— Danielle Lewis-Jones
—Maureen Wyse
—Shirin Jafari
STUDENTS REFLECT ON THEIR RECENT CONSULTING PROJECT IN ABRUZZO, ITALY
— Danielle Lewis-Jones
—Maureen Wyse
—Shirin Jafari
Author: GW IITS
consultant
— Danielle Lewis-Jones
—Maureen Wyse
—Shirin Jafari
Student Consultants Support Cultural Heritage Tourism in Abruzzo, Italy
The juxtaposition of the sea and mountains makes for an ideal travel destination anywhere in the world. But in Abruzzo, Italy, this natural beauty is combined with world-class cuisine and wine, and a rich historical and cultural context.
During the summer fourteen students from The George Washington University (GWU) traveled to Abruzzo for a two-week consulting project conducted in collaboration with the local D'Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara and DestiMed, an initiative of the IUCNCenter for Mediterranean Cooperation, which is a nonprofit working to promote sustainable tourism in the Mediterranean.
As Seleni Matus, Executive Director of GWU's International Institute of Tourism Studies explains, "the summer practicum provides Masters of Tourism Administration students with a unique opportunity to apply their theoretical knowledge and to see for themselves the actual challenges and opportunities associated with sustainable tourism." Matus, who organized and led the trip, has taken GWU students to Cuba, Mexico and Indonesia during prior years.
The student-consultants were paired with three local Italian students and tasked with researching the region's tourism landscape. Their primary focus was on developing ecotourism-related products and services, exploring market opportunities and evaluating the local and national governance structure in terms of tourism.
Presentations from area experts and professors, one-on-one interviews, and site visits to local attractions—including several national parks—provided students with an understanding of and insights into this relatively unknown part of Europe.
Fred Baldassaro, a second-year Masters of Tourism Administration candidate, summed up the experience this way: “Abruzzo gave us a chance to put all of our education and theory into practice through real-world encounters and experiences. The project also allowed us to contribute to a region that is using tourism for economic development and improving the lives of people living there.”
The students prepared for the project during a month-long class that provided a deep-dive into the general consulting process and included desktop research on the history of tourism in Abruzzo. Perhaps most importantly, the classroom preparation provided students with the confidence to successfully deliver on a project in an unfamiliar area and outside of their comfort zones.
On site, the consulting project began with a two-day seminar at the D'Annunzio University in Chieti and featured speakers from the region, including Gran Sasso National park officials and representatives of the the Italian National Institute of Statistics. Site visits brought classroom research to life and into focus. Yet it was the dozens of interviews with Abruzzo’s tourism stakeholders — mayors, museum curators, park rangers, tour guides professors, hoteliers and restaurant owners— that provided the most useful insights.
Following the interviews and field research, the students synthesized all of the information they gathered and assembled a presentation for local stakeholders— which was covered by local and national TV news-outlets—and a final consulting report that included recommendations for ushering into the region a new generation of sustainable travel.
GW PLAYS LEADING ROLE IN TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN CENTRAL ASIA
For 3000 years, camel caravans crossed the golden sands of Central Asia along a route known as the Silk Road. Established around 130 B.C., during China’s Han Dynasty, the Silk Road was actually a network of roads that not only served as a trade route for the exchange of spices, textiles, gems and perfumes but allowed ideas and technological advances to migrate between the East and West.
At the crossroads of the Silk Road was Kazakhstan, which today is the world’s ninth largest country and remains at the center of Central Asian commerce. In March, George Washington University’s Larry Yu visited Kazakhstan’s Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University (KazNPU) to attend the first International Scientific and Practical Conference on Trends and Perspectives of Tourism Development in Kazakhstan and Central Asia. GW alumnus Kenenbay Mambetaliyev, a faculty member at KazNPU, helped to organize the conference along with George Washington University’s International Institute of Tourism Studies and the Department of Tourism of Alamaty City.
“Most US tourists have not focused on Kazakhstan, much less Central Asia, as potential travel destinations. However that may soon be changing,” explained Dr. Yu, who spoke at the conference’s plenary session Tourism as an Engine for Development and conducted two workshops for participants. “While the Kazakh economy has relied on oil and gas exports, tourism has increasingly been recognized as key to economic diversification in the region, which has been hard hit by the fall in the prices of natural resources over the last decade or so.”
Not only is Kazakhstan vast but culturally varied, historically rich and teeming with unusual flora and fauna. Take the Aksu Zhabagly Nature Reserve, for example, which is not only home to snow leopards and other rare mammals, but it’s believed that tulips originated there, long before they were introduced to Holland. Or the Korgalzhyn Nature Reserve, famous for its pink flamingos and other bird species. Or the mystifying singing sands of the Altyn Emel National Park, which emit a low-pitched, synchronized musical sound.
To attract more foreign visitors to the region, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have announced a program to allow tourists to travel between the two countries on one visa. The so-called "Silk Visa" is so promising that similar arrangements are being considered by nearby Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan Azerbaijan and Turkey. Since 2017, citizens of 45 countries, have been able to travel to Kazakhstan visa-free for 30 days. As a result, in 2017 alone, Kazakhstan saw almost an 18 percent increase in tourists, achieving a record of 5.8 million foreign visitors in the first nine months of the year. According to a recent TripAdvisor survey, 47 percent of travelers responded that a single visa regime in Central Asia would increase their willingness to travel to the region.
However, visas are not the only the obstacle to tourism development in the region. Flights between Central Asian countries are relatively infrequent. And Central Asia’s proximity to Afghanistan raises safety concerns for visitors. Nevertheless, the Kazakh government is committed to bolstering the country’s tourism sector, a goal shared by the conference attendees, who included university professors, researchers, government officials, industry professionals and students from the US and Central Asian countries.
“Sustainable tourism development has enormous potential for this region,” notes Yu. “Visitors can generate revenue for local communities while providing them with the incentive to protect their cultural and natural resources.”
Helping the Caribbean Island of Roatán Prepare for a Healthy Future
White sand beaches and colorful coral reefs have made Roatán an increasingly popular destination. More than a million cruise ships passengers, scuba divers and other visitors are drawn to the tropical island each year. While it’s located just 36 miles off Honduras’ northern coast, the slice of Caribbean paradise feels like it’s a million miles from the challenges that plague the mainland—most of them related to the fact that sixty percent of the population lives in poverty.
Yet Roatán is confronting its own set of issues. The island’s growing popularity has resulted in increased wastewater, pollution and other environmental threats posed by the accelerated growth of tourism, let alone the impact of climate change, which is impacting coral reefs around the world. Nevertheless, Roatan’s offshore reef, remains one of the healthiest stretches of the Mesoamerican Reef system, the largest barrier reef in the Western Hemisphere.
To help Roatán manage and plan for a sustainable future, a team from the George Washington University International Institute of Tourism Studies has been working with conservationists, business owners, local government and community members on a destination sustainability plan that will allow islanders to derive economic benefit from tourism, yet manage problems associated with increased visitation.
“I conducted Roatán's first destination assessment about five years ago, explains International Institute of Tourism Studies Executive Director Seleni Matus. “They’ve made impressive accomplishments since then. The establishment of the Bay Islands Destination Management Organization in 2017, which is ensuring coordination and collaboration among stakeholders for shared management of tourism on the island, has been a key development.”
Roatán’s success is due largely to the active involvement of a number of local NGOs including the Bay Islands Conservation Association, whose mandate is to conserve local resources, and the Coral Reef Alliance, which works with local communities to protect and manage the reef.
In January, Matus returned to Roatán with Masters of Tourism Administration student Taylor Ruoff to conduct a reassessment of the island based on the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) Criteria for Destinations. These guidelines, which serve as the global baseline for sustainability in travel and tourism, cover four general areas—cultural, environmental and socioeconomic impacts of tourism, and sustainable destination management.
In addition to the reassessment, Ruoff explains that, “To better understand the current challenges of sustainable tourism development and allow the community to decide on growth priorities for the next five years, we held focus groups with tour operators, attraction managers, NGOs, community groups and other representatives from the local tourism industry. We also conducted interviews with the governor, mayor, hoteliers and key business owners.”
In March, Matus and Ruoff presented their assessment findings and facilitated the development of a five-year community action plan with priority projects that include, for example, initiatives around wastewater management, improved zoning and food safety regulations, support for local entrepreneurs, and the establishment of an artisan-designated marketplace and culinary festivals like this summer’s two-day Roatán International Shrimp Festival.
Concluded Ruoff: “The passion demonstrated by local community members around the importance of natural and cultural heritage conservation— along with seeing the progress they’ve made over the last five years— is enormously inspiring." While Ruoff concedes that there’s still a great deal more to do to make the destination sustainable for the long term, she is optimistic that this community is up for the challenge, thanks to the collaboration and dedication of local leadership, community groups, business owners and NGOs.
This GSTC Destination Assessment is supported by the GSTC, the World Wildlife Fund, and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit. It is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. to promote destination stewardship and cruise tourism sustainability.
PUTTING THE ALASKAN TRIBE OF CHICKALOON’S NATIVE VILLAGE ON THE TOURIST MAP
Eager to see bears, moose and wolves in the wild, walk on a glacier or hike in the majestic Talkeetna and Chugach mountains, visitors to south central Alaska routinely drive right by the small communities in the traditional territory of Chickaloon Native Village. Jessica Winnestaffer is determined to change that. The tribal biologist and Environmental Stewardship Director wants to put Chickaloon Village squarely on the radar of tourists, and to do so, she recently launched a tribal initiative that she describes as still in its infancy. To nurture it along, she enrolled in the Cultural Heritage Tourism Professional Certificate Program, jointly offered by the International Institute of Tourism Studies and the American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association. The six-week, self-managed program is designed to provide tourism entrepreneurs and community leaders with the tools to identify and develop local assets that would most appeal to tourists—from cooking and crafts workshops to nature walks to historical sites.
For rural communities like those around Chickaloon Village, which once relied heavily on coal mining, tourism can provide both an alternative source of income to toxic extractive industries and a huge incentive to protect cultural and natural resources.
The cultural fabric of Chickaloon ’s and the Ahtna people was severely fractured over many years by government attempts at assimilation. Between the late 19th and early mid 20th centuries, native Indigenous children across the country, including Alaska, were taken from their families and sent to boarding schools, where they were forced to speak English and severely punished for stop speaking their languages and practicing their customs. Winnestaffer believes that tourism can help to heal the community’s painful history, instill a communal sense of pride and generate revenue.
Today, only a handful of community members speak Ahtna, which they learned as a second language. The last surviving Chickaloon Ahtna speaker— the Elder Katherine “Katie” Wade, who learned the language from her grandparents— died in 2009.
Children of the community may attend the only tribally-operated school in Alaska, where they learn Ya Ne Dah Ah, which means “our ancient teachings.” These teachings include lessons in culture, history, language, storytelling, sewing, beading, fishing and hunting. Winnestaffer would like to share some of them with visitors.
While she’s a scientist by training and new to tourism, Winnestaffer is proficient in securing grants. Before taking the GW courses, she’d already applied for and received funds to train five Ahtna Cultural Tour Guides, including several young people between 17 and 25. While the grant covered their salaries and training, she needed guidance to better understand what a professionally run tourism program entails—how to identify, develop and promote the assets and activities that most appeal to visitors, how to manage local and small businesses, and how convince community members—many of whom tend to be wary at first—of the benefits of hosting tourists.
“For a novice like me, the GW program provided a good introduction. I particularly appreciated the cultural focus,” reflected Winnestaffer. “Rather than tourism generally, which is what’s usually available, the courses addressed issues that were of specific relevance to tribes and heritage tourism.”
While she found that courses included participants who, like her, were still early in their journeys, it was inspiring to hear about the experiences of individuals who were further along. In fact the networking aspect of the program was especially worthwhile for her. “It was so valuable to learn about who’s doing what and to have their contact information,” she explained.
Winnestaffer found that the material was well-organized, presentations were easy to follow and the topics covered addressed her concerns. “Because the lessons were pre-recorded, the instructors could really plan their lectures and I appreciated that,” praised Winnestaffer.
She did find, however, that because participants were varied in their level of expertise, some of the information, particularly around marketing, was advanced. “But that doesn’t mean I didn’t find it worthwhile,” she noted. “It helped me to understand what I’d need to know as we further develop our tourism program.”
Winnestaffer’s next step is to conduct a cultural tourism assessment—a concept that was brand new to her just a few weeks ago. “I have a toolkit and I understand how to use it,” she offered with obvious enthusiasm. “Now I’m thinking about how best and most strategically to approach this next phase of the work.”
Given Winnestaffer’s thoughtfulness and commitment to the task, there’s little doubt that before long many of the tourists who make their way up the Glenn Highway between Anchorage and Glennallen each summer will soon be stopping off to explore the cultural heritage of Chickaloon Native Village.
For more information on the certificate program in cultural heritage tourism, please email culturaltourism@gwu.edu or visit our website.
GW COLLABORATES ON NEW ADVENTURE TRAVEL INDEX
Snow-capped mountain peaks, untrammeled wilderness trails and crystalline waters all feature in the world’s most winning adventure travel destinations. But according to experts, it takes more than good looks and challenging terrain to be sought after by thrill-seekers. Which destinations are most prepared to accommodate adventurous travelers?
According to the 2018 Adventure Tourism Development Index, a publication of the International Institute of Tourism Studies and the Adventure Travel Trade Association, this year’s winners are Iceland and the Czech Republic.
The index evaluates countries around the world for their competitiveness in adventure tourism. Countries are ranked according to ten criteria including: a sustainable development policy, safety and security, health, natural resources, cultural resources, adventure activity resources, humanitarian (opportunities for visitors to engage in authentic interactions with local people), entrepreneurship, tourism infrastructure and image.
For 2018, Iceland topped the list of developed nations and the Czech Republic led for developing nations. Through its Promote Iceland campaign, the country invested heavily in marketing and product development, and efforts paid off. The island nation also became an airline hub with improved accessibility. Switzerland, Germany, New Zealand, Norway, Australia, Finland and Canada were not far behind in their readiness to host adventurers.
Among developing countries, the Czech Republic held the top position, as it has since 2013, primarily because it leads in two key categories: adventure activity resources and entrepreneurship.
This year, the International Institute of Tourism Studies took the lead on a brand new index category: a social media netnography. We analyzed online social media reviews posted by travelers to gather first-hand insights around three popular destinations for hikers. These included Peru’s Inca Trail, the Mount Everest Base Camp and Mount Blanc.
According to International Institute of Tourism Studies Executive Director Seleni Matus, “Hiking remains the most popular adventure travel activity bar none. By providing destination managers an analysis of traveler feedback by hikers, they can incorporate this information into their long-term planning. For instance, are travelers generally happy with accommodations? Are trails well-marked? Are guides adequately trained? We hope that destination managers will use this approach more broadly and take online reviews into account when evaluating their adventure resources.”
To download a free copy of the report, please visit the Adventure Travel Trade Association website.
Overtourism Forum Draws Thought Leaders From Around the World
In collaboration with our colleagues at the Center for Responsible Travel, on World Tourism Day—September 27th—the International Institute of Tourism Studies gathered industry leaders from around the world to share their approaches to the vexing challenges that stem from overtourism.
The forum, Overtourism: Seeking Solutions, was a great success in terms of attendance, media coverage and the sharing of ideas for possible pathways forward. As all presenters stressed, overtourism stems from a complex set of challenges; solutions will need to be multi-faceted and site-specific.
Francesca Street—who interviewed three of our panelists for her CNN feature Can the World Be Saved from Overtourism?—summarized the key takeaway as follows: “Speakers agree that government, locals and tourism companies working together is the best recipe for success. Events such as the World Tourism Day Forum also allow for cross-pollination and sharing of ideas on a wider scale."
Johanna Jainchill, in her Travel Weekly story Experts Talk Threat of Overtourism and Possible Solutions, said: "Among the clearest takeaways from the event was that governments worldwide need to step up and recognize they are the first line of defense in saving their historical cities and natural treasures from being "loved to death."
A few additional takeaways...
- Recognize the tipping point: More isn't always better. Determine maximum capacity for your destination and monitor social media to determine whether it's on traveler hot lists.
- Plan ahead: Make tourism part of comprehensive urban, regional and destination plans.
- Stay flexible and adaptable: What works for historic sites doesn't necessarily work for beach communities, for example. Needs differ and change over time.
- Rethink good governance and management: DMOs have a vital role to play beyond marketing; they need to participate in the sustainable management of destinations.
- Redirect visitors: Encourage visitors to travel smarter, to seek out hidden gems and to contribute to the protection of the places they visit.
For those unable to attend the forum in person or via livestream, we've posted video recordings of the entire day on the International Institute of Tourism YouTube playlist.
STUDENTS REFLECT ON THEIR INDONESIA CONSULTING PROJECT
PUTTING CLASSROOM LESSONS INTO PRACTICE IN INDONESIA: STUDENTS CONSULT IN POPULAR TOURISM DESTINATIONS OF BALI AND BANDUNG
Bali’s palm-fringed Kuta beach, a former fishing village, has become one of Indonesia’s major tourist destinations. Last year, one in three of the country’s 13.7 million overseas tourists went to Bali.
While the influx of visitors has been a boon for the local economy, tourism is taking its toll on the local environment. Kuta beach is now drowning in a sea of plastic garbage, which is so overwhelming that earlier this year, local officials declared a “garbage emergency” across a 3.7-mile (6-km) stretch of coast. While much of the waste washes in from the sea, it’s also generated by tourists and residents. Bali’s infrastructure is just not equipped to handle so many people.
Trash disposal is only one challenge posed by overtourism, the recently coined term for too many visitors, which has become a rampant problem that’s plaguing popular destinations around the world. To help them deal with with their particular tourism challenges, George Washington University students and faculty working under the auspices of the International Institute of Tourism Studies recently went to Bali and Bandung—the capital of West Java— to conduct assessments and make recommendations for future development. The consulting project took place at the invitation of and in collaboration with student counterparts from STP Bali and STP Bandung, local universities whose Colleges of Tourism falls under the auspices of the Ministry of Tourism.
“While tourism brings many economic benefits to the island, it’s also creating pressure on local resources and contributing to major environmental problems such as pollution, water depletion, and waste and water management issues,” explains Taylor Ruoff who was among the group of GWU student consultants.
The team of twelve, which included students from the Masters of Tourism Administration program along with one student who is earning her Masters in International Education, used the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) Criteria for Destinations as the basis for their assessment in Bali. These criteria are designed to help tourism destinations and businesses protect and maintain natural and cultural resources, maximizing social and economic benefits for host communities and the environment.
The students made a preliminary presentation of their findings and recommendations in Bali at the 2018 Forum for International Tourism & the Environment (FITE), an annual forum that draws students from Indonesia and around the world to participate in yearly competitions and international conferences on tourism and sustainability. They commended the many businesses on the island that had joined the voluntary certification program Tri Hita Karana, which requires that members uphold specific certification practices, and they also cited a couple of temples in particular that were at risk due to overcrowding.
For their work in Bandung—a large city on the island of Java that mostly draws domestic tourists for its commercial, cultural and culinary attractions—the GWU students worked with graduate students from STP Bandung. Together, they assessed the tourism situation in the outlying villages of Jelekong and Alamendah and offered recommendations for improving community-based offerings for tourists, including homestays with local families.
The students presented their findings to community members and government officials from the two villages. “We’d learned in destination management classes about the benefits of bringing together diverse groups of tourism stakeholders with competing opinions and priorities,” explains Ruoff. “Seeing the discussions unfold in-person was eye-opening. You have government officials looking to bring more people and revenue into the town. You also have locals, whose families have always lived in the villages and they don’t necessarily see the benefits of tourism. It’s difficult to make everyone happy. We tried our best to reflect the interests of all stakeholders in our presentation and final report.”
To discuss solutions to various challenges that Indonesia’s tourism industry faces, Anang Sutono, Senior Advisor to the country’s Ministry of Tourism, will be speaking at the World Tourism Day Forum Overtourism: Seeking Solutions. The event, a joint initiative of GW’s International Institute of Tourism Studies and the Center for Responsible Travel, will take place in the Jack Morton auditorium on September 27th. Click here to learn more.
PLACEMAKING: KEY TO SUSTINABLE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AND CULTURAL CONSERVATION
International Institute of Tourism Studies Executive Director Seleni Matus traveled to Indonesia where she delivered the talk Placemaking, Culture & Tourism: Creating a Sense of Place at the 3rd Forum on International Tourism and the Environment (FITE). A partnership between the Institute Français, the Embassy of France to Indonesia and the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism’s Institute of Tourism in Bali with support from The George Washington University, FITE invites students from Indonesia, France and other countries to participate in international student conferences on tourism and sustainability.
Cultural heritage tourism is a particularly fast-growing segment of the tourism sector and key to the work of the International Institute of Tourism Studies, which focuses on tourism as a means of sustainable development. To better understand the overall concept of placemaking and how it relates to cultural tourism, we sat down with Matus just before she left for her trip.
Could you define placemaking?
First we need to be clear what we mean by place. Places are environments in which people have invested meaning over time. A place has its own cultural and social identity and is defined by the way it’s used and the people who use it.
So, then, what is placemaking?
Either organically or by design, people create places. An example of a place that evolved organically is Fusterlandia, an area on the outskirts of Havana, Cuba where a mosaic tile artist decorated his house. The neighbors, who were so impressed, asked him to decorate their homes. Very soon, the entire area became covered in wonderfully festive tiles and the once-forlorn area suddenly developed a cohesive identify. Tour buses now make Fusterlandia a regular stop. Fusterlandia is not only a good example of organic placemaking but of cultural tourism.
What do you mean by planned placemaking?
Several years ago, UNESCO began a program to conserve cultural heritage in cities around the world and identified places known for particular cultural characteristics—design, folk art, literature, music, etc. There are now more than 180 UNESCO Creative Cities. The intentional conservation of culture has enabled these cities to not only protect but also to promote their unique cultural characteristics. In Indonesia, for example, there are two UNESCO Creative Cities—Bandung, a design hub, and Pekalongan, which is known as the “Batik City.” While families have been making batiks there for thousands of years, the city government created a resurgence around the art form through increased funding, which has drawn the interest of young people as well as tourists and helped to revive the city’s economy.
Do you foresee that the placemaking movement will grow?
Absolutely. We’re seeing it around the world…Cuba, Croatia, Dublin, Durbin, Mexico, Malawi—placemaking is all about identifying, cultivating and conserving culture, which is key to sustainable development and to tourism, especially as an increasing number of travelers want to visit places that feel authentic. And residents in communities with a distinct sense of place are realizing economic benefits as well as enjoying the sense of cohesion that comes from living in a well-defined place. The UN in its 17 Sustainable Development Goals identifies the conservation of culture as key to sustainable development. So I think we’re only beginning to recognize and understand the power of placemaking as a vehicle for healthy development, which economically benefits communities and protects cultural and natural heritage.
