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Newsletters of Partners in Responsible
Tourism (PIRT) t West Marin: A Case-Study of Responsible Tourism By Bonnie Berg MacLairdPIRT Steering Committee Member In
this paper I will attempt to define Responsible Tourism, and give an
example by using West
Marin’s efforts to develop agri-tourism as a means to supplement the
income of its farmers and ranchers. RESPONSIBLE TOURISM, What Is It? The simplest definition I have found is “responsible
tourism is not a tourism product or brand. It is a way of doing
tourism.” (Practicing Responsible Tourism: International Case
Studies in Tourism, Planning, Policy and Development, John Wiley &
Sons, Inc. 1996, page 2.) Tourism, by definition, offers experiences that
entice visitors to come, play, spend, and/or explore the unfamiliar.
Responsible Tourism takes the concept of tourism to another level
by saying that those who plan, manage and/or practice tourism ought to do
it in a way that minimizes the environmental impacts, balances visitors’
needs and desires with the local residents’ needs and desires,
and does so without compromising the needs of future generations.
(idea culled from Archer and Cooper, 1994)
Responsible Tourism takes the “long-view” rather
than the short, typically profit-driven, view of how tourism should be
planned and managed. In fact,
the concept of planning tourism is fundamentally what responsible
tourism is all about. To ensure tourism is developed according to the
principles of Responsible Tourism, both government and the local community
need to be wholly involved in the process. Stephen Wanhill, in the article
“The Economic Aspects of Location Marketing” (Economic and Management
Methods for Tourism and Hospitality Research, 1999) states that “The
spillover benefits of tourism in terms of income and employment creation
are well known, and, more than any other industry, tourism deals with the
use of natural and cultural resources, which in outlying regions are often
their major asset. The lessons of the past indicate that it is unwise for
the state to abandon its ability to influence the direction of tourism
development either through the provision of finance or through
legislation. The short-term gains sought by capital markets are often at
odds with the long-term sustainability of tourist environments. With
tourist movements set to increase both nationally and internationally,
there will be a need for more regulation, direction and improved
management of tourism resources to prevent environmental degradation and
implement tourism development plans in a sustainable manner.” In sum, “Responsible Tourism” is a
process, a way of developing tourism, and a considerate method of
practicing tourism… considerate of the environment, considerate of the
locals not involved in the business of tourism, and equally importantly
considerate of future generations of both humans and wildlife who will
appreciate and depend upon the same natural resources.
Responsible Tourism needs a vision of the
future, the input of the locals, and a guiding hand of a forward thinking
government to ensure the resources are protected and the benefits are
shared equitably. WEST MARIN
Anyone who has driven out to Point Reyes National Seashore has seen
the enchanting land that lies less than an hour from the San Francisco Bay
Area. Forty percent of Marin
is still agricultural land. Rarely does the visitor to West Marin
understand the economics behind maintaining this pristine wonderland
against the pressures to develop. Back in the early 1970’s a grass-roots
preservation movement fought and defeated developers who were poised to
build a four-lane highway and housing subdivisions in the Point Reyes and
West Marin countryside. A
zoning regulation was imposed which now allows no more than one house per
60 acres to be built on its agricultural land.
Additionally, thousands of acres have been forever preserved in the
Point Reyes National Seashore, and 30,000+ acres have been preserved as
permanent agricultural land, thanks to preservation easements purchased by
the Marin Agricultural Land Trust (M.A.L.T.).
M.A.L.T. was founded in 1980 by another grass-roots group of local
ranchers, and environmentalists and has since created numerous programs to
educate all of us on the need to preserve agriculture, as well as
fund-raising to purchase preservation easements from farmers and ranchers
in need of capital. These farmers and ranchers still own their property
and can farm and ranch it as usual. The only thing they, and their
successors, cannot do is develop it for anything other than agricultural
purposes. West Marin is a popular day-trip destination,
as well as a growing over-night destination for residents of the Bay Area.
It is popular as a day-trip destination for hiking, beachcombing,
bicycling, motorcycle riding, kayaking, rustic dining, picnicking and
Sunday drives. The Point
Reyes National Seashore receives an average of 2.6 million visitors a
year, who all together spend on average $100 million each year in the West
Marin area. Only 23% of these visitors on average spend the night. (Park
Service research conducted 1998.) In recent years the economics of maintaining a family
run farm on land that is more valuable for its real estate than the
product it produces has created another pressure on this region.
Ellie Rilla, Director of the University of California Cooperative
Extension for Marin and Sonoma Counties, points out that the high cost of
land, and the economic slowdown in the dairy and beef industry has hurt
the local farmers and ranchers. Half of
Marin County, approximately 167,000 acres is still farm and ranch land.
There are 204 small or mini-farms with an annual gross income of less than
$100,000. (Ellie Rilla, hand-out
entitled “Amazing But True…Facts about Agriculture in Marin County,
January 2001.) The average
size of a farm in Marin is 588 acres, and the majority are 3rd
and 4th generation family-owned operations.
Agriculture contributes over $53 million annually to the Marin
economy, with milk production dominating at 65 percent (ibid). These revenue figures do not represent agriculture’s
contribution to the local economy in associated areas, such as clothing,
groceries, etc. Dating back to the Gold Rush days, Marin was the
dairy producer for California, well known for its milk and butter.
Now small family-run farms are in danger of being purchased by
wealthy “gentleman farmers” who know nothing about farming and
ranching. In order to stay on
their land, West Marin farmers and ranchers are looking at their land and
their trade with a creative eye. There
is a movement towards more environmentally-friendly enterprises such as
organic milk, organic vegetables, and organic or natural beef and sheep
ranching. As was mentioned in
an article “Eco-Farming; Community Supported Agriculture and Agritourism”
Shepherd Bliss, May/June 1999, … “Conventional agriculture has done
considerable damage to the Earth and needs to be replaced by farming with
restores rather than depletes resources.”
The movement to do just this has been in place for many years in
Marin and Sonoma counties, and is growing each year. This is where agritourism comes into play.
Agri-tourism is “the economic activity that occurs when people
link travel with agricultural products, services or experiences”
(Manitoba website 6/01). “Agri-tourism
has recently emerged as an opportunity for many farm families to diversify
their agricultural operations…. On-farm diversification is income
generation, as well as increased awareness and education of the
non-farming public about farms and their products” (ibid). Agri-tourism covers a wide spectrum from the
U-pick-it farm operations, to farm visits by classes of children, to
overnight farm stays, and everything in between.
In Europe, Australia and New Zealand, agritourism is plentiful.
In the European Union countries the governments have spent $2
billion since 1991 to support agritourism projects. “European funds
go to restoring dilapidated buildings, training farmers in hotel skills,
promoting traditional products and trades, and helping to market farm
holidays through travel agencies or websites.” (“Preserving a
Heritage Via Bed and Barns” New York Times, 8/13/98)
European political leaders have recognized the importance of
keeping farmers on the land as a way to halt “unfettered urban
development.” (ibid) In an interesting comparison, the Virginia Tech
website states “agri-tourism can be viewed much like eco-tourism in
that it is small-scale, low impact, and, in most cases,
education-focused.” West Marin offers an interesting case study of
responsible tourism development, specifically in the area of agritourism.
West Marin residents are friendly, happy to share their beautiful
landscape, but not at all interested in an increase in population or
allowing their countryside to be disturbed or turned over to outsiders.
Since agri-tourism is by definition small-scale and
low impact, it is perfect for West Marin.
The County of Marin and the UC Cooperative Extension Office are
equal supporters of what agritourism could mean to the local farmers and
ranchers. The State of
California signed a bill in 1999, AB 1258, the California Agricultural
Homestay Bill, and the County of Marin is currently developing a code for
a sustainable economy that includes provisions for responsible tourism as
it relates to Marin in general, and agri-tourism in specific. The California Agricultural Homestay Bill, AB 1258,
exempts farmers from requirements that before had been a barrier. “The
law allows working farms to host a limited number of overnight visitors
and permits farm families to serve meals cooked in the farm kitchen to
visitors, consistent with the federal Food Code definition of a family
home kitchen.” (“Navigating
Legal Constraints” Agritourism and Nature Tourism in California, Small
Farm Center, UC California.) To
help promote agri-tourism in West Marin, M.A.L.T. offers farm tours and
hikes nearly every month, and has created and marketed an entertaining
audio driving tour of the history of the country-side, narrated by Peter
Coyote. (See resources at
end of this article.) AGRITOURISM – a case study in Responsible Tourism
In the course of my research I have come across a
number of interesting examples of agri-tourism taking place in West Marin.
In 1990 Sharon & Steve Doughty renovated an old home near the
main road on their 800 acre dairy ranch and are supplementing their ranch
income by operating it as a bed & breakfast as well as an operating
winery. Sharon’s
grandfather was one of the original settler ranchers in West Marin and
Sharon wants to ensure the land is preserved and profitable for her
children. As she says “Farming is a way of life, it is not a way to
make money.” With the
inn, the Doughty’s not only have another stream of income and a
diversification for their four adult children, they recognize the need to
educate the public about farming. As Sharon says “ignorance about how
our food is grown is widespread. Most
guests at our inn come away with some understanding of the strict rules
under which food is grown and the need to preserve farms for farming.”
The Chileno Valley Ranch is another excellent example
of planning, managing and operating a B&B on the family farm according
to the principles of Responsible Tourism. Sally Gale inherited the 586-acre family farm from
her mother. In 1850 Sally’s
great-great-grandfather, Charles Martin, emigrated from a poor town in
Switzerland. In 1856 he
purchased the 586-acre ranch and in 1883 built a beautiful Italianate
home, the same home that Sally and husband Mike renovated in 1993 after it
had sat vacant and vandalized for seven years.
They raise and direct market 130 head of natural, grass-fed beef.
Their cattle feeds naturally on the abundant grass, and is
slaughtered and sold direct; their beef does not travel anywhere prior to
reaching the consumer. They
also grow and direct market apples.
The
economics are such that this enterprise does not generate enough income to
sustain the ranch, its land and its taxes.
What’s more, they entirely renovated the 110-year old home in
1993 and the process ate up five years and all of their resources.
Thus was born the idea of operating a bed and breakfast for
additional income. The Chileno Valley Ranch has four double occupancy
rooms and a cottage for rent on a 2-night minimum basis from Thursday
through Sunday, from the month of March through the middle of December.
All rooms have private baths, and the price of the room includes
breakfast and almost free rein to roam the 586 acres.
They point out that guests can wander anywhere, except the fields
where the cattle is grazing, and not to the top of a hill on their
property that would allow the hikers to look down on a neighbor’s house.
Mike and Sally are very sensitive to not impinge on their neighbors’
privacy. Guests are invited to participate in whatever is
happening at the ranch, including the birthing of baby calves. The Gales
willingly share their acquired knowledge of the stewardship of the land,
the cattle and the wildlife on their land. They practice rotational grazing for their natural
beef. This ensures that the
fields are not stripped of their nutrients, or eroded to the point of no
return. The Gales received a grant from the Marin
Resource Conservation District to fence off and replant one-half mile of
the Chileno Creek running through their property.
This has resulted in a total regrowth of the native trees, and as
an added bonus they now have a large population of neo-tropical migratory
songbirds coming to their property each year to feed on the insects at
breeding time. Word of this has spread and many of their guests now come
specifically to bird watch. For a while visitors to the ranch had to dip their
boots in a disinfectant wash to ensure hoof and mouth disease was not
being transmitted. The other
concern is the Sudden Oak Death Syndrome.
Some The Gales recycle everything they use. They no longer buy the
small bottle of room amenities to avoid throwing out bottles.
All guests have to remove their shoes in the Gale house. Mike and Sally are sensitive to what tourists do to
the feel of an area. As Sally says “Tourists change the feel of a
place.” They try to not overburden the valley they live in by
limiting the number of guests they have, by requiring a two-night stay,
and by being very selective of the big events they host.
Sally mentions they could host weddings every weekend if they
wanted because the demand is so high (which they obviously could because
of the sheer beauty of their location and the privacy their home affords.) But the Gales thoroughly enjoy their guests. “Guests
become part of our community in ways that preserve not only our ranch but
our whole community. We give
out literature on M.A.L.T. and a high percentage of them become due paying
members. Guests buy direct (beef and apples) and thus they support family
farms.” The only caveat
they say is its best to schedule the bed-and-breakfast activities together
(Thursday through Sunday) and focus on the ranch from Monday through
Thursday afternoon. In sum, agri-tourism can be the perfect example of
responsible tourism: small numbers, low impact, and education focused. Contact
Information: ·
M.A.L.T. (Marin Agricultural Land Trust).
To join M.A.L.T., contact P.O. Box 809, Point Reyes Station, CA 94956.
www.malt.org.
415-663-1158 ·
To
purchase the 90-minute audio tape driving tour “An Abundant Land: The
Story of West Marin Ranching” ($12 plus shipping and handling),
contact M.A.L.T. at address, phone or website above. ·
UC California Cooperative Extension, Director, Marin County, Ellen Rilla. 1682
Novato Blvd., Suite 150B, Novato, CA 94947.
erilla@ucdavis.edu.
415-449-4209 ·
“Agritourism
and Nature Tourism in California: A How-To Manual for Farmers and Ranchers”,
$25 plus tax, shipping and handling. University of California Small Farm
Center, University of California, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA
95616-8699. 530-752-8136 ·
Point Reyes Vineyard Inn. Keepers, Sharon & Steve Doughty. P.O. Box 1177,
Point Reyes Station, CA 94956, 415-663-1552 · Chileno Valley Ranch Bed & Breakfast. Keepers, Mike and Sally Gale. 5105 Chileno Valley Road, Petaluma, CA 94952, www.chlenobnb.com. 707-765-6664 Events -
The World Ecotourism Summit
The
World Ecotourism Summit will be a major landmark among the many activities
to be undertaken at the global, regional, national and local level on the
occasion of the 2002 United Nations, International Year of Ecotourism. It
will be held in Quebec, Canada from 19-22 May 2002. The Summit is expected
to be the largest ever worldwide gathering of all types of stakeholders
involved in ecotourism, including Ministers, public sector officials,
tourism companies and their trade associations, local authorities,
national park managers, NGOs relevant to the ecotourism sector, indigenous
peoples representatives, the academic community and others.
See the summit's website (www.ecotourisme2002.org)
for results of this important event. The
summit has four key themes: A)
Ecotourism Policy and Planning: The Sustainability Challenge;
B) Regulation of Ecotourism: Institutional Responsibilities and
Frameworks; C) Product
Development, Marketing and Promotion of Ecotourism:
Fostering Sustainable Products and Consumers;
and D) Monitoring Costs and Benefits of Ecotourism:
Ensuring Equitable Distribution Among All Stakeholders.
PIRT
Partner Kurt Kutay of Wildland Adventures is among the delegates at the
World Ecotourism Summit Stanford Ecotourism Conference - Build Up To Quebec Palo Alto, CA:
The Stanford University Anthropology Department hosted a regional
conference entitled "Ecotourism and Conservation in the Americas:
Putting Good Intentions to Work." on May 3-5, 2002. A goal of this conference was provide input for and
develop discussion items to be included in the World Ecotourism Conference
held later in Quebec. PIRT
director, Dr. Patrick Tierney attended part of the event and reports on it
below. The conference was organized around the
theme of ecotourism as a tool for conservation of natural and cultural
resources. It was a timely
discussion because ecotourism has
received increasing attention by world leaders as a strategy for
conservation, especially in developing countries.
This event was a well-organized gathering of various stakeholders
and academic researchers who looked at the potential of ecotourism to
promote conservation while also improving local livelihoods, and the
documentation of the environmental costs and adverse effects on indigenous
people who have depended on the natural resources which tourists visit.
Policy makers, ecotourism business interests, environmentalists,
scholars, grassroots leaders of indigenous tribes, tour operators, and
students from North and South America gathered to hear the following
sessions. ·
Assessing the Conservation Potential:
Does it Work? ·
Local Impacts: Who Benefits and Who
Pays? (South America) ·
Local Impacts: Who Benefits and Who
Pays? (Central America) ·
Environmental Education: What do
Ecotourists Learn? ·
Putting Good Intentions to Work: The
View of Operators and Organizations Keynote
presentations were by Martha Honey, ecotourism expert from the Institute
for Policy Studies, and author of Ecotourism and Sustainable
Development: Who Owns Paradise? (See the reviews on this book later in
this newsletter) A
Delegation from Cuba discussed ecotourism in their country and how the
government and local citizens are working together to conserve coastal and
inland resources while providing benefits to local residents. Megan
Epler Wood, President of The International Ecotourism Society, gave the
gathering insights into research the TIES has been conducting and their
initiatives to promote responsible ecotourism.
On
May 4 a panel of experts presented findings of their studies under the
themes of Local Impacts: Who Benefits and Who Pays;
and Environmental Education: What Do Ecotourists Learn? Dr.
Susan Stonich from University of California at Santa Barbara discussed
Marine Protected Areas (MPA) and the increasing roles they play in both
conservation and ecotourism. Her
research has found that most MPAs are created primarily to protect marine
resources, with relatively little attention paid to their potetial impact
on existing coastal communities and economies, or tourism.
She has found that the growing numbers of MPAs often get little
input from local residents and this limits their long term political
sustainability and conservation effectiveness.
A question she posed to the audience was:
Does employment in ecotourism represent enough incentive for local
people to support local protected areas?
Mr.
Randy Verdin, the son of English-speaking missionary parents, grew up
among and is a member of an indigenous tribe of people who live in an
isolated part of the Amazon Basin in Equador.
He made a fascinating presentation about how ecotourism developed
among his people and the challenges they face providing it in the future. Their approach to ecotourism was to let community members
identify have power to control tourism development, and provide the
accommodations and tourist services themselves. Local control over development was the key to their success
but this also limits how they can complete in a global tourism
marketplace. An important
step was have community members be guides and to pay them based on the
amount of traditional knowledge they had about the forest and its uses.
This meant there was an incentive for younger members to learn
traditional skills and information, as an alternative to moving out of the
area for jobs.
Two large ecotourism challenges facing Randy and his community,
over which they have little control, are regional terrorism and the global
economy. His region, which
borders Peru and Columbia, has recently seen increasing civil unrest, drug
trafficing and border disputes. These
events have combined to scare away potential tourists to their community.
To avoid unsafe conditions at a nearby airport, the community is
not chartering flights from another airport outside the region directly
into their land. At the same time this is occurring there was the 9/11 event
and a global economic recession. As
a result fewer people are contacting them now and the income they had come
to expect has fallen off due to factors beyond their control. He suggested that tourism to distant and remote locations has
more price and demand variability than does export agriculture, like
coffee. His conclusion: They can not rely on ecotourism alone for foreign
currency because it is so vulnerable to outside influences. In the midterm they are using funding from scientific
research to increase knowledge of local resources and to increase
awareness of their tribal lands as an ecotourism destination.
In the long term he believes they must better educate their
communities members in diverse economic options and to stabilize
ecotourism revenues. Ron
Mader is an ecotourism author and webmaster of planeta.com (http://www.planeta.com),
one of the best known ecotourism websites on the internet.
He suggests that ecotourism is concerned with three overlapping
interest areas, local residents, tourists and conservation.
Each domain has its own self-interest goals, but yet is influenced
by the other two domains. True
ecotourism is where all three of these domains intersect.
He believes that ecotourism is an evolving process and will change
over time.
Conservation Locals
Locals
Tourists
Ron
feels there are many areas that need to be discussed more in the evolving
arena of ecotourism, including: the effects of airline travel, tourist and
terrorism, NGO scams, what locals should benefit from ecotourism,
corruption among government and NGO organizations and spirituality of
ecotourism. One
of the things Ron is working on is to increase communications about
ecotourism. The most
promising tool to do this is the internet, he says.
On his website he employs "open space technology" that
allows for on-line conferences. In
April of 2002 he hosted an on-line conference titled "Sustainable
Development of Ecotourism (for more info see
http://www.planeta.com/ecotourism2002.html). There was considerable
discussions at Stanford about how effective the internet is because of the
digital divide and the potential exclusion of many people from developing
countries. Ron felt, in fact,
that the internet offers the best opportunity because of the low cost and
the fact that most remote communities now can access the internet. He says his on-line conferences have had respondents from all
over the Americas, including very remote regions. Book Review:
Ecotourism and Sustainable Development: Who Owns Paradise?
By Martha Honey Island
Press, 1999 Review
By; Patrick Tierney, Director of PIRT. I found this
book to be a modern, very in-depth and
refreshing analysis of ecotourism.
The author manages to weave a balanced discussion of this complex
subject, without falling into the "those awful tourists" trap of
other books on this subject. She correctly identifies ecotourism as an
evolving experiment to enjoy and conserve natural and cultural resources
that has both failures, as identified in many other books, and some
successes. This is the best
book on ecotourism I have read in several years.
Review Taken From Amazon.com: Ecotourism is defined as responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the welfare of local people. In Ecotourism and Sustainable Development, Martha Honey presents an overview of the ecotourism industry and a first-hand account of ecotourism projects around the world. Based on interviews and visits to ecotourist hotspots in Latin America and Africa, the book offers a vivid description and analysis of projects that meet the goals and standards of ecotourism, as well as those that claim to be ecotourism but in reality fall short. Honey presents in-depth case studies of seven destinations (Galapagos, Costa Rica, Cuba, Zanzibar, Tanzania, Kenya, and South Africa) that illustrate the economic and cultural impacts of tourism development on indigenous populations and ecosystems. It is the only such account of worldwide ecotourism available today, and is an important guide for students and researchers involved with international development, geography, or tourism, as well as for anyone interested in becoming a more environmentally sensitive traveler. Amazon.com Reader Review:
K. Eric Pohost from Silver Spring, Maryland
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PIRT's Mission Statement Partners in Responsible Tourism is a network of individuals and representatives of tourism companies who are concerned about the impact of tourism and tourism development on local environments and cultures. We believe that responsible tourism promotes positive cultural and environmental ethics and practices." Information about PIRT:
PIRT website designed by Ron Mader and Scott Walker and maintained by Patrick Tierney E-mail Partners in Responsible Tourism: bapirt@aol.com
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