The final results have been delivered and posted from the Emerging Industry Forum, a three week forum with 40 active participants from
16 countries, and 237 registered observers which took place November 1-18, 2005 on Planeta.com. In the year since the dialogue debuted, it has been viewed 100,000 times.

Megan Epler Wood, of EplerWood International ­ the co-organizer of the forum, created the Executive Summary to deliver the important recommendations that resulted from this forum to donors and all those active in ecotourism development in short form.

³Ecotourism has evolved greatly in the last 10 years as a sustainable development tool,² notes EplerWood. ²The fact that industry was deeply involved in this forum gives it particular relevance because sustainability outcomes are only possible if ecotourism businesses are becoming more competitive economically.²

Participants recommended that donors take a new more business friendly approach that fosters small businesses directly and does not hinge on working with NGOs. Financing for ecotourism programs also needs to be moved to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and SMEs should be given the tools to finance the development and marketing of community based partner enterprises.

Participants stated that community based ecotourism development requires all the same approaches as other businesses, but all agreed that more time is needed to undertake community involvement procedures, and that these time consuming factors need to be factored into the design of donor projects.

Participants found that building green is a regional development issue. It was recommended that development agencies create regional plans for sustainable and ecotourism development where the costs of sustainability can be shared. Too many ecotourism projects have been developed in isolation of larger development projects.

Ron Mader of Planeta.com also points out that, ³financial institutions need to post current public information about sustainable tourism investments online on their websites. We can on only track the progress of ecotourism development if there is more transparent information on line which actually provides independently monitored results of the projects funded.²

ABOUT THE FORUM

The Ecotourism Emerging Industry Forum was designed to provide professionally moderated, up-to-date results on small and medium enterprise (SME) priorities for funding and investment decisions for sustainable tourism in developing countries.

The Emerging Industry Forum was organized as seven dialogue areas:
Developing Infrastructure for Sustainable Tourism, Private Sector/Public Sector Collaboration, Finance for SMEs, Communities and SMEs, Marketing and Market Development, Interpretive Programs, Triple Bottom Line Business Structures and Strategies. According to forum statistics, the most popular topic was Marketing. Participants discussed the projects they themselves had developed, the challenges they faced, and the possibilities for improving future ecotourism investment.

The e-conference was a showcase of creative collaboration. Having an extended lead time permitted conversations about the real needs of today's SMEs and donors seeking entry into sustainable tourism financing.

Details
http://www.planeta.com/ecotravel/tour/emerging.html

Executive Summary
http://www.planeta.com/ecotravel/tour/emergingforumsummary.html

Full Report
http://www.eplerwood.com/images/Emerging-Industry-Full-Report.doc

Photos
http://www.flickr.com/photos/planeta/sets/522624