Urban ecotourism: impossible conundrum? Mexican cities must clean up their acts to keep the tourists.

Even if it is hard to agree upon a strategic--let alone comprehensive, or even legally binding--definition of "ecotourism," there is little doubt that, whatever it is, it is important in Mexico.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Environmentalists would say it is important the world over, but even from a non-sympathetic and cynical point of view, ecotourism is undeniably significant here, being a growing commodity and buzzword within the country's third largest industry.

Its success as a market niche can be seen by its widespread use by promoters, and the numerous accessories it has spawned. Ecotourism came of age in 2002, the U.N.-declared International Year of Ecotourism.

The term, at least, is used by all levels of government, from federal, to state, to municipal.

At a state level, it is frequently paired with adventure tourism--the classic popular examples being river rafting in Veracruz and mountain biking (almost anywhere in the country). In the tourism departments of town halls, it often is used to mean merely travel for fun to "natural" areas (like picnicking in a forest, or taking horse rides at the foot of a mountain).

What sounds new is another term that has recently been under discussion: Urban Ecotourism.

Is this a contradiction in terms? An attempt to be hip? A mere marketing ploy?

The award winning website Planeta.com hosted an international online conference on the subject, described initially as "simply nature travel and conservation in a city environment."

Participants included an official from the Mexico Tourism Board, freelance tourism and environmental consultants, educators and students, ecotourism company directors, tourism officials, biologists and finance specialists. They came from a wide range of countries in the Americas and Europe, and even New Zealand and South Africa.

They were invited to examine how urban tourism can be more ecological and to brainstorm about alternatives to urban sprawl. A secondary aim was to examine the role cities play as gateways to parks, protected areas and rural communities.

SELLING CITIES TO TOURISTS

Planeta.com has probed a wide variety of topics pertinent to the environment and travel in its online conferences (see http://forum.planeta.com), such as "Ethical Marketing of Ecotourism," "Environmental Impact of Transportation," "Ecotourism Certification Workshop," "Media, Environment and Tourism."

Oaxaca-based founder Ron Mader told BUSINESS MEXICO that one of the reasons he started the Urban Ecotourism discussion was to try to re-energize the ecotourism movement.

"When ecotourism works, it engages local residents in conserving biodiversity," he said on the closing day of the conference. "Cities play a tremendous role in terms of educating travelers before they head out to rural communities and protected areas. What we also see is a new appreciation of services in the urban environment."

The idea is probably more ingenious than he gives himself credit for. In Mexico City, for example, tourism officials and hoteliers have for about four years been looking for ways to regenerate the Historic Center, spruce up the city's image and coax tourists into staying for a few days, rather than--as customary--rush out to the beach or inland cultural treasures as though chased by hordes of screaming banshees.

Monterrey is another example of a Mexican city gasping for tourist attention. As a major industrial hub with an exemplary business ethos, it attracts business tourism and conferences, but no one is convinced to bring their families to stay for a weekend, despite a plethora of family-friendly attractions (check out: www.planeta.com/ecotravel/mexico/nuevoleon/monterrey.html).

Guadalajara, on the other hand, has successfully claimed two great national icons--tequila and mariachis--as its own, and offers a walkable, safe Historic Center (www.planeta.com/ecotravel/mexico/jalisco/guadalajara.html). A sense of regional pride and community participation appeals to tourists, unlike superhighways, super shopping centers, malls and maquilas.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The point, however, is not to steal a watered-down version of the ethical imperative of ecotourism to buoy up a flagging city tourism, but to seize upon genuine opportunities to create value-added services for tourists and to improve the quality of life for residents. Canada's Green Tourism Association sums it up: "People everywhere are looking for a more meaningful and less destructive way to visit natural areas while participating in cultural activities ... The World Tourism Organization states that a growing number of consumers are looking for a less destructive and a more R.E.A.L. (rewarding, enriching, authentic, learning) experience."

As many people with some experience of national tourism policy-making and promotion can see, the information and analytical material available for free on the website, could be a gold mine to policy-makers if they knew where to look and what to take into consideration.

As Mader said modestly, "This conference, like the previous 13 events hosted by Planeta.com, allowed a discussion at the global level among various stakeholders in various countries. This format allowed participants to discuss lessons learned--what to repeat and what to avoid."

MEXICAN CITIES ON LEARNING CURVE

The conference gave participants advance pointers with some impressive links that revealed urban ecotourism, or "urban green tourism," or "sustainable urban tourism" (the term favored by London 21--see: www.london21.org) is not new.

Everything was considered, "like a 300-room hotel that adopts recycling programs or a simple walking tour of a city." Many cities already have "green maps," definitions of sustainability, and lists of "what you can do." However, no city in Mexico has a green map that is readily accessible.

While certain initiatives in Mexico's capital were held up as exemplary, on the whole, Mexican cities have a lot to learn. Very few people on the street have heard of the program "Mexico Limpio y Querido." The "No Manches" campaign was noticeable in Mexico City, but when I asked tourism officials in nearby Amecameca (the gateway to Parque Izta-Popo, one of the most symbolic and significant in the country) about it last spring, they shrugged and said the posters hadn't arrived yet.

They also said those who pollute the countryside are daytrippers from Mexico City, so they were keeping waterfalls clean by leaving them unsignposted--making sure chilango tourists couldn't find them too easily!

After visiting Manchester, England, in the spring, and seeing how it has gathered and packaged its historic civic culture and pride, with modern interactive museums that have great educational content, it struck me that this would be the way forward for Monterrey, which is similar in many ways.

As conference participant Edna Aguinaga of the Mexico Conservation Nature Fund in the offices in Xalapa, Veracruz, said: "I have had the opportunity to live outside Mexico and have lived in some cities that offer quite a few options for recreation within the cities and I think we should develop "models" or ideas that can be implemented in our local environments."

It is only logical, in a wired world, that one should look to the Internet for examples, and this is one of the ways Planeta.com has paved the way.

In answer to my question to the conference about trash, I was recommended the following website: http://www.dontmesswithtexas.org, an inspiring and successful anti-litter campaign sponsored by the Texas Department of Transportation. It would be a heartening and thrilling achievement to set up something similar in Mexico, especially after a poor showing at the 11th annual U.N. Clean Up the World event a month ago, in which only somewhere between 100 and 500 people turned up to raise environmental awareness through a clean-up of Chapultepec Park.

NO SOLUTIONS WITHOUT INFORMATION

Perhaps one of the first challenges is to get a couple of facts out to businesses and local governments. As academic Rachcl Dodds notes: "Cities host more than half the world's population and the majority of tourists visit or pass through urban areas because cities are tourism gateways."

"The case for preserving and protecting the areas that tourists visit has amounted to the growth of ecotourism and it is growing in popularity and expanding even faster than the tourism industry as a whole," she added.

Another message about ecotourism that may not have filtered through to the suits with cell phones, who think its for bread-baking guys with beards and sandals, is that it is not successful if it is not profitable.

Urban ecotourism must bring tourism revenue to cities at the same time as it makes "urban spaces more livable, while ensuring protection of the natural resources and ecosystems that sustain us," according to an environmental planner at the conference.

How can those interested start to market ecotourism?

"I personally do not think there is a market segment that can be defined as 'ecotourists,'" said Canadian researcher Mike Robbins. "There are tourists covering a wide range of market segments who adopt, or believe in, some or all of the principles of ecotourism when they travel: minimize the impact of their travels on the environment; maximize the benefits to locals; pay something extra for natural heritage conservation or cultural heritage preservation; interest in education and learning."

Robbins suggested links for surveys on motivations when people chose a holiday, and suggested that an activities-based approach was as important as ecotourism principles.

The social and cultural approach should not be forgotten either. A couple of cliches need to be rethought, such as the notion that tourism is about "getting away from it all" and that cities are merely traffic-congested nightmares.

Another participant, Mary Finn, said: "There are also so many wonderful cultural activities--and blends of different world cultures--in our urban areas, that I think ... now makes it unnecessary to travel quite so far to learn (at least something) about other parts of the world."

Planeta.com ran a conference on financing sustainable tourism nearly two years ago, and regularly updates its index of funding sources. Follow-up work has been conducted with the Mexican Conservation Learning Network (www.imacmexico.org). The most recent initiative is the Mexican Ecotourism College, formed last June, which aims to support research into and development of ecotourism (www.comeco.com.mx).

But another source for those who want to get the urban ecotourism ball rolling in Mexico is the consultancy group Balam (www.balam.com.mx), which promotes recreation in natural areas, mainly in mountain regions of rural Mexico, including the Ajusco region in southern Mexico City.

The following recommendations--just a few of Planeta.com's recent conclusions--provide both hope and a challenge to Mexico's cities: "City planners need to conduct surveys of best practices from other cities with local potential; government should guarantee the free use of public space, increase public green spaces, and improve interpretation of natural and cultural features; create opportunities for positive interaction among residents and travelers and encourage bike and walking tours."

And what does Mader think businesses with an ecological conscience should be doing?

"Eco-minded businesses need to walk their talk. They need to demonstrate their commitment to the environment and to their communities. They do themselves and their clients a service when they keep on top of trends and technologies. And I think they need to conduct their work in an ethical fashion."

RELATED ARTICLE: Cities As Travel Hubs

One of the advantages of developing sound urban ecotourism is that travelers (both locals and foreigners) will be more responsible when visiting actual wilderness areas.

The following is a list of cities and nearby parks/protected areas with which they are associated:

Cancun -- Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve

Chihuahua City -- Copper Canyon 

Ciudad Victoria -- El Cielo

Cuernavaca -- EI Tepozteco National Park

Durango City -- Mapimi Biosphere Reserve

Mexico City -- Desierto de los Leones; Xochimilco

Merida -- Celestun Biosphere Reserve

Monterrey -- Cumbres de Monterrey

Morelia -- Monarch Sanctuary

Pachuca -- El Chico National Park

Zacatecas -- Sierra de los Organos

*This is not an exhaustive index. For details on responsible nature travel in Mexico, visit Planeta.com

RELATED ARTICLE: Federal Government Steps Up

In early October, the federal government established the Interinstitutional Agreement to Develop Ecotourism and Rural Ecotourism.

The accord was signed by the secretariats of Tourism, Environment, Agriculture and Social Development. Also taking part will be the National Commission of Indigenous Development, the Forestry Commission, the National Protected Areas Commission and several tourism development boards.

The government's aim is to consolidate efforts to improve conservation strategies and make better use of natural resources, as well as promote the development of rural and indigenous communities, the Tourism Secretariat (Sectur) said in a bulletin.

Sectur announced the government has set aside more than 136 million pesos to fund this initiative. Some of this money will go toward helping rural communities establish and maintain ecotourism attractions, in addition to training programs and promotion of these sites.

According to Sectur, so-called nature tourism in Mexico generates 900 million pesos in revenues annually and 470 companies offer services related to this sector.

--Tom Buckley

By Dr. Barbara Kastelein

Dr. Barbara Kastelein writes about travel in Mexico for The Herald, Travesias magazine, Fodor's Travel Publications and Brides magazine. She also covers environmental legislation and policy in Mexico for the Bureau of National Affairs (BNA) in Washington.