GATE – Netzwerk, Tourismus, Kultur e. V., in cooperation with EBC Hamburg, ITB Berlin and GTZ, organised a symposium in Hamburg from 20 to 21 November 2009 entitled ‘Sustainability all along the line? CSR in the tourism supply chain’.
Nicole Häusler gave a presentation on ‘The Forgotten Aspect of Organisational Culture and Service Culture in the Supply Chain’.

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Matthias Beyer was lecturer at University of Applied Sciences Bremen and gave seminars on Tourism in the International Development Cooperation. The training module included topics such as sustainable tourism planning in developing countries, tourism as instrument for poverty reduction, Corporate Social Responsibility as well as environmental management.

On behalf of Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (EED), masIcontour conducted a three-day workshop (9-11 November 2009) in Nanjing with the staff of the Chinese NGO Amity Foundation.
Starting in 2010, the Amity Foundation, with financial assistance from EED, plans to provide support to 15 different ethnic minority groups, focussing on cultural identity and economic development. During the workshop subjects such as ‘Cultural Identity and Economic Development – a Contradiction?’ and the necessary steps towards the implementation of the upcoming project were discussed.

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For the second time this year, masIcontour organised a workshop in Yangon, Myanmar (Burma) on ‘Responsible Tourism Management’. On 6 November 2009, 15 participants from the private sector and one representative of an NGO took the decision to start a pilot project on sustainable tourism management at Inle Lake (Shan State). A project proposal is currently being formulated and discussed among the interested parties. This initiative is supported by the Myanmar Marketing Committee, the Union of Myanmar Travel Association and the Myanmar Hotelier Association.

The EU-financed project “Corporate Social Responsibility and Market Access Partnerships (CSR-MAP) for Thai Sustainable Tourism Supply Chains” aims to create greater sustainability in the Thai tourism industry and to meet the demands of European visitors.
Nicole Häusler, in her role as EU Expert, participated in the National Workshop (3-4 November 09) in Bangkok to discuss SME green hotel, ecotourism and community-based tourism standards, with the involvement of product suppliers.

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Within in the scope of the official licence process for canoe suppliers offered by the Federal Association for Canoe Tourism (BKT), Matthias Beyer gave a two-day training on Marketing. Main topics were market research, product development, communication, internal marketing, price and distribution policy as well as customer relationship management. All in all 17 canoe suppliers from all over the country attended this training.

masIcontour works together with other experts and the citizens on a tourism development concept for the Peninsula Priwall with the aim to provide sustainable and market-driven solutions for future tourism investments on the peninsula. The concept is based on an overall vision for tourism development that has been developed by masIcontour together with the citizens in the course of the year.

The Peruvian Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism MINCETUR and the Tourism College CENFOTUR arranged an International Conference on „Innovative Destination Development“ in Tarapoto and Lima (28th to 30th of September). Matthias Beyer was invited as keynote speaker and gave a speech on „Destination and Customer Marketing“ as well as „Tourism and Ethics“. Around 300 participants from politics, economy and education attended the conference.

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masIcontour offered a 3-day training course on “ Tourism and Climate Change” in Bangkok at Kasetsart University. This seminar was organized by German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) in cooperation with DASTA (Designated Areas for Sustainable Tourism Administration) und TAT (Tourism Authority of Thailand).
The intensive course was part of a ‘train-the-Trainer Programm’ for more than 30 Thai participants. In the near future they will be able to run training courses with local communities and public authorities but as well within the private sector.
Prof. Wolfgang Strasdas, Senior Consultant of masIcontour, gave more than ten presentations on this issue; Nicole Häusler was the facilitator of this event.

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In the second phase of the analysis, mas|contour, on behalf of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), will evaluate the poverty-reducing effects of a number of all-inclusive resorts in the region of Punta Cana. The study will involve the collection of enterprise-specific data and the conduct of employee surveys.

mas|contour, on behalf of the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), will conduct a sustainability assessment of Montenegro’s most relevant tourism products to examine their current and future ecological and socio-cultural effects. The aim of the sustainability assessment is to identify sustainable development objectives for Montenegro’s national tourism policy.

mas|contour is committed to quality management as an important element of sustainability both internally and in its dealings with clients. Matthias Beyer was trained as a quality coach as part of the national quality management initiative “ServiceQualität Deutschland” (Service-Q). In the near future, mas|contour is planning to include the implementation of concrete measures to further improve service quality and Stage 1 certification.

masIcontour offered a 2-day training course on “Responsible Tourism Management”, taking place in Yangon, the capital of Myanmar (Burma) in July 2009. 25 participants of the private tourism sector participated in this seminar. Further education on this topic is in great demand among local tour operators and hoteliers. The main focus within this seminar lied on the introduction of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) measures in the private touristic sector. This seminar was organized and implemented on masIcontour’s own initiative in cooperation with Myanmar Marketing Committee (MMC).

Photos of Seminar

The local tour and hotel operator ‘Jetwing’ located in Colombo, is planning the construction of a “Jetwing School for Responsible Tourism & Hotel Management”.

 

With the ending of the civil war, the school´s main aim is to offer Tamil adolescents -coming from refugee sectors - the opportunity to follow a professional education in hotel business. The issue of sustainability (among others Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Standards in hotel business) will be of great importance within the curriculum.

 

‘Jetwing’ will finance the construction of the school’s building, its organization and content out of their own funds as far as possible. Nevertheless, ‘Jetwing’ hopes to find financial support among development aid organizations and/or development banks. masIcontour supports ‘Jetwing’ in the formulation of the application for financing in August 2009.

For the upcoming constitution of a Competence Centre in the fields of tourism, environment and education for the Danube neighbouring countries, masIcontour analized on behalf of the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) the initial conditions in the countries and developed a conceptual framework for the centre.

On behalf of the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), masIcontour analized the socio-economic impacts of big city hotels on poverty alleviation among the local population in Managua.

Nicole Häusler hat participated at the one-day seminar on “Systemic Approaches and Evaluation” in Berlin organized by Heinrich-Böll-Foundation, evalux und DeGEval e.V. (Gesellschaft für Evaluation/Association for Evaluation).

The Platform Alimentation and Exercise (peb) is getting involved with the prevention of ascendance of children and youth in different regions of Germany. masIcontour was commissioned to accomplish a process oriented evaluation of the effects of various activities undertaken by the platform.

Nicole Häusler participates as a member of the International Jury which selects the winners of the SEED-Awards 2009. The SEED Initiative (www.seedinit.org) was founded by IUCN, UNEP and UNDP with a view to contributing to delivery of the Millennium Declaration and is based in Great Britain. SEED seeks the most promising locally-led and innovative, social and environmental entrepreneurs working in partnerships in developing countries in sectors like agriculture, biodiversity or tourism.

Nicole Häusler was visiting lecturer at School of Management in Trento/Italy. She gave two day training on the successful implementation of responsible tourism products including marketing strategies.

On behalf of the Guyana Tourism Authority, masIcontour arranged for the seventh time in succession the fair presentation of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana at the International Tourism Exchange (ITB) in Berlin. Apart from the organisation of the booth and the personal support of the Guyana delegation, masIcontour was responsible for the press relations and the intermediation of contacts to German tour operators.

masIcontour provides for the award-winning travel company Andaman Discoveries (www.andamandiscoveries.com) an overview on the German tourism market in relation to responsible tourism.

masIcontour gave a training in Kazakhstan on ecotourism and responsible tourism for environmental NGOs, Tourism Students and SMEs in tourism. The focus of the training topics was on quality standards in ecotourism, business planning and product development.

masIcontour provides advice to the citizens' initiative „Bürgerinitiative behutsame Priwallentwicklung e.V. (BiP)“ creating an overall vision for sustainable tourism development on the Peninsula Priwall located in the German province Schleswig-Holstein.

The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), in partnership with international sustainable development experts, SNV and GTZ, have formally launched a project to identify, research and promote Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) best practice case studies within the Asia Pacific travel and tourism industry. Based on observations these three organisations strongly believe there exists a need to publish a best practice guide for hotels and operators in Asia Pacific, specifically outlining case studies and action recommendations around CSR business practices.

masIcontour coordinates this project by contacting tourism companies, researching specific CSR projects and drafting the information into case studies. The results will be presented at website of PATA (www.pata.org) by May 2009.

On behalf of the University Lübeck, masIcontour develops (in collaboration with Karoline Lenz/ city marketing manager of the Hanseatic City of Lübeck) a training module on sustainable tourism development and strategic marketing for the distance education course „Historical City” starting in January 2009.

Real estate is one of the driving factors of destination development. This book, edited by Peter Keller and Thomas Bieger, contributes to the deeper understanding of the dynamics of real estate business in destinations and highlights the risks and impacts for a sustainable destination development. Matthias Beyer wrote together with Prof. Dagmar Lund-Durlacher und Matteucci Xavier an article on the socio-economic and environmental impacts of second home tourism in Nicaragua. The book was published in August 2008 by the Erich Schmidt Verlag under the title „Real Estate and Destination Development in Tourism – Successful Strategies and Instruments” (ISBN: 978-3-503-11088-9).

Matthias Beyer gave a presentation at the Technical University of Berlin (study course “Landscape Planning”) on sustainable tourism planning in the international practice.

For the eighth time the Initiative of Sustainable Development of the Humboldt University Berlin [www.nachhaltigkeitsinitiative.de] arranged series of lectures under the title „Introduction to Sustainable Development“. Matthias Beyer gave a presentation on the shortfalls and global challenges of sustainable tourism development.

Together with its project partners masIcontour has launched with the development of canoeing, nature and environmental education activities for children and youth in need of educational support in three German model regions. This project is funded by the German Federal Foundation for the Environment (DBU) for two years (Februaryy 2008 - Februaryy 2010). In the canoe season 2009 these activities will be tested in practice as well as advanced.

 

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The German NGO GATE e.V. has organized in Hamburg a two day conference on "Corporate Social Responsibility in Tourism" [www.gate-tourismus.de]. Matthias Beyer was the moderator of the event; Nicole Häusler gave a keynote presentation on "What is the linkage between tourism and Corporate Social Responsibility?"

On behalf of the GFA Consulting Group, masIcontour created in a participatory process with local stakeholders an overall vision for the future tourism development in the department of Rivas/ Nicaragua. This vision is the first of its kind for the tourism sector in Nicaragua and conduces to the strategical and operational management of the future tourism development in the department of Rivas.

>During the second international conference on "Responsible Tourism in Destinations" [www.responsibletourism2008.org] in Kerala/India with more than 500 participants, Nicole Häusler gave two presentations: "What has been the contribution of Community-based Tourism to Responsible Tourism Movement?" und "Community-based Tourism - what works and what does not work".

On behalf of the Guyana Tourism Authority, masIcontour arranged for the sixth time in succession the fair presentation of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana at the International Tourism Exchange (ITB) in Berlin. Apart from the organisation of the booth and the personal support of the Guyana delegation, masIcontour was responsible for the press relations and the intermediation of contacts to German tour operators.

>Nicole Häusler gave at ITB 2008 in Berlin a presentation on "CSR in Tourism - Challenges and Key Aspects". CSR involves much more than fundraising activities for relief projects. Rather, it is about a company's voluntary contribution to ecological and social sustainibility. First steps for implementation of CSR policy at the micro level (within the tourism company) and macro level (supply chain) has been presented.

Nicole Häusler joined an expert discussion on " What is the meaning of Quality tourism?" at publishing house of the daily newspaper die tageszeitung (taz), Berlin.

On behalf of the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), masIcontour implemented a study on the socio-economic impacts of four preselected All-Inclusive Resorts in the region of Bávaro/ Dominican Republic. The main objective of the study was to analyse the potential contribution of these resorts to poverty reduction. Amongst others 80 personal interviews have been realized with employees of the All-Inclusive Resorts during the mission.

Funded by the German Federal Foundation for the Environment (DBU) for two years (Februaryy 2008 – Februaryy 2010), this project aims at raising awareness of nature conservation issues and the responsible use of natural resources among children and youth in need of educational support. The project involves the development of specific canoeing, nature experience and environmental education activities in three model regions, providing this target group an opportunity to explore nature as well as strengthening cooperation between nature conservation experts and canoe rental companies.

As co-developer of the project idea, mas|contour also provides consulting services on the development, testing and marketing of the canoeing, nature experience and environmental education activities to all the actors in the model regions during the entire project period on behalf of the German Federal Association of Canoe Tourism (BKT) [www.kanutouristik.de].

In addition, mas|contour has co-authored a practice manual to encourage other regions to independently develop canoeing, nature experience and environmental education activities for the target group of this project.

The third day of the World Travel Market tourism fair in London (12-15 November 2007) was the first World Responsible Tourism Day, which included several well-attended panel discussions on such topics as tourism and climate change, tourism and water and sustainable destination management. At the Tourism and Poverty Reduction Panel Nicole Häusler gave a presentation entitled “Community-based Tourism – What Works and What Does Not Work”.

Originally written in German, the study “Tourismus als Handlungsfeld der deutschen Entwicklungszusammenarbeit” has been published in English under the title “Tourism as a Field of Activity in German Development Cooperation: A Basic Overview, Priority Areas for Action and Strategic Recommendations”. A printed version of the study in German or English can be ordered from mas|contour.

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During her advanced training as institutional change management consultant Nicole Häusler conducted a fifteen-day consulting workshop with employees of the Müritz National Park.

On behalf of the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), mas|contour has developed the first method to evaluate the economic performance of the tourism products of small and medium-sized enterprises in developing and emerging countries. This method was tested successfully as part of the project on different product and business types in five countries (Bolivia, Costa Rica, Kenya, Laos and Peru). All the data and experience gained during the testing were subsequently evaluated and recommendations were made for the development of the method.

In support of the preparations for the Ninth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 9) to be held in Bonn, Germany in 2008, on behalf of the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), mas|contour has developed a strategic plan which outlines how the private tourism sector can be more actively involved in the conservation of biodiversity.

Since 2006, a number of non-governmental organisations in cooperation with Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International (FLO) have been investigating whether it is possible to establish the Fairtrade system in tourism as well. In this context, mas|contour has prepared an appraisal on behalf of the German Church Development Service (EED) outlining the challenges and opportunities associated with establishing a fair pricing policy in the tourism industry.

In early 2007, the Germany Church Development Service (EED) received a funding application to assist in the tourism development of one of the provinces of Inner Mongolia submitted by the Chinese Christian organisation, the Amity Foundation. In this context, EED commissioned mas|contour to conduct a feasibility study analysing the funding application itself as well as the prospects for sustainable tourism development in the project region.

Every year, in cooperation with the Society for International Development (SID), the Free University, the Technical University and the Humboldt University of Berlin organise the cycle of lectures “Development Policy”, held by experts on current issues of development policy. At this year’s event Matthias Beyer gave a lecture entitled “Land Use Conflicts and Tourism Development in Nature Reserves and Coastal Areas”.

At the three-day EU-funded workshop on “Capacity Building and Promotion of Best Practices in the Thai Tourism Sector to Meet the European Standards for Sustainable Tourism Management” Nicole Häusler gave three input presentations on the subject and co-moderated the discussion.

Currently, a strategic area development plan for the village of Gatow is being prepared as part of a project which is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The purpose of the strategic plan is to identify appropriate measures for the establishment of a coherent framework for the sustainable development of Gatow as an economic, residential and recreation area. mas|contour was commissioned by the Spandau Disctrict Office in Berlin to arrange and moderate a council meeting regarding area development issues in Gatow.

For the fifth time in a row, mas|contour organised and coordinated the appearance of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana at ITB Berlin (7-11 March 2007) on behalf of the Guyana Tourism Authority. Responsibilities included stand setup supervision, assistance for the Guyanese delegation, press and public relations work, event management and coordination of meetings.

mas|contour was commissioned by the GFA Consulting Group to undertake an appraisal of the economic, ecological and socio-cultural impacts of residential tourism – i.e., the construction of primary and secondary residences and apartment buildings – in Nicaragua. The appraisal includes recommendations as to how the development of residential tourism can be controlled in order to allow for sustainable development.

On behalf of the Association for Ecological Tourism in Europe (E.T.E.), mas|contour has prepared a brochure containing examples of best practice of non-governmental organisations in the area of tourism and sustainable development. A printed version of the brochure can be ordered from the Ö.T.E. website at [www.oete.de].

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On the Baltic Sea Island of Vilm Nicole Häusler gave a presentation on “Income Generating Activities of Tourism for National Parks” to representatives of German protected areas, which was prepared on behalf of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation.

During a three-day conference at the well-renowned Peking University in Beijing, China, an international discussion panel was held on the topic of tourism development in Asia. At this event Nicole Häusler gave a presentation on community-based tourism and also moderated one of the sessions.

On behalf of the InWEnt training programme SUCOMAR, Matthias Beyer conducted a two-day workshop on sustainable tourism development in coastal areas which was attended by seventeen coastal protection experts from Asia.

As a member of the Scientific Committee, Nicole Häusler moderated a workshop and held a critical lecture on community based tourism. The principal organiser of the conference was Prof. Peter Burns, Centre for Tourism Policy Studies.

Matthias Beyer gave a presentation on the adverse ecological effects of tourism worldwide and conducted a workshop on the revival and sell-out of customs and traditions as a result of tourism in different destinations.

[www.oikos-international.org]

Matthias Beyer was keynote speaker at this year’s Think Tank of the BEST Education Network held in Girona, Spain. The focus of his presentation was the question of how all-inclusive facilities can contribute to poverty reduction and regional development in the Caribbean and Central America.
[www.besteducationnetwork.org]

At the annual general meeting of the Mecklenburg Lake District Tourism Association Matthias Beyer held a lecture on the opportunities and prospects of nature tourism in the region.

 

At the 10th annual meeting of the Naturfreunde Internationale (NFI) in Ismaning/ Germany Nicole Häusler gave an input presentation to 90 delegates on the topic of “Environment and Development”.

At the one-week EU-funded marketing workshop on “Ecotourism Promotion to European Market”. Nicole Häusler conducted an advanced training course for small and medium-sized Indonesian ecotourism enterprises.