Report Author: Richard Partington, EUROPARC Consulting Case Studies: Bettina Kreisel, Mike Pugh and Frank Steingaß Public-Private Sector PartnerShips mutual benefitS for buSiness and Protected areaS contentS What are Public-Private PartnerShiPS? ............................... 4 Example I – Improving conservation, SANParks, South Africa creatinG Public-Private PartnerShiPS .................................... 6 Example II – Visitor information, Exmoor National Park, UK makinG Public-Private PartnerShiPS Work ......................... 8 Example III – The National Parks of New York Harbor, USA PPP caSe StudieS ................................................................................10 PPP Case Study: Tourism Business Support, Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (UK) ........................................... 10 PPP Case Study: National Park Gateways, Eifel National Park (DE) ............................... 13 PPP Case Study: Ski trail management, Harz National Park (DE) ................................... 15 Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... 18 Introduction 3 introduction PARKS & BENEFITS is a 1st round project of the “Baltic strategic alliance, or partnership, between diverse nesses and visitors. The Charter is in two parts: Part I for Sea Region Programme” which operated between Feb- stakeholder groups in the tourism and conservation sec- the protected area and Part II for local tourism ruary 2009 and January 2012 with a specific aim to tors of the eight protected areas in six countries around businesses. strengthen sustainable nature tourism in eight protected the Baltic Sea. ˃ www.european-charter.org areas across the Baltic Sea Region. The European Charter for Sustainable Tourism in Pro- Mutual benefits for business and protected areas is cen- Through international co-operation and learning from tected Areas was developed by the EUROPARC Fede- tral to the objectives of the Charter and this publication others experiences across the wider EUROPARC net- ration working with a Europe-wide group representing introduces some ideas, through information, advice, work of over 400 members in 36 countries, the PARKS protected areas, the tourism industry and other key part- case studies and other examples how public-private & BENEFITS project has focussed on the economic, ners. It has been in use for over 15 years and its aims partnerships have been used to deliver sustainable social and environmental benefits that sustainable are to increase awareness of, and support for, Europe’s tourism products and services in protected areas. tourism can bring. How these benefits can add value to protected areas as a fundamental part of our heritage to local and regional economies is set out in the Guide to be preserved for and enjoyed by current and future It also provides guidance for those who have respon- Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas, published in gene rations. Also it is particularly useful tool for impro- sibilities for managing sustainable tourism on how to October 2011. It explains how the European Charter for ving the sustainable development and management of establish or improve partnership working between small Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas (the Charter) is tourism in protected areas, by taking account of the and medium sized businesses and between regional used as a practical management tool to help create a needs of the environment, local residents, local busi- authorities or non-governmental organisations. Dovrefjell sunndalsfjella National Park Norway estoNia matsalu National Park Ķemeri National Park Latvia DeNmark Žemaitija kurtuvėnai National Park regional Park Baltic Sea LithuaNia Nature Park maribosøerne Biosphere reserve southeast-rügen müritz National Park GermaNy 4 What are public-private partnerships? What are Public-Private PartnerShiPS? The technical description of a public-private partnership planning, financing and construction to operating information; publishing and ranger services; or the provi- (PPP) is a simple one – ‘an arrangement for joint working services. They are a way of bringing in private sector sion and staffing of information centres; building owner- between the public and private sectors’. However when expertise, business efficiency and money to deliver im- ship and maintenance. you look closer at many PPP arrangements that des- provements to public services often at a time when cribe a state service or private business venture which is government money and resources were being reduced. PPP is different in a number of ways from just using a funded and operated through a partnership of national, In recent years PPP projects, in many countries, have private contractor through a normal contract. It is about regional or local government and between one or more been used to provide large-scale infrastructure schemes providing services or products which otherwise would private sector companies, you can see they can become – roads, hospitals, schools, power stations and railways. not have been done or may have cost more public very complex. money to deliver. The example ‘Improving Conservation’ In protected areas the approach to PPP is on a much below shows how a PPP can really help link or align the In its broadest sense, a PPP can cover all types of colla- smaller scale yet it can be used to very good effect and mutual objectives of a protected area organisation with boration between the public and private sectors to de- applied in any part of protected area management. private sector business interests, creating a lasting and liver policies, services and infrastructure projects. These When developing sustainable tourism projects or valuable partnership. schemes are sometimes referred to, internationally, as activities you should consider whether a PPP can add PPP or P3 and can cover everything from design and value – popular areas to consider are: the provision of What are public-private partnerships? 5 Good Practice examPle of a Public-Private Sector PartnerShiP in a Protected area imProvinG conServation, SanParkS, South africa South African National Parks (SANParks), created in conservation strategy”. Part of this strategy was the con- This is a spectacular financial achievement, even com- 1998 from the transformation of the National Parks Board, cession of exclusive rights to commercial use of lodge pared with conservation agencies in industrial countries. became a successful autonomous, semi-public entity. It sites together with the surrounding parkland. Since start- was a leader in the development of the ecotourism indus- ing to implement the strategy, SANParks has conces- The commercialisation strategy has vastly improved try with high research standards, yet despite managing sioned 12 lodges, 19 shops, 17 restaurants, and 4 picnic SANParks’ standing in the eyes of stakeholders, re- some of the world’s most spectacular natural assets, sites to private partners. The 20-year concession con- duced unemployment in neighbouring communities and SANParks was failing to deliver tourism products effi- tracts for lodges (with no right of renewal or first refusal created economic opportunities for previously disadvan- ciently. Service standards were often mediocre, products on expiration) include environmental and social obliga- taged ethnic groups. As a result of this success, the were poorly differentiated, and prices were not deter- tions and penalties for noncompliance. national government increasingly views national parks mined by the market. as a tool for economic development and has stepped up The concessionaires pay SANParks an annual fee cal- its annual financial commitment to SANParks. Thanks to In 1999, following a benchmarking exercise against sim- culated as a percentage of the turnover bid during the this increase in public funds plus the additional revenue ilar private operations, SANParks realised that it lacked tender process. In 2004 lodges, shops and restaurants from its PPP activities, SANParks has been able to the skills, incentives and access to capital that it needed generated concession fees of US$ 13.5 million, and expand the land under its protection by five percent in to make the most of tourism opportunities. Deciding that lodges attracted private investment of US$ 42.5 million. the past ten years. it would not run commercial ventures, but instead focus Source: Researched from the South African National Parks web on its core function of biodiversity management, SAN- SANParks is now independent from government trans- pages on Commercialisation through Public Private Partnerships Parks developed the concept of “commercialisation as a fers for more than 75 percent of its operating revenue. > www.sanparks.org.za 6 Creating Public-Private Partnerships creatinG Public-Private PartnerShiPS Most protected areas have governance and manage- yet longstanding, PPP arrangement has fulfilled mutual reviewing the arrangement so that each side does not ment arrangements or structures which set out what is objectives and provided millions of visitors with informa- rely on the “contract” as the way to hold partners to their special about an area, how it can be conserved and how tion on tourism products and services as well as easy to respective commitments. If partners rely on the detail in it can be enjoyed. This is often explained in the manage- read conservation messages. the contract it is most likely that the PPP will have failed. ment plan. Additionally, some