How Ecotourism Can Go Wrong: the Cases of Seacanoe and Siam Safari, Thailand
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Discussion Web Site :http://www.commerce.otago.ac.nz/tourism/current-issues/homepage.htm How Ecotourism can go Wrong: The Cases of SeaCanoe and Siam Safari, Thailand Noah Shepherd Environmental Tourism Consultants, PO Box 1, Phuket, Thailand In 1989,two ecotourismoperators started business in South Thailand– SeaCanoe, running kayaking tripsin Phang Nga Bay, and SiamSafari, running naturetours in Phuket and South Thailand.Both companieshave received international awards and recognitionfor their work in promoting environmentallysensitive tours yet their effortsseem to havebeen thwarted by thegrowth in masstourism within South Thai- land.Throughout the1990s, Phuket receiveda three-foldincrease in arrivals,and with itthe establishment of many imitatorsof theoriginal pioneers. This paper looks atthe relationshipbetween mass tourism and ecotourismand questionswhether the two are compatible or mutually exclusive. Background In 1989,two ecotourism operators started business in South Thailand. SeaCanoe,running kayaking tripsin Phang NgaBay, and Siam Safari, running naturetours in Phuket andSouth Thailand.Both companies have received inter- nationalawards and recognition for their workin promotingenvironmentally sensitivetours yet their effortsseem tohavebeen thwartedby the growthin mass tourismwithin South Thailand.This chapter looks at the relationshipbetween masstourism and ecotourism and questions whether the twoare compatible or mutually exclusive. Phuket – a Growing Tourism Destination Phuket, Thailand’s largestisland, is promoted by the touristindustry as the ‘Pearl ofthe South’. Throughoutthe 1980sand 1990s, Phuket hasdeveloped into Asia’s toptourist resort. Phuket lies 7degrees northof the equatorand has a variedterrain with sandy beaches andlimestone cliffs. Inland arefound forested hillsand rubber plantationsplus ahuge varietyof tropicalvegetation. The island isone ofSouth EastAsia’ s mainyachting destinations with full marinafacilities and a deep sea port that is used by cruise ships. Phuket wasa destinationfor Thai tourists and backpackers until the startof mainstreamtourism in the mid-1980swith the development of majorhotels including HolidayInn, Le Meridien andClub Med. Phuket InternationalAirport receives hourly flights fromthe capitalBangkok, and daily scheduled interna- tionalflights fromaround the region.With the adventof charterflights in the mid-1990s,the airportnow handles 20,000 arrivals and departures a year.The islandis connected to the mainlandby twobridges, withbus servicesfrom Bang- kok andSouthern Thailand.There are20,600 licensed hotelrooms on the island ranging fromfive starinternational resorts to small bungalows plus alarge number ofunlicensed guesthouses.Tourism has achieved ameteoricgrowth in the 1990s.Official arrivalfigures havedoubled overa 10year period to 1368-3500/02/03 0309-10 $20/0 © 2002 N. Shepherd Current Issues in Tourism Vol. 5, Nos 3&4, 2002 309 How Ecotourism can go Wrong 310 Current Issues in Tourism 2.6million in 1998(Tourism Authority of Thailand,undated). More recently, Thailand’s tourismarrival figures havebeen boostedby three factors– the Tour- ismAuthority of Thailand’s (TAT) AmazingThailand 1998– 1999 campaign,the Asianfinancial crisis and political instability in Indonesia(Bangkok Post,1998; Bailey, 1998). The areasurrounding Phuket isa naturelover’ s paradise.The dramaticPhang NgaBay, a proposedUNESCO WorldHeritage site, is situated to the northeast ofthe islandand contains over 150 limestoneislands, with stunning cliffs, pock- markedwith caves that are home to swiftlets, bats and other tropical wildlife. Mazesof mangroveforest line the estuarinebay. Once in the bay,whilst only an houror so from the mainland,the experience islike being in the wilderness. Caveslink the outsideof limestonesea stacks to internalrooms, open tothe sky known in Thai as ‘hongs’. Within the cavesand caverns, swiftlets make nests that are harvested by the BirdsNests Monopoly. The nestsare sold for prices up to$US1000 a kilogram andused in suchdelicacies as bird’ s nestsoup. Traditional methods are used whereby bambooscaffolding is erected in the cavesand workers scale the poles precariouslyto hand pick the nestsfrom the wallsof the caverns.The rightsto harvestthe birds’nests lie withthe BirdsNests Monopoly.Until commercialtour operatorsstarted operating in Phang NgaBay, the monopolyhad no interest in the caves other than harvesting nests. Kayaking – the Perfect Ecotourism Product? John Grayfounded SeaCanoe,initially as anextensionof hiskayaking opera- tionbased in Hawaii.Gray had specialised in multiday kayaking toursin the South PacificIslands with a customerbase almost exclusively of UStourists. Grayhad planned toexpand hisoperating territory to the South EastAsian region and in 1988 ran his first survey trip to South Thailand. In exploring Phang NgaBay, Gray found thatit was possible totake inflatable kayaksthrough the cavesto the inner roomsor ‘hongs’within the islands.Whilst these caveswere knownby localfishermen, their exploitationfor commercial tourism had never been considered. The touristmarket at that time whilst growing, was at a transitionstage. Wealthytourists, staying at luxury resorts,were beginning toforce outthe backpackermarket that had moved on tootherdestinations such as Ko Samui in the Gulf of Thailand.Phuket wasgrowing as an up-market destination,with somerooms in luxury resortsrented outfor several hundred dollarsa night. There wascertainly no real charter or packagetourism market at thattime, most ofthe touristsin hotelsbeing FIT travellers,purchasing mixand matchpackages from specialist Asian destination travel brochures. Grayfound severallocal partners and the fledgling companystarted day trips tovisitPhang NgaBay. Gray’ s plan wasto establishThailand as adestinationfor multiday tripssold abroad, but cashflowwas essential and he decided torun day trips into the bay to build up the business. Initially,SeaCanoe sold tours from the Diethelm Travelhotel tour desk atLe Meridien Hotel,near the resorttown of PatongBeach. The tourwas in stark contrastto others offered totouristsin Phuket. Phang NgaBay’ s ‘JamesBond How Ecotourism can go Wrong 311 Island’made famousby the film ‘The Manwiththe GoldenGun’ was visited by manyother tour operators. These tourssold for less than 1000 Thai baht (then $US40)and included aboattrip to the island,with a stopfor lunch atthe stilted Muslim village ofKoPanyii in the northof the bay.The tripGray offered was initiallyviewed by manyas bizarreand expensive. Startingwith a local‘ long tail’ boat,the vesseltraditionally used by localfishermen, Grayand his colleagues tookfour people ata timeinto the bay.The boatwas loaded with inflatable kayaksand a cookwho would prepare lunch forthe guests.In the bay,the guests wouldboard the kayaks,and be taken,when the tide wasjustright, through the caves,to the hongsin the middle of the islandswhere wildlife couldbe staredin the eye. The hongswere like stepping backin timeand remain to this day a marvelto tourists.The tourwas very popular withguests, and sold for double that of any other tour offered around Phuket. Quality, safety and environmental issues One of the key pointsto SeaCanoe’ s daytrip tours was that the cavesand hongscould only takea limited number ofkayaks at anyone time.Furthermore, the timefactor was crucial,because the cavescould only be entered atcertaintide levels. Toomany kayaks would mean congestion with subsequent burdens being put onthe environmentitself (something thatSeaCanoe felt very strongly about).Safety wasalso a majorissue –toomany kayaks with untrained guides could(and would) resultin dangeroussituations. For these reasons,SeaCanoe decided tolimit the number of touriststhat it would handle in one day– enforc- ing anodrinking, smoking,eating, talking or takingof souvenirs policy forits customers.Guide staffamazed customers by paddling off tocollect floating garbageand taking it back to the escortboat for proper disposal.The company had developed a statement of purpose, which claims that: SeaCanoedevelops sustainablebusiness opportunitieswith local people thatpromote environmental conservation by providing high qualityrecre- ationaladventures specialising in naturalhistory and cross-cultural educa- tion. (SeaCanoe, 1997/98, 1998) SeaCanoe’s business ethics,training and approach to the environmentare not in question;on the contrary,there arevery few businesses withinthe tourism industryin Thailandthat are as passionateabout environmental protection and ruraldevelopment asSeaCanoe. Moreover the companyhad involved locals in itsshare structure, thus embodying the principles thatwere widely becoming accepted by the fledgling ecotourism movement. In 1992,SeaCanoe experienced itsfirst taste of competition,started by anex partner.The toursoffered the samedestinations as SeaCanoeand used anetwork of the nowextensive tourcounters on the resortbeaches ofPhuket tosell their trips.At the time,it was widely recognised by the travelbusiness thatSeaCanoe wasby farthe better operatorin termsof tripquality, staff training, equipment used andresponsibility tothe environment.However, bigger commissionsto tourcounters and a cheaper selling price helped topromotethe growthof the fledgling competitor. In manyways, SeaCanoe hasbeen moresuccessful in itsoverseas marketing thanlocally. By 1998,the companyhad received five tourismaccolades, the first, 312 Current Issues in Tourism in 1995was a regionalwinner in the BritishAirways Tourism for Tomorrow Awards.This was followed by acommendationby Green Globe