BASELINE ASSESSMENT and RESPONSIBLE TOURISM STRATEGY for TANINTHARYI Andrea Valentin Balancing the Future of Tanintharyi’S Tourism Development
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Fall 08 BASELINE ASSESSMENT AND RESPONSIBLE TOURISM STRATEGY FOR TANINTHARYI Andrea Valentin Balancing the future of Tanintharyi’s tourism development F auna and Flora International Executive Summary This report comprises three parts. First, it provides a snapshot of the national context of tourism in Myanmar and the current state of tourism development in Tanintharyi. Second, it discusses the proposals for tourism development in the region and assesses the opportunities for sustainable tourism in Tanintharyi whilst examining the barriers. The final part of this report brings together all the considerations and provides a framework for action for what types of development might be appropriate where. It also identifies what changes to planning schemes or governance might be needed to facilitate the preferred outcomes, in a way that does not cause unnecessary delays or duplicate processes across different departments. This paper highlights the need for better information, better monitoring tools to help the responsible tourism management process, and sets out the general steps that need to be taken for sustainability to flourish in Tanintharyi in the future. The aims of this report are as follows: • To enhance the protection and conservation of the environment through responsible tourism development • To increase the long term sustainability of the region Myanmar attracted 2.9 million tourists in 2016 according to the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism (MoHT). Of these, about 62,000 international visitors came to visit Tanintharyi in 2016. This represents an increase of 70% compared with the previous year; thus the region is experiencing high rates of growth in all destinations. Members of the tourism private sector and Tanintharyi state government recognise that tourism needs to be planned for and that sustainable destination management structures need to be set up before the larger numbers of visitors will drop in and management will be more difficult. During the course of this research it emerged that most stakeholders largely perceive sustainable tourism as very useful in Tanintharyi, and that it is preferred to a form of tourism that is neither inclusive nor responsible. Stakeholders are aware that tourism is like a fire – that one can cook one’s food on it, or that it can burn one’s house down. If managed wisely, tourism can significantly contribute to socio-economic progress and environmental protection. By focusing on addressing the challenges step by step, Tanintharyi stakeholders believe that resilient systems that tackle the many challenges can be build. The Myeik Archipelago comprises more than 800 islands, 600 km of coastline, and contains the country’s first marine protected area: the Lampi Marine National Park (LMNP). The islands and surrounding coastal environment contain an extensive coral reef system, ancient mangrove forests, beds of sea-grass, and important breeding sites for hornbills, manta rays and sea turtles. Culturally the region is also very significant; for example the islands are home to more than 3,000 nomadic Moken. Tanintharyi is globally considered of cultural and environmental significance. The Tanintharyi Conservation Programme as an initiative of Fauna and Flora International (FFI) Myanmar is being implemented in collaboration with the Myanmar Forest Department and a number of local, national and international collaborators and stakeholders. The present tourism baseline assessment and responsible tourism strategy was prepared by FFI, who view sustainable tourism as a potential panacea for the region’s many challenges. Set in the context of current development plans for tourism in TNI, the purpose of this strategy is to show how tourism can be developed in a responsible manner. Drawing on the experiences of tourism stakeholders from Dawei, Myeik, Kawthaung and the Myeik Archipelago, the premise of this report is that sustainable tourism is desired in Tanintharyi, but little is known about how to reach that goal. Interviews were undertaken with 2 local tourism groups, with public and private stakeholders from Yangon and Naypyitaw, including the newly formed TNI Tourism Development Committee (TTDC), MIC/DICA, and MoHT at national, state/regional and township level. Strategic cooperation was facilitated with the Myanmar Center for Responsible Business (MCRB), and in collaboration with FFI, the first three workshops on responsible tourism were held in Dawei (December 2016), Myeik and Kawthaung (May 2017) to better understand public, private and CSO stakeholder perspectives on the current social, economic and environmental impacts of tourism in TNI. This strategy paper is a summary of observations, one-on-one interviews with tourism stakeholders, meetings with various groups, the results of the three workshops and FFI’s extensive data on the state of the environment in TNI. The Responsible Tourism Strategy for TNI addresses the challenges expressed during the course of this research. A central argument emerged: sustainable tourism functions best in an inclusive, long-term and sustainable environment. Sustainability also functions better when it is based on a collective understanding of what constitutes responsible tourism for each stakeholder, and a common approach to achieve it. The target audience of this paper is therefore the national, regional, district and township governments, the tourism private sector and business community involved in TNI, as well as development organizations and civil society groups engaged in the region. The audience is a broader range of national and international actors that share a common vision of responsible tourism development. While the TNI region is very diverse, with each destination in the region facing very different challenges, some common contextual factors emerged. Unclear tourism policies by both national and TNI regional government are having effects on each destination. For example, tourism development on the Launglon peninsula is in limbo, as are some proposed resort developments in the archipelago. It remains unclear what the regulations are when constructing new resorts. Members of the local private sector lament the cumbersome licensing process. There is no clear path to receive ‘a license to host foreigners’, it takes years, and corruption is prevalent. Civil society groups mention the lack of local participation in the past, emphasizing that the same elitist few benefit from tourism development. Meanwhile the TNI tourism development committee (TDC, formed in Jan 2017 by Tourism Minister U Ohn Maung), led by Chairman Serge Pun and mainly made up of members from the tourism private sector, has big tourism development plans for the south. It was positive to note that all stakeholders, ranging from government to private sector to civil society, were very interested in the responsible tourism development approach and collaborated with FFI to set up this strategy. The current lack of infrastructure, such as for example an international airport in Kawthaung, is referred to as key priority by the TDC, as well as the construction of new piers, and hotel resorts on some of the islands. The TDC also suggests to potentially hosting the TV show ‘Survivor’ on one of the islands in the near future as a marketing exercise to raise awareness about the region. Meanwhile however, the destinations themselves are unprepared. Currently there is still only one foreigner-licensed resort in the Myeik Archipelago, the Myanmar Andaman Resort. Many more are planned for, in construction, or operate as tents. However, the current lack of even basic zoning, construction guidelines for hoteliers, the lack of functioning waste management systems in the entire vulnerable coastal region, a surplus of plastic in the sea, overfishing, dynamite fishing, coral bleaching along the entire coastal region, and a general lack of education on sustainability among tourism stakeholders make responsible tourism development an immense challenge. 3 TNI has stiff competition regionally, with Indonesia’s spectacular islands (e.g. Raja Ampat), Thailand’s beaches, or Vietnam’s coastal resorts. TNI must meet increased expectations of quality, levels of service, and functioning infrastructure, which are currently lacking. Also, activities for tourists to stay longer need to be set up, as well as educational projects for tourism stakeholders. Locals must be enabled to participate in tourism by, for example, setting up community based tourism and SME businesses easily. Government should offer more flexibility in licensing responsible tourism providers. SME expansion through the government opening up the local guesthouse sector and supporting community based tourism development in coastal regions could guarantee a more sustainable future. Tourism in TNI has good prospects for growth. But there will be winners and losers. TNI took a step towards sustainability when the government, businesses and CSOs hosted the first ‘Responsible Tourism Workshops’ in Dawei (Dec 2016), Myeik and Kawthaung (May 2017). The vision of sustainable development of the tourism industry, with awareness of both positive and negative impacts relating to the environment, culture and economy is seen as moving the region on the right path. The deliberations included tourism’s effects on inequity, a key challenge globally, and a current lack of local participation in tourism. The hope emerged to learn from lessons of other countries. Such an approach can move the region on the path to sustainability as it focuses not only on priority