“Workshop on Sustainability Indicators for Tourism Destinations”

December 12, 2008 · Filed Under News & Press 

A practical training programme for sustainable destination management and monitoring in Paro Dzongkhag.

Tourism arrivals are still on the increase in Bhutan, providing the country a great opportunity to generate revenue and employment.
To guarantee sustainable tourism development and continue maximizing the potential of the tourism sector in line with the national policy, the Tourism Council of Bhutan (TCB) recognizes the need to start managing and monitoring tourism development at Dzongkhag (district) level. Therefore, TCB is organizing a first field study and workshop on sustainable development management and monitoring in Paro to explore ways to manage tourism at Dzongkhag level. The field study and workshop will look into the impact of tourism at destination level, with the intention to look into the current tourism issues in the Dzongkhag and discuss ways to address them to increase the benefits for local entrepreneurs and residents.
The field study and workshop is being organized by Tourism Council of Bhutan from December 8-10, 2008 in Paro at Hotel Olathang, facilitated by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and with financial support from SNV- Bhutan and Worldwide Fund (WWF).
Bhutan as the host country and Paro as case study destination chosen for the workshop are the principal beneficiaries, as the event will directly contribute to local and national tourism planning processes. The workshop will demonstrate the process for applying indicators and also the workshop methodology itself, so that TCB in collaboration with participants from other Dzongkhags and national consultants can organize similar case applications and related training activities in their respective Dzongkhags.
TCB identified Paro as an excellent example to start exploring the implementation of a tourism monitoring and management mechanist as First of all, Paro is one of the top tourism destinations in Bhutan, has a high number of tourism facilities and receives one of the highest number of tourists (in terms of bed nights). Secondly, Paro also faces some pressing issues related to tourism development. Effective management of issues like the oversupply of accommodation facilities/low occupancy rate/seasonality, low quality of hotel services and waste management is needed to guarantee a further sustainable tourism development as laid down in the national tourism policy.
A clean – up campaign and a hotel workshop organized in the beginning of 2007 also showed Paro Dzongkhags’ general interest in sustainable tourism development in its locality. Therefore, the TCN anticipates a strong commitment from the Dzongkhag to serve as counterpart in the workshop organization, working with the expert team in the study phase, workshop and lead the follow up implementation activities in the district.

The field study and workshop will include the following possible outcomes:

  1. The hands-on workshop with Dzongkhag representatives, government officials and private sector, will provide the Dzongkhag with tools on how to manage and monitor impact of tourism at district level;
  2. The workshop will facilitate a dialogue between local stakeholders to discuss issues and the desired management / monitoring of these issues;
  3. The meeting could lead to a multi-stakeholder committee to address tourism issues at Dzongkhag level after the workshop.

The TCB has prepared a draft Tourism Bill which allows for decentralized tourism planning and management. Although the Bill has not yet been submitted to the National Assembly, the TCB has made a provision for Dzongkhag level tourism planning and management in it. The field study and workshop here provide a first opportunity to discuss and introduce tools to support sustainable tourism destination management at Dzongkhag level. With this forthcoming responsibility to plan and manage tourism at district level, TCB recognizes the need to familiarize the Dzongkhags with tools to do so. The workshop aims to develop a demonstration case which can be replicated in other Dzongkhags. The event will train TCB’s Research Cell Officers, as well as strategically chosen representatives from different Dzongkhags, to carry out similar exercises in other tourism destinations of Bhutan. Bumthang, Haa, Trashigang and Zhemgang are – for different reasons on top of TCB’s list to follow up with in 2009 to initiate similar processes.


Comments

Leave a Reply