What is the Status of Sustainable Tourism and of Social Enterprise in Asia?

 

PGD Session 2-6

 

Session Theme: Dialogue: Building Practical Collaborations Maximizing the Strength of Asian Social Enterprise. :

 

Session Time: 9:00~11:30, Nov. 30

 

What is the Status of Sustainable Tourism and of Social Enterprise in Asia?

 

It is now the era that outbound Koreans hit 13 million a year. As tourism advances, it has made huge impacts on tourists’ awareness and behavior. In Asia and Europe, there are already many organizations taking steps in requiring tourists to be more responsible. Some consult and fundraise; and some concentrate on environmental Eco-Tourism. Even though in Korea some social enterprises focused on responsible tourism starting in 2009, and succeeded in getting media attention, they still have not progressed very much.

 

On the November 30th, 2^nd Day of the 2^nd Asian Social Entrepreneurs Summit 2010, a small Discussion Group was formed on Sustainable Tourism. It was to talk about the various stakeholders’ roles in Sustainable Tourism in Asia and build networks among themselves.

 

Mason Florence, Executive Director, MTCO, spoke on the topic “Culture and Heritage Preservation: Responsible Tourism in the Mekong River”. Before his speech, he briefed on the MTCO. This organization plays a role of introducing sustainable tourism as the confederation of tourism among nations. And they tout cultural, environmentally responsible tourism. This organization played a role in introducing Sustainable Tourism at the Confederation of Tourism among Mekong River. In addition, after talking about seven features of MTCO, he asked the Korean partners for active participation and cooperation in the Mekong Tourism Forum 2011 slated to happen on May, 27^th, 2011 in Pakse, Champasak, Laos.

 

Ari Sendjaja Suhandi, Director of INDECON, Indonesia, talked about eco-tourism under the banner “The Forecasts of Sustainable Tourism and Social Enterprises”. Since its establishment in 1995, INDECON has supported local communities and tourist workforce to boost eco-tourism. He said supporting activities to preserve culture and nature is the sustainable way for our tourism industry. And he stated a need for Asian countries, including Korea, to join in eco-tourism movements.

 

Sinat Hin, Communication & Network Coordinator, CCBEN, introduced the organization ”CCBEN” as having a role to fulfill needs of tourists while ensuring the preservation of local communities. This was done by developing sustainable tourism courses in the context of informing about sustainable tourism in Cambodia.

 

Hyo-Woo Na, President of Good Travel, talked about the meaning and outlook for Korea’s Sustainable Tourism. He spoke on the flow of Korean tourism from the late 1980s to 2000’s backpacking travelers. He also urged for more focus on Sustainable Tourism and Fair Trade travel which are still inactive. He sought a Social Enterprise with a goal to address the gap between what creates a new market and what can belong to sustainable tourism at the same time.