As a U.S. location and with existing federal government agencies here, the CNMI has already some of the things it needs to develop ecotourism, according to Honolulu-based Marine Science & Policy Advisor Dr. Stacey A. Tighe who conducted a brief lecture at the American Memorial Park Visitor Center last week.
“Ecotourism, as an environmentally responsible travel and visitation that promotes conservation, is a huge and growing market, as seven percent of all travel is nature based,” Tighe said.
There are several themes of tourism, such as cultural, historical, adventure, sports, nature, social tourism including family, reunions, weddings, and others.
Tighe said historical tourism is one strong asset here but the CNMI is also slowly building its sports tourism.
Things that can be “eco” include eco-resorts and hotels, eco-tours, non-governmental organizations involved in eco-tourism, government codes of conduct and guidelines regarding ecotourism for travelers.
A successeful ecotourism has to meet several criteria, such as it must combine natural and cultural tourism, involve local populations in the program, including providing educational resources to the local community; identify, manage and conserve the natural and cultural environment as well as the resources on island, and help generate practices that will lead to the future sustainability of the island.
Benefits of ecotourism
Ecotourism brings with it lots of advantages, according to thigh. It serves as an alternative to environmentally damaging industries, encourages individual conservation efforts, encourages small-scale infrastructure construction, benefits other industries, transfer incomes from richer to poorer, and serves as diversification.
For the local community, Tighe said ecotourism encourages proper environmental management and improve social operations. It also creates new local jobs such as guides, lodging, and others. It opens new markets for local products, provide fun facilities and infrastructure, and builds cultural awareness and land use.
Costs of poor ecotourism
Tighe said along with its benefits and advantages are the challenges and costs of poor ecotourism which include visitor overcapacity, greenwashing, profit over protection and reliance on international donors. In addition, there is also the cost of exploitation of local workforce, competition for local use of food, beaches and other facilities, and inadequate enforcement.
Tighe said an overflow of visitors would be detrimental to the environment so that in other countries, they have to set a certain limit as to how many visitors are allowed to come in at a certain attraction each day.
Who’s involved?
Tighe said in order for ecotourism to succeed, there should be coordination between the Marianas Visitors Authority, CNMI Coral Reef Initiative, including the Division of Environmental Quality, the Division of Fish & Wildlife, Coastal Resource Management, and the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force; the community, the chamber of commerce, small scale businesses, and even churches.
“In a close-knit community as the CNMI, churches still play a major involvement,” Tighe said.
Something different
But for the CNMI to succeed as an ecotourism destination, it must present attractions that are different from those already available in its neighboring islands such as Hawaii and Palau.
Tighe said the advantages of the CNMI that can be tapped for ecotourism such as treasures of ancient history, citing World War II sites, Banzai Cliff, the Petroglyph in the Kalabera Cave in Marpi. She also cited the rich cultural activities that abound in the islands, opportunities for plant watching, low impact arts and crafts,
Community help needed
Tighe said that the community has to help in order to promote ecotourism in the NMI.
“The community has learned their actions impact environment and tourism, so they “behave” by helping in small ways,” Tighe said. These little acts can be in providing trash bins, cleaning their yards, cleaning graffiti, and giving information to visitors.
More than marketing needed
Tighe said attracting people, repeat visits and money requires more effort. Tourism needs more than marketing, and among the needs are:
• Natural and man-made attractions
• Big infrastructure such as landfill, boardwalk, roads and sewers, buses and boats for passenger transportation.
• Small infrastructure such as information center and programs, site infrastructure
• Unique architecture
• Strategic programs for safety and exercise
• User-friendly services such as languages, satisfaction guarantee, rainy day, flexibility, customer-first
• Convenience, such as easy transportation, credit card access
• Visitor information and assistance
Starting off
“How do we start?” This is one final question that Tighe asked to challenge all stakeholders in the tourism industry to create a sustainable CNMI ecotourism.
“There should be a tourism planning team or board that is independent of the MVA that should discuss issues such as what you want to save, how you define balance of massive versus small scale and ecotourism, and a system to accommodate both.
Here are more ways to start the ecotourism in the NMI:
• Conduct campaign to create a collective vision
• Conduct pilots of community-based ecotourism enterprises
• Define limits to growth
• Assess and discuss what activities you want
• Find community members who have special skills such as cooking, bird knowledge, boonie stomping and others whom you can utilize
• Plan small scale infrastructure
• Create a guide training program
• Research and develop the materials
• Promote new destination, vision
• Conduct local best practices campaign
• Develop international campaign
• Award community grants to start new enterprises
Finally, to have a sustainable ecotourism in the CNMI, Tighe said the whole community must make tourism everybody’s business and work toward a shared vision of “value.”
