Lecture responsible tourism unit 8 responsible tourism impact monitoring for sustainability

Responsible tourism impact monitoring ensures tourism development is strategicIdentifies indicators Sets targets Promotes effective monitoring Requires evaluation of results Fosters ad

UNIT 8 RESPONSIBLE TOURISM

IMPACT MONITORING FOR SUSTAINABILITY

Unit outline

Objectives

By the end of the unit participants will be able to:

• Explain how to apply research skills and analyse

captured data

• Explain how to design success criteria and

performance indicators for monitoring and

evaluating tour products and services

• Explain how to interpret research output on impacts

of tourism products and services

• Explain how to implement principles of continuous

improvement in monitoring and product

development

Topics

1 Overview of responsible tourism impact monitoring for sustainability

2 Planning & organising a monitoring programme

3 Developing monitoring indicators

4 Implementing , adapting & improving a monitoring programme

TOPIC 1 OVERVIEW OF RESPONSIBLE TOURISM IMPACT MONITORING FOR SUSTAINABILITY

UNIT 8 RESPONSIBLE TOURISM IMPACT MONITORING FOR SUSTAINABILIY

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The role and importance of tourism impact

monitoring

destinations are always changing

evaluating and managing change

– Improve understanding about the

effects of tourism

– Identify where improvement is

needed and where change is

occurring

– Enable destinations and businesses

to remain competitive

4

A tourism world without monitoring…

• Without data of tourism

conditions and trends that

monitoring provides, planners

and managers:

– Cannot assure stakeholders of the

reliability of their decisions;

– Cannot respond to public concerns and criticisms; and

– Cannot properly fulfil their responsibilities or judge the

effectiveness of their actions.

• Moreover, if planners and managers do not undertake

the monitoring, someone else will – and such monitoring

may well be biased Adapted from: Eagles, P., McCool, S & Haynes, C 2002, Sustainable Tourism in Protected

Areas: Guidelines for Planning and Management, IUCN Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK

Picture source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevendepolo/4605621230/

Key characteristics of responsible tourism

impact monitoring for sustainability

3 Requires SMART target

setting

1 Responsible tourism impact monitoring ensures tourism development is strategic

Identifies

indicators

Sets targets Promotes

effective monitoring

Requires evaluation of results

Fosters adaptation & continuous improvement

2 Responsible tourism impact monitoring ensures sustainable tourism objectives are met

Environmental objectives

Social objectives Economic

objectives

3 Responsible tourism impact monitoring

ensures objectives are SMART

SMART OBJECTIVES

Specific Measurable Attainable Realistic Timely

4 Responsible tourism impact monitoring considers the concerns of key stakeholders

Communities

Business Authorities

Others

The different objectives of stakeholders in

NGOs

Want to know the impact of tourism on their particular area

of concern

LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

Want to know how tourism is performing and how well it contributes to local development goals

NATIONAL GOVERNMENTS

Want to know the economic and social value of tourism and how it contributes to

national development goals

The benefits of responsible tourism

Decision-Accountability

Planning Policy-making

& advocacy

Monitor tourism impacts because prevention and early intervention is always better than cure!

opportunities

to manage become more limited…

few years ago!”

“I thought we were able to handle all the tourists unit I saw some kids acting like foreigners and it occurred to me just how much our culture has changed!”

“When we started running tours to the nearby cave some tourists damaged the beautiful rock formations Now

we have lost them forever”

“We really have too many tourists here but with so many businesses now depending on them reducing the volume would never be supported”

Implementing a responsible tourism impact monitoring programme of sustainability

PLANNING & ORGANISING

• Review existing indicators

• Shortlist and select indicators

IMPLEMENTING A MONITORING PROGRAMME

• Evaluate feasibility and data collection

methods

• Collect and analyse data

• Communicate and report results

ADAPTING & IMPROVING THE MONITORING PROGRAMME

Learn and adapt from wins and losses

TOPIC 2

TOPIC 2 PLANNING AND ORGANISING

A MONITORING PROGRAMME

UNIT 8 RESPONSIBLE TOURISM IMPACT MONITORING FOR SUSTAINABILITY

Preparing for a tourism impact monitoring

programme of sustainability

1 Establish a tourism monitoring

1 Establishing a monitoring steering committee or group

Who has networks to disseminate results?

Who has the

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Involve stakeholders according to where they

fit best into the monitoring process

PLANNING

PHASE

DEVELOPMENT PHASE

Community members and tourism industry representatives

Multi-stakeholder group

Stakeholder groups to consider in tourism

monitoring programmes

PUBLIC SECTOR

• Municipal authorities

• Regional authorities

• National, state, province, and

county departments & ministries

responsible for tourism

• Other ministries & agencies in

areas affecting tourism (e.g

• Air, road, sea and river transportation services

• Guides, interpreters, information providers and outfitters

• Suppliers to the industry

• Tourism and trade organisations

• Business development organisations

NGOS & OTHERS

• Environmental and conservation groups

• Other interest groups (hunters, fishermen and sports/adventure associations)

• Communities and local community groups

• Native and cultural groups

• Traditional leaders

• Tourists and organisations representing tourists in their origin country

• International tourism bodies

Source: Adapted from Miller, G & Twining Ward L 2005, Montioring for a sustainable

tourism transition: The Challenge of developing and using indicators, Cabi Publishing

2 Planning a tourism impacts monitoring

programme of sustainability

• Important that the monitoring

programme clearly

understands its need, purpose

and scope before starting work

• Key requirements include:

A Agreement

on need

B Good ordination

co-C Set vision, goals and objectives

D Consensus

on what will

be monitored

A Agreeing on the need for a tourism impacts

monitoring programme of sustainability

What? Destination stakeholders need to understand importance of

tourism impacts monitoring

Why? support and gain participation To create ownership, facilitate

How? Stakeholder meeting with full representation

B Establishing effective co-ordination of the tourism impacts monitoring programme

• Invite members with

knowledge and skills

required

• Agree on leadership position

or examine other options

• Ensure structure meets the

needs of the tasks, members

and stakeholder groups

• Ensure structure is inclusive, accountable and transparent but also effective

• Consider need for additional structural components

according to collaboration size

• Determine functioning rules

C Setting the objectives for a tourism impacts

monitoring programme

• Objectives define the vision

for sustainability and the

contribution of tourism in

achieving it

• Development process

allows stakeholders to

identify their expectations

from tourism and consider

how they might be met

• All goals should follow

Example of tourism sustainability

goals and objectives

• Ensure 100% households have access to running water in 2 years

• To increase the number and range of community members attending planning meetings

To improve the situation

for women in XX village

• To increase the number of opportunities for involving stakeholders in CBT

• Increase the number of women involved in tourism planning to 50% or more of all those residents involved

• Increase the number of women entrepreneurs working in tourism

• Increase the proportion of women in supervisory positions to 25% or more

Source: SNV Vietnam & the University of Hawaii, School of Travel Industry Management 2007, A Toolkit for

Monitoring and Managing Community-based Tourism, SNV Vietnam & the University of Hawaii, USA

Our goal How we will achieve it (SMART)

D Identifying the scope of the tourism

sustainability monitoring programme

• Scope refers to the

“boundaries” of the

monitoring programme

• Can be geographical

(location) as well as subject

related (issues and / or

assets)

• Boundaries may be

predetermined or unset

If geographic boundaries are not set, then they

Example of scopes of study in a tourism

monitoring programme of sustainability

Geographical

scope

cultural issues

Socio-Economic issues

mental issues

Environ-VILLAGE

cultural issues

Socio-Economic issues

mental issues

Environ-TOWN

cultural issues

Socio-Economic issues

mental issues

Environ-REGION

Subject related scope

Examples of key issues to consider when

scoping tourism sustainability

Gender equity & social

inclusion

• Family well-being, equal employment

opportunities, gender roles in

traditional communities, access to

loans and credit, control over

tourism-related income

Poverty reduction / economic development

• Income, employment, entrepreneurship, quality of life

Capacity development

• Tourism awareness, tourism business training, local control of tourism operations, participation in local governance

Environmental protection

• Waste management, energy use and

carbon emissions, access to water,

biodiversity protection, protection

from natural disasters

Cultural preservation and promotion

• Preservation of traditions and values, maintenance of cultural significance and meaning, maintenance of cultural heritage sites

Social gains

• Quality of life, crime, access to resources, access to heath care, access to education, limitation of rural to urban migration

TOPIC 3 DEVELOPING

MONITORING INDICATORS

UNIT 8 RESPONSIBLE TOURISM IMPACT MONITORING FOR SUSTAINABILITY

Picture source: Pixabay, http://pixabay.com/

The role and importance of sustainability indicators in monitoring tourism impacts

particular issue

regular basis to measure changes

include arrival numbers, length of

stay, and expenditure

on the link between tourism and

• Concerns relating to economic sustainability

• Issues relating to cultural assets and social values

• Broad organisation and management issues within the tourism sector and broader destination

The focus of indicators at different levels

in the tourism sector

National level

• To detect broad changes in tourism at the national level, compare with other nations, provide a baseline for the identification of changes at more localized levels and support broad level strategic planning

Regional level

• As input into regional plans and protection processes, to serve as a basis for comparison between regions and to provide information for national level planning processes

Destination level • To identify key elements of assets, state of the tourism

sector, risks, and performance

Tourist site level

• For decisions on site control, management and future development of tourist attractions where management level indicators can support site planning and control

Types of indicators

• Early warning indicators

• Indicators of stresses on the

system

• Measures of the current state

of industry

• Measures of tourism

development sustainability impacts

• Measures of management effort

• Measures of management effects

INDICATORS MEASURE

Impacts

Outcomes Outputs

Impact type vs Indicator type

Environmental impacts

Social impacts

Economic impacts

Quantitative indicators

Qualitative indicators

IMPACT

Category indicesNormative indicatorsNominal indicatorsOpinion-based indicators

Raw dataRatioPercentage

TYPE OF INDICATOR TYPE OF MEASURE

Benefits of good performance indicators

Inform decision making

Measure progress, achievements, and

trends

Ensure legitimacy and accountability

Ensure consistency of activities, outputs, outcomes and impacts

Help assess project and staff performance

Selecting effective tourism sustainability

indicators

Consider set of key

issues defined in

the scoping exercise

Use participatory approach to evaluate and prioritise issues

Ensure input from

all key stakeholders

Agreed list of key issues for which indicators can be developed

Dissection of an sustainability issue into

indicators

IS SU

E

CO MP ON EN T

….

SUSTAINABILITY

ISSUE

Example of tourism indicator development

process for sustainability

Number hotels with a recycling programme

Biodiversityprotection

Number of threatened

or extinct species as percentage of all known species

Perceived value of forest resources to tourism

Don’t reinvent the wheel!

Use and / or adapt existing indicators

Many organisations have

already developed and

refined useful indicators

for monitoring tourism

IUCN Indicators of Resources Management

Example of environmental and economic

sustainability indicators in tourism

ENVIRONMENTAL Number of threatened or extinct species as percentage of all known species

Perceived value of forest resources to tourismNumber of days tourists spend on nature tourism activities out of total number of days Number of hotels with environmental policy

Environmental awareness campaigns conducted Number hotels recycling 25% or more of their waste productsDemand/supply ratio for water

Number of hotels with 50% or more of total toilets as dual flush

% of energy consumption from renewable resources

ECONOMIC Average wage rates in tourism jobs rural/ urban

Number of local people employed in tourism (men and women)Revenues generated by tourism as % of all revenues generated in the community

% of visitors who overnight in local tourist accommodation

% of hotels with a majority local staff

% of GDP provided by tourismChange in number of visitor arrivals Average tourist length of stay

New tourism businesses as a percentage of all new businesses

Example of social and project / business

sustainability indicators in tourism

SOCIAL % of tourism operators who provide day care to employees with children

% of tourism operators who have commitments regarding equal gender opportunityWomen/men as a % of all tourism employment

% women/men employees sent on training programmesSatisfaction with volume of tourists visiting the destination

% of purchases of services and goods from local providers

% of purchases that are fair trade purchases Number of facilities built using local material Code of conduct developed with local community

% of women and local minority employees

Good practice in setting effective tourism indicators

Ensure indicators identify

conditions or outputs of

tourism development

Ensure indicators are descriptive rather than evaluative

Ensure indicators are easy to measure

Ensure you start with only a few key variables

Tips for shortlisting indicators

RELEVANCE

COMPARABILITY CREDIBILITY

CLARITY

FEASIBILITY

Of the indicator to the selected issue

Of obtaining and analysing the information

Over time and across

jurisdictions or regions

Example of method to shortlist indicators

% of tourism operators who provide day care to employees with children

% of tourism operators who have commitments regarding equal gender opportunity

Women/men as a % of all tourism employment

% women / men employees sent on training programmes

Satisfaction with volume of tourists visiting the destination