Ecotour Product Development: A Quick Tour

By Ma. Monina M. Flores
Enterprise Development Specialist, CRMP

What is ecotourism?

Ecotourism refers to responsible travel to natural destinations to experience "nature and culture", while contributing to environmental conservation and the well-being of local people. It covers a wide range of activities, such as strategic planning, product development, physical development, tourism stakeholders management, and environmental impact management. It involves the development of different kinds of products which are sold to tourists to make their travel safe, enjoyable, comfortable, and informative. Products and services include all types of transportation to and from the tourist destinations, food and drinks, accommodation, tours, tour guiding, tour books, facilities for interpretation, rest or recreation, and other things.

Based on a pre-determined itinerary and time, an ecotour product is created by skillfully combining different kinds of tourism resources (tourism attractions and activities), tourism workers (e.g., guides, boatmen, and cooks), tourism products (crafts, food and accommodations), and other things, to enable tourists to have an active experience with the natural environment and local culture.

Ecotourism must, at least in some manner, contribute to the following to be considered true "ecotourism".

1. conservation of nature and/or culture;
2. education of tourists and local communities;
3. economic development of local communities;
4. experiences which motivate people to conserve; and,
5. participatory development.

Why ecotourism?

Ecotourism represents the fastest growing sector of the US$3-trillion global industry, growing at 25-30% per annum.

An ecotour is a good product for developing community-based enterprise ventures. Once linked to a viable market, an ecotour venture can be a good income source for a core group of community owners, as well as give supplemental incomes to other people who provide services and supplies to the tour. As the flow of tourism grows, ancillary enterprises can be developed around new products and activities such as handicrafts, biking or kayaking, bed and breakfast, camping facilities, and others.

By providing economic incentives to a wide group of local people, an ecotour venture can catalyze environmental awareness and commitment by the local people to protect the natural resources on which their livelihood depends. Moreover, the tour visits help bring national and international attention to protected areas, thus providing additional opportunities for leveraging policy and resource support for conservation.

Natural environments and culture attract more tourists coming to the Philippines, but few operators offer true ecotour packages which meet the above criteria. In order to optimize the benefits of ecotourism for the local community and environment, one must pay attention to market information and linkages, planning, local participation and benefits, stakeholder education, and natural resource management.

Is an ecotour venture appropriate for your area?

The following self-test will help you determine if your area can benefit from an ecotour venture:

• Do you have appropriate ecotourism resources to attract visitors to your area?
  
• Do you have something unique to offer (attraction, experience, knowledge, package, price) that is competitive in relation to other tour products in the area or those sites being visited by your target tourists?
• Is your area accessible to tourists safely, reliably and regularly?
  · Are there tour operators (marketers) who could sell your product directly to tourists, and who could be responsible for bringing the tourists to your area?
• Are there dedicated tourism workers (people who will work in the venture) who enjoy relating with people, work hard, and are willing to commit to work even in difficult times?
• Are the people in the community organized for and involved in decision-making on ecotourism development in their area?
• Will the community share in the economic benefits of the ecotour venture?
• Are government bodies on local government, resource and tourism management in the area supportive of the planned venture?
• Do the community, concerned public agencies or private groups integrate the ecotour venture in a larger environmental conservation effort?
• Will there be a professional business management system to run the venture in the locality?
• Is there access to financing for starting the venture?

What is the ecotour development process?

1. Identify and assess existing and potential ecotour resources in the target area

Ecotour resources are natural, cultural or historical attractions in a given locality. These are the core resource for ecotour product development. Attractions can be places, objects, events, and the people's unique way of life. These attractions include surfs and beaches, coral reefs, mangroves, rivers and waterfalls, caves, mountains and cliffs, forests, lakes, churches, artifacts, festivals, rites and rituals, traditional production (such as fishing, loom weaving, wood carving, and brass making), as well as annual local competitions like banca (boat) and carabao (water buffalo) races.

Other important resources that need to be identified and assessed are food and accommodation services, stores (for souvenirs, film, rentals or sale of outdoor gear), transportation, information services, access to infrastructure (ports, communications, roads and trails), public services (police, rescue, health and medical), local skills (cooks, guides, boatmen, entertainers, natural and cultural interpreters, etc.). If any of these resources are not available locally, identify the nearest place where they are available or what training is required.

Knowledge of available financial services and organizations assisting in ecotourism development is useful.

To start the identification process, make a list of attractions with a brief description of what is unique or special about them. Begin with attractions that are already popular with locals and visitors. Proceed to list other less popular but potential ecotour attractions.

Score the resources identified for attractiveness, ability to draw visitors, accessibility, integrity, and contribution to environmental conservation and cultural promotion. The higher the score, the greater the resource potential for ecotour product development.

2. Identify market segments

Identify and analyze existing local tour destinations and products. Destinations are places and events that attract visitors. Products are tour packages that are put together by tour operators. In places where there are no tourists yet, get information about destinations and products near the locality:

• What kind of visitors go there? (Include both local and foreign.)
• Where do they come from?
• How many?
• From what month to what month do they visit? (Seasonality)
• Who brings them? (Tour operator)
• What activities do they engage in?
• How long do they stay?
• How much do they spend?

  Be specific with the data gathering. List down names and places. Primary and secondary data can be gathered from the nearest Department of Tourism office, local tour operators, guides and local residents around the destination. Interviews with the visitors themselves are very useful.

  Group the visitors according to activities that they do. List the visitor groups under one column and the activities they do under another column. This exercise should give a good picture of the nature of the existing accessible visitor markets. (Note that schools and companies are also potential markets.)

  Example:

3. Match resources and market segments

Organize the list of local resources and visitor groups into a matrix: one column for resources and another one for visitor groups. Draw lines connecting resources that match with a market segment and vice versa. Count the number of matches for each resource and market segment. The three highest scores in each column will be the resource and market segment that should be pursued for tour product development.

Example: (complete this example to get the idea of how to do matching)

4. Develop a theme

A tour theme is a clear, concise statement that aptly describes and captures the combination of natural resources resulting from the resource-market matches. The tour theme provides guidelines on how to weave the activities and itinerary that will be developed from the identified resources and target market segment. Try to differentiate the theme from existing tour products.

Examples:
Mount Isarog is but a glimpse into the vanishing biological diversity of ancient Philippines.

Six hundred years in the making, the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo demonstrated the raw power simmering inside Earth.

If a tour has a variety of attractions, it can have different sub-themes that are unique to each attraction.

Examples:
Migratory birds from Japan, Russia and China are genetically programmed to stop over Olango (Cebu) during their seasonal round trips to avoid cold weather.

Sea horses are monogamous and will not breed once separated from their partners. (Bohol)

5. Put the tour product together

Develop a tour product that reflects the theme. A tour product is a combination of identified resources, services and activities organized around the theme in a way that will interest and satisfy the target market segment.

First step. Identify product components by answering the questions: what to see, where to go, how to go, what to do (activities), what to eat, where to eat, and where to stay (to rest and sleep).

Second step. Arrange activities sequentially into a tour itinerary (include stops for meals and rest). Specify duration of each activity including travel time. Specify duration of entire tour. A half-day or one-day tour product is recommended for starters. Identify goods and services needed.

Third step. Identify and secure suppliers for required goods and services necessary for the operation of the tour.

Fourth step. Secure suppliers of goods and services.

A tour product is more than the sum of its individual components.

6. Secure suppliers of goods and services, and cost of the tour

The starting and ending point of the tour should be made the reference for determining the kind and frequency of goods and services that the tour product would need. Generally, these are:

Transfers from visitor pick-up point to tour starting point and back
Accommodations, homestay, camp, hotel and/or lodges
Food (and snacks), for all inclusive meals and drinks
Charters (for boats, jeeps/trucks) for travel between attractions
Guide services
Local entertainers

List down suppliers of goods and services, get price quotations, put them together and then add 30% to estimate the selling price of the tour.

7. Test and fine-tune the product

Do several test runs of the tour and evaluate each run. Cultivate relationships with tour operators by inviting them to the test runs (commonly referred to in the industry as "fam tours" or familiarization tours). Another way of testing and promoting the new ecotour product is to mark the tour as a promotional or exploratory run and offering the product at cost. Again, make sure that the tourists give their feedback about the tour.

Depending on how quick fine-tuning can be done, test runs can graduate to full commercial runs after 3-5 trial runs. This usually takes a full tourist season or one year.

8. Build marketing partnerships and promotion

Establish marketing partnerships with tour operators and guide associations.

Tour products are best marketed through established tour operators and guide associations. They have links to the market and know their way around the industry. Choose tour operators that share or are sympathetic to the mission and objectives of your ecotour. At the minimum, get operators who deal fairly in business.

A fam tour of the chosen tour operators is one of the best ways to establish marketing partnerships. While usually covered by the product tour developer, the cost of the fam tour may be shared with the guests.

Once it is agreed that the tour product is viable, get down to the details of pricing, bookings and payment systems. Tour operators add on at least a 30% margin to the tour product price to cover their marketing and administrative expenses plus profit.

For additional advice, get in touch with the nearest DOT office or ecotourism-oriented NGO.