Eco - Tourism - The Nature Business! - Neville Coleman

With every scuba diving, snorkeling eco tourism destination it is always more advantageous if there is a Wildlife Guide ID book available for visitors to identify and relate to the nature around them. This service not only provides guests and visitors with the opportunity record the points of interest, but also the many creatures they see each day.
From the business side of things it makes good sense.The Wildlife ID book goes home with each guest and is shared with friends and family and 'Show and Tell' becomes the basis for more business in the future.

Neville Coleman's Marine Life Identification eGuide has prooved an excellent example of this philosophy, and is now a well established eco tourism App.

Eco-tourism has been described as Travel that accomplishes conservation and sustains the well-being of local people (TIES). 
Seeing as I helped to pioneer eco-tourism ideas throughout the Indo-Pacific I would like to describe how I see eco-tourism.

"Travel that accomplishes conservation, sustains the well-being of local people and contributes to the knowledge and understanding of nature and natural resources."
Successful eco-tourism is a series of partnerships between traditional owners, government, business, local residents and visitors working together for the advancement of all interests.

 

Wakatobi Dive Resort ( Indonesia) runs a number of good examples of
eco - tourism operations, both land based and with their live aboards.           ( photo: Courtesy of Wakatobi Dive Resort, Indonesia)

Unfortunately not everybody's idea of eco - tourism is based on any criteria of "best practice" of what eco-tourism really amounts to. 

From personal experience I can state that none of the travel agents I have made it my business to seek out have had any understanding of eco-tourism, let alone the meaning of "wildlife". Most just sell a package tour from a brochure.   

Certainly, there are hundreds of travel guide books, to every known place and most are excellent with a wealth of information regarding travel tips, descriptions of what to see and where to go.  Very few give more than rudimentary information on the flora or fauna, and wildlife is represented by one or two images of obscure creatures, yet, what would an eco-tour be without wildlife?

My early eco - tourism experience was gained first hand during the early 70's and 80's spending my surface intervals guiding tourists around the low tide reefs at Heron Island on the Great Barrier Reef.( photo: Neville Coleman)

A customer paying for what has been advertized as a marine life eco-tour expects to see wildlife. Snorkelling along a sandy beach that has been advertized as a coral reef paradise may be great for me , but for the average tourist (however dedicated)  needs to see more AND they need someone to point out and explain about creatures they are seeing.

There is information (from USA) to suggest that most eco-tourists are between 35 and 54 years old, equal numbers of males and females and are mostly college graduates. 

The North West coast of Australia has very large areas of high tidal movement and vast areas of coastal shoreline is exposed. In the early 80's I ran the first Marine Naturalist courses for the public at many of the isolated towns and outposts. Entire families came out on these excursions to learn about their low tide reefs.                 ( photo: Neville Coleman) 

 

Travel preference surveys concluded that most eco-tourists want

(1) Wilderness and undisturbed nature
(2) Wildlife viewing and learning
(3) Hiking, trekking, diving or snorkelling
(4) New experiences and places,
(5) Taking part in conservation projects
(6) Interaction with local people (cultural experiences)

 

Eco-tourism in the Asia/Indo-Pacific regions

Based on a good foundation of eco - tourism over many years Tawali Resort in Milne Bay Papua New Guinea is the only dive resort in the Milne bay Province, with 2 live aboards which can visit far away areas of the bay. The dive guides are very experienced and are excellent at seeking out the many fantastic critters.      ( Copyright photo: Roger Steene)

The developing nations, republics and kingdoms with their increasing populations of Melanesian and Polynesian ni-local people and the many melting pot cultures with hundreds of local languages, tribal lifestyles of extended families, custom land seesaws, varying social status issues and 'pay-back' has operated for many thousands of years.

Not long ago land belonged to whoever had the strongest tribe to hold it.  If more land was needed or a dispute arose, the strongest went to war, annihilated the weaker and took whatever they wanted.  The weaker paid tribute to the stronger.

Extended families means that everybody connected by bloodline is family (Wantoks).  Everything/body in the family belonged to everybody so that ownership, apart from personal objects, was unknown. 

If everybody owned on a communal basis, stealing didn't exist inside the Wantok system.  Persons just borrowed stuff and when it was needed by another person they borrowed it back.  Nobody built a house on their own, everybody helped one another.  This system evolved over thousands of years and worked very well in village life.  Many of these traditions continue even today and although the Christian missionaries and their British, Portuguese, Dutch and Spanish warships and canons discouraged head hunting, cannibalism and bare-breasted/legged women, in many places, little has changed.

Most Pacific nations have compulsory school attendance, secondary high schools (and more being built), colleges and/or universities.  Education, however, costs!  Families have to pay for the education of their children and sometimes it takes the combined efforts and money of an entire village to send one student to university.  Yet there are few jobs in many developing countries which pay as much as the same type of job in Australia or New Zealand. 

For many educated nationals it is much better to work offshore and send the money back to support the village or family that assisted with their education.  This means that traditionally, many educated younger people go overseas.  Some develop their own local businesses with village or family support and many of these small  businesses depend partly on the supply and demand of tourism.

Past exploitation

Just as the stronger ni-Pacific tribes took what they wanted from each other, so too did the British, French, Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese tribes conquer and take what they wanted; from slaves, to timber, copra, fishing rights, land and other resources.

Independence returned the land but in many instances, the "precious" woods and other tradeable resources were no longer viable exports.  The 20th and 21st centuries have seen unparalleled tourism development in many areas.  Tourism provided the opportunity to local persons for employment and gave a boost to the local garden markets, cattle industry and fishermen in providing food for the resorts.

Tourism could be seen as the basis for (in some cases) supplying a major boost to island nation economies.  Certainly, before September 11, tourism everywhere was booming.  Post-September 11 has seen dramatic changes in the numbers of people taking overseas holidays.  Internal strife in politics with coups and uprisings didn't help some places much and it is only towards the end of 2004 that things are beginning to look better on the tourism fronts.

The challenge of tomorrow ( photo: Neville Coleman)


The future of eco - tourism.

If we as divers can encourage a greater interest in everything underwater for even the youngest visitors they will become the eco -tourist divers of the future and ensure that the "nature business" is in good health for many years to come.

Future challenges

Although eco-tourism as an ideal has a similar philosophy to all, there are no guidelines standardised as to the acceptable limitations by all parties deploying eco-tourism advertising.  Very few organisations or operators have even rudimentary educational materials for customers.  This is understandable in many cases as many areas are unknown entities regarding their wildlife and resources, even to those that grew up there.

Education the key element!

"The lack of biological data is the most critical threat to all creatures, for without it we have no understanding of what exists, let alone how to manage, or conserve it".
                                                  (Underwater Naturalist, Neville Coleman 2004).

 "Learning is the greatest adventure" The future of marine eco - tourism depends on how much we can encourage our new students to develop a sense of participation and to guide them towards becoming future explorers by taking part in fauna surveys and teach tours that will enable us to continue base line studies of all the major dive sites throughout the Asia/Indo- Pacific.( photo: Neville Coleman)

Without documentation of recognising what exists there are no terms of reference for education to take place, nor resource management to occur.  Many of the most important eco-tourism nations in the Indo-Pacific region are still evolving and their development is restricted by struggling economies and inadequate management of resources.  Even though conservation areas and marine parks may be gazetted there is no funding for rangers or staff and with nobody responsible these areas are open to exploitation and poaching by all, as many are seen as owned by all, but claimed by none.

Local support

The future of eco-tourism in developing countries can only be long term and effective if it generates a future for local advancements in employment and education.  Once eco-tourism becomes a suitable employer it will be possible to motivate local residents to be more protective of their resources.

In many places, this is not the case and quite often few tourist dollars get back to the villages.  By far the best idea is for the village to run its own eco-tourism experiences on its own land, thereby ensuring local employment and protective custody of their communal land. (Much the same way Mele Village in Vila, Vanuatu manages its own Cascades waterfalls eco-experiences).

Principles of eco-tourism

(1) Successful eco-tourism is a series of partnerships between traditional owners, government, business, local residents and visitors working together for the advancement of all interests.

(2) Eco-tourism on land, or aquatically orientated, serves to share the natural environment and its wildlife with visitors in a way that natural values and cultural values remain integral, yet allowing the visitor an enjoyable educational experience while benefiting all parties.

(3) Environmental education and interpretation are some of the most important requirements of ensuring long term viability in the eco-tour industry.  By developing knowledge banks and authentic story lines regarding all aspects of wildlife or eco-experiences, tour guides and dive guides can provide visitors with genuine items of interest therefore expanding the visitors amazement of what they are seeing. In many cases visitor satisfaction adds up to repeat visits which results in better business for all.

(4) The visitors eco-experience should enhance their perceptions, expand their knowledge and contribute to their understanding of nature at a level that not only educates, but also entertains.

However, it defeats the purpose to have principles or rules that do not readily apply to local conditions.  While the principles of successful eco-tourism can be aligned with good business principles, what is characteristic in developed countries may not even be possible yet in developing nations.  Yet, if a set of eco-tourism principles for each situation was developed it would at least give operators and visitors some guidelines towards what is acceptable procedure.

Eco - tourism day trips along the Great Barrier Reef has been  possible by the development of giant catamarans and anchored pontoons where hundreds of
eco - experience visitors come daily to observe the local wildlife on snorkel and
the more adventuresome to try out a discovery dive.( photo: Neville Coleman)  

Developing Eco-tourism

For it to be successful, eco-tourism must be internationally competitive and viable at a local level. If we look at why a greater number of visitors are opting for eco-tourism experiences on their visits, it appears that eco-tourism meets the demand for a more involved experience beyond the traditional "sightseeing", "places on the map" tours.

Eco-tourism visitors who venture to nature-based venues desire more intense interactive experiences which encourage their natural curiosity and leads to a better understanding of nature.

Several ways to develop the eco-industry might be:

(1) To research the range of opportunities that exist within each biogeographic region. Reefwalks, snorkelling, scuba diving, hiking, spotlighting, biking, kayaking?

(2) Expand the knowledge base of the natural resources (fauna and flora listings)

(2A) Make up photo albums (or DVD's) of local wildlife so that visitors or guests can see instant visuals of the areas they might like to visit

(2B) Keep records of wildlife sightings or contact research persons who may have tame native wildlife, or endemic flowers in their gardens.

(2C) Include visits to botanical gardens, wildlife parks, zoos or accessable marine research facilites etc, or check out sea shore reefs at low tide.

(3) Develop interactive possibilities with local experts in specific fields, especially retired enthusiasts.

(4) Encourage active participation involving visitors and guests into taking part in wildlife surveys, observations and photography and contributing to resort wildlife photo albums, DVD's, or Laptop visuals.

(5) Encourage the possibility of having a Wildlife Guide published to encourage interest and to show visitors the possibilities of what kinds of creatures may be seen and to help promote the region.

The digital cameras of today are not only efficient but cheap and it does
not take much to produce  worthwhile images that can be used
as a record species at any locality.( photo: Neville Coleman)

Aquatic possibilities

In regard to what might be managed to develop eco-tourism for snorkellers and divers across the Indo-Pacific region there are many ways towards building better business.

(1) Project AWARE already has a brochure with Ten ways a diver can protect the underwater environment.  These voluntary imposed commonsense suggestions can be applied to most eco-tourism resorts dealing with reef walking, snorkelling and scuba diving.

(2) Those resorts and dive operators established in developing countries are in a position to encourage eco-tourism ideals in their area and create opportunities to increase the education of their local employees.

Local dive masters, instructors and dive guides can only impart the knowledge they are taught or have learnt themselves.  It is on their shoulders to not only provide a safe enjoyable dive experience but also point out wildlife of significant interest to guests and visitors. 

The more that guides know about the aquatic environment and its inhabitants the better they can "sell" the value of what visitors are being shown on behalf of their employer.  To do this they must have the opportunity to learn the basics of marine identification at a more in-depth level beyond the usual shark, turtle, barracouta, ray sightings and swims around the reef. 

By learning more about the plants and animals they can increase the eco-experience of the divers they are guiding by pointing out more wildlife and later showing guests what they saw in reference books from the resort library.  The value of knowing what "critters" (wildlife) exist around the reefs and dive sites and having guides that know the animals and can find them for divers and underwater photographers cannot be emphasised too much.

Many dive resorts owe much of their success to extent of their wildlife and their dive guides who know where divers can see various (valued species) because these critters have featured in articles in dive magazines and websites.

Aquatic eco-tourism industry

Certainly some individual resorts in the industry have come a long way in the last 20 years.  Today, the expertise, training courses and reference guides are available throughout the entire Indo-Pacific.  It  is only a matter of tailoring training programs for individual areas, beginning local fauna surveys and inspiring the community to take part in developing eco-tourism which will benefit all.

 



Loloata Dive Resort at Port Moresby Papua New Guinea has made extroardinary headway into the scuba diving eco - tourism business over the 30 years I have been visiting there. The foresight of its manager Mr. Dik Knight and its board of directors has seen it grow from a run down chicken farm to one of the most well equipped and well run dive centres in the Pacific area. The dive crew are without doubt some of the best in the business AND they know their critters and where to find them.( photo: Neville Coleman)

We must provide ways to elevate the knowledge of all stakeholders and encourage the value of participation by all concerned and from my position as a pioneer of marine eco - tourism, I will be doing my best to make it happen.

World of Water Wildlife Guides