Private AreaNews
› Association of Bhutanese Tour Operators (ABTO) in Costa Rica
2010-05-18
The project on Rural Adventure Tourism Enhancement & Sustainable Community Tourism Development (RATE & SCD) project in Bhutan and Costa Rica has been jointly implemented by The Association of Bhutanese Tour Operators (ABTO) and Rios Tropicales in Bhutan and Costa Rica respectively.
The overall objective of the project was to support and introduce sustainable tourism product development through community participation for revenue generation and effective management of the designated area with the following specific objectives:
• To develop river rafting and kayaking products, owned and managed by local communities with support from implementing agencies and tour operators
• To build capacity of tour operators, guides and local to enhance the quality of services for effective promotion and marketing river rafting and kayaking products
• To provide awareness on waste and resource management to the local communities and introduce an alternate source of income, support and upgrade tourism market chains, including services and skill development, to promote SMEs (making of rafts)
One of the important elements in this project is to exchange ideas and learn through experiences from the two countries to enhance efficient and effective implementation of the projects. Accordingly, the following people from various stakeholders were identified based on their capacity and involvement for the project.
The main objective of the visit was to learn and gain exposure on the development and management of adventure tourism products and implementation of the planned activities from Costa Rica through the project.
The visit was scheduled from 8th – 15th May 2010 and during this period, the team visited various tourism attractions and experienced some of the tourism program offered to tourists in Costa Rica, which was a remarkable one. Besides, the team visited the project site, implemented by the lead agency, Rios Tropicales for exchange of ideas. A meeting was organized by the lead agency at Rios Tropicales office to discuss on the experiences of the projects and also for the implementation of the upcoming activities that requires input from the lead agency.
In brief the following are some of the important observations/outcome of the visit:
1. The team briefed the two trainers on the available resources and type of training required in Bhutan. The team suggested them to bring their necessary equipments and reference documents for the training.
2. The team proposed Rios Tropicales to support at-least two guides from Bhutan for a period of one month to be stationed in Rios Tropicales operation center for sharing of experiences through contingencies fund. The Rios Tropicales in principle approved the proposal
3. The team recommended Rafael Gallo to develop adventure tourism guideline in line with the tourism policy of the royal government of Bhutan and to incorporate the feedback from the two trainers before finalizing the document so that the documents will be practical for implementing any adventure tourism activities in Bhutan
4. The compact electric generation is crucial and the technology can be replicated in remote areas/campsites in Bhutan for power supply with minimal investment.
5. The concept of horseback riding can be implemented in Bhutan in different phases through the involvement of local people in Bhutan. ABTO and TCB to collaborate and work with one community as pilot for the implementation.
6. The concept of butterfly garden is feasible in Bhutan especially in the southern region through prior approval from the government. However, capacity building and community participation is crucial in order to implement such activities, which can be done in phase wise in the near future.
7. The concept of hanging bridges is good for bird watchers and nature viewers. Since, it involves huge cost and expertise for the implementation, ABTO and TCB along with interested tour operators can identify the suitable place for future investment.
8. The concept of eco-friendly lodges can be implemented but we need to identify the potential area, educated and train local people to encourage local tour operators to invest through different phases to make communities familiarize on tourists, tour operators and tourism activities.
9. The concept of rope canopy tour can be implemented immediately by the tour operators. ABTO and TCB can look for technical advisor to advice on the quality of rope, degree/angle to lay down the rope, safety equipments and simple training on the usage and safety measures to few tour operators/guides to start with. Such initiatives would not only provide value addition services to the visitors but also encourage Bhutanese youth to participate in adventure tourism activities, which might be useful and necessary for the promotion of domestic tourism in the country for long term sustainability.
10. The interesting part that we can easily implement and also essential in Bhutan is to introduce multitasking in tourism industry. In Costa Rica a guide is expected to do basic cooking, waiter, dish washing and etc. besides his/her profession of guiding. This is very important even in Bhutan for improving the quality of services in tourism sectors in particular trekking. Trekking is expensive in Bhutan and trekking staff with basic knowledge of various services would supplement value addition services.
From the observation, the team would like to submit that there are potential areas for ABTO and Rios Tropicales to collaborate even after the implementation of the project. Bhutan needs Rios Tropicales expertise for the implementation of adventure tourism products, which is convenient as the project has already established communicating network and relationship between ABTO, Tourism Council of Bhutan (TCB), few tour operators and guides with Rios Tropicales.
ABTO website: www.abto.org.bt
Ríos Tropicales website: www.riostropicales.com
