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The first "Making a Difference" award winner in 2014 is Matagalpa Tours, a sustainable tour operator in Nicaragua that is Rainforest Alliance verified and focused on nature, rural, and community tourism.

We spoke with general manager Arjen Roersma, who tells us about the essence of Matagalpa Tours, its work with communities, and the challenges of being a sustainable tourism business.

Question: How did Matagalpa Tours get started?

Roersma: After exploring many beautiful places in the northern zone of Nicaragua (actually, it's in the center of the country, but it's commonly called the "north" because the paved roads don't go any farther), we realized that there was no company offering tours to the destinations here. We recognized an opportunity, knowing that adventurous travelers would love to discover the beautiful jungles, volcanoes, and people of this region.

Q: Why did you decide to focus on rural tourism and cultural experiences?

Roersma:There is very little tourist infrastructure in the Matagalpa region but these communities and their inhabitants have many fascinating stories to tell and interesting activities in which tourists can participate. Our tours are perfect for travelers who are interested in the culture and history of Nicaragua and who do not mind having to spend a night in very basic accommodations in exchange for having a unique and authentic experience.

Q: How do you support the local people with whom you work?

Roersma:We have community initiatives to support indigenous women artisan groups and farmers. We also make a special effort to promote environmental education in the communities. Our Agualí project, which has been particularly successful, is an environmental education initiative executed by Matagalpa Tours with support from the Dutch embassy geared toward local youths. In 2013, we began organizing free tours for groups of students focused on environmental and sociocultural issues. We created the Aguali.net website in order to maintain a connection with the kids and increase the impact of our message. The website offers environmental, educational, and current events information for young people.

Q: How do tourists respond to your combination of entertainment, nature, and contact with communities?

Roersma: Many of our clients say they've had an unforgettable experience. It is essential for us that in addition to having a good time in Nicaragua, they take the message home. For example, we provide a lot of information on consumerism and how their choices at home affect the people here in our country. Some of our tours combine visits to sustainable coffee or cocoa farms so that tourists will think about the origin of what they consume and the power they have to make a change by being more conscious consumers.

Q: What environmental efforts do you make?

Roersma: We believe that best environmental practices should be an integral part of our lives. It cannot be that we save energy at work but do not care in our private lives. We have had a series of workshops and activities where the Matagalpa Tours team itself developed rules for environmental consciousness in all aspects of our lives.

Q: Why is it important for a company like Matagalpa Tours to obtain sustainable tourism verification from Rainforest Alliance?

Roersma: For us, the efforts we make to be a social and environmental business are already a major achievement. The Rainforest Alliance verification seal confirms and reaffirms these efforts. In both the economic and business realms, the verification process has helped us to prove that we are a credible environmental and community-oriented company.

Q: What efforts are you making as a member of Tour Operators Promoting Sustainability (TOPS)?

Roersma: Although organizing ourselves is a challenge, in 2013 we trained the guides and drivers working with our businesses in good sustainability practices. We are also taking steps to promote Nicaragua as a destination with a sustainable profile nationally and internationally.

Q: What does a tour operator need to do in order to be sustainable?

Roersma: Even though other tour operators are competitors, you must be interested in the overall growth of the travel sector. We can achieve a lot more together than alone.

As a company, you must invest in your staff and create a place for their personal and professional development. It is also vital that the company generates revenue for the communities to which it brings visitors and applies its best practices everywhere it operates, not just within the company.

Q: What achievements has Nicaragua made in sustainable tourism and what challenges remain?

Roersma: Tourism development in Nicaragua got started slow and late, but luckily many local initiatives have been able to establish themselves. Most service providers such as hotels, restaurants, and transportation services are family businesses, which has helped Nicaragua be an original and unique country where culture and the hospitality environment continue to be attraction number one.

A challenge for us and the tourism industry is to promote domestic tourism.

This entry was posted on January 28, 2014 at 2:01 PM and has received 844 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

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In the heart of the Brazilian Amazon is the Rio Negro Sustainable Development Reserve, an area that is rich in biodiversity and home to several small communities that depend on natural resources for a living. Pousada Garrido is the only hotel in the Tumbira region, and it is owned by a former logger and community leader named Roberto Mendonça.

Pousada Garrido has become a source of income for Mendonça as well as several other local families who offer tourism services to visitors. The inn also uses solar energy (as does the entire community), recycles, supports local artisans with reusable materials, and purchases foods from local producers. This year, Pousada Garrido earned Rainforest Alliance verification for sustainable tourism.

Tourists are drawn to Tumbira for the richness and exuberance of its forests, including the many bird species that abound there. Mendonça partnered with a local tour guide named Cleudilon, whose nickname is Passarinho, or "little bird" in Portuguese, because he can perfectly imitate 32 types of birds! (Scroll down to see an awesome video of Cleudilon calling to birds in the forest.) The two recently undertook a project to make the inn into a perfect site for bird watching. And you can help make it happen! Visit the community's crowdfunding page, to help them turn Tumbira into a community-based ecotourism center.

Paula Arantes of Garupa, the NGO helping Mendonça and Cleudilon raise money for the project, tells us more about the initiative.

Question: What is the plan for the money you hope to raise?

Paula Arantes: Roberto and Cleudilon want to turn their community into a birding and community tourism center. To get started, they intend to adapt the infrastructure of Pousada Garrido to sustainably accommodate more guests and provide what is needed for birding. They also want to publish a guide to the local birdlife as a reference for tourists and an educational resource for the children of the community.

Q: Why are Tumbira and Pousada Garrido such special places for bird watching?

Arantes: Though you can see birds everywhere in Amazon, Tumbira is special because its pathways make it easy to see many varieties of birds, and the area is easily accessible by land or by boat. Furthermore, Cleudilon's incredible talent for imitating birds and really enhances the birding experience.

Q: What do you need to carry out the project?

Arantes: Investments need to be made to expand the inn without negatively impacting the environment. More equipment is also needed for bird watching, and Cleudilon needs resources to develop the bird guide. The goal is to raise around US$8,800 (20,000 Brazilian reales) to help cover building materials, labor, the development of the guide, and more.

Q: What progress has been made so far?

Arantes: Thanks to the Rainforest Alliance verification process, we've identified the appropriate areas for making investments and improvements in a sustainable way.

Q: How does this project benefit the community?

Arantes: More tourists means more sustainable income for the residents! Supporting community-based tourism is one of the best ways for travelers to ensure that their vacation is sustainable.

Q: How can people help?

Arantes: On the project page on the Garupa website, you can find more details about the initiative and make an online donation to co-finance this effort. Donors receive tokens of appreciation, such as photographs, the bird guide, and even stays at the inn, depending on the amount contributed. Donating any amount, no matter how small, and sharing our project with your friends and family is the best way to make Roberto's dream a reality!

Watch this amazing video to see how Cleudilon imitates birds!

This entry was posted on November 25, 2013 at 5:13 PM and has received 1849 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

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Do you want to see the beautiful Mexican Caribbean? Perhaps watch whales in the Pacific near the wonderful Baja California peninsula? Or learn about the rich and varied culture of the country by visiting rural destinations and archaeological sites? Mexico has all this and much more to offer. Better yet, most of these places have sustainable accommodation options to suit the needs of every tourist.

Since 2005, the Rainforest Alliance has been promoting sustainable tourism in Mexico, primarily as an active member of the Mesoamerican Reef Tourism Initiative (MARTI). Also, there are now 81 tourism companies active in the Rainforest Alliance verification program in Mexico, ranging from small hotels to large resorts, mainly in Mexico City and the Mexican Caribbean. These companies recently received the S Distinction awarded by the Mexican Secretariat of Tourism (SECTUR) to companies committed to sustainability practices.

The Rainforest Alliance has been working with the AMResorts hotel chain to improve the sustainability performance of its hotels in Mexico. AMResorts has six luxury hotel brands with 32 properties in Mexico, Jamaica, Curacao, and the Dominican Republic that cater to all kinds of guests, from young families and newlyweds on honeymoons to adventure travelers.

Thanks to this collaboration, AMResorts has made impressive investments in a number of wildlife conservation programs and enterprises designed to benefit local communities. For example, Dreams Puerto Vallarta Resort & Spa has released more than 300,000 sea turtle hatchlings through its Dreaming of Freedom habitat protection program. Dreams Puerto Aventuras Resort & Spa provides space in its gift shop where the neighboring Maya community sells artisanal products such as jellies and honeys. At Dreams Tulum Resort & Spa, staff are motivated to start their own businesses selling services to the resort, such as car washes, barber shops, and convenience stores.

More than 10,000 of AMResort's employees in Mexico are receiving online training in best management practices for sustainable tourism so that they themselves become agents of change in the hotels, as well as in their homes and communities. This training will be extended to other Mexican companies verified by the Rainforest Alliance.

The Rainforest Alliance is also working with the Mexican government's Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) to promote sustainable tourism practices among small and medium-sized ecotourism businesses, mainly in rural communities, which can apply for certification under their national standard. These small businesses are found throughout the country, from the Vizcaino Reserve in Baja California Sur to the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve on the Yucatan Peninsula. All offer varied and invaluable natural and cultural wealth and are key to preserving traditional Mexican cultures and valuable ecosystems. Moreover, these small businesses are the main or only source of income for these communities and families.

To date, the Rainforest Alliance has assessed the sustainable performance of nearly 40 tourism businesses in 11 ecotourism circuits in Mexico, and has trained about 94 people from 35 companies on planning and sustainable management of their businesses and ecosystems. As a result, businesses not only improved their practices, but some of them also became Rainforest Alliance Verified^TM , which means that they met the Rainforest Alliance's standards for sustainable tourism businesses.

The next time you visit Mexico be sure to look for businesses – whether small rural inns, medium-size hotels, or luxury resorts – with the seal of the Mexican Ecotourism Standards, the S Distinction, or the Rainforest Alliance Verified^TM mark. We make it easy for you – you can find a list of them on SustainableTrip.org!

This entry was posted on September 18, 2013 at 3:26 PM and has received 1011 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

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In 1991, Laurent Richardier traveled from France to Nicaragua to finish his studies in tropical agronomy and local development. A few years later, his education, career, and personal goals led him to stay in that country to somehow help it reemerge after the devastating civil war that had left violence, sadness, poverty, and much underdevelopment.

Richardier now owns DETOUR Viajes y Cultura, a Rainforest Alliance Verified™ tour operator that is this month's winner of our "Making a Difference" award.

He tells us more about his company's work and how he has helped his adopted country advance through sustainable tourism.

Question: How did you come up with the idea of opening a tour agency as a tool for helping local development in Nicaragua?

Richardier: In 2000, the country began offering tourism products, primarily in rural community tourism, and that's when I thought this could be the most effective vehicle for local development. This type of tourism involves local communities, it was ideal for exposing the living culture and the warmth of the Nicaraguans, and it would be a channel to help them rescue, use, and protect their natural and cultural resources. In 2001, as an inbound operator, I developed itineraries that involved experiences with community residents -- staying in their homes, fishing with local fishermen, riding with cowboys ... Thus DETOUR Viajes y Cultura was born.

Q: What is your motivation to adopt and promote sustainable tourism?

R: It's a matter of conscience. DETOUR's mission is based on the desire to maintain hope and build a better future. To do this, we must carry out more responsible economic activities, protect ecosystems, ensure that culture and local economic development exists in harmony, and that communities can endure thanks to stable local development.

Q: What inspired you to become Rainforest Alliance Verified?

R: We thought it would help us gain visibility and effectiveness as a company, and we believed that Nicaragua had the perfect conditions for offering sustainable tourism and promoting this image globally. We also needed technical assistance to work in a more sustainable and orderly way. Personally, I wanted to expand my knowledge and achieve a high level of professionalism through the training that the Rainforest Alliance offers. In addition, I knew that with this training, my company could motivate local suppliers and community partners to be more aware, more professional, and more sustainable. In the end, they could gain more benefits and receive more responsible visitors!

Q: What are some of DETOUR's key sustainability initiatives?

R: Our work on sustainability consists of many small details. Two days a year, we train freelance guides on sustainability, quality of service, and tourist awareness. We are implementing a new tool with our transportation providers to control fuel consumption and we promote "zero-carbon" tours. In Granada, we give $5 incentives to those who use bicycles instead of taxis to get to the port where they start their tour of the islands, and we encourage other hoteliers and tour operators to promote the use of bicycles to their customers.

We focus on designing increasingly sustainable excursions with packages for low environmental impact and high socio-economic impact, such as new treks and multi-day expeditions in kayak, on horseback, or by bicycle. We also analyze our itineraries each year to eliminate unnecessary travel and we include more hotels that participate in sustainability programs, particularly those that are verified by the Rainforest Alliance. In addition, we try to convince the hotel owners with whom we have worked for a long time to adopt sustainability, and we seek communities that are starting to work in tourism to help them and include them in our "cultural adventures" packages.

Finally, we are developing solidarity tourism. We have partnered with two local NGOs that work on sustainable development and poverty reduction to integrate visits to the communities and schools where they work into our itineraries. As a result, many tourists have become involved in their activities, providing volunteer labor and money for projects such as digging a well or installing a solar-powered home lighting system in a rural area. DETOUR also contributes $100 per month to a volunteer who is doing social work in the community.

Q: How do you support the sustainable development of local communities in Nicaragua?

R: We believe that the best way to help them is by generating sustainable rural tourism activities. Our duty is to include their rich cultural and natural heritage in our tourism activities, so that they can generate income and get jobs and self-employment, while we help them to make use of this heritage with the least negative impact and protect it. In the Rio Escalante-Chacocente Wildlife Refuge in Nicaragua's southern Pacific region, there is a tourism cooperative composed of former turtle egg hunters and gatherers who now protect the reserve, so we include them in all the itineraries we can! We also promote and help numerous existing social and environmental initiatives in the communities. For example, our tours include visits to women's groups that make and sell crafts, we take tourists to eat at a restaurant run by deaf-mute young people, and at the end of their stay in the country, all of our groups attend a mime and comedy show performed by children rescued from the streets.

Q: Do you collaborate with other tour operators in Nicaragua?

R: Along with our eight colleagues that belong to the Tour Operators Promoting Sustainability (TOPS) program in Nicaragua, we aim to be a lobbying force before the National Assembly and the Ministry of Tourism from the perspective of sustainable businesses in order to inform policymaking or projects that promote the adoption of sustainability as a general policy for the country. This year, we developed a collaborative project that includes a plan to train national guides and tourism transport companies in sustainability; financial support to hotel suppliers who wish to obtain Rainforest Alliance verification; the creation of 100% sustainable packages and a TOPS catalog; participation in the Green Summit, a conference on sustainability in Nicaragua that will be associated with the upcoming Central American Travel Market Fair 2014; and trips with foreign journalists to show them the country's sustainable destinations and products.

Q: What are the main challenges that tour operators face in operating sustainably?

R: Positively influencing colleagues, suppliers, and community stakeholders who still have little awareness. Isolated efforts do not have major effect and so we must promote a sustainable travel collective for the country as a destination, and for that we need to talk and promote ourselves and these ideals. Our challenge as a sustainable operator is to promote and support local policies for sustainability, working together as a sector and closely with local governments.

This entry was posted on May 29, 2013 at 11:13 AM and has received 1086 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.