well as support in the production, promotion and marketing of the 56 types of products created within it.

In the case of the ‘Homestay development’, the women are usually the legal owners of the newly built accommodation for future guests.

The ‘Safe Tourism Destinations for Women’, made up of different initiatives and activities, addresses girls and young women specifically and provides the foundation for a cultural change in favour of women’s empowerment and gender equality first and foremost in the community where they live, which, as a consequence, increases the safety of the female visitors.

Given this brief overview, it should be no surprise that Madhya Pradesh, besides being the winner of several awards and national and international recognitions, was also shortlisted for the Destination category of the Gender Equality Champion Awards for two years in a row, in 2023 and again in 2024.

Conclusion

There is no doubt that MP, while setting an example, has also set ambitious goals for the future of its tourism sector. 
Moreover, it is proving that rural tourism can be an effective catalyst for the sustainable development of a destination.

However, for a project of such scope and complexity to deliver, clarity on the priorities and lucid differences between tools and goals is needed beforehand, and in MP’s case, the foundations appear strong and transparent. Perhaps the most important lesson that it is sharing with the rest of the world is that no project is too complex when its goals are noble and urgent. No task is more important and urgent than achieving the well-being and empowerment of their rural and Indigenous communities.

L’article An ecosystem of projects for the sustainable development of a destination est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

Madhya Pradesh’s so-called Responsible Tourism Mission (RT Mission) is strongly rooted in the Cape Town Declaration of 2002, which defines Responsible Tourism as “tourism that makes better places for people to live in and better places for people to visit” and it has made this its very own motto.

Following the inspiring example of neighbouring Kerala, an ‘older player’ in this journey, from the heart of India, Madhya Pradesh (MP) has been paving the way, leading by example, in showing a way for governments to implement community inclusion and foster empowerment for widespread societal benefits.

A complex system with deep roots

On my recent trip to MP, working directly with the State Tourism Board and implementing Community Storytelling capacity-building through my company Traveller Storyteller, under the umbrella of the RT Mission, I observed at close range some of the impacts that the RT Mission is achieving, concerning community engagement and development. The scope and the magnitude of the overall work are impressive, and it is easy to lose track of the complex system in place.

In terms of gender equality impact, it is calculated that 75,000 women will be involved in the future, and 300 villages will benefit from it. Of the first 100 villages currently identified, 30 have already started to implement the RT Mission,  which will provide 10,000 direct and indirect employment opportunities. A clear strategy directs this long-term commitment of the State to its people.
 

“By working with the community in and around the tourist cities, Madhya Pradesh ensures the benefits of localswhile making the tourists aware of their heritage, culture, and customs.” The mission’s objectives clearly show what the focus of the project is and the importance of the well-being of the rural communities, their identity and the environment they are living in.

Tourism is seen as a tool, not a goal in itself; social and economic development is intended to be achieved through local employment; there is an interest in protecting and conserving natural and cultural resources and a real concern for more efficient use of them. Last, but not least, the objectives show extreme care in the way communities perceive themselves and their rich cultural heritage, and overall, the ultimate goal is for them to feel proud of their roots and inspired to share them with the visitors in an engaging and festive way. 

Cultural diversity enhanced and empowered

One element that sets this colossal government project apart is the emphasis on the recognition and celebration of the state’s cultural diversity. This doesn’t apply only to the conservation of the current four and the ‘tentative’ new six UNESCO World Heritage sites and cultural traditions from the glorious past – it also includes the lively diversity of the cultural identity of the place. 

Probably, not everyone knows that Madhya Pradesh is the state with the highest population of tribal people in India, 15.31 million, which is equivalent to more than 20% of the state’s total population, according to the 2011 census. There are 46 ethnic tribes currently living in MP who are part of the six tribal groups, the Bhil – the largest and most well-known, together with the Gond and the Baiga tribes. Tribal Belts is the name of the three regions mostly populated by Indigenous tribes; they are the Eastern, Southern and Western Belts, which are proudly presented and included in the RT Mission.

The partition of the state into six cultural zones takes into account the existence of this vast cultural diversity. However, it does not limit it to the ancestral Indigenous people, and it extends it to include all the other kinds of cultural expressions practised in the rural environment across religious beliefs and spiritual practices.

With a total of 600,000 villages in India, Madhya Pradesh’s focus on the rural environment is the winning choice for a broad economic impact from tourism, also in terms of product diversification. With such a vast population and varying cultural realities, Community-Based Tourism projects and enterprises led and managed by community members, are the most suitable answer for local sustainable development in rural areas.

L’article Strengthening the cultural roots of a country through indigenous tourism est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

At the last edition in 2019, we saw indigenous people on stage presenting themselves and their cultural traditions during the first seminar at the ITB Berlin dedicated to Indigenous Tourism, which I reported on in my article at the time.

1. Back to grassroots

This year, the session ‘Authentic Indigenous and Community-Based Tourism Experiences’ brought five Community-Based Tourism (CBT) projects from around the world to present their positive impacts on their culture and the environment.

Community members from Madhya Pradesh – India, Sweden, Uzbekistan, Ecuador and Rwanda, stood on stage creating a colourful panel of global reach.

I had the privilege to moderate the wonderful panel of local experts and community-based tourism pioneers and facilitate their connection with the bigger audience.

In fact, although interest in CBT is growing and indigenous tourism has been highlighted as one of the new trends for 2023 by many experts and reports, most tourists still struggle to find information about it.

2. Adding knowledge to awareness

The examples shared from the passionate voices of the protagonists gave substance and tangible proof to what we already knew: that CBT is a great way to preserve and experience unknown cultural traditions and a way to discover the natural environment from the local perspective, with them, while contributing to their sustainable development journey.

Most importantly, we had the chance to hear what responsible tourism means to them in practice and how it has changed their life and the life of their community.

The room was packed with attentive and curious listeners and great knowledge was shared, and we would like to briefly report on the stories we heard on 7^th March in Berlin.

3. Messages from the field

Vinita Rashinkar – from Blue Brick PR at the Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board, India – showed us that there are many hidden indigenous cultures in the remote Indian state which, with thousands of years of history, are among the oldest on the planet.
The rural tourism project she is involved with talks about community participation and women empowerment, and it is already active in 60 of the 100 villages the project will reach.

The project registered an increased interest during the Covid-19 pandemic when domestic tourists went exploring new corners of the country, especially the younger generations due to their renewed sense of spirituality.

Nils Torbjörn Nutti – founder at Sámi Eco Adventure, Sweden – is the youngest son of a reindeer herder family, who has been working full time with his animals since 1990.
Indigenous communities, the ones that live in a close relationship with nature and depend directly on it for their subsistence, are the most affected by climate change, whose effects they have already started experiencing.

Nils reminded us how important is to see that connection with nature ‘where we all come from’ he says, because ‘if we don’t’, he continues, ‘then it becomes difficult to understand why we should save it, and where are our limits’.

Sámi Eco Adventure has been awarded a ToDo! Award this year for protecting their tradition in the face of climate change and putting tourism at the service of their indigenous communities.

Sherzod Norbekov – Director and Founder at Responsible Travel LLC and Nuratau CBT project, Uzbekistan – talked about how the CBT way of doing tourism, in the hands of the local community members, has helped to better the local infrastructure and the quality of life of the population. He described how they turned the economic advantage obtained through eco-tourism activities into a tool for sustainable development, for which they won a ToDo Award for socially responsible tourism. However, Nuratau is also creating a virtuous cycle for their own culture.

Uzbekistan’s culture does not only exist in Samarkand and in other internationally renowned cultural spots but also in the local villages within their daily traditions and customs. At the same time, tourism is helping them to preserve their own culture by raising, in their eyes, the value that their culture represents, and by sharing it with their visitors they are learning how to nourish it and be proud of it.

With us on stagewas also Rolando Collaguazo, with more than 20 yearsof experience in community tourism, and who is today involved in sales and management at Yunguilla Community project, Ecuador, in the Chocó Andino Biosphere Reserve near Quito.
Rolando showed us what can be achieved when the local community is aware, technically prepared and passionately engaged with the mission of preserving and conserving the biodiversity of their natural resources and land. Their conservation journey started in 1995, while their journey in responsible tourism dates back to 1998.

Today the projects involve more than 50 indigenous families looking after an area of 8,000 hectares of forest, home to endemic species and a huge variety of fauna and flora species, such as orchids and the Andean bear. 

Yungilla is the first indigenous community in Ecuador certified by TourCert and today is a role model for other rural communities in the country that are learning how to re-establish a balanced and healthy coexistence with the natural environment. 

Community-Based Tourism is an opportunity for Yunguilla community members to accompany and complement the intense work in education and natural conservation that the community carries out, with the support of research and academic centres and national and international partners and volunteers.

Learning to protect their forest and taking the lead in their own development – through tourism as well – has also had a big positive impact on the new generations. They are now coming back home, after completing their university studies, to invest their knowledge and skills to support their community and their land, so that they can both continue to thrive harmoniously. 

Last but not least, from Rwanda, Greg Bagunzi brought us the stories of Red Rock Initiatives, established in 2013 with the main goal of making the communities the beneficiaries of tourism.

In a country where tourism mainly happens in the protected areas and National Parks, leaving the local communities in the background, Red Rocks brings visitors directly to the local villages to meet the local women, learn how to cook, dance and create traditional baskets, while singing the uplifting notes of the traditional songs during the banana beer making process.

They have initiated a series of programmes that link conservation and community tourism to reach sustainable development, such as organic farming, beekeeping projects and tree planting activities, conducting crucial educational work with community members while also preserving the local environment and contributing to reforestation. 

Today, Red Rocks is a pioneer in CBT in the country and it has inspired many other grassroots projects to become a reality and today, thanks to them as well, there are many more projects that are slowly becoming visible.

Over the years, parallel to their tourism activities – whose income goes entirely to the community members – the project has created job opportunities by supporting skills development schemes, especially for young people and women, who are nowadays organised into cooperatives – happy and empowered.

4. Planting healthy seeds

Coming back to the ITB Berlin this year was incredible and an important seed was planted when CBT was brought into the agenda.

But most crucially, it was essential to give the audience the opportunity to realise that authentic community experiences can only happen with them and that talking about CBT should only happen when we give the microphoneto the communities themselves

L’article Local communities on stage at ITB Berlin 2023 est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

When talking about experiencing the lifestyle of local communities through Community-Based Tourism (CBT) initiatives, the association that automatically arises is related to immersion in cultural traditions and heritage, with different degrees of exploration of the natural environment.

However, we would like to invite you to go beyond this limiting perspective on CBT projects, and, for a moment, stop looking at them as mere providers of ethical experiences, and start picturing them as ideal partners in the journey towards sustainability, given that they are already actively implementing their own agendas.

2. Human and social development

CBT has proved to be a champion in achieving goals related to the social dimension of sustainability, which in the language of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are connected to the goals of gender equality (#5), reducing inequalities (#10) and decent work and economic growth (#8).

This is because at its core, CBT is a collective project, in which the people are the pillars, their good health and well-being (#3) its focus, and the goal of zero hunger (#2) is a daily monitored goal.

The Quilombolas communities of the Ribeira Valley (SP, Brazil) have effectively translated CBT’s DNA into a symbolic practical rule. As community leader Ditão informed me, the pronoun “I” has been erased from their vocabulary when tourism matters are discussed, to always leave space for the “we”, which clearly demonstrates the ownership of priorities, interests, responsibilities and final decisions.

In CBT projects, therefore, economic gain is usually achieved through the empowerment of their members, especially those groups who have traditionally been marginalised or who have less access to power, such as women, youth and people with disabilities.

3. Planet and conservation

The way that traditional communities relate to the natural environment is usually deep and spiritual, never considering it as a resource, but rather as a well of knowledge and wisdom. For indigenous communities, the Earth is also the roots of their identity, and, obviously, the main source of their survival.

Traditional methods of fishing and hunting are usually given as examples of responsible consumption and production (#12), and they are established in the context of a healthy relationship with the land. Although nowadays it is not always possible, unfortunately, for these methods to be carried out, they contain keys to understanding the local environment and its cycles, and to learning important lessons about the balance of the elements involved. 

Supporting healthy life below water (#14) as well as life on land (#15) are generally goals for most traditional communities, because they guarantee their existence. CBT projects celebrate those practices as part of their living cultural traditions, and through workshops and hand-on activities with the visitors these activities are kept alive and passed on to new generations.

If, in some cases, CBT projects use tourism as an opportunity to indirectly educate their own local communities about the importance of protecting local wildlife, as in the case of the African continent and poaching activities; in other cases, CBT projects allow communities’ needs and wishes to become real so that tourists can support a project long desired for and designed by the locals, such as the Sea Turtle Conservation Programme, a voluntourism opportunity offered by Lamphope, in Cape Verde.

Through the implementation of CBT projects, the local community can also discover new solutions, which can be spread and become restorative practices for the local environment, and maintained through tourism, as in the case of Red Rocks Rwanda’s Igihooho seed bag or the bamboo cup project.

4. Innovation and resilience

Beyond being a natural ally in finding solutions to the problems currently faced, local communities can form part of a great strategic partnership and be a laboratory of creativity, in the area known in Brazil as social technology. This term refers to forms of social innovation that through specific processes, techniques and methodologies are able to transform the ways people interact, manage and produce.

The resilience shown by certain CBT projects during the Covid-19 pandemic has been, in some cases, an exemplar of the strength and unique advantage that grassroots communities can demonstrate – as in the case of the Traditional Communities Forum and the campaign Cuidar é Resistir – to mobilise resources effectively by using the capillary reach of their network and their deep knowledge of the territory, thereby contributing to the goal of building sustainable cities and communities (#11).

Local communities are at the frontline in the climate change struggle; in some cases, for example as reported to me by Fernando (whose indigenous name is Berà Miri) about his indigenous community of the nation Mbya-Guaranì in Argentina, they have already changed their diet, while the elders still tell stories about plants and fruits that ceased to exist decades ago. Fernando also told me that in the CBT projects they are building, they plan to include an educational element about the changes that our planet is suffering, so that the stories that tourists hear and the information they learn about the trees is the up-to-date version of their reality.

During the pandemic, many communities returned in large numbers to farming activities, in Panama, as well as in Ecuador and Nicaragua. They have rediscovered their own land and forgotten crops, started new projects, often involving and educating the younger generations, and are reviving traditions that were about to be lost, as in the case of the coffee production that IKA – Indigenous Kokoda Adventures has recently restarted.

5. Conclusion

Many of the CBT projects mentioned above have been possible thanks to strategic partnership with academic research centres and private sector initiatives, along with the support of the local government – when available.

A broader technical and scientific knowledge can help in achieving nature conservation, but only when it complements the natural skills, knowledge and traditional practices that are embedded in the local lifestyle. In addition to this, the local inhabitants should supply the limits, boundaries and goals to tourism activities. The external partner would need to learn to be part of community collective management systems, which are built through long but necessary participatory methodologies, and whose focus is on the internal redistribution of economic benefits and the well-being of the communities.

Partnership for the goals (#17) seems to represent the next step with regard to CBT projects.
In a moment in which co-designing with local communities is seen as a desirable goal – even though, due to the novelty of the venture, there is a lot of uncertainty about how to work with them; in a moment in which sustainability awareness and the more recent regenerative approach are on the rise not only within the industry and among governments, but also in tourists’ minds, it seems that joining forces with the ‘local expert’ is the obvious solution.

Perhaps the key to the solution is to look at tourism as communities do, i.e. as a tool, rather than as a goal, changing priorities to see how we can, through tourism, together support the sustainable development of people and the planet. The starting point should be, of course, at the grassroots level.

CBT should never be seen just as a product, but as a propeller to new solutions and unwritten paths, and, consequently, CBT projects can become strategic allies in this journey. A Win-Win-Win-Win solution for the planet, the people, the tourists and the industry itself.

L’article The strategic connection between Community-Based Tourism and Sustainable Development Goals est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

At the end of the two-day event, held between the historical walls of the university in the capital of the Alentejo region, Portugal, conclusive commitments for the travel industry to act now were made and five urgent actions were established.

The initial promises were kept and topped with ambitious hope and a constructive collective energy that arrived from different parts of the globe and various stakeholders.Among the passionate discussions, the fervid presentations and the inspiring examples shared, a few themes emerged and became cardinal, absorbing and spreading the spirit of the event more than others.

1. Governance

Rather than being the conclusion, the need for a new model for tourism was, instead, the starting point of almost every discussion.

In the search for a new – or renewed – conscious and effective model with which to manage tourism, cross-sector collaboration was repeatedly pointed to as a necessity. Interestingly, the invoked ‘togetherness’ recognised the need to create more inclusive institutional spaces in which to gather private and public bodies, as well as civil society. This is exemplified by the case of the Tourism Councils, presented by the Hon. Nikolina Angelkova – a member of parliament in Bulgaria and the country’s minister of tourism from 2014 to 2020.  

Among the suggestions for a new model of collaborative forces, Holly Budge, founder of How many Elephants proposed the inclusion of actors such as NGOs and local organizations already active on the ground, who are ideal allies, able to bring different perspectives, information, creative solutions and tested networks of support.

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2. Education

An important realization that gained space at Évora is that we need to educate all stakeholders about sustainability; it is crucial to acknowledge that many are still unfamiliar with the concept and its dimensions.

Since education is, first and foremost, a question of communication, we need to reflect on how we talk about sustainability and what informs our messages, but, above all, who is part of the conversation.

Perhaps, it would be more effective, as Carol Savage founder of Not in the Guidebook suggested, to think in terms of a continuum, rather than steps towards sustainability. In fact, ‘sustainability’ is still a big word for local communities, for example, even though many tend to work naturally in a sustainable way. 
Pascal Viroleau, CEO at Vanilla Islands highlighted that it is now compulsory to share, because “sharing is showing” the commitment, and tourists are constantly looking for these proofs.

To reach credibility and improve overall engagement, our communication should be guided by the science, according to Jeremy Smith, co-founder of Tourism Declares A Climate Emergency, and also, essentially, be the result of active listening to the local communities, the ones who are suffering first-hand the effects of a tourism industry that has neither been focused on, nor driven by, sustainability principles.

3. Local Communities

Complying with earlier promises, local communities were invited on stage to share their achievements and to illustrate alternative ways of working.

In projects such as Aldeias Históricas de Portugal (Historical Villages of Portugal) – presented at Évora by its executive director Dalila Dias – the richness of the local material and cultural heritage can become the propeller for local sustainable development and innovative solutions when the communities, their needs and wishes are kept at the centre.

Founder of Tourism Cares, Robin Tauck, presented an online platform – already active in Jordan and shortly to be launched in Colombia – which aims to connect local social groups enterprises and community groups with tour operators, forging new associations able to contribute to the local economy and social fabric in a positive and durable way.

However, to improve the quality of life in both the human and the natural environment through tourism we must, above all, plan it with the community. Only through time and a process of the co-design of activities can tourism start to understand its real impacts and begin its journey towards holistic sustainability. This process, as Marta Cabral, passionately remarked, requires a real commitment and a willingness to “lose some part of our power in order to empower the local people”.

4. Role of the media

During the first press conference Christian Delom – secretary general of A World for Travel – urged the journalists “to really push governments, companies, even citizens and the tourists themselves to move forwards”.

According to president of Turismo de Portugal, Luís Araújo, the media has the responsibility to “address the role that each one has, from the tourist to the DMO”.

What we talk about gains relevance and how we do it creates a certain response; but what we choose to leave out of focus in our communication will affect its impact in the long term.

There is a universe of significant local examples currently thriving at the grassroots level, which are visible only to those directly involved in them. These realities are improving the quality of life of many individuals, transforming tourism into a vehicle for sustainable growth, and supporting environmental conservation.
Unfortunately, without the conscious support of the media, this universe will continue to function and develop in an isolated way; if they could, though, occupy more stages and columns in travel magazines they would inspire great changes and accelerate the spread of the positive impacts at a global level. Using the power of communication as a force for good, in the words of Luís Araújo, means sharing those examples and using them as a benchmark to build forwards on the positive that has already been achieved.

I invite you to dig deeper in the rich content now freely shared on the A World for Travel platform and listen for yourself to the voices that have made the event.

L’article Lessons from A World for Travel est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

We have observed the local social and cultural conditions, have done our desk-research, and asked questions of the tourism providers, but to close the circle we also need to question our own personal motivations.

Even before posing crucial questions to the external actors, as tourists we should move inwards and realise why we would like to embark on an experience in a slum in the first place.

Beyond the practical and material aspects of a journey, we should be internally prepared as well.

According to the Transformational Travel Council (TTC) this should happen during the preparation stage, when we start planning our journey and imagining the places we want to include. It happens right at the beginning of our adventure, when we plant the seed to make the trip a meaningful experience. In the Transformational Travel Journal the guide, and roadmap, assembled to “harness the power of travel to create personal growth and make a positive impact on the world” – the preparation stage includes all those questions we do not automatically associate with tourism.
The journal invites us – in a poetic and engaging way – to reflect on the fact that each journey starts at home, with questioning our own intentions.

This inner journey that the TTC refers to is the first step towards a transformational experience, because it will allow us to unveil our own beliefs and, sometimes with surprising results, also our preconceptions about the place we want to visit and the reasons that motivate us.

It only takes awareness, and it starts with self-awareness

I strongly believe that the simple choice of a tour while on holiday can challenge and deconstruct some of our ideas and assumptions, which lose their tarmac-solid and immovable appearance when we look at them consciously.

Any experience engaged in while we travel – including through Slum Tourism – if faced with a blank-page attitude of mind, curiosity, and an openness to listen and learn, can be of great help to us in understanding more of the contradictions that populate our world.

If you are sincerely curious and honestly interested to see people living in poverty, we should ask ourselves, what do you define as ‘poverty’?

In Dharavi, for example, the biggest Asian slum, which is in Mumbai, the annual turnover is $650 million; in South Africa and Brazil many slums have flourishing local economies and are inspiring laboratories of social innovation. Are we ready to expand the concept of poverty and include other factors and angles into the picture, and other interpretations?

Tourism done ethically could support genuine efforts to improve the inhabitants’ quality of life, because it accompanies the constant flow of change that is part of life. A slum is a form of societal organisation and tourism can contribute in a healthy way to its improvement. This, though, cannot happen if tourism pretends to fix and frame a reality as a product.
Ethical tourism adapts and supports the local economy and local businesses, and Slum Tourism – as many grassroots examples show us today – can be ethical and contribute to local sustainable development, economically, socially, culturally and also environmentally.

Attitudes

To conclude, I would like to share a list of attitudes that can help visitors to transform their experience in a slum into one that is deeply meaningful, both for them as well as for their hosts.

Prepare your journey

Ask those important ethical questions, of yourself and of the tourism providers you are contacting.

Observe with a student mind

Notice in the moment how, when you assume a judgemental perspective on what you see, it is based on your expectations, previous experience, and own social and cultural background. Stay open and re-set.

Act as a guest

Remember that when we travel, we are always guests in other people’s homes.

Interact as a grateful and curious human being 
Travel is a great opportunity to connect with different cultures and people from remote places, and a privilege that not everyone has. Be conscious of this, and use it to improve and grow spiritually as a human being.

Enjoy the journey!
The external, as well as the internal one.

L’article Slum Tourism: an ethical choice? Ethical tourism starts at home est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.