On our first visits with new communities we work with, we want to learn about the community from the perspective of the people and the leaders in the community. We talk about the demographics of their community, the education situation, local environment, needs and felt needs, etc… This gives us a starting point for relationship that tourism that can impact in a productive and sustainable way. In development training, one thing we learn is that projects will be embraced and development can happen when we address felt needs, even though from our perspective we may see the needs as different than the community. Better to help address felt needs first, whether they are actual needs or not, because in that develops a relationship that shows that you care for the things they care for. From a basis of trust like this, the door opens to all sorts of opportunities. This past year, in one community we stepped too quickly into looking to provide solutions before the trust was established, and it has failed miserably. We gotta build the trust and value the thoughts and feelings of the communities we work in first and foremost. Our goals are to link our company that looks like tourism with a goal of development, but for the communities we work in, tourism is a thing they don’t understand.
We feel that there is so much more potential for tourism to create impact that what it is producing. Tourism is unattainable for so many who work 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year, just to make enough to survive off of. However, those who travel to these places, tourism is not only attainable but considered as a right…not a luxury. There is a degree of privilege that exists amongst those who travel that doesn’t exist in the communities they are often going to. For this reason, we believe that tourism needs to make a bigger impact on the villages we work in, and its also the reason we want to champion sustainable tourism development. Tourism needs to be a catalyst toward change and development. I like to look back towards the UN’s SDG’s and consider how we can utilize our own company to reach sustainable development goals, and then how we can partner with other organizations and people who can bring development in a way that is outside of our scope and ability, but are also needs in the communities we work in.
If you’re unfamiliar with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals…