A guide to sustainable tourism in developing countries
Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/1274933
Standard practice is to pre-determine how the trial will be assessed before the trial commences with reference to topics of interest or concern for local communities or other stakeholders such as: • Quality of local water or a designated water source. • Noise levels generated by visitors and operations. • Crimes reported as a consequence of the initiative. • Money spent in the local community by visitors. • Satisfaction of visitors with the tourism experience or activity. Parameters for determining whether the trial was 'acceptable' and could therefore go ahead or 'not acceptable' and would need to be abandoned or amended and re-trialled. Standard industry protocols identified when implementing monitoring activities include: • Provide easy-to-use channels to facilitate the return of information. • Oversee and manage the monitoring process. • Make public the raw data as it is obtained to demonstrate the commitment to transparency, honesty and openness. • Obtaining photographic evidence for the distribution of images and video. • Using technology and equipment to take basic measurements. • Gathering anecdotal evidence through being proactive. • Collect objective environmental data. • Prove openness and transparency of the project. • Supplement use of local communities and stakeholders with the use of a recognised professional, external consultant who has experience with tourism initiatives and environmental monitoring. • Solicit feedback from the local community and staff. • Collaborate with local authorities to manage issues caused by or related to the activity. It is critical to identify important points when evaluating trial data, by analysing positive and negative impacts. In theory, every tourism trial holds the potential to generate positive and negative outcomes, so the evaluation needs to be alerted to identifying, describing and quantifying both potential results to achieve balanced and unbiased findings. It should highlight any difficulties, problems or issues which occurred during the trial period and had an impact on the data that was collected. • Involve the stakeholders in the process to demonstrate transparency and to avoid conducting the evaluation behind closed doors and generating results and recommendations (findings of the trial) in private. • Explain the methodology used to undertake the evaluation – so those reading the findings can understand. • Generate a set of clear and distinct findings from the evaluation, which can be presented as the basis for moving the sustainable tourism project forward. • Communicate the outcomes of the trial by sharing, publishing or otherwise widely communicating the findings. Element 4 – EVALUATE MINIMAL IMPACT OPERATIONS 52