Sustainable development: the reliable profit

Making the best profit for main stakeholders: customers in holidays and local communities in Africa. I’m happy to know and collaborate for such an special business initiative: Africadventure, now Zed&Away, a tour operator providing eco-tourism, volunteer work and support to conservation projects and local communities in several countries in Africa. What is more interesting to me is the idea of sustainable development behind the product. Please, do visit:
http://zedaway.com/

Created in 2005 (yesterday!) by a small group of friends seriously committed in development projects in Uganda, Africadventure rapidly became a wide virtual enterprise linking together people from several countries and one common interest: to build a unique business experience based on the philosophy and practice of sustainable tourism for local communities in East African countries.

What does sustainable tourism means in Africa?

Ivan D’Ambrosio, managing director and founder, explains that sustainable tourism “is a form of tourism that promotes integration with local communities and helps to finance local projects in full respect of local traditions, way of living and conservation of resources and environment”.

It means that local communities receive support on specific projects for self development by the tourist experience. Thus, main features of sustainable tourism based on local development projects are mentioned on Z&A website such as:

-Local communities set a community project in which all the money coming from the tourist activity will be invested on the project. Activities can be visits to local communities to learn their way of working, time spent with local fishermen or cattle keepers, visits to schools where children will teach some basic words in their local language, collaboration in any conservation project respecting the local community, etc.

-The entire community should have a long term benefit from the project and actively get involved on it.

-It must be an ethical project without any link to politics or religion.

-The sustainable tourism activity shouldn’t have to interfere with the local communities in their way of living, conducting business and their own incomes.

-Local communities will have to use the money coming from the sustainable tourism activity as an extra income to their normal activities to develop a project that otherwise they could not achieve.

- Travellers must be clearly informed on the sustainable tourism activity and must show interest and sensitivity towards the activity proposed and the way he/she will contribute towards the development of the local community.

Ivan had the ideas quite clear when designed the itineraries of Africadventure. To offer a wide range of possibilities for customers enjoy, experience and even get humanly involved with African people, communities and nature. Africa wouldn’t let you indifferent as a traveller, but neither travellers and tourism is now indifferent to Africa.

Both parts of the tourist experience, travellers and local environment, do give and receive, learning from each other in an ecological and humane approach. Ecological since everything done comes and returns to each part involved. This is a more sensitive, integrative and fertile thinking, rather than aggressive, causing exploitation and unnecessary resources consumption. It is humane as well, because the experience helps people to get better knowing and understanding of themselves… through
the other.

I believe in this project, now a profitable business experience, in which people, customers, local communities and nature, do matter. It’s an interesting initiative causing -maybe a small-, but definitely an important change on the way tourism and benefits are understood. Not from a depredatory approach, no caring about history, environment and communities, but as an educative, ecological and more intelligent experience. I want to see it growing up.