Creating Competitive Advantage through Responsible Tourism Practices

30th October 2014
Sands Expo and Convention Center, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore
Creating Competitive Advantage
through Responsible Tourism
Practices
By
Albert Teo
Advisor, The International Ecotourism Society,
Fellow/Adjunct Lecturer, Edith Cowan University, Australia
Borneo Eco Tours/Sukau Rainforest Lodge/BEST Society
www.borneoecotours.com/www.sukau.com/www.bestsociety.org

2
Triple Bottom Line
“Shareholder value does not equal economic values”.
Michael Porter
(people) (profit)
(planet)
Borneo Eco Tours / Borneo Ecotourism, Solutions and Technologies Society (BEST)

Responsible Tourism is a
Sustainable Development Concept
Sustainable Tourism
Ecotourism
3

1. BORNEO ECO TOURS SDN.BHD. (1991)
- Developing human, business and knowledge capital
2. SUKAU RAINFOREST LODGE SDN.BHD. (1995)
- Developing natural, human, business and knowledge capital
3. Borneo Ecotourism, Solutions and Technologies or
B.E.S.T SOCIETY (2007)
- Non profit foundation (for community/environment profit)
- Developing human, knowledge capital
4. CAMP LEMAING – Sir Hugh Low’s Expedition Camp
(2014)
- Developing natural, human, business and knowledge capital
4
Four Models of Responsible Tourism

1. Borneo Eco Tours
Set up in 1991
5
To create and provide the most memorable holiday
experience for our clients
To make Borneo Eco Tours the No.1 service provider
through passion for excellence in our work by developing
the leadership potential of our staff, commitment to
integrity, good attitude, and concern for the community
and environment
1. COMMITMENT
Make our company a No.1 service
provider
2. CONSISTENT
Through passion for excellence
3. COMPETENCE
Developing the leadership potential of
our staff
4. CHARACTER
Commitment to integrity, good attitude
5. CARE
Concern for the community and
environment

1.Design
2. Construction
3.Operation
4.Education
5.Promotion
6
Code of Practice
Since 1999

Principles of RT Operator
1. Minimize negative impact on nature and
culture.
2. Education, interpretation, right behavior.
3. Conserving natural area
4. Benefiting local community.
7

5. Infrastructures are developed
in harmony with the
environment.
6. Provision of good information
before tours.
7. Training program for
local guides.

8. Provide local employment and
support local businesses.
9. Meet and interact with local
communities.
10. Work with stakeholders to
improve management of visitor
experience
9

10
2. Sukau Rainforest Lodge
www.sukau.com

Characteristics of Ecolodge
1. Use alternative and sustainable means
of water acquisition and reduce water
consumption
2. Meets energy needs through passive
design and renewable sources
3. Provide for careful handling (reduce,
refuse, reuse, recycle) and disposal of
solid waste
4. Use environmentally friendly sewage
treatment systems
Solar Panel
11
Rain water tanks
- Hitesh Mehta,
Authentic Ecolodges

5. Fit into its specific physical and cultural
contexts through careful attention to
form, landscaping, and color as well as
through vernacular architecture
6. Use environmentally friendly building
and furnishing materials
7. Have minimal impact on the natural
surroundings and utilize traditional
building techniques during construction
8. Endeavour to work with the local
community, including community
members, in the initial physical planning
and design stages of construction
12
Gomantong Hall
Gecko Lounge
- Hitesh Mehta,
Authentic Ecolodges

Employment of Locals
13

Product Innovation
Sir David Attenborough,
a ‘Conservation Fellow’
1. Electric motors for river cruise
2. Guests to wear ‘sarong’ for dinner
3. Dinner served on riverfront open deck to enjoy magnificent river view
4. Oil lamps at dinner tables using recycled cooking oil
5. ‘Conservation Fellows’ – Each room dedicated to a conservation
personality complete with bio data for education
14

Product Innovation:
1. A Souvenir of Sabah 2008
2. Saving Paradise 2005
3. Images of Borneo 1996
4. Journey through Borneo 1994
5. Journey through Sabah (video) 1993
6. A Guide to Brunei Darussalam 1992
7. A Guide to Sandakan 1990
8. Sabah-land of the Sacred Mountain (video) 1990
9. Exotic Islands of Tunku Abdul Rahman Park 1989
10. Sabah - land of the Sacred Mountain 1988
Others
1. Visitor Handbook on Lower
Kinabatangan Floodplain 2003
2. Hornbill Boardwalk Interpretive
Information on the Flora and
Fauna 2003
15

Green Policies: Energy
• Lighting – Reuse cooking oil
• Lodge designed to minimize
energy usage
• Electric Motor Boat
16

Hornbill Boardwalk & Kari Boardwalk 2002
17

Green Policies: Local Community Benefits
• Employment opportunities:
70-80% are local staff
members
• Supply of fish and prawns
• Supply of building materials
• Contracts - jetty, plank walk
and lodge repairs
• Water tanks, medical
projects.
18

3. Borneo Ecotourism, Solutions and
Technologies (BEST) Society
Formed and registered as a
community and environment profit
society in April 2007
“Empowering communities”
19

Community Projects
1997-98, 1999-2000,
2012-2014
Water Tank Projects in Kinabatangan and Pitas
Benefitted 150 households
20
RM137,784.22 raised

Community Projects
Medical Projects
2001, 2003, 2010, 2012 and 2013 – Kinabatangan & Mantanani
Benefitted about 2342 people
benefited
Amount raised: RM83,381.68
General medical check up, Sukau 2012
21
Life saving for Mohammad Razman, 10, of
Kg. Abai diagnosed with acute appendicitis

Environment Projects
Kinabatangan Wildlife Corridor Rehabilitation Programme
(KWICORP) Tree Planting Project (since 2000)
HRH Prince Henrik and Tengku Adlin
planting a tree seedling in 2001
RM 51,845.79 spent,
over 5000 trees planted
22
Phase 1 Site in June 2009
School children environment
awareness program 2010 & 2011

Capacity Building
23
Moving from Charity to Social Entrepreneurship
Seminars and workshops benefitted about 640 persons since 2008
Human Capital Development Seminar
April 2008, Kudat
Business Opportunity Seminar
August 2010, Kudat

Social Entrepreneurship Projects
Tindakon Beach Homestay
24
Somuil and Norzaili
Terongkongan Beach
2006
Restaurant
Set up in 2010
Tourism Study Trip For
3 Rungus Leaders to Sukau

Cold press
Since 2010
Ronnie and wife holding finished product (August
2012)
25
Social Entrepreneurship Projects
Before After
Virgin Coconut Oil (VCO)

Sustainable, Capacity Building
& Entrepreneurship
Kg. Rampai Besar Organic Farming 2013
Study Trip to Canaan
Farmers Institute
August 2013
VermicompostWorkshop
April 2014
Project funding of RM 40,000.00
26

4. Lemaing, The Hugh Low Expedition Camp 2013
Capacity Building & Entrepreneurship
Project funding of RM 70,000.00
Community leaders, stakeholders
27

Environment and Community
Sources of Income (1996 - Jul 2014)
Contribution from Borneo Eco Tours
RM403,515.00 (36%)
Contribution from Sukau Rainforest Lodge (SRL)
RM 236,977.08 (20%)
Contributions from others
RM 536,210.91 (44%)
Grand total : RM 1,223,782.99
Amount spent on community and environment projects (As of Dec 2013)
through BEST Society
RM999,378.23
28

"Employment is the
first step out of
poverty.
It's at the core of
economic development
and social stability".
Juan O. Somavia.
Nobel Peace Prize
winner (1969) / Director
General ,ILO, 1999.
29
Borneo Eco Tours / Borneo Ecotourism, Solutions and Technologies Society
(BEST)

Conclusions
1. Niche Tourism – focus,
specialisation, execution.
2. Leverage, synergy.
3. Capacity Building-empowerment.
4. Strategic Partnership.
5. Building Goodwill.
6. Start small, start now.
30

“TERIMA KASIH”
31

Creating Competitive Advantage through Responsible Tourism Practices

Empfohlen

Empfohlen

Weitere ähnliche Inhalte

Ähnlich wie Creating Competitive Advantage through Responsible Tourism Practices

Ähnlich wie Creating Competitive Advantage through Responsible Tourism Practices (20)

Mehr von Wild Asia

Mehr von Wild Asia (20)

Kürzlich hochgeladen

Kürzlich hochgeladen (20)

Creating Competitive Advantage through Responsible Tourism Practices