Japanese Academic lobbies for more sustainable practices for Japan

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Lessons learned at Australia’s national parks are expected to help a leading Japanese academic lobby for more sustainable practices in his home country.

Chuo University Professor Masahiro Yabuta is learning about sustainable management and education while working alongside colleagues at The University of Queensland’s School of Tourism.

Professor Yabuta will be at the school until March next year, with plans to visit important natural sites such as the Great Barrier Reef, Uluru and Kakadu National Park.

He has been researching the management and education systems of natural and cultural heritage sites with Head of School Roy Ballantyne, senior lecturer Dr Noel Scott and senior research fellow Dr Sally Driml.

“I have come to learn about management systems in Australia because they are first-class here. I have many things to learn,” Professor Yabuta said.

“It is important to keep tourism sustainable. A balance and commitment from government, industry and the community is important.”

Communities and businesses wanted to make money from tourist sites, but it should not come at the destruction of the natural sites the visitors came to see, Professor Yabuta said.

“Rapid development of a tourism industry could cause problems. There needs to be protection of the environmental tourism site. There must be support from government to ensure this.”

Professor Yabuta said he was also keen to find out just who the average eco-tourist was, so promotion and education programs could be specifically tailored.

“Everybody wants to be an eco-tourist now. Eco-tourism is a very fancy and popular word. It has a feel-good factor for everybody. People think going green is good for them. But when an economy driven
by eco-tourism and going green come together, it can be difficult to get a balance.”

Professor Yabuta said recent research showed only about 10 per cent of people tended to consistently behave in an eco-friendly way – even when going on holidays.

“In most other instances, people sometimes behave as eco-tourists and sometimes they don’t. They might have a low-flow tap but not drive an economical car. They might not save on power consumption but they do like nature.”

Eco-tourism was one way to help people see the importance of being green and ensuring they did not cause destruction at sites such as national parks.

“It is all about education. It is life-long education. They need to understand protection of nature by each person is important for sustainable tourism and keeping national parks for future generations.”

Professor Yabuta hopes to use what he has learned at the School of Tourism to help design government policies in Japan aimed at ensuring a balance between tourism development and environmental protection.

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Vote for the Ecotourism Spotlight Award!

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Government websites that engage locals and visitors about ecotourism, responsible travel and the local travel movement are eligible to win Planeta.com’s annual Ecotourism Spotlight Award.

The winner is announced in celebration of World Tourism Day (September 27) to spotlight best practices from government institutions. Nominations are accepted June 10-July 30, 2010. Voting takes place in August 2010.

The Ecotourism Spotlight Award creates incentives for communication, opportunities for conversation and a reward for participation among government leaders. Nominees receive international exposure and winners claim bragging rights!

“Locals and visitors are seeking ways to interact via ecotourism experiences,” said Planeta.com founder Ron Mader. “The Ecotourism Spotlight Award nudges government leaders toward creative and innovative ways that engage locals and visitors and inspire us all.”

Nominees include environmental, tourism and other government portals in three categories: local, national and international institutions. We will also consider private-public partnerships — websites funded by governments.

“It takes some time for awards to be recognized among likely candidates and the interested public,” Mader said. “Competition continues to grow as many government sites have spent considerable time and resources improving their online web presence.”

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Australia asks tourists to only use eco-certified tour companies

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Australia‘s marine park authority is encouraging international travellers to use only eco-certified operators when visiting the Great Barrier Reef.

Speaking to e-Travel Blackboard at ATE 2010 yesterday, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority’s Hilary Skeat said two million tourists visit the iconic site each year.

Of those tourists, around 50 percent experience the GBR with operators that have been independently certified by Ecotourism Australia, she said.

However, the marine park authority is trying to encourage more tourists to do the same.

In a partner stand with Ecotourism Australia at ATE this year, it has handed out flyers and fish-shaped stress balls inked with small reminders to visiting international buyers to book with eco-certified operators.

Skeat said that the marine authority also encouraged their own set of best practices on the reef including the use of moorings by marine park vessel operators wherever possible.

“The industry relies on a healthy Great Barrier Reef” she said.

Ecotourism Australia chief executive Kym Cheatham expressed similar sentiments, saying the “whole industry needs to worry about these things.”

“Nature is the most compelling aspect of our country. Our natural environment is the main driver for people to come here,” said Cheatham, “We all have a responsibility.”

Ecotourism Australia released earlier this week at ATE 2010 its Green Travel Guide Australia 2010/2011 which features more than 1000 Australian tourism experiences that offer responsible, ethical and sustainable tourism experiences.

“Environmentally responsible travel has huge potential for growth, as increasing numbers of domestic and international travellers choose ‘green’ holiday experiences.

“Ecotourism destinations now attract about 15% of the global tourist market and that number is climbing fast.”

Some 20 percent of tourism businesses exhibiting at ATE 2010 this year are eco-certified.
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New Mexico looking for a few good ecotourists

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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — New Mexico wants to join the ecotourism trend, promoting not only the state’s natural beauty but also outdoor adventure, cultural heritage preservation and access to wild places.

New Mexico’s ecotourism venture was launched early last year, but the actual pilot programs begin this summer around the Gila Wilderness near Silver City and Taos in northern New Mexico.

Tourism is New Mexico’s No. 2 industry, behind oil and gas production, and brings in an estimated $5.7 billion annually. And if ecotourism can be fairly described as nature-based specialty travel or wilderness experiences that enrich and educate, the state thinks it has something to offer.

Visitors are attracted by “that sense of place we have here in New Mexico,” said Deputy Tourism Secretary Jennifer Hobson, who oversees the initiative. “They want to go someplace where they can learn something, have a story to tell, meet the local people.”

In describing ecotourism, Hobson has adopted the definition of the 25-year-old International Ecotourism Society: responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people.

She said New Mexico is ahead of other states in developing a statewide program.

Ecotourism can be hiking and camping with a local guide far into the wilderness, spending a day working on a cattle ranch with a rancher or taking a photography trip on that ranch, or watching a pueblo artist create a pot during a tour with a Native American guide.

Outfitters, guides and others around New Mexico already have been doing ecotourism but “didn’t know there was a name for it,” said Sandy Cunningham of EcoNewMexico, which has a $250,000 contract with the Department of Tourism to develop the program.

Smaller communities will benefit most from the state’s effort, said Arturo Sandoval, president of the 19-year-old Center of Southwest Culture Inc., dedicated to preserving northern New Mexico’s traditional land-based communities.

Sandoval’s organization is in the third year of what he calls “heritage and cultural tourism,” recruiting people to spend a weekend cleaning out irrigation canals — known as acequias — alongside the people who use them to irrigate small farms.

This June’s effort will include a traditional matanza, or feast, a talk by an acequia expert and an evening of New Mexico music.

“Heritage and cultural tourism is tied to the real purpose of trying to help small farmers make a 21st-century income in a global economy,” Sandoval said. It brings in tourists in an unobtrusive way “that doesn’t end up with people building resort hotels.”

Cunningham said the state initiative wants to attract tourists to places that need economic development who will hire locals who “love guiding, who love hosting people.”

Currently, the average tourist spends 2.2 days in New Mexico. Cunningham said ecotourism brings in fewer people who stay longer and spend more.

Everyone from organic growers to artists and conservation groups stands to benefit “from a new and different type of traveller” who becomes passionate about something and wants to return, she said.

The program also will promote New Mexico to its residents.

Cunningham is working on a summer trip aimed at New Mexicans — two days rafting in Chama, two days llama trekking near Taos and two days camping in northern New Mexico, with such extras as fishing, mountain biking and catered meals.

The trip will highlight cultural preservation, rivers and wildlife habitat, plus local guides.

“We have the most incredible state and things you can do here, but the guides can really bring it to life,” Cunningham said.

Hobson and Cunningham see ecotourism as broadening the tourism market.

More ranchers, for example, are embracing the idea, Cunningham said. Some already open up their land during hunting season, so adding other programs offers another way to make money.

“They already have wildlife. Whether you’re shooting with a gun or a camera, it doesn’t matter,” she said.

The Silver City and Taos areas were chosen for the pilot projects after workshops that brought together groups ranging from outfitters and guides to ranchers and organic farmers.

While tourists already go to Taos and Silver City and those communities will benefit from the ecotourism pilot project, it emphasizes the rural backcountry — “not what the typical tourist is doing,” Hobson said.

“We hope to be in more rural areas in the future,” she said.

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If You Go…

New Mexico Ecotourism: http://www.newmexico.org/ecotourism/

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