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For Savvy Hoteliers and Tourism Entrepreneurs

Tools and Training for Socially and Environmentally Responsible Practices

En Español Toolkit for Small and Medium Enterprises Training and Technical Assistance

The Rainforest Alliance provides training and technical assistance on environmentally and socially-sound management, certification standards and marketing to sustainable tourism trainers, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and community-based companies in Latin America. Our Project for the Implementation of Best Management Practices and Certification Support for Small and Medium Tourism Enterprises began in 2003, and is made possible by the financial support of the Multilateral Investment Fund of the Inter-American Development Bank.

Training and technical assistance are now underway in Belize, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Guatemala, where we coordinate with local partners, including the Asociación Ecuatoriana de Ecoturismo, Alianza Verde in Guatemala and Programme for Belize. It is coordinated with similar efforts in Brazil.

The project’s goals are two-fold:

• Increase the competitiveness and market access of SMEs, and help them implement best management practices and acquire sustainable tourism certification.
• Strengthen and harmonize certification systems and increase global awareness of their existence.

Goals for 2003 to 2007

• Ensure that at least 70% of participating SMEs are implementing best management practices and/or pursuing certification.
• Complete 250 analyses of tourism operations, and distribute co-financing to 175 SMEs for implementation of best management practices and/or certification.
• Introduce 3,600 SMEs and community-based operations to the concepts of best management practices, certification and marketing through 144 seminars.
• Define baseline standards through direct work with certification programs in the region. (View the standards in English (PDF - 56 KB) or Spanish (PDF - 57 KB).)
• Develop a marketing plan to help 250 tourism operations in the pilot countries position themselves competitively in the marketplace, attract new business and improve the efficiency and quality of their operations.
• Train 320 SMEs and community-based operations in not only best management practices, but certification and marketing.
• Earn endorsement of our sustainable tourism strategy from organizations working with certification in the region.
• Make best management practices and certification accessible for SMEs and community-based operations.

Read a case study about the project (in Spanish).

Read press clips about this project:

• El Comercio [PDF - 86 KB] (in Spanish)
• Inter-American Development Bank News [PDF - 80 KB] (in English)

For more information about this project contact: sustainabletourism@ra.org.

This project has been supported by the Multilateral Investment Fund of the Inter-American Development Bank, the United States Agency for International Development, the Ford Foundation, the Overbrook Foundation, the Tinker Foundation, the United Nations Environment Programme/Global Environment Facility, Mitsubishi and other organizations.