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Selva Maya Communitarian tourism cluster (El Mirador-El Zotz-Las Guacamayas): new business approach
Ubicación
We are trying to stimulate the conservation creating a self sustainable business based on forest as main attractive, therefore giving an economic value to the jungles. The private investment in improving these abilities in order to create a win-to-win relationship between tour companies and communities is the innovative approach.
The Selva Maya conjugates great pyramids from Mayan civilization with dense jungle from the Mayan Biosphere Reserve to create a one-in-life experience.
The Carmelita community (14 families involved) offers a five day tour to El Mirador, the oldest and World largest pyramid; Cruce a Dos Aguadas community (18 families involved) offers a three day tour to El ...
Sobre ti
Información de contacto
Title
Mr.
First name
Benedicto
Last name
Grijalva
Your job title
Merchadizing manager
Name of your organization
Martsam Tour & Travel
Organization type
tour operator company
Annual budget/currency
$ 3000.00
Mailing address
calle 30 de junio, Flores, Peten, Guatemala
Telephone number
(502) 78824427
Postal/Zip Code
Country
Guatemala
Website
Email address
Alternative email address
tu idea
Esta será la dirección usada para marcar tu participación en el mapa.
Street Address
30 de junio
City
Flores
State/Province
Peten
Postal/Zip Code
Country
Guatemala
Geotourism Challenge Addressed by Entrant
Quality of tourist experience and educational benefit to tourists , Quality of benefit to residents for the destination , Quality of tourism management by destination leadership , Quality of stewardship of the destination.
Organization size
Small (1 to 100 employees)
Indicate sector in which you principally work
Tourism-related business
Year innovation began
2001
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Indicate sector in which you principally work
Adventure.
Name Your Project
Selva Maya Communitarian tourism cluster (El Mirador-El Zotz-Las Guacamayas): new business approach
Describe Your Idea
We are trying to stimulate the conservation creating a self sustainable business based on forest as main attractive, therefore giving an economic value to the jungles. The private investment in improving these abilities in order to create a win-to-win relationship between tour companies and communities is the innovative approach.
The Selva Maya conjugates great pyramids from Mayan civilization with dense jungle from the Mayan Biosphere Reserve to create a one-in-life experience.
The Carmelita community (14 families involved) offers a five day tour to El Mirador, the oldest and World largest pyramid; Cruce a Dos Aguadas community (18 families involved) offers a three day tour to El ...
BID/FOMIN
Si perteneces a un pais de Latinoamerica y el Caribe tienes la oportunidad de presentar tu iniciativa para acceder a fondos para innovaciones en turismo sostenible del BID/FOMIN (para mayor informacion leer la seccion sobre la oportunidad BID/FOMIN en la pagina principal del Desafio).
Deseo postularme.
Si perteneces a un pais de Latinoamerica y el Caribe tienes la oportunidad de presentar tu iniciativa para acceder a fondos para innovaciones en turismo sostenible del BID/FOMIN (para mayor informacion leer la seccion sobre la oportunidad BID/FOMIN en la pagina principal del Desafio).
Prestatarios de servicios turísticos, Grupos comunitarios autóctonos, Atractivos naturales y culturales.
Indica cuales de estas tematicas cubre tu innovacion (elige todas aquellas opciones que apliquen)
Planificación y Gestión de destinos, Innovación y diversificación en el desarrollo de productos turísticos, Profesionalización, buenas prácticas y certificación de servicios turísticos sostenibles, Estrategias y herramientas innovadoras para la promoción y puesta en mercado de destinos y productos en turismo sostenible y geoturismo..
Innovación
What is the goal of your innovation? Please describe in one sentence the kind of impact, change, or reform your approach is intended to achieve.
Improve the communitarian business in management, stewardship, information, environmental and social compromise to create a world class and unique experience
Please write an overview of your project. Include how your approach supports or embodies geotourism or destination stewardship. This text will appear when people scroll over the icon for your entry on the map located on the competition homepage.
We are trying to stimulate the conservation creating a self sustainable business based on forest as main attractive, therefore giving an economic value to the jungles. The private investment in improving these abilities in order to create a win-to-win relationship between tour companies and communities is the innovative approach.
The Selva Maya conjugates great pyramids from Mayan civilization with dense jungle from the Mayan Biosphere Reserve to create a one-in-life experience.
The Carmelita community (14 families involved) offers a five day tour to El Mirador, the oldest and World largest pyramid; Cruce a Dos Aguadas community (18 families involved) offers a three day tour to El Zotz, a congregation of many million bats and a walk into the jungle which ends in the famous Mayan city Tikal; at last, the Paso Caballos community (our new born project) is in the process to get involved in Las Guacamayas Biological Station, where the visitor will participate in the development of scientific and social projects.
Carrying out the abilities from the human factor is the main target. Secondary, but not less important is the business improvement including the system for accurate treatment to horses and mules, equipment, security systems development, etc.
Explain in detail why your approach is innovative
The innovative approach is the public-private alliance approach. Our own investment in local technical skill is a business approach to create a real base for sustainability.
The company progressively gives the leadership of the tourism attention to the local committees in the way they improve their skills. We create a win-to-win relationship, which can be shared without restrictions.
This private investment is also the best warranty of sustainability, because most of the money comes from our own business, so we cannot fail. This is an important difference with local non-profit organizations which are supported only on donations. Not all non-profit organizations who promote communitarian tourism are self sustainable and most of them are not concerned about World tourist tendencies.
We are engaged to:
• Promote in all available ways the technical skill development for the destination stewardship.
• Product design and development according to the World touristic market expectation.
• International marketing
The local community touristic committee is engaged to:
• Develop clear rules of work and attention with visitors and providers.
• Serious engagement to participate in events for their technical skill improving.
• Serious engagement to integrate sustainable tourism practices in the work and daily life.
Impacto
Describe the degree of success you have had to date. How do you measure, both quantitatively and qualitatively, the impact on sustainability or enhancement of local culture, environment, heritage, or aesthetics? How has it transformed or contributed to the power of place or demonstrated the sustainability of tourism? How does your approach minimize negative impacts?
Economically, the indigenous Q`eqchi touristic committee from Cruce a Dos Aguadas have more than a thousand clients a year. It means more than 75 thousand dollars for them. Las Guacamayas Biological Station and Carmelita are starting to develop a client flow this year.
On request from the local touristic committee, we are starting the work with Las Guacamayas Biological Station (Paso Caballos) and Carmelita, because they know the advances from Cruce a Dos Aguadas.
Conservation organizations like Wildlife Conservation Society and Balam Fundation, The National Protected Area Bureau (governmental organization) are our direct allies and enforce the conservation approach on these areas, showing the tourism can be an economical alternative from protecting the forest and using this project as example.
For the people from Cruce a Dos Aguadas the jungle is their product and they take care of forestall fires, illegal tree extraction and hunting. People from Paso Caballos, especially children, are so involved in the Scarlet Macaw protection projects and their efforts allow the survivor of the last 200 couples of these magnificent birds, also there are very involved in the forest fire fighting.
These projects show solid results and just need strategic investment to grow accurately.
In what ways are local residents actively involved in your work, including participation and community input? How has the community responded to or benefited from your approach?
Three families started with the project in Cruce Dos Aguadas, and more than 18 are involved now. We started the work with Paso Caballos and Carmelita touristic committees on request from them, because they noted the advances with Cruce Dos Aguadas community.
People from the three communities are continuously assisting to the workshops which are another key-factor in the public-private alliance, and a fact that demonstrate their compromise. Also, the people (and not exclusively the touristic committee) participate in conservation activities like fire fighting, scarlet macaw nest care, forest surveillance, etc.
How does your program promote traveler enthusiasm, satisfaction, and engagement with the locale?
We design the products using scientific background information from the conservation efforts from conservation organizations like WCS, CONAP, and others who actively work on the areas and from the History and Archeology authority (IDAEH). This ensures the information the visitor gets.
All communitarian guides are not just trained but certified for the national touristic bureau (INGUAT) and constantly reinforced their skills with workshops. Besides, there is a constant opinion monitoring to feedback the activity. Feedbacks are shared with the touristic committees to improve the work and always get the total satisfaction from the visitors.
Describe how your work helps travelers and local residents better understand the value of the area's cultural and natural heritage, and educates them on local environmental issues.
The local guides transmit part of their culture, as an example the speech from the Q`eqchi guides are almost totally a product from their knowledge. It includes not just the local culture, but knowledge on medicinal plants, dances, survival in the forest, animal behavior, etc.
In Las Guacamayas Biological Station the experience is share the conservation efforts the local people are involved to preserve the last Scarlet Macaw population in the country. The compromise from this people, including the local schools efforts to protect the nests is an emotive experience.
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Sustenibilidad
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.
The innovative approach is the public-private alliance. We are developing a social arm from the company (ProCrea) to search for support in strategic points into the productive chain and accelerate the process, because we noted the program advances are effective but slow.
Martsam Travels annual budget investment in skill development goes to $1000 for community including transportation, food and Teachers salaries. Also we should add the time of our personal in management and dealing with other organizations to improve the program which means around $3000 a year investment from our personal. We use our own vehicles and fuel to deal with all matters around which means around $1000 a year. We started nine years ago with Cruce a Dos Aguadas and this year with Carmelita and Paso Caballos.
The local touristic committees have to deal with the serious compromise to support the initiative with their presence and participation.
Is your initiative financially and organizationally sustainable? If not, what is required to make it so? Is there a potential demand for your innovation?
The initiative is totally sustainable, because all the investment to the project comes from the profit from the business itself. This initiative is by now a totally working business. We make the investment from our own profits and the local committees do the same. But it means, the rhythm of work has been slow and has been taking many years.
We are working with Las Guacamayas Biological Station (Paso Caballos) and Carmelita on request on them which demonstrate the demand for the innovation.
What are the main barriers you encounter in managing, implementing, or replicating your innovation? What barriers keep your program from having greater impact?
The investment to the project comes from our own flow of resources, so we have had a slow rhythm of work. For example, we are planning to buy mules and mount a system for the right and human treatment to animals in Carmelita and Cruce a Dos Aguadas, but these requires a strong investment at once, so we are trying to get some support to buy the animals because these budgets overlaps our normal. This is the moment in the project where we can inject some “big gifts” to the communitarian committees who are demonstrating a high compromise with the project. That’s why we created the Procrea, a non-profit arm to search for strategic support in key-points in the working productive chain.
The investment in marketing is expensive and we could accelerate the program increasing our participation in international touristic business fairs to promote these communitarian touristic products as world class experiences. The production of advertisement (products, souvenirs, brochures, banners, webpages, etc.) to be used as sales tools for the potential client or to complement the information to the visitor and therefore making better the experience would have a great impact in the project.
What is your plan to expand or further develop your approach? Please indicate where/how you would like to grow or enhance your innovation, or have others do so.
We pretend Paso Caballos and Carmelita to reach the success from Cruce a Dos Aguadas, and in a couple years include El Chorro community close to Ceibal Archeological site.
Next steps on each community have to be analyzed and developed according to their special needs. As an illustrative example, in Cruce a Dos Aguadas we are planning to extend the tour one day directly in the community and create a center, managed by women and children, where the visitor spend one day living immersed into the community daily life, before starting the jungle adventure.
La historia
Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers' marketing material.
Established in 1994, Martsam Travel is committed to provide highest quality service in the tourism industry and our specialty is in the Maya World.
Some of the main international travel guides such as Lonely Planet, Rough Guide, Let's go Central America Handbook, Frank Herrmann´s Guatemala, The Rotary Club guide, Fodor's and more recognize our quality and personalized service.
Martsam Tour & Travel and Rainforest Alliance have established an alliance to work with the operator's suppliers in Best Management Practices in Sustainable Tourism since May 2,006. The company is always in the top five Green Deal seal touristic certified companies.
What is the origin of your innovation? Tell the Changemakers and media communities what prompted you to start this initiative.
Considering the importance of natural resource conservation and the income generated for local communities in or close to the protected areas through ecotourism activities, we have developed within our services our ecological tours in the Maya Biosphere Reserve.
Martsam Travel's environmental policy and main objective is to help provide new economic alternatives to farming communities, in order to stop or at least decrease the destruction of our millenary Maya Jungle. As a result, we hope to instill in them the desire to become the guardians of this invaluable resource, by obtaining a direct income from a sustained and responsible tourism activity.
The product offered for these three communities is a close contact with nature, people and history. The innovation is the economical management approach. In the last decade non-profit organizations started the communitarian tourism in the area. But the approach was supporting the tourism committees giving them everything as a gift. At short term these initiatives failed, because there was no strategy to involve the people and make them feel the project was part of their life.
Another way to appreciate the innovation is describe the project as private companies making investment in communitarian skill development, making a private-public alliance where everybody plays their role to create a synergy in the attention to the visitor.
Our methodology consists in a win-to-win relationship with these committees. We are engaged to:
• Promote in all available ways the technical skill development for the destination stewardship.
• Product design and development according to the World touristic market expectation.
• International marketing
The local community touristic committee is engaged to:
• Develop clear rules of work and attention with visitors and providers.
• Serious engagement to participate in events for their technical skill improving.
• Serious engagement to integrate sustainable tourism practices in the work and daily life.
The Selva Maya, with these incredible jungle, and archeological context, seems to be an obvious world class destiny. In the natural and historical context it should be in the top five places a visitor should be once in his life. It is incredible that the communitarian tourism approach is just a novelty around the area, and most of the potential is wasted. Without any doubt, our project is the most successful initiative in the area.
Describe some unique tourist experiences that your approach provides. Be specific; give illustrative examples.
The Maquin family, a Q`eqchi indigenous family from Cruce a Dos Aguadas is the most involved in the touristic attention. They guide a three day El Zotz-Tikal jungle Trek.
Just the first contact with this people makes you feel you are getting into an exotic jungle realm, you feel over wounded but safe. The magic of the human empathy makes you feel the introductory speech which contains concepts I prefer to reserve just for those who experiment the travel.
The first day the people goes to the El Zotz reserve and visit the local archeological site. At sunset, the guides take you to the cliff. You can see a lot of insects getting out from the guano and many mammals visiting the place to feed on them. Also you can see owls and falcons waiting on the branches around. Suddenly, a rain of millions of bats from many species starts to leave the cliff simulating rivers on the sky. You literally could catch one with your hand if you want to. The natural spectacle is exciting.
The second day, the journey is a hiking into the jungle, including a camping activity into the hearth of the Mayan Biosphere Reserve. The travelers, not just will feel the real contact with nature, but the best attention from their guides, who will cook the more delicious food with their very well known cooking abilities.
The third day, the visitor suddenly feel the sensation the first people who discovered the ancient city of Tikal felt. To his eyes is revealed the highest pyramid of Tikal. This city is an indispensable destiny for every visitor who comes to Guatemala.
The hearth of this tour is the guide improvisation, the way they transmit emotions, the comfort they make you feel even into the deepest jungle, the safe you feel, and the magic of the interaction within man, history and jungle.
What types of partnerships or professional development would be most beneficial in spreading your innovation?
One of the important key-factor in this public-private alliance is: “The local communities always need to work to get their own issues”. We try to avoid (whenever possible) the “donation” and stimulate the concept that they work for get their own stuff. It is a way to warrant they take care of it at long term, which has been one of the mistakes of other touristic initiatives on the area.
Marketing the product around the world in International business fairs could be a key factor. Because the more work we can get, the more improved the product is.
| Adjunto | Tamaño |
|---|---|
| Zotz tikal.jpg | 24.21 KB |
| bat.jpg | 12.98 KB |
| El zotz jungle trek.jpg | 38.63 KB |
| Experience in Zotz jungle Trek.jpg | 39.97 KB |
| Into the piramid at Zotz.jpg | 19.2 KB |
| Maquines Queqchi family of guides.jpg | 15.04 KB |
| School Cruce Dos Aguadas.jpg | 22.57 KB |
| School from Cruce Dos Aguadas.jpg | 29.99 KB |
| Zotz (bat) cliff.jpg | 32.9 KB |
| Zotz tikal.jpg | 24.21 KB |
 | alfredovalle envió esta idea. - hace 996 días |
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