Ecotourism and the Web of Life

In an effort to support conservation organisations to develop sustainable tourism, Kuoni, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) have recently embarked on a joint project in East Africa.  Conservation organisations in this region see the potential of linking their conservation efforts to economic development via small-scale ecotourism businesses but have little knowledge of the tourism market. The focus of the project is to provide them with the business skills necessary to design successful ecotourism products and to support marketing initiatives.

By targeting community-based organisations and ecotourism businesses, the project has raised awareness on the need for effective and responsible tourism management near protected areas. The unchecked encroachment of mass tourism development on natural areas of high biodiversity should be minimised thereby.

The project has three aims:

• To gain a deeper understanding of the market and natural contexts of the region by identifying conservation organizations active in tourism in the region
• To build capacity by bringing together the conservation and business communities to build business skills and share experiences for successful ecotourism development via a workshop
• To ensure continuity of the learning from the workshop by establishing a platform for exchanging experiences, for example, of marketing practices

Workshop in Kenya

A training workshop took place in June 2011 in Nairobi, Kenya which brought together 35 participants from approximately 20 organizations located in Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda. The participation included conservation organizations, community organizations and protected area managers and covered 6 themes: market context, ecotourism potential, business planning, sustainability in the tourism industry, health & safety, and marketing, sales & customer care.