Obtaining the Support of the Visitors and the Tour Operators

Community-based tourism experiences should raise awareness of social and environmental issues among visitors and tour operators and include mechanisms for enlisting their support.

Many benefits can accrue to communities if the visitors and tour operators are included as part of the development strategy. These benefits include greater awareness of the issues relating to visitor needs and expectation, more effective target marketing and greater support from Government agencies in dealing with these matters.

In most cases, visitors who participate in community-based tourism programmes begin to see life from a different perspective. The experience then becomes educational. In order for the vision, the community and the product to be fully appreciated, the visitor needs to be provided with information before the visit, during the visit and after the visit are important. This approach is a critical element in marketing. Behavior exhibited in these three phases of product consumption is a clue to the consumer behavior patterns and can be used to further segment the market.

In addition, mechanisms for follow up contact should also be explored. Visitors should be encouraged to write about their experiences as part of maintaining contact and developing a rapport with the community, thus ensuring repeat business. These approaches form part of the marketing strategy and if done well can increase the likelihood of the visitor returning to the community at some future date. However, this matter needs to be handled delicately as the visitor should not be made to feel that he is being solicited or harassed. Nonetheless, follow-up activities are an important part of the consumer buying process.

Care should also be taken in the development of all messages that are given to tour operators. It is important to understand the business environment in which these operators function. Professionalism in tour guiding, and accuracy of interpretation of facts about historical sites and monuments are critical when dealing with these intermediaries. Development of this information will require expert advice. There are a number of codes of conduct for visitors. Many of these codes of conduct have been developed for site-specific use but others are for general use and can be adapted to specific situations. This technique is used especially in cases where the product is a nature-based product. Many of these codes of conduct encourage potential visitors to read about the community prior to their visit. This provides the visitor with prior knowledge of the culture, environment, purchasing decisions, activities to avoid and possible conservation or social projects that can be supported. Codes are also available for tour operators.

PIOJ document - Guidelines for South Coast Project -
prepared by Carolyn Hayle