Sustainable Tourism Repositioning the sector to manage disaster risk:

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Sustainable Tourism - Repositioning the sector to
manage disaster risk A Context for
Discussion Prepared by Liz Riley Caribbean
Disaster Emergency Response Agency for the ACS
Workshop on Disasters and Sustainable Tourism
Haiti, November 14, 2007
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• Briefing Agenda
• What is our reality?
• Definitions
• Repositioning the Tourism Sector - Points of
  departure
• Strategic Framework
• The Way Forward recommendations for action
• Summary

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What is our reality?

• Tourism sector is the major contributor to
  national GDP within Caribbean States (20 70 )
• World Tourism and Travel Council (travel and
  tourism 2004) - 16 employment, 15 GDP, 22
  capital investment, 18 total exports, and 9
  government expenditure
• Sector is growing
• International arrivals 1970 2004 Average
  annual growth rate of 4.9
• 2003 Visitor expenditure exceeded US20 000
  million for first time
• Total Room Stock 1994 2000 increased by 25
• Incremental Cross Sector growth in last 25 years
• Employment 2004 1.3Million Jobs (directly and
  indirectly)
• Source CTO 2007

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What is our reality?

• Caribbean region (and tourism sector) is prone to
  hazards natural, man-made, biological
• climate variability and change likely to increase
  frequency and severity of hydro meteorological
  events
• Increased exposure to natural hazards within the
  last two decades
• Increasing value of losses across all economic
  sectors tourism, agriculture, housing,
  infrastructure by both large events and smaller
  events which repeatedly affect sectors
• Disruption to social infrastructure, loss of
  livelihoods poverty links

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Definitions Sustainable Tourism (Development)

• Definition CTO 2007 (draft Sustainable Tourism
  Policy)
• means the optimal use of social, natural,
  cultural and financial resources for national
  development on an equitable and self-sustaining
  basis to provide a unique visitor experience and
  an improved quality of life through partnerships
  among government, the private sector and
  communities.

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Sustainable Tourism Areas for Consideration
CTO 2007 (draft Sustainable Tourism Policy)

• Tourism Management Capacity
• Marketing
• Transportation
• Environment
• Linkages
• Health, Safety, Security

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Resilience

• Definition ISDR
• The capacity of a system, community or society
  potentially exposed to hazards to adapt, by
  resisting or changing in order to reach and
  maintain an acceptable level of functioning and
  structure. This is determined by the degree to
  which the social system is capable of organizing
  itself to increase its capacity for learning from
  past disasters for better future protection and
  to improve risk reduction measures

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Experiences
Four Seasons Hotel, Nevis Lenny 1999
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Experiences
Nevis Lenny 1999
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Experiences
Four Seasons Hotel, Nevis Lenny 1999
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Some Potential Results of Hazard Impact on the
Tourism Sector

• Decrease in arrivals
• Loss of employment
• Decline in economic growth
• Increased imports repairs etc
• Increased insurance costs

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• 50 of businesses that suffer major disasters
  are unable to resume operation.
• Insurance Institute for Property Loss Reduction

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Do we need to reposition?

• Each natural disaster leaves in its wake an
  overwhelming volume of evidence of how planning
  and investment decisions contribute to
  vulnerability CGCED 2002

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Repositioning the Tourism Sector - Points of
Departure

• Repositioning requires us to do things
  differently - a paradigm shift
• There is a Common Understanding (VISION) re what
  repositioning means
• To determine the extent and areas of
  repositioning that may be required, we need to
  have a clear understanding of our current
  position.
• Repositioning must be based on agreed priorities,
  be realistic, achievable, strategic and results
  focused

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Repositioning A Paradigm Shift

• Reactive Anticipatory
• Disaster Office Shared (tourism
  sector) Responsibility
• FROM a focus on individual hazards
• TO viewing hazard exposure as an ongoing
  process and aims to reduce vulnerability across
  all sectors (CGCED 2002)

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A REGIONAL VISION COMPREHENSIVE DISASTER
MANAGEMENT (CDM) Strategy

• Goal
• Regional Sustainable Development Enhanced through
  Comprehensive Disaster Management
• Purpose
• To strengthen regional, national and community
  level capacity for the mitigation, management and
  coordinated response to natural and anthropogenic
  hazards, and the effects of climate variability
  and change

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COMPREHENSIVE DISASTER MANAGEMENT

• Enhanced institutional support for CDM Program
  implementation at national and regional levels
• An effective mechanism and programme for
  management and sharing of CDM knowledge is
  established and utilized for decision making
• Disaster Risk Management has been mainstreamed at
  national levels and incorporated into key sectors
  of national economies (including tourism, health,
  education, infrastructure, planning and
  agriculture)
• Enhanced community resilience in CDERA states/
  territories to mitigate and respond to the
  adverse effects of climate variability and change
  and disasters

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COMPREHENSIVE DISASTER MANAGEMENT

• Integrate hazard risk reduction into (tourism)
  planning and development
• Integrated management of all hazards
• Management of all phases of Disaster Management
  Cycle (as it relates to tourism)
• Prevention and Mitigation
• Preparedness and Response
• Recovery

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COMPREHENSIVE DISASTER MANAGEMENT

• Emphasizes disaster risk reduction
• promotes a culture of safety
• Encourages strategic partner alliances
• Advocates for empowering of (tourism) sector
  partners to (take responsibility) and lead
  dissemination and advocacy with their
  constituency
• Recognizes that strengthening disaster
  preparedness for better response is critical

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Understanding our current position

• Identification of disaster risk
• Increase our knowledge of hazards mapping and
  of the physical, social, economic and
  environmental vulnerability that the tourism
  sector faces
• How do hazards and vulnerabilities change over
  time? What actions have we taken based on what we
  know?
• Levels of risk? Who bears the risk Govts?
  Private Sector?
• Can some risk be transferred?
• Sector Level assessment of existing policy,
  legislative and regulatory frameworks baseline
  development gap analysis

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CDM Sector Level Process

• CDM Sector Consultations
• To identify key issues facing the sector
• Prioritization of actions to be taken
• Elaboration of sector programming frameworks
  based on priorities
• Modalities for moving forward sub-sectors
  requiring specific focus?
• CDM Sector Work Programme Development
• Targets Indicators
• Baseline Data Collection
• Monitoring Framework
• CDM Sector Programme Implementation
• Capacity building for implementation
• CDM Sector Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting

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Action Items

• Programme of Work national and regional level
• Policy frameworks (CTO Sustainable Tourism
  Policy)
• Strategy elaboration at the sector level
  (CDERA/IDB) Regional Public Goods)
• Disaster Risk Management Strategy and Plan of
  Action for the Tourism Sector
• Standardized approach to undertaking risk
  assessments for the tourism sector
• Legislative and regulatory environments
  (promoting risk reduction) creating conditions
  to encourage sustainable tourism
• Governance Institutional arrangements and
  mechanisms
• Preparedness and response
• Testing and review of existing plans and
  procedures

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Action Items

• Disaster risk management research integrated into
  tourism sector planning
• Engagement with tourism stakeholders to promote a
  culture of safety and resilience
• Human Resource Capacity Targeted risk reduction
  training for tourism sector personnel
• Lessons Learnt incorporated into planning and
  practice - Data capture and analysis
• Frameworks for recovery planning
• Integration of risk reduction into the
  rehabilitation phase

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Action Items Strengthening disaster preparedness
for better response

• Development (and or review) and exercising
  tourism sector disaster related plans
• Elaboration of frameworks for sector recovery
  planning
• Integration of risk reduction measures into the
  reconstruction phase

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Recent Initiatives to Support Tourism Sector

• CTO Caribbean Regional Sustainable Tourism
  Development Programme
• 2. CDERA/Barbados MOT Project
• Hurricane Plan
• Issue Paper on Terrorism Consequence
  Management
• Multi-Hazard Contingency Planning Framework

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Recent Initiatives to Support Tourism Sector

• 3. CDERA/OAS Project on Multi-hazard Contingency
  Planning
• Multi-hazard Contingency Planning Manual
• Institutional Framework for effecting
  multi- hazard contingency planning
• Action Plan for advancing disaster loss
  reduction in Tourism Sector
• 4. IDB Regional Public Goods Facility Disaster
  Risk Management for the Tourism Sector (CDERA
  CTO CROSQ)
• Disaster Risk Management Strategy and Plan of
  Action for the Tourism Sector
• Standardized approach to undertaking risk
  assessments for the tourism sector

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SUMMARY To reposition we need to

• Understand our current position
• Have an agreed upon VISION of where we need to be
• Accept responsibility at the (tourism) sector
  levels
• Plan strategically with a results based focus a
  roadmap with realistic goals, based on national
  and regional priorities
• Monitor revisit and revise approach based on
  lessons learnt
• Coordinate and collaborate to maximize use of
  scarce resources

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Thank you!