Country : Cambodia

Organization: SNV The Netherlands Development Organisation

Year the initiative began: 2007

Project Website: www.mekongdiscoverytrail.com/

Geotourism Challenge Addressed by Entrant:

Quality of tourist experience and educational benefit to tourists, Quality of benefit to residents for the destination, Quality of tourism management by destination leadership, Quality of stewardship of the destination

Organization size:

Small (1 to 100 employees)

Indicate sector in which you principally work:
Community Organization

Primary field of activity:

• Living culture
• Nature
• Adventure
• Education
• General destination stewardship/management

What is the goal of your innovation? Please describe in one sentence the kind of impact, change, or reform your approach is intended to achieve.

The Mekong Discovery Trail provides authentic, community-based ecotourism experiences that assists rural communities in reducing poverty and preserves the endangered Irrawaddy Dolphin.

Please write an overview of your project. Include how your approach supports or embodies geotourism or destination stewardship. This text will appear when people scroll over the icon for your entry on the map located on the competition homepage.

The Mekong Discovery Trail was designed around the concept of a ‘heritage trail’ where a series of attractions, products and services are linked through a themed travel route. The Trail comprises a series of ten smaller trails branching out from two major gateway provincial capitals, with connections in-between. The Trail extends 190km and comprises 104 villages of which 80% live below the poverty line of USD$1 per day. Tourism on the Trail revolves around primary and secondary destinations; developed to encompass the key traits of the destination, based on local resources and community skills and capacities. One example involves a Buddhist temple famous for a local and national legend, that is utilized in a number of ways to enhance its appeal to tourism. An annual festival celebrating this legend (abandoned due to the civil war) is being revived and promoted as a national festival, with extra activities linked to it to improve its saleability and expand local opportunities for employment. Local handicrafts, also once abandoned, have been revived through the teaching of local people, and are focused on the themes of the festival. Local foods are promoted and sold to build pride and to revive an almost lost cuisine.

Explain in detail why your approach is innovative.

The Mekong Discovery Trail represents a cluster of independent resources that together tell the ‘story’ of Mekong River life. As a network of paths it can be traveled by several modes, with varying duration, and can include experiences that range from soft to extreme adventure. While the resources along the Trail are not unique in themselves, it is the amalgamation of these features under a single theme that make it distinctive. The Trail is unique in that it is the only connecting network of Trails providing diverse opportunities for adventure and to experience the Mekong River, its environment, its people and authentic river life. The appeal of the Trail is also recognized regionally, with the Lao PDR government and private sector interested in extending the Trail from Cambodia into southern Laos. The approach has subsequently provided the country’s government with a model for sustainable tourism planning and development in other regions of Cambodia, in a way that is suitable and sustainable to the locale, by pulling together its key issues and factors, and addressing them through the use of ecotourism as an alternative livelihood option to supplement other livelihood strategies, and not a panacea for poverty alleviation.

What is the origin of your innovation? Tell the Changemakers and media communities what prompted you to start this initiative.

The Mekong Discovery Trail project was established under the United Nations World Tourism Organization’s (UNWTO) ST-EP (Sustainable Tourism – Eliminating Poverty) programme. The project is supported and funded through a tripartite cooperation between SNV, the Netherlands Development Organisation, UNWTO and the Cambodian Government. The initiative was prompted following earlier efforts to secure a working national policy on ecotourism. The draft National Tourism Policy mandates the government to develop sustainable ecotourism for the benefit of the nation as a major tool for economic development and poverty alleviation. In doing so it will promote social and cultural values, support conservation efforts and provide visitor experiences based on uniquely Cambodian values, attractions and sights. The Ministry of Tourism, charged with the responsibility of formulating ecotourism plans based on this policy, lacked the capacity both human and financially to undertake this task. SNV already working with the Ministry of Tourism at the time initiated the project to serve as a model for developing ecotourism in other destinations, securing cooperation and support from the UNWTO.

Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers' marketing material.

SNV, the Netherlands Development Organisation, is dedicated to a society where all people enjoy the freedom to pursue their own sustainable development. We contribute to this by strengthening the capacity of local organisations to make a significant contribution to their country’s development and allowing for the effective exchange of expertise. In the tourism sector, SNV supports clients at the national and local levels by helping them to better design policies and practices that develop tourism in an economically viable, equitable, ecological and sustainable way.

Describe some unique tourist experiences that your approach provides. Be specific; give illustrative examples.

Tourism products and services have been designed to cover a diverse array of experiences that capitalises on local assets while enhancing an understanding and appreciation of the area, its people and its overall environment. Once such product combines a destination along the Trail with a difficult history, a need for forest conservation, and the utilisation of services from a local community-based tourism committee to help the poor. This destination is an island located in the Mekong River, whose timber resources were decimated by Khmer Rouge soldiers during the civil war. The local community is making an effort to regenerate the lost forests, and in turn bring back the many bird species that have since disappeared from the island. The tour is simply called “Family Roots” and is designed to give tourists the opportunity to plant tree seedlings for the island’s regeneration project. Tourists then nominate one seedling as their family tree; placing a plaque with their name at its base. There are also opportunities for bird watching with a local guide, hiring bicycles from the local tourism committee to take a leisurely ride around the island, and finish with lunch at the community restaurant, overlooking the Mekong River.

What types of partnerships or professional development would be most beneficial in spreading your innovation?

The full potential of the Mekong Discovery Trail can only be realized with the support of the private sector, to incorporate elements of the Trail into their itineraries or promote the products and services to their guests. There are also significant limitations to the level of qualified human resources in the tourism industry, particularly government institutions. Professional development of the public sector is critical to the successful expansion and continued awareness of the Trail’s concepts. We also believe that vocational training in the communities is essential in spreading the diversity of products and services of the Trail.

Describe the degree of success you have had to date. How do you measure, both quantitatively and qualitatively, the impact on sustainability or enhancement of local culture, environment, heritage, or aesthetics? How has it transformed or contributed to the power of place or demonstrated the sustainability of tourism? How does your approach minimize negative impacts?

We developed a monitoring and evaluation framework for the Trail which combines an appropriate mix of qualitative and quantitative indicators that measure both the state of the tourism industry in the region and the situation in the villages along the Trail. A series of surveys were conducted to form a baseline against which the impacts of the Trail can be measured over time. The baseline surveys we conducted were done at the destination level, enterprise level, community level, and at the village and household levels. Since then, we have developed evaluation surveys to be conducted at a later date at scheduled intervals, to identify change and the impact of the project over time.

In what ways are local residents actively involved in your work, including participation and community input? How has the community responded to or benefited from your approach?

The overarching goal of the Mekong Discovery Trail was the development of new and sustainable tourism destinations along the Mekong River, that supported the diversification of rural incomes and contributed to poverty alleviation. In order to achieve this, a number of rural communities at strategic locations along the Trail were selected to undertake Community Development Plans which were developed through a participatory planning process with numerous community meetings. The Plans include detailed descriptions of the communities and their social structure, tourism assets, aspirations for tourism development and issues and constraints impacting on future community-based ecotourism development.

How does your program promote traveler enthusiasm, satisfaction, and engagement with the locale?

The Trail is embodied as a ‘caring destination’, aiming to improve local economies and conserve biodiversity of the area, tied to elements of education, excitement and entertainment. It is branded as a means of experiencing river life while learning about and contributing to that existence, satisfying environmental and social concerns of source markets. Opportunities for volunteering and adventure such as mountain biking, trekking and camping, and the use of non-motorised transportation are key to those who wish to explore destinations in a slower, yet more in-depth manner while at the same time meeting the desire for low carbon emission holidays.

Describe how your work helps travelers and local residents better understand the value of the area's cultural and natural heritage, and educates them on local environmental issues.

A key goal of the Trail is the conservation of the critically endangered Irrawaddy Dolphin. One way of achieving this through tourism was through the use of local village festivals, by developing an annual Dolphin Festival. Festivals play an important role in Cambodian society, and the creation of this festival was designed as a two-pronged approach. Firstly, it provides opportunities for tourists to experience village festivals helping to diversify the product, but secondly it provides a greater awareness and appreciation of the dolphin through education opportunities and the understanding that income can be derived through the preservation of the species.

How is your initiative currently financed? If available, provide information on your finances and organization that could help others. Please list: Annual budget, annual revenue generated, size of part-time, full-time and volunteer staff.

The project was designed in three phases, with a potential 4th phase currently in the planning process. Funding for all stages of the project has been through targeted budgets of SNV, UNWTO and the Cambodian government, with in-kind support from local non-government organizations and local tourism private sector.

Is your initiative financially and organizationally sustainable? If not, what is required to make it so? Is there a potential demand for your innovation?

Currently, the initiative is funded by SNV, UNWTO, and the Cambodian government. Activities have been designed within the Project to ensure it remains a viable, self-financing and self-sustaining innovation. Communities are organised so that benefits from tourism activities are distributed equitably; products and services are packaged appropriately so as to create a diversity of new and exciting experiences; the private sector is engaged and interlinked with the activities and communities of the Trail to ensure wider promotion and accessibility for tourists; and the Cambodian government is committed and involved in the planning, management, marketing and promotion of the Trail.

What are the main barriers you encounter in managing, implementing, or replicating your innovation? What barriers keep your program from having greater impact?

It is the general view of industry that there are significant limitations to the level of qualified
human resources in all sections of the tourism industry, particularly government institutions at the destination level. This is a significant obstacle not only to the tourism industry but also to the success of the Mekong Discovery Trail. Capacity building programs have been delivered for a variety of topics at a variety of levels, however the greatest issue with these training programs is the sheer number of them and time. Dealing with poor communities and government staff with limited or no education requires a lot of time and resources. However a hidden obstacle that was not always obvious at the beginning has shown that time is an important factor in training and capacity building. We have learnt that it is not possible to teach a set course and then walk away, but provide backup and materials to ensure that the learning doesn’t stop after the course has, and that measure have to be put in place to ensure that the trainees do not forget what they have learnt.

What is your plan to expand or further develop your approach? Please indicate where/how you would like to grow or enhance your innovation, or have others do so.

We have submitted a proposal to the UNWTO to extend the Mekong Discovery Trail into southern Laos. The typical travel route for tourists in the NE of Cambodia is enroute to, or from, Laos which we believe presents an opportunity for the Trail to extend across the border and link directly into the southern Laos Si Phan ecotourism precinct. Combining the assets and experiences available in southern Laos and along the Mekong Discovery Trail in NE Cambodia, coupled with partnering in promotion of the region can provide an opportunity to capture a greater share of tourists seeking unique ecotourism experiences.

Contact Information
Ms Sharee Bauld
Business Development Advisor
SNV The Netherlands Development Organisation
21A, Street 302, Phnom Penh
sharee@bauld.com