Measuring the Impact of Ecotourism
Ecotourism is often proclaimed as a “green” or “environmentally friendly” alternative to traditional tourism. The problem is, there’s no way to backup this statement with hard data.
At least there wasn’t … until we developed a solution.
The MEET Ecotourism Standard
The MEET Standard Ecotourism Standard is a comprehensive set of criteria and indicators for protected areas to manage the quality and sustainability of their ecotourism products.
Thanks to DestiMED PLUS project, we recently upgraded this standard to make it more comprehensive and accessible. The upgraded Standard contains two pillars:
PILLAR 1
The first pillar is the destination i.e. the territory under the influence of the protected area managing body that acts as a tourism DMO (Destination Marketing Organisation). This pillar monitors how the protected area manages tourism and how the Local Ecotourism Cluster (LEC) governs the design process of the ecotourism product. This first pillar must be evaluated every time a protected area wants to create a new ecotourism product, but it is also necessary to monitor it continuously after the product is created.
PILLAR 2
The second pillar is the ecotourism product i.e. the multi-day ecotourism experience or package. This pillar is used to measure the quality and sustainability of the ecotourism product developed by the LEC. Naturally, it must be evaluated every time an ecotourism product is created in a protected area, following this it must be evaluated every three years.
The sustainability part of the second pillar should also be monitored each time a new service provider is integrated into the product.
The MEET Indicator Monitoring Platform
Our Monitoring Platform allows ecotourism destinations in and around protected areas to self-assess the sustainability and quality multi-day tourism products in Protected Areas against the comprehensive criteria of the MEET Standard.
This platform provides local ecotourism stakeholders with a system to automatically measure and monitor the performance of an itinerary (ecological footprint, social impact, quality) and the enabling conditions in the destination (governance and conservation management), enhancing their ability to make decisions based on evidence.
Ecological Footprint Calculator of Ecotourism Itineraries
The calculator measures and analyses the ecological footprint of your itinerary considering the four main components of an ecotourism package: accommodation, food & beverages, transfers and activities.
Social Impact Assessment of Ecotourism Suppliers
This self-assessment measures the social impact of the different suppliers and facilities on 15 social topics covering 4 stakeholder groups (workers, local communities, value chain and visitors).
Enabling Conditions in the Destination: Governance & Conservation
This tool assesses the enabling environment to check with certain conditions that must be met to ensure that tourism benefits conservation as well as local communities and to make sure that no negative impacts on conservation occur.
Product Quality Assessment of an Ecotourism Itinerary
This questionnaire allows you to understand if the itinerary you are developing respond to the expectation of customers, buyers and local stakeholders, and complies with the the products commercialised by the MEET Network, covering issues such as tour leading, guiding and interpretation, supplier selection or itinerary design.