Country: Brazil

Organization: ASSOCIAÇÃO FÉRIAS VIVAS

Year the initiative began: 2002

Project Website: Website

Positioning in the Mosaic of solutions:

• Main barrier addressed: Lack of quality assurance
• Main insight addressed: Education through hands-on experience

What is the goal of your innovation?
Associação Férias Vivas (Alive Holidays Association) has as its mission the education for safe and responsible tourism

How does your approach support or embody geotourism?
Founded in July, 2002 the Associação Férias Vivas (Alive Holidays Association) aims to disseminate a culture of prevention of incidents and accidents through implementing safety patterns, that engages the management of tourism companies and touristic cities, the development of competences within the community, more than transparency and objectivity in the offer of services, what generates a quality differential easily notice by tourists.Due to Brazil’s great territorial extension and also to its multiracial origin, most of communities have a cultural diversity, and also environmental, witch is also unique. Moreover just that is not enough. Our point of view is that these qualities are main elements for defining places for receptive tourism. Communities have low self-pride and technical knowledge to minimize social and environmental impacts and basic infrastructure for themselves and people from outside.The Association’s approach intends to add the knowledge on safety, quality and sustainability through risk management, in a way to help these communities to acquire pride and sustenance from their own land

Describe your approach in detial. How is it innovative?
In 2003, Associação Férias Vivas (Alive Holidays Association) identified that a lack of minimal safety patterns, witch could be noticed and accepted, existed. As a consequence, it influenced and contributed to enable the development of technical norms for Adventure Tourism within ABNT – Brazilian Association of Technical Norms.ABNT is a private entity, responsible for defining technical norms in Brazil. It is also a founding member of ISO, COPANT and AMIN.Up to this moment, it has been defined 31 norms, from witch 3 are transversal, what mean that they can be adopted by any other tourism enterprise regardless of its size or offered product:NBR 15285 – Guides – Personal Competences aiming to create a pattern on knowledge, skills and attitudes in professional education in the local community;NBR 15286 – Minimal Preliminary Information to Client, witch specifies information requisites, regarding products or services that include tourism activities, to be provided to potential clients before the formal purchase;NBR 15331 – Safety Management System that specifies requisites for a management system in tourism, when an organization intends to show its capacity to practice tourism activities in a safe and sustainable way

What types of partnerships or professional developement would be most beneficial in spearding your innovation?
It is necessary to establish partnership with entrepreneurs support organizations, municipal tourism secretariats and, especially, the enterprises themselves to disseminate the project. Furthermore, it can be established national wide partnerships with the Tourism Ministry, class associations or even tourism agencies.We also understand that tourism colleges can be dissemination centers for our approach by incorporating it in their regular programmes therefore creating a new generation of professionals engaged with environment and human life quality

In one sentence describe what kind of impact, change, or reform your approach is intended to achieve.
To transform tourism scenario in Brazil by increasing safety and professional technical level, creating an environment of cultural, environmental and human life valorization

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?
As it has contributed for 4 years with ABNT to elaborate technical norms, Associação Férias Vivas (Alive Holidays Association) identified the need to bring normative knowledge into a practical case. And, in October 2006, it provided technical advice to adapt to the transversal norms the activities of Tree Canopy Ride, Tirolesa, Rappel and Pendulum in Parque dos Sonhos (Dreams’ Park) in Socorro, SP and in Hotel Fazenda Campo dos Sonhos (Farm Hotel Dreams’ Field), in Bueno Brandão, MG. That had the following objectives:to offer a management system that valorizes tourist safety and satisfaction in a planned environment, therefore allowing to overcome limits and interaction with nature;to contribute to economical and social development of the region, therefore creating a multiplier differential of quality with international recognition;to broad collaborators’ knowledge in a engaged and safe fashion, therefore developing potential competences in the local community and helping them to become a model of safe attitude inside and outside the work environment;to follow the Environmental Law to avoid impacts where the activities are implemented;to assure transparency and clarity in previous activities’ information , therefore giving the tourist the necessary knowledge to make a decision, before contract the service

How does your program promote traveler enthusiasm, satisfaction, and engagement with the locale?
Nowadays, we have the direct involvement of the whole community; which actively contributes to the dissemination and implementation of these projects. We believe that as Socorro city is the first quality destination quality in São Paulo state, this creates a virtuous circle that is completed by a bigger tourist afflux to the region

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?
In pursuing our objectives it has been disseminated for the whole local community the police adopted by these two enterprises.“to provide services for Tourism with suitable safety to characteristics and risk scale found in each one of its activities, following all applicable law, with the commitment to minimize social and environmental impacts, involving the whole community and improving continually the quality of provided services, aiming tourists satisfaction”As an answer to this action the city of Socorro is developing the following projects:Projeto Socorro Acessível (Project Accessible Socorro);Programa de Qualificação e Certificação do Turismo de Aventura (Program for qualification and certification of Adventure Tourism)

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?
The local community, as well as the tourists, notices the quality differential generated by the project. The tourist come back home with good memories, talk to friends and always returns to the place. The bigger afflux of loyal tourists increases income generation and economic flow, therefore creating new possibilities as, for example, small crafts stores or typical restaurants, besides creating a culture of environmental care to perpetuate this flow.After that the tourist looks for and demands the same quality differential noticed in the project location, criticizing and underrating places that are not sustainable

Is your initiative financially and organizationally sustainable? If not, what is required to make it so? What is the potential demand for your innovation?
Associação Férias Vivas (Alive Holidays Association) has been trying to make possible different projects and actions according to its social objectives. Financially speaking, it has found difficulties to raise funds. Regarding its organization, it focuses its activities in three areas:Knowledge: that involves research, treatment, organization and sharing of acquired knowledge;Normalization: that involves its relations with entities responsible for elaboration of norms;Education: that contemplates its initiatives regarding the spreading of safe attitude in tourism and leisure.Each area complements the next, creates a circle of continuous improvement, to be shared with all tourists and entrepreneurs of the country that are lacking information and knowledge

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.
Presently, the Association has the fixed collaboration, on voluntary terms, of 8 professionals in the fields of Law, Tourism, Administration, Accounting and Architecture, besides occasional voluntary collaboration.That enables:Participation and elaboration of events;Information collection and creation of a database on Accidents and Incidents and on specific jurisprudence;Providing material for research, studies and elaboration of school papers, for Hostelling and Tourism students;Orientation and information lectures on the subject.The association has also a pro bono press assessor - ACCESSO company - that has accomplished the publication of articles, news and interviews on the subject: 50 appearances on press, 86 appearances on internet portals and 17 appearances on radio and television, all that in the last 2 years.The 2007 balance sheet showed that total costs and donations were of R$ 45.710,48, and administrative expenses totalized R$ 43.314,79

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.
The demand of the national tourism industry is huge, regarding information lack and professional improvement. Only in the adventure tourism segment, it is estimated that there is 3.000 small specialized companies in all the country, most of them small familiar businesses that has as its main focus to survive in the market.The Association believes that innovation must be transmitted to these small companies, involving municipal tourism secretariats or commercial associations, replicating the experience of Socorro city.One of our goals is to sensitize, raise awareness, inform and educate focusing on safety management

What are the main barriers you encounter in managing, implementing, or replicating your innovation? What barriers keep your program from having greater impact?
The Association faces a big paradigm as its main barrier come from these same small companies. The fear of changes, represented by the phrase “in a team that is winning we don’t make changes” shows the low concern with developing tourist loyalty. It shows at least the amateurism in business management, witch generates deep economic, social and environmental impacts.These companies are focused in the present, letting for other to think about tomorrow. They believe that training and education programs bring costs to the company and do not see this as an investment for quality and sustainability of their businesses

What is the origin of your innovation? Tell your story.
In February 2002, the family planned a carnival holiday in a northeast resort, Salinas de Maragogi in Alagoas. Having received information that this was a 5 star resort with plenty of leisure options, kids club with trained monitors, sun and lots of fun, the couple Silvia e Fernando, and their children Daniel, 15, and Victoria, 9, bought a 7 days package aiming to rest from their busy routine and relax to gain new energy to the year that was just beginning.Unaware of danger and deeply believing that the hotel staff was taking care of all guests, Victoria along with two other girls of the same age, with a group of around 10 adults went on a horse riding trip, accompanied by hotel monitors.The trip (that cost R$18,00) was in “Fazenda Marrecas”, owned by the same group of Hotel Resort Salinas de Maragogi. The trip also aimed to show tourists a traditional northeast farm at full work.As the saddle was adult size and Victoria feet did not reach the stirrup, the monitor put them in the “loro” (the leather strap that sustains the stirrup). At a certain point of the trip, the saddle - that was inadequately fastened on the horse – twisted. This caused Victoria to drop but she stayed with her feet trapped on the leather strap. The horse got scared and started to run, dragging her for around 300 meters. She died soon after.The monitor that should been accompanying the group, taking special care of the kids, not even witness the accident as he was distracted, far, with other guests.Just after Victoria’s body was placed in a regular car and sent to Recife, in Pernambuco state. The family was warned that there was an accident, but only knew about the death hours after when they arrived at Recife. Finally the hotel was very efficient, and in less than 24 hours the family was in São Paulo.Four months after, Silvia, Victoria’s mother, identified that the hotel was still offering the trip on the same precarious conditions and that it did not have intention to change it, confirming in a fax that the accident was an isolated tragedy.With her conscience awakened by this information, Silvia realized that she should do something to prevent occurrences like these avoiding that it took other kids lives. With the support of friends and relatives founded the Associação Férias Vivas at the same day Victoria would celebrate 10 years: July 24, 2002

Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers' marketing material.
Silvia Maria Basile, 55, born in São Paulo, Brasil. Architect graduated in Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo of Mackenzie University, with a MBA in Company Management in FAAP. She is Technical Director of Construtora Humaitá S.A.Founder and director of Associação Férias Vivas (Alive Holidays Association), she also coordinates the Comissão de Estudos de Gestão da Segurança do Comitê Brasileiro de Turismo (Study Commission on Safety management of Tourism Brazilian Committee) in ABNT (Brazilian Association of Technical Norms). She is also lecturer and author of several articles on prevention and safety in tourism and leisure

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.
To disseminate a culture of prevention and safety, introducing it in tourism development, Associação Férias Vivas (Alive Holidays Association) believes that safety is the basis for tourism quality and sustainability.Focusing on tourists, suppliers and government, its actions are focused on dissemination of knowledge on risks management in leisure and tourism activities.Associação Férias Vivas (Alive Holidays Association), in a partnership with the company Lance Dágua, developed in 2007 the project ‘Adequation to Transversal Norms’ in Parque dos Sonhos and Hotel Campo dos Sonhos. Aiming to establish a practical model that could be presented and replicated to any other enterprise in the country, the operation of different activities were adapted to these norms. The modalities Tree Canopy Ride, Tirolesa, Rappel and Pendulum were adapted to the following norms of CB-54 of ABNT:NBR 15285 – Guides – Personal Competences aiming to create a pattern on knowledge, skills and attitudes in professional education in local community;NBR 15286 – Minimal Preliminary Information to Client, witch specifies information requisites, regarding products or services that include tourism activities, to be provided to potential clients before they close the deal.NBR 15331 – Safety Management System that specifies requisites for a management system in tourism, when an organization intends to show its capacity for practice tourism activities in a safe and sustainable way

Contact Information
Mr Silvia Maria Basile
Founder
ASSOCIAÇÃO FÉRIAS VIVAS
Endereço: Av. Lavandisca, 168
sbasile@feriasvivas.org.br