Ecotourism Curriculum and Visitor Learning

Introduction

  • Visitor learning is central to ecotourism, especially in community-based ecotourism (CBET).
  • The ecotourism "curriculum" in CBET is specific to the local place and community.
  • It reflects project aims of environmental conservation, cultural preservation, and community livelihood promotion.
  • In Asia, the CBET curriculum has similarities across three main regions:
    • Rainforest and reef region of Thailand and Malaysia.
    • Mountain trekking regions of northern Thailand and the Himalayas.
    • Blossom and waterfall region of Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan.
  • The CBET curriculum is specific to local communities and natural environments.
  • Local knowledge comprises the ecotourism curriculum and may include:
    • Agriculture and horticulture
    • Astronomy
    • Forestry
    • Human health
    • Traditional medicines and healing
    • Animals, fish, and ecological systems
    • Sustainable use of natural resources
    • Traditional classification systems
    • Learning systems and oral traditions
    • Spirituality, symbols, and traditional arts and culture
  • The CBET curriculum is a form of traditional ecological knowledge and indigenous knowledge.
  • Teaching local knowledge to visitors strengthens its value within the community.
  • Ecotourism projects provide a community incentive for environmental conservation.
  • Research on visitor learning has focused on "free choice" learning and behavioral change in marine wildlife experiences or land-based wildlife tourism.
  • Other research has focused on community capacity building and training of ecotourism guides.
  • Limited research has been conducted on visitor learning in community-based ecotourism.
  • This paper examines visitor learning and the informal ecotourism curriculum in two CBET projects in Thailand and Cambodia.
    • Koh Yao Noi CBET project in southern Thailand.
    • Chambok CBET project in Cambodia, bordering the Cardamom mountains.

The Ecotourism Curriculum and Visitor Learning

  • The ecotourism curriculum in CBET projects is based on local knowledge, is experiential, and is occasionally transformative.
  • Curriculum content includes environmental, cultural, and livelihood knowledge.
  • These areas are interconnected.
    • Livelihood depends on environmental knowledge.
    • Cultural knowledge is tied to the land.
  • Local knowledge is contextual and embodied in daily practices, cultural beliefs, and relations with the environment and each other.
  • Knowledge varies among community members based on age, gender, social status, intellect, and community roles.
  • Local knowledge is dynamic and adaptable, incorporating outside knowledge, including Western scientific knowledge.
  • An ecotourism curriculum built around local knowledge can help to "decolonize" the tourist gaze and provide benefits to local communities, particularly indigenous ones.
    • Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) can support sovereignty and cultural revitalization in economic development.
    • Engaging with indigenous environmental priorities and ecological knowledge can improve tourism products and enhance community benefits.
  • The curriculum can also include community development priorities and local histories of colonization and exploitation.
  • A "decolonizing" pedagogy of place can lead to transformative learning for visitors.
  • Visitors may experience various learning outcomes, from transformative learning to greater environmental awareness to simple entertainment.
  • Ecotourists engage in learning new knowledge and skills, building new relationships with local people and environments.
  • The experiential ecotourism curriculum centered on local knowledge offers abundant learning possibilities.

Research Methodology and Study Sites

  • An interpretative case study approach was used to capture the particularities of visitor learning and the ecotourism curriculum.
  • This methodology is employed in research in ecotourism and environmental education.
  • This qualitative, interpretative methodology is appropriate when a topic hasn't been researched much.
  • Cases should be similar as instances of the main topic of study (CBET) but differ along key variables related to research objectives.
  • Both CBET projects are long-term, award-winning projects that have served as models of CBET practice.
  • Each is located in a natural area of immense beauty and biodiversity.
  • Both projects were started in response to local environmental threats, established with the help of local non-governmental organizations and take homestay options as central to their operations.
  • Each case is located within a distinct geographic zone with different community cultures, language, history, livelihood systems, and environmental threats.
  • Field research was conducted at the Chambok site in December 2010 and at the Koh Yao Noi site from December 2008 to January 2009.
  • Researchers stayed in local homestays, participated in ecotourism activities, interviewed leaders, guides, and community members, and collected related documents.
  • Interviews were conducted in Khmer and Thai, translated into English, and analyzed using a "constant-comparative" data analysis process.

Chambok CBET Project

  • Established in 2002 with support from Mlup Baitong (“Green Shade”).
  • Located next to Kirirom National Park.
  • Main attractions include streams, a 4040 meter waterfall, rainforest, wildlife, and rural Cambodian culture.
  • Activities include hiking, swimming, biking, visiting a bat cave, bird-watching, animal tracking, camping, farm and orchard tours, riding in an ox-cart, picnicking, tree planting, handicraft production, music and dance, and homestay accommodation.
  • The ecotourism catchment area comprises all nine villages of Chambok commune.
  • Local guides report that 761761 families benefit directly from participating in CBET.
  • 2020 families have homestay accommodations.
  • In 2006, the Cambodian Ministry of Tourism cited Chambok CBET as a good model of pro-poor community-based ecotourism.
  • In 2007, the UNDP Sri Lanka Regional Office selected Chambok CBET as one of 2020 “good practice case studies”.
  • In 2009, the Chambok CBET Project was one of six Cambodian CBET projects recognized by US-AID for its sustainable development potential.
  • Since 2003, an average of 15,00015,000 people has visited Chambok annually.
    • Approximately 8080% are Khmer and 2020% are foreigners.
  • Chambok's close proximity to Phnom Penh is the reason why most are domestic visitors.
  • The Chambok site also hosts approximately 5050 study tours annually, primarily from organizations wanting to apply Chambok's CBET model to other locations in Cambodia.
  • In 2009, the project generated US19,707,or19,707, or8.5% of total annual income for each of300 families providing tourism services.
  • Of total project income:
    • 25% supports forest patrols</li>\n<li>10% goes to community development</li>\n<li>5% to the local Buddhist temple</li>\n<li>5% to local government</li>\n<li>10% to an emergency fund</li>\n<li>5% to a community fund</li>\n<li>Remaining40% to ecotourism service providers</li></ul></li>\n<li>The Chambok CBET project was initially developed to address widespread forest degradation.</li>\n<li>With the help of the NGO Mlup Baitong, villagers identified the tourism potential of the waterfall, a cave hosting three bat species, and the surrounding rainforest.</li>\n<li>A 13-member Management Committee was then elected.</li>\n<li>In 2002, Mlup Baitong signed a 2-year renewable agreement with the Ministry of Environment to implement an adjoining Community Conservation Area within Kirirom National Park.</li>\n<li>In 2003, the Chambok CBET site officially opened to visitors.</li>\n<li>The CBET site now covers161haandbordersmorethanha and borders more than900 ha of protected community forest.

    Koh Yao Noi CBET Project

    • Koh Yao Noi is an island adjacent to Ao Phang Nga National Marine Park in the Andaman Sea of southern Thailand.
    • The National Park includes more than 40 limestone karst islands, coral reefs, tidal channels, mangrove forests, and inland rainforest.
    • The 400 \, \text{km}^2 Park is inhabited by large aquatic mammals and numerous varieties of coral, shellfish, and tropical finfish.
    • Gibbons, crab-eating macaques, and langurs reside in the forests and rock cliffs, along with 120 species of birds and reptiles.
    • The island is home to some 4,000 Thai Muslim Malay people, engaged in fishing, farming of rice and rubber, aquaculture, and the tourism industry.
    • The Koh Yao Noi Ecotourism Project started in the early 1990s due to damage to traditional offshore fisheries by commercial trawlers.
    • The community formed the Koh Yao Noi Small Fisher’s Club and blockaded fishing trawlers from conservation zones.
    • In 1995, islanders faced a surge of new commercial tourism development.
    • Working with a local NGO, Responsible Ecological and Social Tours (REST), villagers established the Koh Yao Noi Ecotourism Club.
    • As part of the CBET project, Koh Yao Noi began a homestay project in the mid-1990s, with 30-35 local families participating.
    • In 2009, some 250 ecotourists participated in homestays each month, with several hundred more visitors participating in shorter term ecotourism activities.
    • Activities include boating, snorkeling, forest hikes, kayaking, birdwatching, fishing, sailing, cooking, eating, and other tourism activities that fit the local ways of life.
    • Until recently, most homestay visitors have been domestic Thai, but foreigners are now visiting in increasing numbers.
    • In total, 500 villagers are members of the CBET project, working as hosts, guides, and drivers, and in food and handicraft production.
    • They earn roughly 10% of their annual income through these ecotourism services.</li>\n<li>An additional10$$% of all income supports reef, sea grass, and mangrove restoration, local school programs, and a community development fund.
    • CBET project activities have included replanting of mangrove forests, protests against shrimp farms, a monthly litter clean-up, an environmental education camp, and funding for toilet construction in the local mosque.

    Findings

    • The ecotourism curriculum teaches ecotourists local knowledge of the environment, culture, and livelihood.
    • Common teaching methods include oral interpretation, storytelling, experiential learning, residence in local homes, and participation in family and cultural life.
    • The curriculum is jointly constructed by ecotourists, hosts, and guides.
    • Cultural exchange between visitors and hosts is common.
    • Human relationships between ecotourists, hosts, guides, and the community are an additional part of the curriculum.
    • Ecotourist participation in local conservation and community development activities is also included in the curriculum.
    • Each CBET project has a modest, open-air visitor center.
    • Centers include display posters and photographs of ecotourism activities, homestays, conservation activities, and visits of government officials and study groups.
    • Award plaques and information on CBET concepts and activities are exhibited.
    • The Koh Yao Noi CBET center posts rules for visitor behavior specific to local Muslim Malay norms and the community conservation ethic:
      • “(1) No alcohol drinks and drugs in the community; (2) Proper and modest dress in the village community; (3) Do not litter; (4) Don’t collect any seashells or corals from the sea”.
    • There is a three-dimensional table map of the island that portrays indigenous conceptions of space, topography, land use, livelihood, and resources.
    • The local map allows guides to present local spatial perspectives to ecotourists.
    • When ecotourists arrive at the Koh Yao Noi visitor center, local hosts take them through the community ecotourism curriculum and negotiate a curriculum based on the visitors’ interests.
    • A tailor-made ecotourism curriculum is chosen and developed from a "menu" of possible ecotourism attractions and activities.
    • Curriculum areas may include the natural environment, local history and religion, seasonal livelihood activities, and cultural rituals and events.
    • Visitors can also ask to deviate from the standard ecotourism curriculum.
    • In Chambok, a visitor learned about villagers’ methods of rice cultivation.
    • In Koh Yao Noi, visitors learned how to cultivate and market lobster, tour local cave shrines, and locate, harvest, and prepare indigenous forest foods.
    • Expert ecotourism guides "teach" the core curriculum through on-site experiential learning and interpretation.
    • Guides are knowledgeable and skilled at the activities they demonstrate.
    • Their environmental knowledge is tied to the use-value of local flora and fauna, but also contains a sensibility for sustainable harvest.
    • In Chambok, guides identify sustainable harvesting of resources.
    • Koh Yao Noi guides demonstrate environmentally sustainable practices in netting fish, shrimp, and crabs, and shellfish collection.
    • Cultural knowledge that helps protect local forests and marine resources is also an important part of the curriculum.
    • In Chambok, guides teach ecotourists about rokka thevada (“tree angels”) and other spirits.
    • Guides will also explain kravah daye, a traditional system of reciprocal labor.
    • They teach the meanings of traditional dances.
    • In Koh Yao Noi, guides teach visitors about Muslim religious practices, Malay cultural practices, and local animist beliefs.
    • Cultural exchange between visitors and hosts is an integral part of both CBET projects, particularly in homestay experiences.
    • Visitors learned the local language, sampled local foods, learned local hygiene practices, compared faiths, exchanged songs and photographs, and learned about local family history.
    • Living with a host family and being guided by family members also establish human relationships between hosts and visitors.
    • There are regular return visitors to the projects.
    • Visitors send back photos to local families, donate money, sports equipment, and supplies to the village school, and otherwise financially support local development initiatives.

    Discussion

    • Research on visitor learning and the ecotourism curriculum in community-based ecotourism provides a foundation for developing the educational potential of ecotourism projects.
    • This study provides a promising direction for further comparative case study research.
    • Such research might include case studies within and across the three ecotourism regions of Asia.
    • Additional case studies of CBET projects that have gained recognition for their educational and community development successes might be undertaken.
    • In practice, much of visitor learning in CBET projects is still largely ad hoc.
    • There is a lack of attention to the educational function of CBET.
    • Greater focus might be placed on identifying and developing curriculum areas in local environmental, cultural, and livelihood knowledge.
    • A core curriculum might be decided on by CBET members and taught to visitors.
    • Local stories, history, and cultural norms of behavior might be written up as cross-cultural education for visitors.
    • Learning materials such as recipes for local foods, local maps, simple guides to local language, and charts of tropical reef fish, forest products, unfamiliar fruits, and herbal medicines might be developed.
    • It is important to consider whose local knowledge is being valued and taught and who will benefit.
    • A focus on valuing the local knowledge of women may aid in their empowerment.
    • The pedagogy employed in teaching the CBET curriculum might borrow from the success of other forms of ecotourism.
    • Experiential learning theory proposed by Kolb (1984) is a promising possibility.
    • Kolb’s four stages in the experiential learning cycle might be easily mapped on to ecotourism activities:
      • (1) concrete experience
      • (2) reflective observation and personal meaning-making
      • (3) abstract conceptualization
      • (4) active experimentation
    • Learning by ecotourists might also be promoted following theories of transformative learning (Mezirow, Taylor, & Associates, 2009).
    • Taylor (2009) summarizes the salient characteristics of this transformative learning approach:
      • starting with individual experience
      • promoting critical reflection and dialogue
      • emphasizing a holistic orientation
      • establishing authentic relationships
    • Gruenewald (2008) proposed a critical place-based pedagogy:
      • The two concepts of “reinhabitation” and “decolonization” guide this pedagogy.

    Conclusion

    • Visitor education is commonly cited as central to community-based ecotourism, it has seldom been the subject of educational research.
    • Research and knowledge of best practices in community training for capacity building in CBET project planning and management is fairly well advanced.
    • The training of local ecotourism guides in interpretation is also increasingly common.
    • Research on the ecotourism curriculum identifies educational possibilities in teaching about the local environment, culture, and livelihood.
    • The study findings indicate the potential of experiential and transformative pedagogies.
    • Many ecotourist visitors to community-based ecotourism are eager to learn and contribute to sustainable development through ecotourism.