In May 2006, 25 participants from diverse organizations and certification programs in South America, all members of the Sustainable Tourism Certification Network of the Americas, broadened their strategic planning horizons by attending a workshop on effective fundraising. In our role as Network Secretariat, the Rainforest Alliance offered to organize this seminar at the request of participants who attended the 3rd Meeting of the Network, held last year in Petén, Guatemala.

Representatives from the Rainforest Alliance’s New York-based development office offered instruction on researching potential funding sources, writing successful funding proposals and understanding donor requirements. The training also included how-to’s for improving monitoring and evaluation systems within organizations.

Rosa Guerrero of the Inter-American Development Bank’s Multilateral Investment Fund discussed how to create a proposal for her organization. The agenda also included case studies of organizations that have been highly successful in fundraising.

Later this year, a similar workshop will be held for North American, Central American and Caribbean Network members.

A group of 11 representatives from certified hotels, the Costa Rican Tourism Institute, the Rainforest Alliance and domestic airline Nature Air came together for a special event during the annual Costa Rican tourism trade show EXPOTUR on May 17 – 18, 2006.

The event, which included a presentation about certified hotels in Costa Rica, music by the award-winning Costa Rican band Editus and a noteworthy turnout, impressed the new Costa Rican minister of tourism, Carlos Benavides. In his presentation, he was straightforward about his backing of sustainable tourism certification in Costa Rica. "Here you can clearly see the motivation that certification brings," he said. "I am very happy to see this and I plan to strongly support the certification program."

Andrea Holbrook, owner of Selva Verde Lodge and one of the event organizers, explained that the purpose of the event was to promote sustainable tourism certification in general and draw specific attention to the Certification in Sustainable Tourism (CST), Costa Rica’s sustainable tourism certification seal.

"CST-certified hotels have demonstrated their commitment to conserving natural resources and the well-being of Costa Rican communities," noted Ronald Sanabria of the Rainforest Alliance. "Their leadership has been a fountain of inspiration for conservation organizations like ours that believe in the potential of certified sustainable tourism."

Numerous and notable national and international tour operators, such as Horizontes Nature Tours of Costa Rica, were also present at the event. Glenn Jampol, president of Finca Rosa Blanca Country Inn in Santa Bárbara de Heredia, Costa Rica, applauded the impressive number of participants. "Five years ago, you wouldn’t have been able to get very many people to come to an event like this," he commented. "Today there are 150 people together in this room supporting sustainable tourism."

After three years of careful work to ensure transparency and take all stakeholders’ views into account, our colleagues from Sustainable Travel International (STI), a United States-based non-profit organization promoting sustainable travel, have launched the pilot version of the Sustainable Tourism Eco-Certification Program™ (STEP).

Brian T. Mullis, president of STI, explains that the group’s intent is to offer a user-friendly voluntary program that educates and trains in best management practices, complementing other existing certification programs and minimizing obstacles to certification for businesses of all sizes.

Before the program’s full-fledged launch, selected hotels and lodges, transportation services, tour operators and other attractions will enroll in a test run. These companies will pass through the entire certification process and then provide feedback in order to polish and improve the program. These businesses will then become the first to proudly show off their STEP certification seals.

The building of another organization’s vision started more than 30 weeks ago in the shipyards of Guayaquil. After many long days of work and much energy, the dream has come true -- the ship Tip Top IV now peacefully navigates the deep waters of the Galapagos archipelago off the coast of Ecuador.

The ship is the newest in a fleet of nine boats certified by SmartVoyager, Ecuador’s sustainable tourism certification program, which is managed by Conservación y Desarrollo.

With capacity for 16 passengers, the Tip Top IV features superior standards of comfort and safety and demonstrates a commitment to conservation. Its furniture and parts of the boat were crafted from teak harvested from certified forests.

Enrique Wittmer, general manager of Rolf Wittmer Galapagos Tourism Company, which owns the Tip Top IV, emphasizes that his business is committed to preserving the environment. He adds that the certification seal is necessary proof of this commitment because more tourists are now looking for certified products when they book their vacations.

The Chaa Creek Lodge, a hotel, adventure center, rainforest reserve and spa in Cayo, Belize, has taken the first steps towards certification and was recently awarded the Green Globe Benchmarked status. This is the step prior to obtaining the Green Globe 21 certification seal, which is awarded by Green Globe, the worldwide benchmarking and certification program for the travel and tourism industry.

This achievement is the laudable result of significant time invested in monitoring water and energy consumption, managing waste disposal and developing a social and environmental policy. These efforts have enabled Chaa Creek to reduce its use of non-renewable resources and operation costs, ensuring future success in environmental and social sustainability.

Hotel manager Michael Green says he doesn’t at all doubt that this first triumph will bring many benefits. With the certification seal well within reach, Chaa Creek fully intends to work hard to continue making significant improvements and reviewing procedures to achieve greater sustainability.

Cathy Parson, a representative of Green Globe, declared Chaa Creek to be an inspiration to those committed to sustainable tourism because it demonstrated how a business and its employees can make huge strides in diminishing their environmental impact.

Since August 2005, the Oro Verde Hotel in Guayaquil, Ecuador, has been showing off its five-star rating from the SmartVoyager certification program. The seal is displayed in the hotel’s reception area, on printed information in the guest rooms and on the hotel’s stationery.

The hotel invested a considerable amount of time and money to earn these bragging rights, but the effort has already paid off. The hotel replaced window panes with a more energy-efficient glass and now saves $10,000 on energy costs each month. The new glass keeps air conditioning in and noise out, which adds up not only to savings, but to happier guests.

Nearly every area of the business was transformed. "Our clients don’t notice many of the efforts," says Sergio Rosarios, the hotel’s general manager, "but the environment feels them." Rosarios adds that he is sure the investment in sustainable best practices has boosted the hotel's efficiency.

The Catalogue of Certified Tourism Products of the Americas has been well received and widely distributed at international events, meetings of the Network for Sustainable Tourism Certification and by tour agencies and certification programs. In addition, members of the public have received copies of the catalog through free downloads from the Rainforest Alliance's Web site.

"The outstanding thing about the catalog is that it’s the first time all the certified products from Latin America have been featured together," says Cristina Suhr, marketing specialist for the Rainforest Alliance.

The 85-page, full-color publication features information about both lodging and activities that are offered by more than 140 certified hotels located in Guatemala, Costa Rica, Ecuador and the Caribbean. The businesses included are all certified by organizations that are members of the Network.

Proof of the positive response that this publication has received was receivied a few weeks ago in the form of an invitation from the United States Department of State to participate in the Earth Day tourism event "Sustainability in Movement." The more than 1,000 public officials who attended the event had an opportunity to pass by our stand, review the information in the catalog and become more familiar with the Eco-Index Sustainable Tourism and the work the Rainforest Alliance does to foster sustainable tourism and tourism certification.

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This bulletin has been produced with financial support from the Ford Foundation, The Multilateral Investment Fund of the Inter-American Development Bank (BID/FOMIN) and the Rainforest Alliance.

© 2006 Rainforest Alliance