Moving beyond the common ignorance that environmentalism is the sole concern of sustainability, it is obvious that holistic sustainability is both very difficult to achieve as it is incredibly desirable. In this post, I will provide an example of how this can work in tourism. Firstly though, I am thrilled that my last article provoked some thought and got a number of readers thinking about these issues! I received a number of comments of complement and question. Because of this, I would like to clarify the main points of contention.
Understandably, a few raised concerns about the place of business taking responsibility to solve environmental, social and cultural issues that are not the direct result of their own operations. The normal functioning of the society around these businesses is the role of governments, who extract tax revenue to be distributed and turned into public services like waste management, schools, maintenance of public spaces etc. And of course they are right. In theory, these are critical roles of various layers of government from local, to state and sometimes federal. The reality is different to this ideal as much of the world lacks healthy government structures. Cronyism, incompetence, largess, corruption and self-enrichment are common features of many public service systems, particularly in Developing nations. This often means the little money available for public services is syphoned off and diminished, ultimately undermining the ability to achieve consistent tangible outcomes. As I hinted at in my previous post, I believe that businesses have an ethical obligation to take up some of the mantle where required and that if calculated and planned in the right way, receive an equal share of benefits in return.
Secondly, some questioned the benefits possible to organisations engaging in sustainability and why I focussed on tourism in my article. The idea of responsibility in business is not a new one, labelled as the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Many of you would know and probably can recall programs already in place by big business. In recent times, CSR has come to the fore, as corporate board rooms compete with each other to see who can capture the hearts of Western society’s new found lust for a consumer conscience. Ronald McDonald House supporting families of children with cancer, Qantas Airways providing significant funding to UNICEF and Starlight Foundation, Ernst & Young funding an annual Young Entrepreneur competition. Many examples you will see are not addressing direct negative externalities produced by the business, nor are they directly related to their particular line of business (though some more than others). In return for participation in CSR, the primary outcome for the organisation is branding and promotional opportunities. The reason for my focus on tourism, is that it is one of the only sectors of the economy that relies heavily on the nature, quality and sustenance of the place in which it operates. A jungle tour operator has no business if the forest is logged and animals poached. Similarly, resort owners will struggle to maintain occupancy if the beach on which they rely on to attract sun-worshipers is polluted and beach eroded. The key point is that tourism businesses have an opportunity to extract benefits from sustainability that are more tangible than other sectors of the economy. If properly planned and constructed, sustainability projects can boost the tourism enterprise’s business offering by becoming an attraction in its own right and key point of differentiation. Think about the earlier McDonalds example. The main benefits from that CSR program are brand equity and some advertising opportunities. The program does not add another product to the menu board that might specifically induce you into a McDonald’s restaurant when you may not otherwise have. Tourism enterprises have both opportunities, to strengthen brand equity AND improve their product offering.
How holistic sustainability can be targetted with community-based tourism.
That brings me nicely to a Bombay-based tourism enterprise, Culture Angaan. Started five years ago, founder Rashmi set out to create new tourism industries as a form of sustainable economic development in rural India. Firstly, she quite rightly identified that the main focal point and facilitator of tourism is accommodation. Without the ability to accommodate visitors overnight, tourism is not possible in regions without airports and over four hours away from major population centres by road and rail. Culture Angaan began by meeting with precinct chiefs, hosting town meetings, and personally talking with various groups and individuals within the community. This is to determine what potential exists for the creation of a holistic tourism industry, including accommodation, attractions and other supporting services such as transport and retail opportunities. It is crucial that economic benefits from the introduction of tourism can be dispersed across the greatest number of people within the community.
Once the community itself is assessed on a macro-level, and a desire has been expressed for community participation, Culture Angaan approaches individual families who wish to create and operate homestay accommodation. These are typically famers, as it is common for family farms to have large homesteads and/or disused detached barns that can be relatively easily converted to small scale tourist accommodation. Culture Angaan acts as a quasi-franchisor, providing expertise, assistance with access to capital (if required), marketing and distribution of the finished product in return for a fee.
 |
| A Culture Angaan homestay in the southern Maharastra state region of Sindudurg. The owners operate a commercial organic farm, with accommodation being a supplimentary business to top-up their income. |
 |
| A typical meal spread. All home-made by the homestay operator, usually the same as the family would eat themselves using only locally sourced and traditionally used ingredients. Meaning minimal extra effort and cost required and additional dipersement of economic benefits. |
In the meantime, aspects of the community, particularly culture and industry that are endemic to the local area are engaged. Where appropriate, assistance in the form of expertise and funding is provided to set up galleries, run lessons for local children, to restore representations of culture. This is done with the expectation of restoring and maintaining critical aspects of the community by showing that through tourism there can be economic sustainability in these activities. See examples below of how Culture Angaan, by introducing community-based tourism, have provides social services to the community, kept alive critically endangered art forms.
 |
| Rangoli, an art form that uses coloured chalk dust. Culture Angaan set up a local school in the Sindudurg region. As part of this they engage a rangoli artist to provide lessons to the children. |
 |
| More rangoli. This provides an economic incentive for local artists to maintain the art form, as well as a unique attraction for visitors. |
 |
| A Sindudurg speciality, wooden objects including toys, utensils and fruit! |
 |
| Culture Angaan provided some original funding to help set up the Pinguli Art Museum, a modest gallery showcasing a rare local art form in string and leather puppetry as well as painted art. With the money made by selling art from the gallery, the local artist has now commissioned a much bigger museum next door. This will allow him and his brother (amongst the last remain practicioners of the art) to expand their business and keep the tradition alive. |
Dollars and cents makes sense.
This approach to tourism through community sustainability programs has created a multi-faceted product offering. Here’s an example. A typical Culture Angaan guest would spend 3 nights, at around 4,500 Rupees ($100) per night. This includes 3 nights of accommodation, 3 meals per day (full board) provided by each homestay, and various sights and activities generated from the aforementioned sustainability projects. More than enough activities to fill each day and to provide a varied experience of the region’s environment, culture and people. By itself the full-board accommodation would only be capable of returning $50 to $60 per night. What this means is that through sustainability projects, Culture Angaan have not only provided additional attractions that together might induce custom, it has also enabled product bundling. Fundamentally, this enables Culture Angaan to obtain $100 per night, instead of $50-60. Some of this money goes to funding the individual attractions and the rest increases the profitability of the business.
It is important to bear in mind that most localised sustainability projects need not be cash sinks or black holes. Many require minimal financial investment and a little time and effort to get started. Furthermore, as I mentioned in my previous post, collaboration with NGOs and charities can further reduce financial outlay and personal effort required.
There are many more examples that I could discuss, but in the interests of keeping this article at a reasonable length I will finish it there. If you desire to learn more, hear more examples or chat generally about tourism and sustainability feel free to drop me an email.
No comments:
Post a Comment