Eco-challenge.

Despite Mexico's new tourism ethic, officials are still struggling with the concept of ecological and nature-based travel

Mexico's achievements in converting sleepy fishing villages into internationally known mega-tourist destinations has not translated into easy success for the country's ecotourism operators or destinations.

"Ecotourism is not your typical market," says Kenneth Johnson, president of the Mexican Association of Adventure Travel and Ecoturism (Amtave).

"It's not a normal business where the main concern is profit, profit, profit. Profit is one of the components, but it's not the only focus," Johnson, also a marine biologist, explains. "You have to take care of the environment you are visiting or you end up screwing your business."

A DIVIDED SECTOR

To be defined as "ecotourism," the service or destination must provide for natural conservation, include meaningful community participation or ownership, and be profitable. In terms of developing this kind of travel, Mexico should be the case example of things done right. It is one of the few Latin American examples in which the Tourism and Environmental Secretariats (Sectur and Semarnat, respectively) signed an agreement to collaborate on ecotourism development--an accord that was signed in 1995. However, while the offices are officially working together, there have been few results.

"We have heard a lot of noise about ecotourism in Mexico, but the people within the secretariats and in the National Tourism Promotion Board who understand what ecotourism is all about are few and they have little power," Johnson says.

"The biggest obstacle in developing ecotourism in Mexico is the lack of continuity," adds Marlene Ehrenberg, former president of Amtave and an independent tour guide. "Each time there is a new Secretary, the members of Amtave have to explain the basics of ecotourism. For example, golf courses are not ecotourism, but tourism officials rarely get the picture."

A GROWTH MARKET

While no one denies, that the sector is growing, official statistics are lacking.

"Everyone wants to know how big the market is or how it is developing,' Johnson said. "The fact is we have few statistics because it's difficult to get travel providers to answer surveys."

Seven years ago, Amtave had nine members, and today it boasts more than 70. A study prepared by Sectur's Lilia Rueda and Hector Bellmonte lists more than 425 Mexican companies working in the field of "alternative tourism."

A more pressing need for Mexico's ecotourism providers and destinations, says Johnson, is responsible promotion.

"If we can get the National Tourism Promotion Board to consult Amtave when developing ecotourism materials, that would help everyone. For example, this Spring they prepared a video which was very good but ended with scenes of golf courses. They ask for suggestions but do not take them."

I have asked that the board make a link from their website, www.visitmexico.com. to Amtave and vice-versa. It would be a big boost to our members and show travelers the variety of activities Mexico offers as a nature and adventure tourism destination."

MEXICO PLAYS HOST

Despite the obstacles, there are many promising signs in the development of Mexico's ecotourism market. One such event was an international meeting on Integrating Tourism and Biodiversity, sponsored by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Mexico hosted the event in which delegates from 12 countries provided national case studies on the relationship between biodiversity and tourism. Mexico's participation signaled a clear advance in developing an inter-institutional relationship between Semarnat and Sectur.

"The event showed Mexican officials where our country is in terms of a global perspective," said Hector Ceballos Lascurain, a Mexican architect and facilitator of the workshop. The results of this research will be given to environmental secretaries of the countries that are signatories to the international biodiversity convention.

EXPO AVENTURA

In July 1999, Tradex Expositions launched Expo Aventura, Mexico's first national trade conference on ecotourism and adventure tourism at Mexico City's World Trade Center. The event was repeated in 2000 and will be held again in June 2001.

"Each year this event has grown in terms of the number of exhibitors and number of visitors," says Tradex President Wendy Hesketh." The alternative tourism market offers Mexico great potential in terms of job creation and conservation of culture and the environment. But it is a sector that needs to be fostered,"

States with a keen interest in promoting their natural wonders purchased exposition space, alongside rafting companies, natural history tours and regional airlines. The states offered discounted or free space at their booths to community-run projects, such as the Museos Comunitarios de Oaxaca or the Nuevo San Juan Parangaricutiro campground near Michoacan's Paricutin Volcano.

IF NOT MONEY

Grassroots organizations have also found potential in alternative tourism. Lastyear a Mexico City consulting firm, Consoltoria Balam, teamed up with the U,S.-based International Mountain Bike Association (IMBA).

"It's hard to get the money to develop ecotourism," says Balam co-director Antonio Suarez. "But we have the interest and the will in this country.

With the assistance of IMBA, Consoltoria Balam coordinated the construction of a series of multi-purpose trails in the Ajusco Mountains south of Mexico City with virtually no financial investment, instead using volunteer effort from the communities themselves.

"Communities can take the lead in developing ecotourism," Suarez said. "It's just a new way of looking at tourism."

Ron Mader is the author of the guidebook Mexico: Adventures in Nature and host of the Planeta.com website www.planeta.com, sponsor of the first-ever virtual conference on Mexican ecotourism lost November. A summary and the complete archives from the "Re-Imagining Mexico Ecotourism" conference are available on-line.

Amtave

Created in 1994 Mexico's Association of Adventure Travel and Ecotourism (Amtave) was the outgrowth of a coincidental meeting of nine private entrepreneurs who met at the annual Tiaguis Turistico in 1998 Unable to afford marketing for their companies they formed a group to share the promotion expenses Amtave now raises most of its funds via membership fees (2,500 pesos per year) and profits generated at events that the organization co-sponsors and promoters For details and a catalog of Amtave members visit their website: www.amtave.com