Tourism managers have recognized that individual businesses’ efforts to improve their competitiveness are sometimes hampered by events occurring at destinations where they are located. This is because the tourism industry’s success heavily depends on the quality of its geographic and social setting. In this context, implementing an integrated destination management approach provides an effective framework to promote the competitiveness of the tourism industry.
The Green Globe 21 certification program, widely known for its performance standard for hotels and tourism businesses, has developed a new standard to certify the environmental and social sustainability of entire destinations. The new “Green Globe 21 Community Standard” benchmarks communities based on twelve performance indicators and a series of organizational requirements aimed at promoting broad-based consensus within the certifying destination.
Through programs such as Green Globe 21, Caribbean hotel and tourism businesses have been actively improving their environmental and social performance over the last decade and have become more competitive in the international tourism market. As a matter of fact, the region has the largest number of Green Globe 21 certified hotels in the world. However, continued damage to natural resources such as coral reefs and native forests, as well as increased security risk in resort areas constitute serious problems over which these individual businesses have limited control.
With the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and PA Consulting Group, two Caribbean destinations have embarked upon achieving successful benchmarking and, eventually, full certification as sustainable destinations: the parish of Portland in Jamaica, where Port Antonio is located; and the island nation of Dominica, both of which could become the first certified destinations in the Americas.
In both cases we have applied a similar methodology: first, a “Gap Analysis” or actual assessment of the destinations’ performance vis-à-vis Green Globe’s community standard and the performance of two other successfully benchmarked communities in Australia and New Zealand was conducted. Second, a multi-stakeholder “Community Authority” or destination management group was formed in consultation with local communities, business associations and government officials. Third, a strategy to bridge the gaps found on the Gap Analysis was elaborated and proposed to the management group. Fourth, the implementation of the strategy has begun and it is currently under way in both Dominica and Portland/Port Antonio.
While still in their implementation phase, these two pilot projects are already producing results that will have a profound effect on the perception and future management of Caribbean destinations. For example, it was discovered that the environmental performance of both Dominica and Portland/Port Antonio were comparable to those of the Australian and New Zealander destinations used as reference. This is a remarkable achievement if we take into consideration the amount of money those countries invest in the management of their natural resources and the economic constraints faced by governments and businesses in the Caribbean.
Perhaps more significant from a management perspective has been the creation of voluntary, multi-stakeholder management groups or “community authorities”. These have served to catalyze the views and opinions of different stakeholders and articulate a destination-wide vision. In spite of their relative newness, these management groups are facilitating a constructive dialogue between industry, government and local community groups, which are joined together with the common goal to maximize the benefits of tourism at the local level. This innovative approach has made it possible to identify and correct different tourism and non-tourism related problems that threaten the success of Dominica and Portland/Port Antonio’s tourism sector, including environmental degradation by non-tourism sources, visitor harassment, inadequate training for local people and lack of appropriate communication infrastructure among others.
As time elapses and the action plans are fully implemented, more valuable lessons will emerge and it will be possible to accurately assess the full impact of the Green Globe 21 program on the competitiveness of Portland/Port Antonio and Dominica. In the meantime, both destinations have incorporated civil society’s concerns into their agenda and have improved both their social and environmental quality as well as the overall performance of their respective tourist industries. Undeniably, this integrated destination management approach is contributing to make Dominica and Portland/Port Antonio better destinations for visitors and better places to live for local communities.
