Country: India

Organization: Help Tourism

Year the initiative began: 1991

Project Website: www.helptourism.com

Positioning in the Mosaic of solutions:

• Main barrier addressed: Lack of local input
• Main insight addressed: Develop community assets

Youtube upload:

What is the goal of your innovation?
Linking Protected Areas and Heritage Sites with people's livelihood by giving ownership through tourism as first step toward conservation

How does your approach support or embody geotourism?
Most of the Help Tourism tourism projects and initiatives are set up in immediate vicinity of Protected Areas. The East Himalaya is part of the Himalaya Biodiversity Hotspot, characterized by abruptly rising mountains, resulting in a diversity of ecosystems that range from alluvial grasslands and subtropical broadleaf forests to alpine meadows. The hotspot is home to important populations of flagship species, including tigers, red pandas, golden langurs, vultures, hornbills, Bengal floricans, and Himalayan newts. Once, a continuous stretch of forest on the foothills separated hills and plains. Today, only pockets of protected areas are left, migration routes are blocked and interbreeding occurs. Increasing population and area demanded for development measures are putting pressure on the nature and wildlife and man-animal conflicts are common. Traditional hunting occupations prevail with many of the almost 200 ethnic groups, and poaching still occurs. Help Tourism understands tourism as a tool to raise awareness for the economic potential of an intact nature. We offer alternative livelihood and support communities in their development, e.g. by organizing education programmes, family planning workshops and awareness campaigns, setting up non-formal schools and medical treatment camps, encouraging organic farming and conservation initiatives (community reserve forests)

Describe your approach in detial. How is it innovative?
Think locally and link globally. We offer meaningful travel experiences with valuable encounters with the nature, wildlife and people of the East Himalaya, Help Tourism facilitates a fair exchange of resources: The tourists have monetary resources and deep interest whereas the East Himalaya offers a rich natural and cultural heritage. This heritage is still not valuated sufficiently by and for the local people. Through tourism the local people realize how valuable their heritage is to the world and how the income generated by tourism can help them conserving this heritage. Our projects and initiatives are always joint ventures with local bodies. We understand our projects as business operations and investments, and we clearly communicate this to the local stakeholders. This system demands that they have to actively participate to succeed. The community development and conservation programmes that we link to our tourism projects are mainly funded by tourism revenue. Moreover, we invite experts for trainings and workshops in special fields - latest example being two training workshops on waste management held by a German expert, we seek funds for particular programmes, or invite donations from private, public or corporate bodies, e.g. the sponsorship of medicine for our Sunderbans Health Camp.

What types of partnerships or professional developement would be most beneficial in spearding your innovation?
For our system to work we need sufficient number of committed and sensitive tourists. Though we have found already found likeminded and fair partners both in Asia and overseas, we are inviting more individual travelers and tour operators to support our mission by coming to the East Himalaya to experience the rich heritage and to share resources.

In one sentence describe what kind of impact, change, or reform your approach is intended to achieve.
Linking Protected Areas and Heritage Sites with people's livelihood by giving ownership through tourism as first step toward conservation.

Describe the degree of success of your approach to date. Clearly define how you measure quantitative and qualitative impact in terms of how your approach contributes to the sustainability or enhancement of local culture, environment, heritage, or aesthetics? How does your approach minimize negative impacts?
To date, we have been able to initiate and support more than 20 community tourism projects in the East Himalaya. Most of them have already achieved economic sustainability. Many local people have found a livelihood in tourism and our efforts to support a long-term conservation of the natural and cultural resources have shown very encouraging results. In order to minimize any negative impacts, we always provide pre-departure detailing to the guests about the positive and negative environmental and cultural impacts. We mostly use local transport; like country boat ride, cycle rickshaw trail, bullock cart ride, banana-boat rafting, hiking, village walks as part of our tourism experiences. These activities generate income for the locals and keep the negative impact under control. The accompanying village, trekking or nature guides always monitor the impact level, they explain the ‘do's and dont's’ to the guests and intervene whenever necessary. During the treks the wastes are monitored by our guides and porters and are always brought back for proper waste management. We take the feedback of our guests with paramount importance and we regularly discuss the tourism development with the local communities.

How does your program promote traveler enthusiasm, satisfaction, and engagement with the locale?
The combination of the friendly and warm hospitality of the East Himalaya people combined with a professional attitude towards service and quality are a major ingredient of our tour programmes. As described, maximum of our staff is local and we facilitate authentic, intimate, meaningful and educational encounters with local culture, nature and tradition whenever possible. Our guest feedback encourages us in our opinion that no one can better provide an honest and holistic tourism experience than the inhabitants of that very area themselves.

In what ways are local residents actively involved in your innovation, including participation and community input? How has the community responded to or benefited from your approach?
We almost exclusively engage local staff. If they lack the required skills we empower them with training. From construction, to operations and maintenance, majority of our staff and goods are sourced locally. Community participation is very high and the response has been overwhelming as our projects not only create local employment and income but also generate many indirect benefits and social uplifting.

Describe how your innovation helps travelers and local residents better understand the value of the area's cultural and natural heritage, and educates them on local environmental issues. How do you motivate them to act responsibly in their future travel decisions?
We try to avoid any artificial resources. The East Himalaya boasts of such rich culture, nature and tradition that all we do is bundle this heritage into a meaningful and attractive tourism product. The local people quickly understand the value of those resources when they see travelers coming from near and far to experience it. They take pride in explaining it and making it accessible to their guests. The tourists appreciate this local experience and do their best to respect the nature and culture, as they know that to many people in remote areas tourism they represent the “outer world”.

Is your initiative financially and organizationally sustainable? If not, what is required to make it so? What is the potential demand for your innovation?
Help Tourism develops slowly but steadily. We operate within our capacity and a prerequisite for starting a new project is the financial sustainability of the existing ones. With our work being increasingly recognized we will be able to continue and extend our engagement to new destinations. We regularly receive requests from communities to support them in installing our community tourism model, but this does not only need monetary resources but as well qualified and passionate manpower as we have a commitment toward our local community partners.

How is your initiative currently financed? If available, provide information on your finances and organization that could help others. Please list: Annual budget, annual revenue generated, size of part-time, full-time and volunteer staff.
Our initiative currently financed mainly from our own resources out of introduction of Capital of the Promoting Partners and reinvestment of revenue generated from multifarious tourism activity through community tourism models set up at different location in East - and North East India and partly from market borrowings. ANNUAL BUDGET FOR THE NEXT FINANCIAL YEAR – 2008-09 SOURCE OF FUND Rupees (INR) INVESTMENT BY PROMOTERS …………. 1,500,000 ESTIMATED REVENUE ……… 35,000,000 MARKET BORROWING …………. 3,500,000 APPLICATION OF FUND PLAN EXPENDITURE ………….. 27,500,000 NON-PLAN EXPENDITURE …………. 6,500,000 OTHER INVESTMENTS ………….. 3,000,000 Size of our part-time, full-time and volunteer staff: Part time Staff: 16 Full-time Staff: 45 Volunteer Staff: More than 100

What is your plan to expand your approach? Please indicate where/how you would like to grow or enhance your innovation, or have others do so.
We want to spread our community tourism model through cross-border cooperation to achieve and ensure cross-border peace, cross-border cultural bond and cross-border conservation – especially in countries like Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Myanmar. We always look for qualified and committed partners who believe in our community tourism model and who are aware of the commitments that we have towards the local communities. On date, our latest projects (Manas Maozigendri Jungle Camp, Neora Valley Jungle Camp, The Great Indian Elephant Safari, Dibang Valley Jungle Camp, Chilapata Jungle Camp, The Burma Road Inheritance, Dihing River Camp) still need our support and attention.

What are the main barriers you encounter in managing, implementing, or replicating your innovation? What barriers keep your program from having greater impact?
Lack of adequate participation from mainstream tourism industry in such tourism initiatives; invasion of mega-investment tourism and the inappropriate pattern of the use of land and other resources by such tourism in critically important ecosystems and heritage sites; negative travel advise issued by European countries, Australia and Americas to the travelers wishing to visit East and Northeast India; absence of integrated policy and approach of the national and state governments to encourage and support sustainable, responsible, community-run, low-impact tourism.

What is the origin of your innovation? Tell your story.
Help Tourism is a tour operator and destination management consultant specializing in East- and North East India, which started its journey in 1991 with its first demonstration tourism project in a beautiful and tiny village in West Sikkim with an aim to introduce tourism as a tool for conservation and sustainable development. Since 1991, Help Tourism has supported various communities in the region in creating and establishing quality tourism destinations with a unique local flavor. Help Tourism provides purposeful travel to natural areas and heritage sites to facilitate the guests understand the cultural and natural history of the environment without concealing actual threats. The cornerstones of Help Tourism movement are: H-eritage E-nvironment L-ivelihood P-eople Help Tourism regularly conducts campaigns for sustainable development at local levels and encourages activities that confirm community development through tourism minus its negative effects. Help Tourism provides local communities with training and consultancy enabling them to build up capacity and safeguard ownership and links them globally. Our Mission : Linking Protected Areas and World Heritage Sites with people's livelihood by giving them ownership through tourism as a first step towards meaningful and sustainable conservation. Our Vision : Involving local people into community tourism initiatives between the Protected Areas of the East Himalaya, and helping them to create extension forests. Gradually mature these initiatives with wildlife management by creating Community Reserves to use them as migration corridors for wild animals between the Protected Areas.

Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers' marketing material.
Born is 1966 in a picturesque tea estate of Darjeeling hills, Asit started his career as a journalist and travelled extensively across the country that garnered the opportunity to discover the diversity of India. A chance reading of an article published in a leading newspaper about a unique tourism project conceived by his fellow friends Supratim (Raj) Basu & Sanjib Saha – both from his home town Siliguri, changed his life and provided him with the long-awaited opportunity to work for conservation, community development. Along with Raj and Sanjib, Asit became a part of Help Tourism in 1991.

Please write an overview of your project. This text will appear when people scroll over the icon for your entry on the Google map located on teh competition homepage.
Help Tourism is a tour operator and destination management consultant specializing in East- and North East India, which was established in 1991 with an aim to introduce tourism as a tool for conservation and sustainable development. Since 1991, Help Tourism has supported various communities in the region in creating and establishing quality tourism destinations with a unique local flavor. Help Tourism provides purposeful travel to natural areas and heritage sites to facilitate the guests understand the cultural and natural history of the environment without concealing actual threats. Help Tourism regularly conducts campaigns for sustainable development at local levels and encourages activities that confirm community development through tourism minus its negative effects. Help Tourism provides local communities with training and consultancy enabling them to build up capacity and safeguard ownership, and links them globally. To date Help Tourism has been able to initiate and support more than 20 community tourism projects in East Himalaya and has established its partnership with more than 400 community groups across the region.

Contact Information
Mr. Asit Biswas
Managing Director and Co-Founder
Help Tourism
Sadananda Kuthi (1st Floor) 67A - Kali Temple Road Kalighat, Kolkata (Calcutta), West-Bengal
asit.helptourism@gmail.com