Help Tourism

A travel writers meet in the wilderness setting of North Bengal dedicated o the cause of local empowerment and to all who have completed 50 years of travel writing.

Date: 10thDecember, 2011,        Venue: Chamakdangi Forest Village (20 kms From Siliguri), off Sevoke Road

NCT or Noam, Chel and Teesta represents an area, which is the natural and cultural diversity between the hills and the plains in North Bengal, with areas which were important trade transit centres of the historical to recent past. The Haats or weekly markets then played an important role and the routes connecting them were important. Two such Haats which were famous are Matigara and Oodlabari, which were further connected to the legendary Silk route terminating or starting at Kalimpong. The route from Matigara or even the Darjeeling hills went through the Sukna-Sevoke forests, presently Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary and stood at this village of Chamakdangi, west bank of Teesta. From here all travellers had to cross by boat, elephants etc, depending on the water depth and status of travellers. Chamakdangi then was a mixed village of several different communities, was helped to settle here by the King of Jalpaiguri. Crossing to the Eastern bank we then meet an area, which has been formed by the meeting of several rivers to Teesta River, called Gajoldoba, surrounded by the Royal Baikanthapur Forests. These rivers like Leesh, Gheesh, Chel come from the mountains, separating the villages on the high ridges known as Bagrakot, Chuikhim. Yelbong, Barbot, Manabari etc with Oodlabari at the centre.  Hence, as natural corridor these non notified Forest areas connects Neora Valley National Park with Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary.

There are several such biological corridors all over Asia, some of them active and some lost with time and several on the verge of extinction. Responsible Tourism Initiatives have in the recent years helped to maintain such corridors with the help of the local residential communities of the area by giving them meaningful livelihood, bringing them out of isolation and confirming more commitment from the local communities in conservation. There is a trend of supporting such initiatives through new forms of travel programs like voluntourism, CSR programs, participatory tourism etc. This trend is being very heavily reflected in travel guides, travel columns, travel magazines, travel programs in televisions and most media being used for travel promotion. Hence, this travel writers’ meet, where veteran International travel writers like Stefan Loose and local like Gouri Shankar Bhattacharya are expected to attend and share their experiences. This meet in the wilderness setting of North Bengal will certainly help to make travel writing and documentation more rooted to the cause of local empowerment. This meet is being dedicated to all who have completed 50 years of travel writing.

Registration details

Help Tourism’s  2009-2010 annual mission “Tourism for Peace” got unexpected attention. Tourism researchers included Help Tourism’s Sunderbans project and the Gurungs’ Tinchuley homestay in a good practice case study collection. Their paper examines the synergistic linkages among alternative forms of tourism and the establishment of long term peace.

Case Study 2: An Inspiring Example of Wildlife Conservation

… Though the local community in The Sunderbans has been traditionally respectful of the tigers,  there  have  been  confrontations  between  humans  and  the  big  cats  in  recent  times due  to  various  factors.  But  with  the  initiatives  of  some  enterprising  locals  and organisations  like  the  Forest  Department,  The  Sunderbans  Tiger  Project,  the  Wildlife Protection  Society  of  India  (WPSI)  and  Help  Tourism,  tiger  conservation  efforts  were encouraged  among  the  local  community  members  and  The  Sunderbans  has  become  an extraordinary case of wildlife protection in India (Biswas, 2008 ; Hui, 2009).  
The Bali Nature and Wildlife Conservation Society (BNWCS) based in the Bali Island of The Sunderbans is one of the initiatives which have promoted sustainable development with the help of local participation. The Bali Nature and Wildlife Conservation Society is led by Anil Kumar Mistry (principal field officer), a poacher-turned-conservationist and an  enterprising  local  responsible  for  carrying  out  campaigns  like  the  Bagh  Bachao?  or „Save  the  Tiger?  in  motivating  locals  towards  tiger  conservation  (Hui,  2009).  [...]
Promoting The Sunderbans as an ecotourism destination, the Bali Nature and Wildlife Conservation  Society  runs  a  10-cottage  ecotourism  complex  in  association  with  Help Tourism, a group that runs sustainable tourism projects in eastern India. This ecotourism complex is part of a tourism project called The Sunderbans Jungle Camp, a community-driven  initiative  and  it  is  credited  with  providing  jobs,  directly  and  indirectly,  for  a number  of  local  people  (Hui,  2009;  Biswas,  2008).  It  is  also  supported  by  WWF-India (West Bengal State Office), the Department of Forests (Government of West Bengal), and the Association for Conservation and Tourism (ACT) – a non-profit organisation (Biswas,  2008). The complex adjoins a small agricultural settlement, embedded between river and paddy  fields.  The  construction  follows  traditional  patterns  and  uses  local  materials. Several  guided  excursions  and  boat  trips  to  the  forests  and  the  nearby  villages  can  be arranged  by  locals  according  to  the  visitors’  preferences.  Today  the  complex  is  run  by local people almost independently (Gotliffe, 2007; Biswas, 2008 ; Hui, 2009 ; Roy, 2008).
Local social projects, such as an evening school, free medical camps, book and garment banks and scholarships, are supported with revenue from tourism. In the 2007 „Tourism for Tomorrow? Awards in London, organized by the WTTC (World Tourism and Travel Council), The Sunderbans Jungle Camp was one of the award winners in the category of „Investor in People? (Hui, 2009). 
The efforts of the Bali Nature and Wildlife Conservation Society, through projects like The  Sunderbans  Jungle  Camp,  have  led  to  the  fostering  of  peace,  harmony  and  co-existence  between  man  and  wildlife  in  the  Indian  Sunderbans.  The  Sunderbans  Jungle Camp  project  is  an  idyllic  example  of  community-based  tourism  that  protects  the endangered  Bengal  Tigers  while  giving  locals  a  sustainable  alternative  livelihood  (Hui, 2009). According to officials of The Sunderbans Biosphere Reserve , a study conducted by  The  Wildlife  Institute  of  India  for  IUCN  (International  Union  for  Conservation  of Nature and Natural Resources) judged The Sunderbans to be the „best managed park? in the country? (Biswas, 2008).

in: The Journal of Tourism and Peace Research, 1(1), 2010, pp. 27-41, Sudipta Kiran Sarkar and Babu P George, Peace Through Alternative Tourism: Case Studies From Bengal, India.
The full paper is avaiable for download: http://www.icptr.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Peace-through-Alternative-Tourism.pdf

“With Volun-Tourism we envision an enlightened and empowered rural India where local communities are able to create conditions to fulfill their aspiration and earn a respectful livelihood without leaving their villages, overcoming barriers of class, cast, gender, ethnicity and religion.” 

The year 2010 has been very special for Help Tourism as the organization completed its 20 years in Responsible Tourism. It was indeed an eventful journey punctuated by joy and sorrow. We salute all the members of the team and extended family of Help Tourism and our guests and partners who gave us support and sustenance. We take this opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to conservation and communities by practicing tourism as the religion of mankind. 

Despite many challenges the organization successfully launched several new initiatives, projects and programmes in 2010. 

The WTD (World Tourism Day) Yatra was a grand success with several very fruitful programmes in Dhaka and Paharpur to connect the heritages of Bangladesh and India. The Indian delegation was lead by internationally famous filmmaker Goutam Ghosh. 

Two Peace Parks were established in 2010: Guru Padmasambhava Peace Park in Ultapani in Manas Biosphere Reserve in Assam and Lalon Fakir Peace Park in Chilapata in North Bengal. 

The annual Nature and Community festival at Chilapata witnessed record attendance of all the local and regional stakeholders. 

The Samsing Jaldhaka Orange Festival  received overwhelming response with more than 5000 participants who presented a spontaneous and spectacular show for two days and mesmerized the audience and guests. 

The ‘Waste-free Destinations’ campaign continued in 2010 with enthusiastic participation of the local grass route NGOs, travel trade, local traders, lodges and home stay operators, Forest department and local administration in Manas Biosphere Reserve in Assam. 

With generous support from the state Forest and Tourism departments, Help Tourism introduced full-fledged nature-based and cultural tours in Tripura. 

We along with our Nagaland team leader Angulie Meyase assisted celebrity birders Bikram Grewal, Sumit Sen, S.Ramakrishnan, Bano Haralu and Government of Nagaland in conducting the first systemic Ornithological survey in Nagaland. 

We also supported the research and photo-documentation projects in Bengal and Northeast India for the publication of the book named Forts and Palaces of India published by Om Books International, written by Amita Baig and designed by Alpana Khare with photographs by Joginder Singh. 

An extensive training programme was organized by us at The Swiss Hotel, Darjeeling for the Project Leaders of nature-based rural tourism initiatives in East and Northeast India. 35 Project Leaders received training on hospitality basics, rural tourism management and operations, community based tourism, adventure tourism, waste management and conservation of natural resources. 

Help Tourism received the prestigious “HSBC-TOFT Wildlife and Tourism Initiative of the Year” award. Our Dihing River Camp was awarded “The Most Innovative Tourism Product” at the 80th TTF (Travel and Tourism Fair) in Kolkata. 

The modern India is emerging as the second largest growing economic power in the world though sadly, despite the strong economic growth, huge domestic capacity and service potential, India still witnesses alarming disparity between the rich and poor and poverty and backwardness in the rural areas where the communities are ready to sprout with even a little encouragement and support. Tourism in general too has still a long way to walk to take a turnaround and recognize Responsible Tourism as a key to reduce the disparity and drive conservation efforts and help communities to establish their ownership on local resources. 

To much to our delight, a new Mantra of Responsible Tourism is increasingly proving its worth as a level maker by poverty alleviation and bringing valuable resources and benefits to the rural communities. Volun-Tourism as it is commonly known is the demonstration of the noble way of sharing and exchanging knowledge and resources between the guests and the hosts and giving maximum back to the people and destination while enjoying an inspirational holiday experience. It opens up the global door through the local window. 

Based on the need of the local communities in the destinations and the various skills possessed by the Volun-Tourists, Help Tourism has introduced well-researched and custom-made Volun-Tourism holidays and projects in several villages in East & Northeast India over the years and has already gained the trust and confidence of the communities. 

Through our projects and tours Volun-Tourists have been able to cut across all geographical, language and cultural barriers and have adopted villages lying adjacent to the Protected areas and Heritage sites – from the mangroves of Sunderbans to the remote mountains in Mishmi hills and Namdapha in Arunachal Pradesh, from the tropical forest of Bengal Dooars and Assam to the high altitude ecosystem in Neora Valley and Sikkim,  by bringing support to various important fields such as education, self-help enterprises, sustainable bio-farming, low cost and pollution free energy, rain water harvesting, medical assistance, small-scale handicraft business, organic food product, waste management, home-hospitality business, wildlife conservation, creation of community buffer forest and biological corridors; documentation of indigenous culture, language and folklores; survey and monitoring of endangered plants and wildlife. 

With Volun-Tourism we envision an enlightened and empowered rural India where local communities are able to create conditions to fulfill their aspiration and earn a respectful livelihood without leaving their villages, overcoming barriers of class, cast, gender, ethnicity and religion. 

May we declare the mission of Help Tourism for 2011:
RURAL ENLIGHTENMENT THROUGH VOLUN-TOURISM! 

We solicit your blessings, support and participation to help us establish benchmarks in Responsible Tourism and influence rest of the globe with our humble mission. 

We wish you all a great, peaceful and prosperous New Year ahead. 

With deep regards, admiration, appreciation and love. 

Help Tourism Family. 

31st December 2010, India.

Help Tourism is proud to announce that Sunderbans Jungle Camp has won Wild Asia’s Responsible Tourism Award 2009 in the category “Community-Based to Homestay Operators”.

Three reap regional responsible tourism award
By Wild Asia, 29 October 2009

Three out of eight finalists from six different Asian countries participating in Wild Asia’s 4th Responsible Tourism Awards emerged as winners, proving that sustainable destinations can be made a reality within the travel industry. Established in 2006, the Awards is the first of its kind in Asia and is held annually, aimed at recognising accommodation providers in Asia that are making a difference.

Dr. Reza Azmi, founder and director of Wild Asia shares the need for sustainable tourism as it is something very close to heart having dealt with many environmental and social issues over the years. He adds, “Seeing how crucial the impact of tourism was on natural areas in Asia, as early as 1998, Wild Asia started to understand what it was that made a good tourism operator. An operator we could confidently label “eco” or “responsible”. Today, after more than a decade of thought and dialog with tourism operators, we now believe that we need to move away from simply ticking off “green” practices. What we now look for are operators that we can trust; have the best of intentions; that can demonstrate they understand their local issues and have people in place that can sustain their efforts.”

Operators such as ITC Mughal (Agra, India), El Nido Resorts (Palawan, Philippines), and Sunderbans Jungle Camp (Bali Island, India) have surpassed judges’ expectations by scoring high against the Awards checklist and are this year’s award winners for the following categories of accommodation operators respectively – large; mid-sized to small; and community-based to homestay.

Through self-evaluation checklist submissions and site verification visits by judges and fact-finders to all finalists’ destinations, the winners have demonstrated their strong abilities to meet the Wild Asia’s Responsible Tourism Award checklist’s forty criteria, which comprehensively cover aspects of local employment and economies; respecting local laws, cultures and sensitivities; responsibilities towards employees and communities; recognising the children’s rights; and protecting the environment through a suite of conservation initiatives, efficient use of resources, as well as responsible waste management.

Moving beyond checklists, these operators are fully supported by owners and top management to internalise the elements of responsible tourism and have resources in place to ensure it remains a sound business strategy for economic development. Trusted by their stakeholders whom they actively engage, they are also able to communicate their best intentions to operate responsibly and can therefore make a real difference where they do business.

Never to settle for business-as-usual, these operators are committed to improving the way they do things, i.e. from raising awareness to learning and capacity building; periodic monitoring of performance objectives and seeking innovative solutions for continued improvement; and building partnerships with like-minded organisations to develop holistic strategies in meeting the requirements of responsible tourism.

Mariglo Laririt, resident Biologist and Environmental Manager of El Nido Resorts understands the need for continuous improvement in the midst of celebrating successes. “We feel affirmed and this (winning the awards) spurs us on for ways to improve ourselves. We share this achievement with our partners at El Nido.” 

Understanding and internalising the essence of responsible tourism, these operators are catalysts for positive change within their sphere of influence, inspiring others to embark on the green journey while at the same time, still affording customers with the memorable holiday experience the travel for in the first place.
Wild Asia would like to congratulate winners and finalists for their commendable efforts and commitment in achieving high standards of environmental protection and social responsibility that form the critical pillars of their business philosophy.

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Wild Asia’s Responsible Tourism Award 2009 winners:
• Large Accommodation Operators
ITC Mughal, Agra, India
• Mid-sized to Small Accommodation Operators
El Nido Resorts, Miniloc, Philippines
• Community-Based to Homestay Operators  
Sunderbans Jungle Camp, Bali Island, India

• Wild Asia’s Responsible Tourism Award 2009 finalists: 
  • Large Accommodation Operators
  Shangri-La Tanjung Aru Resort & Spa, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
  • Mid-sized to Small Accommodation Operators
  Soneva Fushi, Kunfunadhoo, Maldives
  Nikoi Island, Bintan, Indonesia
  • Community-Based to Homestay Operators  
  Andaman Discoveries, Phang Nga Province, Thailand
  Lamai Homestay, Khorat, Thailand

For more information about Wild Asia Responsible Tourism Awards have a look at http://www.wildasia.org/main.cfm/RT/Annual_RT_Awards

The Sunderbans Jungle Camp was chosen as a  finalist of this years “Responsible Tourism Awards” in the category “Community-Based to Homestay Operators”.  In an eight weeks long selection process with back-to-back site visits and comprehensive reporting, Wild Asia screened entries from five Asian countries for the prestigious award:

“The Annual Responsible Tourism Awards, are the first pan-Asian award for excellence in responsible tourism. We believe that sustainable destinations can be made a reality by creating rewards, promoting knowledge sharing and inspiring change from within the travel industry.

Now in its fourth year, the Awards are aligned to the United Nation’s World Tourism Organization’s (UNWTO) Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria and we hope to encourage more operators from the region to step forward and share their best practices. Why are sustainable destinations important? For the simple, yet poignant, reason that there will be no travel business in Asia without sustainable destinations.”

During the on-site visit the review team made beautiful videos about the projects and – voila – here is the Sunderbans.

Wild Asia is a Malaysian-based social enterprise working to support environmental and social initiatives in Asia. We have been online since 1998. We have grown over the years but our focus has stayed the same – innovating and working to solve the problems that impact on our wild places. We have been part of a growing force in Asia to increase awareness and appreciation for the environment, and communicating the importance of conservation, not only of the natural wild places of Asia, but also of those communities and livelihoods that are dependent upon it.