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Darien National Park largest stretches of
protected area in Central America.
Tasmania is one of the most overlooked
destinations in Australia.
Olympic National Park Seattle in Washington state,
Gabon, a country in southwestern Africa
  
CHAPTER THREE
Ecotourism Planning and Management

What is an Ecotourism Management Plan?

oA guide tool for the development of tourism in a
protected area by synthesizing and representing the
vision of all the stakeholders while fulfilling the
conservation objectives for the site.
oThe general management plan usually determines that
ecotourism is the kind of tourism that is desired for a
particular protected area .
 Prerequisites for an Ecotourism Management Plan

• A care-full assessment of the protected area’s

resources

• Human capacity

• Tourism potential is essential.

Who participates in the planning process?
Who Prepares an Ecotourism Management
Plan?
• The planning process should represent
the point at which all relevant stake-
holders become involved in the
decision making about ecotourism.
An EMP should be based on the consensus of:

❖Tourism professionals (operators and

guides) interest-ed in and/or involved
with the protected area;
❖Representatives from communities who
will be impacted by ecotourism;
• Representatives from local
governments, government agencies,
NGOs and others who have an interest
in ecotourism development in the
region; as well as
• ❖Protected area staff who know the
area well and who will be responsible
for the plan’s implementation
 Steps for Eco tourism Management planning

• Site Conservation Planning and

Preliminary Site Evaluation
• Full Site Diagnostic (FSD)
• Data Analysis and Preparing the Plan
• Implementation of the Ecotourism
Management Plan
• Measures of Success
 i. Site Conservation Planning and Preliminary Site Evaluation

• Now that you know what ecotourism is,

who the potential actors are and what
threats and opportunities ecotourism can
present.
• You may feel that you want to go straight
ahead and build an ecolodge or develop a
trail network at your site.
 II. Full Site Diagnostic (FSD)
• At this point, the planning team has definitely
decided that ecotourism is what it wants to plan
for, which means that it needs to gather a certain
kind of information.
• Before it does that, the team should consider how
it would gather information . position to provide
informed answers to the following questions .
• ❖ What are the major threats to the site/protected
area and what strategies might be used in the
EMP to address them?
 Where is ecotourism going to take place?

❖ What kinds of activities will be carried out

to implement ecotourism?
❖ Who will be in charge of implementing these
activities and what precautions need to be taken?
❖ By who and how will this be monitored and
funded?
 III.Data Analysis and Preparing the Plan
• Data Analysis Phase Once the data has been
collected, the team needs to analyze it and
begin to make decisions about what the EMP
will recommend.

• A lot of data will have been accumulated, and

planners need to be able to use this
information.
 IV. Implementation of the Ecotourism Management Plan

• it is time to begin implementation .

 Starting off on the right foot is frequently
the most difficult part of the entire process.
• Several factors are key to program success,
and they can be divided into two categories :
personnel-related factors and programmatic
factors.
 A. Personnel-related Factors

• Head of Ecotourism Program.

• Ecotourism Program Personnel.

• Training.

• Ecotourism Advisory Committee.

 B. Programmatic Factors
• Monitoring

• Evaluation

• Annual Work Plans

• Reporting Systems
 v. Measures of Success

There are three primary goals that should be

achieved if ecotourism is to be successful;
1. Threats to conservation targets are
reduced.
2. Income is generated for conservation.
3. Local communities are benefited
 Ecotourism Development
• Probably the most benefit of ecotourism planning is to foster
development that provides benefits for local communities
and their natural and cultural environments. Such benefits
might include:
New jobs and business
Additional income
New markets for local products
Improved infrastructure and community facilities and
services
New skills and technologies
Greater environmental and cultural awareness and
protection
Improved land use patterns
 main three principles of sustainable development that
can also applied to regional ecotourism development are
as follows:
A. Ecological sustainability ensures that development is
compatible with the maintenance of essential ecological
process, biological diversity and biological resources.
B. Social and cultural sustainability ensures that
development increases people’s control over their lives, is
compatible with the culture and values of people affected
by it, and maintains and strengthens community identity.
C. Economic sustainability ensures that development is
economically efficient and that resources are managed so
that they can support future generations.
The ecotourism planning process which is outlined based
on the general approach to tourism planning includes the
following seven factors.
1.Study preparation.
2.Determination of objectives
3.Survey and analysis
4.Synthesis
5.Policy and plan formulation
6.Recommendations
7.Implementation and monitoring
Ecotourism planning can occur at a variety of levels
including international, national, regional, local and site.
zones are identified and described based on an approach where the
land and water areas of a region are classified according to their
need for protection and compatibility with tourism. The following
general zones and primary functions are proposed. These include:
Sanctuary zones:-areas requiring special preservation.
Nature conservation zones:-areas sustaining a combination of
protection and use, but with emphasis on the former.
Outdoor recreation zones:-natural areas that can accommodate
compatible outdoor recreational activities.
Tourism development zones:- small areas of concentrated
attractions.
All areas of the region are designated as area with other uses.
The underlying platform of any region’s ecotourism strategy is the
maintenance and enhancement of its environmental, economic and
social assets.
 Managing Conflicts in National Parks
and Protected Areas
Basic concepts of conflict management
Competition for the resources and recreational
opportunities existing within a park or protected
area often leads to conflict.
The conflict may be:
Between the managing agency and visitors or
communities within or adjacent to the park
Among visitors, or
Between tourism development and environmental
values within the park
Principles for Resolving Conflicts
Of the inherent messiness of park and protected area
planning and management, conflict is part of that
messiness. There are four principles that provide the
foundation for successful conflict resolution:
1. Manage escalation
When they go unresolved, conflicts have a tendency
to escalate.
As the conflicts escalates, there is a tendency for the
conflicting groups to view messages from the
agency as supporting the other group’s position,
even if the message is relatively neutral.
2.Encourage definitions of the conflict that are mixed
motive in character
As conflicts escalate, they are more likely to
be defined as zero-sum conflicts, making
equitable resolution more difficult.
Thus, in order to resolve the conflicts,
managers must continually work to retain
its mixed-motive character in order to
maintain the opportunity for resolution
strategies that are satisfying to all
conflicting parties.
3. Retain Communication Channels
Mixed-motive conflicts can be effectively resolved
through a variety of participative, collaborative
and negotiation strategies.
This can only work if communication channels
between conflicting parties are maintained.
There is a variety of communication channels,
including manager (if not a direct party to the
conflict) serving not only as a conduit for
messages but also as a conflict resolution
facilitator.
4. Determine the interests at stake; avoid simplistic
‘yes-no’ solutions
Arguing over actions before agreement on goals
exacerbates conflicts.
hunting
e.g. Park manager versus local conservation
group.
The focus should be securing the interests of both
group through a series of trade-offs rather than
simple ‘yes-no’ response.
 Conflict Resolution Techniques
Formal techniques –litigation,
legislation and administrative rule
making – ineffective.
Collaborative or participatory
planning, unassisted negotiation and
assisted negotiation – the most
effective.
 THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE
ATTENTION

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