International Trends in Standards

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International Trends in Standards
Jamaica Community Tourism Symposium May, 2003
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Tourism Activity is 11 of Global GDP

• Tourism is no longer a second cousin to other
  economic sectors
• WTTC (2001) estimates tourism generates
• 8 of the worlds total employment
• 200 million jobs
• US 3.5 trillion in expenditures

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Destination 1990 1999 Change (10-year)
Martinique 240.0 404.0 683.0
Turks and Caicos Islands 36.5 238.0 552.1
Suriname 10.7 53.4 399.0
British Virgin Islands 132.1 299.9 127.0
Trinidad and Tobago 94.7 209.6 121.3
Aruba 353.4 773.5 118.9
Guadeloupe 197.1 400.2 103.0
St. Lucia 153.8 311.1 102.3
Dominica 25.0 48.8 95.2
Cayman Islands 235.7 439.4 86.4
Grenada 37.5 66.6 77.6
Jamaica 740.0 1,279.5 72.9
Anguilla 34.6 56.5 63.0
St. Maarten 315.5 449.4 42.4
St. Vincent Grenadines 56.0 78.9 40.9
US Virgin Islands 697.0 954.9 37.0
Barbados 493.5 666.2 34.5
Belize 91.4 111.5 22.2
St. Kitts and Nevis 57.7 70.4 22.0
Bahamas 1,332.9 1,582.9 18.7
Antigua and Barbuda 298.2 290.0 -2.7
Selected Caribbean Countries Ten Year Visitor
Expenditure Growth Rates (US millions)
Source CTO
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Travel Account Balances (US millions)
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North America Travel Account Balance (US
Millions)
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Standards - Traditional Tourism

• Decades of experience in standards
• Started with protecting people
• Public safety building codes
• Public health food safety
• Evolved to hotel and tourism acts
• Permits to run accommodation facilities

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Roles Responsibilities

• Public Sector
• Health
• Safety
• Operational practices through consumer laws
• Liquor laws
• Casino laws

• Private Sector
• Codes of Practice
• Franchising and standards
• Rating systems
• Green codes

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Examples

• Growth of franchises
• Now more than 60 of all hotel rooms in US are
  flagged belong to a brand
• Growth of cooperatives
• Largest hotel company in world is a non-profit
  cooperative

The World's Largest Hotel Chain Best Western
International, Inc., is the world's largest hotel
brand with more than 4,000 hotels in 80
countries.
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Why This Trend in Last Several Decades?

• Responds to consumer demand and expectations
• AAA rating system in North America (47 million
  members)
• AA system in UK (26 million members)
• Buying and booking with quality assurance

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Community Tourism Doesnt have such a Long History

• Less experience with standards
• The orientation seems to be to guidelines, forms
  of certification
• World Tourism Organization in 2001
• Found about 500 current initiatives including
  ecolabels, awards, codes of practice

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Certification SystemsExamples

• Green Globe 21
• Blue Flag
• Nature and Tourism Accreditation Programme (NEAP)
• Certification for Sustainable Tourism
• Costa Rica
• Various Ecolabelling Systems

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The Standards Challenge
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The Draft (for Comment) International Ecotourism
Standard

• NEAP Green Globe 21
• Presented at the May, 2002 Quebec City Ecotourism
  Conference

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The Eight Principles

1. Natural Area Focus
2. Ecotourism Interpretation Education
3. Ecological Sustainability Practice
4. Contributing to Conservation
5. Ecotourism Benefits to Local Communities
6. Cultural Respect Sensitivity
7. Customer Satisfaction
8. Responsible Marketing

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Also Includes Minimal Impact Codes

• Walking Trekking
• Vehicle Use
• Power Boat Use
• Non-Powered Boat Use
• Minimizing Impacts of Snorkeling Diving
• Animal Riding Animal Tours
• Aircraft Use
• Spotlighting Code
• Marine Mammal Megafauna Viewing
• Rock Climbing Abseiling
• Caving

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The Importance of Standards

• It is about bringing the product to market
• Being market ready
• Delivering on the experience promised

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Who is Concerned About Standards?
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Lets Start With Markets

• Consumers want to know what they are buying
• Quality assurance very important replacing word
  of mouth
• Many niche markets
• They have lots of choices around the world
• They are going on-line (54 million of them in US
  researching on-line)

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The Markets Already Here
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One of The Questions You Overhear Most Often

• What are we going to do tomorrow, dear?

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Type Market
Tour Operators Wholesalers Examples include Virgin Holidays AA Vacations Kuoni Travel Signature
Travel Agencies Canada 2,300 Us 30,000
Specialty Tour Operators Examples Include Ecotourism Bird Watchers Adventure Travel Soft Adventure Learning Tours
Affinity Groups Examples Include Smithsonian Travel Office Heritage Associations Corporate Incentive Groups
The Travel Trade
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Travel Trade Has Some Questions

• Why?
• To protect their customers
• LETA
• Building a quality assurance program

• I have a customer base of 25,000 who rely on me
  to recommend product. I cannot afford to make a
  mistake.

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And the Questions

• Do you meet public health safety standards?
• Do you have the necessary licenses?
• Are your staff trained? What is your guide
  training? Do you have life jackets in your boat?
• What food safety practices do you follow?
• Do you have liability insurance?
• Who am I signing a contract with?
• And so on..

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The Financing Sources Have Questions

• It is mainly about 2 areas
• Marketing
• Management
• They seek comfort in a clear marketing plan
• preferably clear access to booking systems or
  marketing partnerships
• They want to know that the product is managed
  professionally
• Meets standards accepted in marketplace

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Meeting These Standards Means a Call to Action
for Community Tourism

• How Do We Get There?
• The Communities Need Some Support

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Tourism Investment

• In the old tourism
• Investment in major infrastructure and facilities
  to attract private investment was the norm

• In the new tourism
• Investment in tourism is only made where
  improvements in the quality of life of the
  destinations citizens can be realized

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Investing in Community Tourism is a Sound
Strategyfor Community DevelopmentEnvironmenta
l Social Sustainability





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It is a Also a Sound Tourism Investment Strategy
WTOs Top 5 Hottest Tourism Products
Ecotourism
Adventure Tourism
Cultural Tourism
Cruise Tourism
Thematic Tourism
The Market is Changing Positive for Community
Tourism
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The Thinking Has to Change

• In the old tourism
• The main driver was selling rooms with sun, sea
  and sand packages in large resort

• In the new tourism
• We sell experiences with heritage, communities,
  nature, culture
• And yes sun, sea sand too

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Our Approaches Have to Evolve

• In the old tourism
• We encouraged large properties and off-shore
  investor partners
• We didnt pay a lot of attention to small
  enterprises

• In the new tourism
• We need new mechanisms and models to assist,
  finance and sustain indigenous investment
  community tourism

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Our Partnerships Have to Evolve with Our Thinking

• In the old tourism
• The major hotels had concierge and tour desks

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Our Partnerships Have to Evolve with Our Thinking

• In the new tourism
• The major hotels have a concierge and tour desks
  a community desk

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Commitment Needs to be At All Levels

• It is a major shift in thinking approaches
• Leadership from government the private sector
• Characterized by partnerships
• Recognition that it is long term
• Capacity building in essential
• It is not just about tourism
• An investment in quality of life for citizens

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Thank You
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