Tourism Development
The Tourism Provision and Management (TPM) Programme of the BMNP GMP aims to develop and manage tourism in the park in a culturally and environmentally friendly manner so that revenue generated contributes both to conservation management and diversifying the livelihood opportunities of park-associated communities. Tourism is a growth area internationally and nationally and BMNP management will work with local communities and private sector tourism partners to provide a diverse visitor experience that takes advantage of the uniqueness of the Bale Mountains. Tourism provision is a cornerstone of this programme but needs detailed and comprehensive planning, with technical expertise that is outwith the scope of the GMP. However, the GMP lays out a roadmap to ensure that such a plan is produced. Improved marketing is crucial to tourism development and will be planned and carried out in collaboration with other actors with similar interests. Efforts to create a tourist friendly environment will be made through training and discussions with park staff, tourism partners and local communities. In addition, visually stunning and high quality interpretative centres will be planned and built.
The primary role of BMNP in tourism management is to develop policy, guidelines, monitoring and enforcement of tourism activities, while the tourism services will be provided by the private sector or community groups, under agreement with BMNP management. Prototype concession agreements and leasing procedures will be developed and implemented so that private investors can be partners in tourism provision, where benefits accrue equitably to both the park and park-associated communities. BMNP’s capacity to manage and deliver an enriching tourism experience will be strengthened and tourism management systems will be devised. These will include strategies have been devised to enable communities to participate and share benefits from BMNP tourism, whilst becoming central partners in BMNP tourism provision and management. This involves implementing activities that will improve the level of understanding of tourists and the tourism industry in communities prioritised for community tourism development so that they have the ability to participate in an informed and proactive manner. Enabling communities to put in place governance, tourism management and benefit-sharing structures is another initiative to be undertaken as part of this GMP. This will be done in target communities by forming and building capacity within Community Tourism Development Committees (CTDC). These CTDCs will be able to adopt and implement realistic community tourism developments and attempt to obtain funding for their construction. BMNP will work with other actors in the ecosystem who have the technical knowledge to assist with such capacity building and developments.