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Posted: 3-13-2009 23:25 | All replies by this member

Tourism Development

Destination residents need knowledge of the tourism industry and its potential effects (Kadir
Din, 1993). Local communities cannot take part in decisions about tourism development if
they do not understand the industry. They need to understand the pros and cons and how
tourism could impact on their lives (Scheyvens, 2003). They need knowledge of the different
forms that tourism can take and the advantages and disadvantages of the different types.
They need to understand about carrying capacities and the limits to growth. Knowledge of
leakages and linkages is linked both to tourists’ desire for local products and maximising the
economic gains from tourism –– it is therefore crucial information to provide.
In terms of tourism development, local ownership of all facilities will maximise the
retention of profits and maintain control in local hands. It is imperative that residents are
made aware of this. Maintaining ownership of the resource base is critical to the long-term
success of any community-based tourism. Unfortunately, there are too many cases where
villagers have been forced to give up their land. As Johnston (2003) discusses, an important
aspect of community education is about human rights, how they are defined and the
best avenues and tools for protecting them. It is imperative that villagers are made aware
that selling their land to outsiders represents a loss of their potential to control the development
tourism in the future. However, as many analysts have suggested, a lack of finance
is a major limiting factor for many community tourism initiatives and therefore joint ventures
need to be given consideration (Scheyvens, 2003).
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Posted: 3-13-2009 23:26 | All replies by this member

Product Development

In order to gain some economic benefit to offset the inconvenience of having tourists in their
midst, local communities need to be furnished with an understanding of what tourists will
spend their money on and how local skills and crafts can be turned to economic advantage.
There are two general areas where linkages can frequently be made: agriculture/food and
crafts/souvenirs. A number of lessons could be shared as part of community education: sales
are greater when tourists get an opportunity to see the production process. Tourists often
want smaller, “taster” versions of local products. Crafts can be made more appealing to
tourists if they act as a memento through being a tangible representation (Graburn, 1987).
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Posted: 3-13-2009 23:26 | All replies by this member

Marketing

If a community wants to develop tourism then some training and capacity building in marketing
will be essential. Even high-profile community development initiatives such as
CAMPFIRE have low occupancy rates due to poor marketing (Scheyvens, 2003). As
Ashley et al. (2001) discuss, access to markets is a crucial factor limiting many pro-poor
tourism initiatives. An understanding of the tourism system will help communities understand
the need to make links with tour operators. As tourism develops, increasing numbers
of tourists travel to remote regions with intermediaries. Tour operators wield considerable
power over tourist itineraries and activities. It is therefore necessary to make links with
domestic and international tour operators so that they can channel their clients and market
the villages’ tourism potential on the villagers’ behalf. One of the failures of the home-stay
developments in Bena was the lack of link with operators that would bring their tourists to
stay in them. Developed by the Provincial Tourism Department, their lack of use is testimony
to the futility of developing infrastructure without markets.
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Posted: 3-13-2009 23:26 | All replies by this member

Finance

Both cash flow and reinvestment are areas that frequently need skills development. Many
organizations in Uganda were keen to take profits immediately and not reinvest profits
(Victurine, 2000). In poor communities the temptation not to reinvest is great but the
importance of longer-term financial planning is essential if projects are to be sustainable
in the long term. Further areas of training that are needed are in basic book keeping, charging
realistic prices, and in inventory planning so that tourists’ requests can be catered for.
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Posted: 3-13-2009 23:27 | All replies by this member

Food Services and Hygiene

In order for tourists to stay for more than a day or so in a community tourism project, consideration
needs to be given to the types of meals provided. As Lipscomb (1998) suggests
tourists soon tire of the typical Solomon Island meal of boiled white rice with some slippery
cabbage on top. Similarly, in Ngadha tourists will not put up with rice and instant noodle for
very many days. Victurine (2000) reports that in Uganda the standard of the food was the
cause of tourists departing early. Consideration needs to be given to menu variety, the use of
local products, balanced meals including plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. Many villagers
will provide high protein, expensive to produce meals for tourists, as these represent “giving
your guests the best”. However, these meals are frequently not appreciated by tourists, some
because they are vegetarians, and others because the meat is tough, too fatty, or full of bones,
in other words the meat does not live up to tourists’ expectations. Food provision is linked to
cross-cultural (mis)-understanding, for example, in Indonesia it is normal to use the feet of
chicken (with claws clipped and cleaned) in soup. Tourists have been observed pushing their
soup away in disgust on seeing a chicken foot, and thus offending their host by refusing food
offered (Cole, 2004a). Tourists are often appalled by food preparation and kitchen hygiene
standards in other cultures. While basic hygiene lessons are important, strategies to put a distance
between tourists and food preparation are also necessary.
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Posted: 3-13-2009 23:27 | All replies by this member

Teaching Methods

Very little literature exists on the delivery of training programmes designed to encourage
further participation. Marien and Pizam (1997) provide an in-depth analysis of citizen participation
in the planning process. However, many of the techniques are not suitable for
remote marginal communities, for example, they suggest television, e-mail and the internet
to send and gather information –– clearly not appropriate for villages without access
to electricity. Similarly, newspapers and bulletin boards would exclude many who lack
literacy skills. Although many studies refer to the need for capacity building for rural/propoor/
community-based tourism, methods of delivery of such support has received little, if
any, discussion. Villagers in remote marginal communities frequently cannot leave their
homes for long training sessions and do not have the academic qualifications to attend
courses in established educational institutions. Support needs to be of a high quality and
on going nature. As Scheyvens (2003): suggests, “sending a few members on various oneweek
training courses and expecting them to return home and become skilled marketers or
business managers virtually overnight, is simply unrealistic”.
With reference to ecotourism training, the World Wildlife Fund suggests that short, technical
courses have little impact. Longer courses, including learning by doing and on the job
training, have proved more successful. However, such methods would not be best suited to
some aspects of the curriculum discussed earlier. Learning by observing other projects and
places in action can be very fruitful, it would give the villagers an opportunity to be tourists
themselves and appreciate some of the successes and pitfalls of tourism (Cole, 2003).
Focus groups can also be a useful method to transfer knowledge into a community.
Ngadha villagers used focus groups, which I set up for my research, to probe my knowledge
and experience. During the research, villagers frequently complained about culturally
insensitive behaviour by tourists. The focus groups allowed a discussion on this and possible
solutions to the problems. The villagers were able to learn from me what is done
about similar problems in other regions (with a longer history of tourism or greater numbers
of tourists) and discuss whether these solutions would be appropriate in their own setting.
Furthermore, the villagers used the focus groups to glean information about tourism
development and to clarify issues and positions held by officialdom (as they knew I had
interviewed tourism officials at the regency and provincial levels) (Cole, 2004b).
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Posted: 3-13-2009 23:28 | All replies by this member

Conclusions

Increasing numbers of villagers in remote marginal communities of less developed countries
are in the tourism front line. They lack experience of tourism and frequently are unable to
access any formal education and training. While there is an extensive debate on the curriculum
and teaching methods for tourism workers and undergraduate programmes, there is a
dearth of literature about the content and methods of community education programmes.
To date, government programmes have emphasised quality service provision, i.e. providing
for the needs of the tourists. Such programmes are an attempt to get support
for tourism and represent the bottom end of the participation ladder. They do not
educate residents about tourism development issues or develop confidence and skills for
empowerment.
Using the case study of villagers in Ngadha, this thread has illustrated the need for
community-wide esteem building, cross-cultural understanding as well as education about
tourism development and what tourists want. It also suggests that education about product
development, marketing, finance and food and hygiene would aid communities that aspire
to develope a tourism initiative. Further research and dissemination of best practise is
required about methods appropriate to deliver informal community tourism education to
build on the suggestions that field trips and focus groups are useful. Short courses appear
unsuccessful and the process needs to be long term and ongoing.
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