Charles Darwin Centre 2001

ECOTOURISM

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 ECOTOURISM TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE

 1. Who should apply?

 Indonesian government agencies at Provincial, Regency or sub-regency level (Tkt.1-3), local communities or yaysans are eligible to apply to the Charles Darwin Centre for assistance in the establishment and promotion of ecotourism ventures.

2. Who should receive assistance?

As a foundation dedicated to providing services to the community, Kolese Australia is committed to providing assistance to community organizations and agencies with kindred aims and objectives by providing appropriate technical and material assistance. This will include the provision of subsidized training packages and consultancy services to those organisations and agencies most in accord with our own mission and most capable of making a real and sustainable impact within their own local and regional communities.

In order to maximize the impact of inputs from the Charles Darwin Centre, it will be necessary to ensure that asmany organizations and agencies as possible have access to our training and assistance packages. This in turn means that although we are committed to provide these services at or below cost to community-based organizations, it will be necessary for the organizations themselves to secure funding from other agencies of government, or from bilateral or multilateral agencies in order to underwrite the training and assistance provided by the Charles Darwin Centre.

The Charles Darwin Centre can of course provide assistance and advice to organizations seeking funding, and NGOs and yayasans representing local communities are advised to contact the Charles Darwin Centre for advice before making specific funding applications.

Similar services provided to private businesses or corporations will be on the basis of full cost recovery, but will still be very coast-effective and well below the cost of other international-standard consultancies.

All ecotourism ventures established with the assistance of the Charles Darwin Centre will be given a listing on our website of ecotourism venues http://ecotourism.indonesia/. There will be no charge for this service, but travel agents and others seeking information from the site will be required to pay for contact details for some well established venues.

3. What constitutes a viable ecotourism proposal?

Local communities, NGOs, government agencies or private developers considering establishing ecotourism ventures will need to consider a set of enabling criteria which should help to ensure the success of the venture. To be successful, an ecotourism venture would normally need guaranteed access to natural assets such as:

1. wild or semi-wild population of interesting fauna
2. reintroduction centres
3. animal rehabilitation centres
4. pristine areas of natural lowland or montaine forest
5. undamaged coral reef in clear water
6. Occasional/Regular sightings of rare fauna such as anoa, maleo, babi rusa, tiger, rhino, Napoleon wrasse
7. spectacular fauna such as elephant, komodo dragon, gibbon, orang utan, banteng ox or leopard
8. active volcano(s) in fumarole stage of vulcanism
9. large marine animals such as turtles, dugong and whales
10. largely intact indigenous cultures and lifestyles
11. sites of archaeological interest such as megaliths, petraglyphs, terraces, and ceremonial buildings such as temples
12. spectacular topography or physiography resulting from outcrop of kaarst limestone or relict volcanic features

In addition, a successful venture would need to give close attention to aspects of site accessibility and proximity to international or local airport, seaport or train station, as well as to the quality of local transport, drinking water, accommodation, recreational facilities and the absence of environmental distractions from mosquitoes to hungry tigers.

A successful ecolodge will generally have:

• quick access to the nearest international or regional airport (<2 hours)
• 3 meals and 2 excursions (optional) daily
• a secure area for tourists to sleep and relax (possibly with waiters in attendance)
• English (or other European or Asian language) guides individually assigned to each person, couple or group to act as minder, linguist and teacher
• a bar with music from ~ 4 pm
• medical backup from an English speaking, overseas qualified doctor
• a designated rest area (hammock house)
• covered and raised walkways connecting various parts of the complex
• clean (pit) toilets and (sun-powered) hot showers (are acceptable)

4. What assistance is required?

In general, our package of assistance to interested NGOs, government agencies and private developers wishing to start an ecotourism venture would as:

1.  Site Assessment

    1.1 Conduct the following research and field activities:

            2. ecological sirvey

            3. geological survey

            4. historical survey

 1.2 Determine and identify key attractions

 1.3 Identify supporting attractions

 1.4 Define the human resource needs of the project

 1.5 Identify and quantify the human resources available

 1.6 Identify the training needs of the local community and the quantity and nature of any additional HR

In estimating the above HR capacity and training needs, attention should be given to:

1. foreign and national languages spoken by local community
2. management skills
3. financial/accounting skills
4. construction industry skills and training capacity
5. information systems
6. marketing expertise
7. tourism industry skills

2. Project definition

    2.1 Financial analysis

        This analysis should include an estimation of:

        setup costs,

        running costs,

        cash flow

        profit/loss predictions

    2.2    Management Plan

        Legal framework

        Implementation stages

3. Project Financing

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