Marketing Ecology:
Tour Operators Are Discovering Profits & Nature Can Coexist

Nature-based tourism has long enjoyed popularity in Mexico, from hikers who climb the country's volcanos to sport-fishing fanatics. There are growing numbers of tourists who come to Mexico to enjoy the natural environment. They are no longer content to lie on sun-soaked beaches and meditate to the sound of crashing waves and Michael Jackson tunes - especially when native birds sing their choruses in the nearby forests.

Enter the concept of "ecotourism." Instead of creating huge tourist complexes from small fishing villages (like Acapulco, Cancun,etc.), the ecotourism industry highlights the local biological diversity, as well as the surrounding towns and villages.

Tourism industry leaders acknowledge a growing demand among their clients to search out environment-friendly destinations, and are now catering to a growing market.

Eco-travelers don't expect air-conditioned suites. Many want to immerse themselves in the adventure of getting to know a particular place, and they have choices running from relatively expensive educational cruises to simple backpacking trips thought the countryside.

A Growth Industry
There are still no standard criteria for determining what is and is not ecotourism, however. Most of its supporters think it should assure travelers - and local leaders - that some of the financial resources spent on vacations will remain in the area to protect the environment and bolster the local economy.

In the past, Tourism Ministry (Sectur) campaigns would highlight Mexican destinations that resembled European or U.S. cities. Now Sectur and local operators are emphasizing less developed areas as unique destinations.

Mexico is considered a mega-diversity country - only Columbia, Peru, Brazil and Indonesia have a greater number of species - but Mexican tour operators are just discovering the profit potential in these lush natural resources. These include the Sea of Cortez, Sian Ka'an biosphere reserve, and the white gypsum dunes of Cuatro Cienegas, Coahuila, recently featured in National Geographic. Mexico also has the Copper Canyon and the lion's share of the Maya World.

The only obstacle travelers have in accessing these places is poor communication. For those who do not book ahead, there is little information waiting for them upon arrival in Mexico. When a traveler flies into Cancun, the tourist kiosks have plenty of materials on jet skis and underwater submarines, but little information on the world famous Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve, and absolutely no resources to guide you to the Um Balam reserve.

"People have seen tourism grow from nothing to 2 million visitors a year in Cancun," said Juan Bezaury, director of Sian ka'an. "They want tourism to develop but they want control over that development."

While government tourism offices in countries such as Costa Rica and Ecuador provide a smorgasbord of information on environmental highlights - including names and histories of national parks and reserves, and above all, maps - Sectur has only recently developed its information infrastructure.

Until 1995, it was virtually impossible to get a map of Mexico's national parks and biosphere reserves. These places were charted only in official papers and scientific literature. This is changing. Sectur and Mexico's Environment Ministry recently collaborated on a color map of thse protected areas.

Where the Wild Things Are
The campaign slogan: "Dejate conquistar por nuestros Parques Nacionales!" (Let our national parks win you over!) is creative. But how do you get to where the wild things are? "We're working more and more with state tourism offices," said Sectur's Francisco Madrid, who coordinates much of the ecotourism work occurring throughout Mexico.

"Veracruz, for example, has an expanding market of white-water rafting. While Mexico develops its natural attractions, the question will be how it develops management plans for these areas. "You have to have an idea of what the carrying capacity is for a park," says Jerry Mallet, president of the Colorado-based Adventure Travel Society, or you risk dangerous overuse."

The Risks
Another area of concern is local participation. Ecotourism succeeds when it not only benefits local communities, but involves them from start to finish. This is the case on the northern border, where linkages between Tamaulipas and Texas promote tourism to both the El Cielo and Cuatro Cienegas Biosphere Reserves.

"Ecotourism efforts must be kept in local hands to be successful," explains Maria Araujo, international affairs director for Texas parks and Wildlife. "Money that comes into the area must remain there."

Keeping the financial revenues in a rural setting and in local hands remains a challenge to the traditional manner of developing tourism, Araujo says. But it will be the only way to assure the local community of the value of preserving the habitat the tourists have come to see.

Those to Follow
Mexico's interest in ecotourism stems from the fact that it is a burgeoning industry. Rather than looking to the U.S. for a model, it has been turning south to its neighbors in Central and South America.

Costa Rica and Ecuador, for example, have made numerous economic and environmental gains promoting this type of tourism. A major source of Costa Rica's hard currency is nature-based ecotourism, last year the Costa Rican government presented a strategy to preserve 90% of the nation's biodiversity, providing incentives to landowners who safeguard their property. Nobody wants to tour a deforested mountainside, bereft of wildlife.

In Belize, government officials ban the construction of tourist facilities greater than two stories high. Investment must come from local or joint-venture sources. Tourist programs are run that simultaneously improve the habitat of the howler monkey and other local species.

Ecotourism, says Pepe Herrera, a partner in Rios Honduras rafting company, offers an alternative to petroleum refining and other industrial options that are not environmentally-friendly." "The tourism ministers say 'we don't want more backpackers,' but I point out that many of these backpackers carry the VISA Gold card."

By Ron Mader. Publishes the newsletter, El Planetica Platica: Eco Travels in Latin America and hosts the Ecotravel website, http://www.planeta.com.
ron@txinfinet.com

Excerpted from El Financiero International


Indigenous Ecotourism: An Example

In the Ecuadorian Amazon, a growing number of indigenous people are turning to ecotourism as an alternative to expanded commercial agriculture. In Napo Province, over a dozen Quicha communities have formed an ecotourist network to support and promote their projects.

The Community of Rio Blanco
Rio Blanco was founded in 1971 by Quichua migrants from the Andean foothills, where, as a result of population growth and immigration of mestizo agricultural colonists, the supply of land grew short. Since 1971, their economy has shifted from subsistence agriculture and hunting, to cash crops such as coffee, cacao, rice and maize.

In the ecotourist project's first year, 150 tourists visited. Each family earned about $100, or about 1/5th of their yearly income. Most members would like to receive 300 tourists this year, thus maintaining the project's small scale.

Whereas the people of Rio Blanco rarely spend time in primary forst, owing to their agricultural obligations, tourists spend virtually all their time in promary forest. Few tourists interviewed believed commercial agriculture was a significant part of the community's economy, implying they had learned little about a central aspect of community life.

While not all Quichua respondents indicated they saw the connection between tourism and forest preservation, a growing conservationist ethic among members suggest that such a linkage is evolving. Most respondents reported they would rather increase tourism than agricultural production, but nearly half also said they intended to clear more forest for cultivation.

Until the community decides how much trust it can place in ecotourism as a reliable and sustainable economic activity, agriculture will probably continue to expand.

Excerpted From El Planeta Platica
www.planeta.com