Dear all, I asked you with my question mentioned above, to know more about your country if has strengthened or introduced measures to promote investment in ecotourism finance, including through microcredit initiatives for the poor, local and indigenous communities. Thans a lot in advance!
I would start by saying that the government of most countries are only interested in the dividend that accrues from tourism, hence, the laissez faire attitude over the years. However, they fail to acknowledge that tourism is a lot like fire; it helps in cooking food and also can burn down houses when mismanaged. That said, i would want to point out again that many governments at all level, including mine (Nigeria) have not done the needful in order to ensure sustainable tourism development, not to talk of the ecotourism aspect of it. They fail to understand that the local people wield lots of power when it comes to the sustainability of tourism in any given area. Basically, they know what exist in their locality as tourism resources, and they also bear the blunt of the development and therefore should be empowered. The failure of government in this regard has led to massive outcry in many countries as well as the destruction of tourism resources and apathy towards tourism. This has led to the concept of null, pseudo and full types of community participation and empowerment. Therefore, for ecotourism to be sustainable, government should not only empower the local people through job creation, but also through tourism education. They should also introduce tax holiday, give incentives to encourage people to invest and get involved. These somewhat has taken a strong grip in the westernized nation, but much is still leave to be desired in some other countries.
I hope you find these points useful somewhat. Thank you and all the best in your research.
Not in Mexico. The southeast of my country has plenty natural resources combined with ancient history (pyramids, Mayans, Indigenous population, ancient products and traditions, etc), yet, it is an area that is losing its local traditions, due to the fact that "foreign tourism" is arriving to such areas. By foreign tourism I mean the thousands of dollars coming from foreign investment, to promote THEIR idea of tourism. Take for example: Playa del Carmen,, or Holbox, which 6 or 8 years were virgin beaches, with indigenous people producing and selling local products. Today, those places are full of commercial spots such as Victoria´s Secret Shops, Starbucks´s (crazy idea to remove local Mexican coffee shops, to make room for a coffee chain store), etc. All of which make local people lose their businesses and traditions. Those mega stores definitely bring something new and attractive to the place, the problem, I consider, is the lack of government support of local people; to don´t promote indigenous people in the area means to make foreign investment and indigenous entreprenourship STATISTICALLY MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE. The local government needs to create incentives to atract foreign investment, BUT, whithout losing local traditions, vía supporting the local population.
I hope I provided you some context on the Mexican Southeast scenario, even though I couldn´t contribute with rough data. Good luck with your research. I hope you manage to make an impact on local communities, I really do.
Dear Mr. Alejandro Limón Portillo,
thanks a lot for your comments , given to me!
Ys, during these weelkemd I will reread again and I will comeback my answer/s ...
Have a nice weekend!
BASHKIM
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