Goals of the training

The aim of this 4-day session is to enhance the capacity of conservation organizations to design and improve ecotourism products so that they become economically viable and positively contribute to biodiversity conservation. Through this training they will better understand the risks and opportunities of developing ecotourism and gain a deeper understanding of the tourism industry and its realities. The training will also support them in making decisions about using tourism as a conservation tool. In addition, the training will provide participants with concrete tools to improve their tourism products. There is also the opportunity to share experiences with other participants and to create a network of conservation organizations that have experience with or are interested in the development of sustainable tourism businesses as a conservation tool.

The Training

This four-day training workshop will address the following areas: the ecotourism potential of a site, health and safety issues and marketing as well as giving some considerations on sustainability. An important part of the training will be a fieldtrip where the information from the sessions and their experience can be put into practice. Here you can find the conference programme. Some of the instructors are regional, others international and are selected based on their knowledge of the tourism industry, expertise in their given topic and network. Focus is given to selecting tourism professionals with considerable experience of working in the industry and extensive knowledge of the market, market drivers and market forces.

Participants

The conference language is English and the target audience are nature conservation organizations with experience in developing ecotourism businesses or those organisations wishing to develop ecotourism as part of their conservation programmes. To ensure the success of this training it is required that participants have knowledge and/or experience with ecotourism, for instance in experience in starting or running an ecotourism project.

Submission

The deadline for submission of the completed registration form has already passed, but this training will most certainly be replicated in other countries in the Mekong Region in a later stage. We will inform you about these trainings and we are looking forward to receiving your application then. We would also be happy to forward you the materials for the training after it has taken place if this interests you.