By Clive Mutame Siachiyako
Sustainability
is a buzzword and desirable practice in many sectors in order to take care of
today’s development without comprising the development of the future. Likewise,
sustainable tourism practices are being embedded in tourism to meet tourists’ ecological
preferences in tourist destinations they visit or plan to visit. After
assessing the South Luangwa National Park’s potential to meet tourism needs of
current and future generations, the United Nations World Tourism Organisation
(UNWTO) declared the national park Sustainable
Wildlife Sanctuary. It is it the first to get that status in Africa.
The
national park’s declaration was made during conference in Lusaka to commemorate
2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development. The
UNWTO Secretary General Dr. Taleb Rifai made the pronouncement.
The
Conference was held under the theme “Sustainable
Tourism, a tool for inclusive growth and community engagement in Africa.” The
symposium came at the backdrop of the framework of the 70th United
Nations General Assembly in December 2015, which designated the year 2017 as
the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development. The designation
of the year 2017 is an important milestone in the 2030 UN Agenda and in the
progress towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and
recognising tourism as a pillar of development.
Among
other areas, the conference focused on sustainable tourism that benefits host
communities of resources that attract tourists. Its deliberations were around
continuous capacity building through [re]training so that as the tourism
landscape changes, human resources to manage tourist sites are reskilled to
keep the tourism sector in each country competitive. Identification of
ecological tourism (ecotourism) skills and how to impart them on human resource
in the sector was viewed an important aspect to tourism.
Deliberations
on identifying ecotourism skills during the symposium were on: a) what kind of
skills and knowledge were required for sustainable tourism, b) how will they be
imparted (training system/methodology) on individuals working in the sector, c)
who will offer the training (training providers), and d) what type of training
will it be (short or long term).
Sustainable
tourism is gaining prominence in tourism, inter alia, because of tourists’
preferences in minimising carbon footprint of their traveling or eating. They
thus travel with climate in mind by planning wisely and choosing modes of
travel/food stuffs consciously. Sustainable tourist sites that are as natural
as possible, that provide organic food stuffs or use environmental friendly
transport systems become preferred destinations to climate minded tourists.
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| South Luangwa National Park is habitat to many wildlife |
Other conference storylines were on how host
communities can benefit from ecotourism, especially when they are vested with
skills/knowledge that give them an edge to apply themselves amid changing
tourist preferences and other sectoral dynamics. Research on emerging trends
and designing training systems that ensured relevant human capital availability
to harness sustainable tourism topped the discussions. The conference was the
first flagship on sustainable tourism activities earmarked for different
countries.
The
conference also focused on partnerships
between the public and private sector towards developing sustainable,
quality and innovative tourism products. It
provided public and private sector practitioners chance to share experiences on
opportunities and difficulties to successfully collaborate on tourism
development. Participants looked at partnership models that contributed to job
creation, connectivity and inclusive growth in areas such as infrastructure,
development finance, and service delivery.
Some difficulties cited in the sector included; a)
access to finances b) access to land c) cost of doing business d) easy access
to some tourist sites by tourists due to poor road infrastructure or lack of
air transport to such destinations, and e) limited specialty training.
Financial inabilities have excluded local people from tourism business
opportunities. Inclusive growth should thus embrace financial inclusion to
ensure local people become part of the sector. The cost of doing business and
moving tourists from one place to another hinders most players in the sector to
remain viable. Furthermore, limited specialised training excluded local people
from the sector and frustrated them when they see outsiders earn good income
from resources they [local people] should equally benefit from in terms of
livelihood. Some training requirements cited were to do with making cuisines,
handicrafts, jewelry and others.
Other areas of interest during the conference were
the role of technology in and for tourism
development. Discussions were on advances in electronic-based information
and communication technologies that contribute to the improvement of the value
chain of services/products and to help develop viable sustainable models that mitigated
some negative impacts of tourism. Opportunities for enterprises and tourism
destinations to use technologies in a strategic and tactical manner to improve
their position in the market while benefiting from the new customer trends were
explored.
Global tourism trends show that contemporary
customers were digital travelers. They are tech-savvy and tech-utilisers to get
as much information as they want about potential destinations and their
packages. Affordability of internet bundles emerged as a handy aspect in
creating opportunities for customers and enterprise owners to consistently
update their offers and respond to issues almost instantaneously to meet
digital travelers’ expectations. Training needs around this topic were on a)
information communication technology (ICT) literacy among entrants in the
sector b) the need to upgrade curriculum for improved quality of skills and
ability to entrants into the sector to utilise ICTs to maximise their potential
in marketing their services and products c) training institutions’ deficiencies
in terms of having modern training equipment in ICT and qualified trainers.
The conference further looked at “wildlife conservation and community
engagement”. Ideas were shared addressing increasing levels of poaching and
illicit trade of wildlife products that threatened achievements made in leisure
tourism niche market. The UNWTO places Zambia top in providing wildlife viewing,
nature destinations, adventure trips and cultural heritage tours. However, poaching
and illicit trade of wildlife products endanger some of the most iconic species
of Zambia. Wildlife conservation emerged as a valuable priority as it also
contributes to job creation and engagement of local communities into tourism
activities so that they are not left behind.
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