In the global world today, many challenges are experienced. This can be religious, ethnic, or environmental among others. However, one of the serious problems that the world is facing in the present moments is environmental related issues. Notably, matters that touch on the environment are of grave concern to humankind since they can affect the health of living things positively or negatively (Sakman et al., 2011) . The issue of environmental concern has been existent in the society since time in memorial. From the days of civilizations, there was a perception that the survival or rather the life of humans was highly dependent on the health of the environment. As such, the society used to view the environment as a god. Nevertheless, the introduction of industrialization led to a change of this notion. Industrialization coupled with the enhancement of technological information made man to start modifying the environment in order to satisfy his desires.
Project Rationale
The increased zeal to change from the pre-industrial to industrial era has been substituted with greed. Apparently, most of the developments that the society is experiencing today are characterized by extensive depletion of natural resources. Such developmental strategies have turned out to stress and degrade the environment. Ideally, this is the era where the world is celebrating technological advancement and at the same time degrading the environment on a serious note. Humans have sacrificed the nature for development and progress thereby endangering their lives (Sakman et al., 2011) . For instance, most developmental activities have made the forested areas to be very vulnerable. They extensively exploit forests but fail to conduct reforestation activities. This, on the other hand, has resulted to decreased vegetation cover globally at an alarming rate.
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Notably, clearing forests for urbanization, damming, mining, cultivation, and industrialization are not health to the environment (Driscoll et al., 2011) . Such activities not only reduce the vegetation cover of the earth but also destroy rain catchment areas as well as the natural home for wild animals. This has resulted to endangering of some animal and crop species in addition to increased cases of global warming that most parts of the world are experiencing currently. In this regards, there is the need for the human population to be informed about the need to protect their environment for the sake of the present and the future generations.
Aim of the Project
This project has four primary objectives. First, it aims at protecting natural habitats that have the highest potential of attracting tourists. Second, it seeks to nurture a culture of protecting the environment among the local populations in various areas. This will be achieved by informing them the problems associated with overexploitation of natural resources. Third, it will strive to foster novel economic initiatives such as selling local products which have been produced in an environmentally friendly way. Such products may include crafts among others. Fourth, the project has the objective of creating a feeling of pride and communal ownership that would enable the communities to embrace their cultural practices to protect their environment from the adverse effects of industrialization.
Expected Achievements
The participant hopes that the trip will help to inform tourists about the need for conserving the nature and other natural resources. On the other hand, the trip will also create a chance for the locals to be informed about other avenues that can be used to create job opportunities plus other economic activities that they can indulge in to help them generate income locally. The activities ought to be environmentally friendly and those who will hinder them from indulging in activities such as deforestation. In so doing, the locals will benefit since they will have an alternative way of improving socio-economically on the other hand environmental security will be guaranteed.
Measuring Success of the Trip
Many parts of the world need extensive efforts to ensure that the ecosystem is conserved. Apparently, most rural dwellers depend heavily on forest exploitation to create a source of income. Nevertheless, this poses a serious problem to environmental health. However, such exploitations will cease if such people are provided with an alternative mechanism of generating income. In that respect, the ecotourism trip being proposed herein provides a perfect strategy that will help to conserve the environment (Driscoll et al., 2011) . For instance, it provides the locals with an alternative livelihood opportunity.
Through this trip, it will be easy to achieve protection of natural habitats as well as cultural diversity. It will also be possible to attract many ecotourists hence enabling the local people to generate more income through such activities in the long run without harming the environment. Various researchers have come out strongly in support of the use of ecotourism as a means of conserving the environment (Driscoll et al., 2011) . This is because this type of tourism helps in solving the problems of the locals and at the same time helps in environmental conservation. Therefore, it is possible for the objectives to be achieved in the long run since it takes into consideration various issues that ought to be considered to improving the livelihood of the locals hence protecting the environment.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
Plenty of natural tourism destination sites in the global
Diversity of culture worldwide
Existence of developed tourism infrastructure
Abundance of domestic and overseas tourists
Support from local people in vast parts of the world about the need for creating alternative livelihood
Weaknesses
Failure to involve the locals in tourism activities
Inability to provide options for the locals regarding income generation
Opportunities
Plenty of ecotourism places in local places
Large number of local inhabitants hence local people would be massively involved in the process
Hastened social mobilization
Threats
Pollution
Poor management
Tourists dissatisfaction
Joblessness among the local inhabitants
Overview of the Program
The ecotourism trip will include travels to various local areas within the country that have the potential to attract ecotourists. During this time, special cars for the process will be hired that will help the locals to understand our intentions immediately they see us. Notably, some organizations have been in existent and actively involved in ecotourism. For instance, the International Ecotourism Society is one of the organizations that are participating in the conduction of ecotourism in various parts of the world. Another organization is the International Union for Conservation of Nature. This team is responsible for setting the standards that are used when carrying out ecotourism activities. Based on the regulation established by these agencies, an ecotourism trip ought to involve excursions to natural sites. Such trips should not do anything to alter or rather affect such areas. On the other hand, the trips should provide both cultural and economic merits to the local societies.
Cost
The trip is expected to cost between $220 and $300 a day. Much of the money will be spent on food, fuel, and accommodation for the tourists.
Competitors
Competitors within this area of specialization include the Wild Planet Adventures. This company takes visitors around the country locally.
Staffing, Resources, and Facilities Needed
The staff involved in the trip will include tour guides, drivers, mechanics, game rangers and wardens, security and medical personnel. Some of the resources and facilities required for the voyage will include lodging facilities, first aid kit and means of transportation.
Participant and staff safety
As aforementioned, the tour will include security personnel who will be in charge of the security of the team. Also, the medical practitioner will be in charge of any incidents that might cause physical harm to the participants. Besides, relevant authorities including the local police will be informed about the activity before the process commences. Importantly, a revisit will be conducted so that a good rapport will be established with the locals prior to the actual trip. Of essence, this will ensure that the locals are not only aware of the activity but also will be collaborative during the process hence issues of threats will not be likely to be experienced.
Potential Problems
The trip is likely to be faced with three main problems namely infrastructure, environmental, and social issues. The first issue likely to be encountered is infrastructure related challenges. Notably, ecotourism trips involve visits to natural resources. Some of these resources are located in areas that have poor road networks. This implies that such areas will be difficult to access and may even cause the means of transport to breakdown. As a result, the trip may take longer than expected therefore the cost of conducting the tour will shoot up significantly. Besides, natural features are located in areas that are underdeveloped hence accommodation facilities may be lacking or poorly developed. This may force the participants to travel to distant places to seek better housing facilities. As a matter of fact, this will also increase the cost of the trip.
Second, environmental challenges are also likely to be experienced due to the unpredictability of weather. Instances of inclement weather may risk the lives of the participants and may cause severe damage to the vehicles that are used for transportation. Third, the participants can face hostility from the society. In some areas, members of the community may have high expectations from the visitors. Where the visitors fail to meet such expectations, they are likely to be met with hostility from societal members. However, informing the local authorities to buffer security as well as encourage the locals to participate actively will be able to mitigate this problem.
Marketing Plan
Method for marketing the Trip
For this trip to materialize, four marketing strategies will be deployed. First, the trip will be advertised. The advertisement will be done in newspapers, magazines, and televisions (Goeldner & Brent Ritchie, 2009) . Second, it will use personal selling. Under this method, there would be a personal communication with various consumers of ecotourism (Goeldner & Brent Ritchie, 2009). The provider will inform the consumers about the tour sites likely to be visited during the trip and the cost for visiting the places. Third, there would be the establishment of public relations. Notably, prior to making certain decisions, the ecotourism provider will have to consider the specific requirements of the consumers so that the information gained from them will be used during the advertisement process. Four, social media will also be used to advertise the trip. This will include Facebook and Twitter among others.
Marketing Challenges
Notably, the ecotourism provider, in this case, is till new in the market. As such, the public will not be very receptive since other industries are well established in this sector. On the other hand, the process of advertisement is expensive for a starter company. The fact that the firm advertises itself for the first time, it has to use various sources of the ad to reach out to all the potential customers. This makes the entire process to be expensive.
Elaborate Marketing Plan
Apparently, the marketing plan that will be used for marketing this trip will be based on marketing mix that is tourism particular. It will deploy the three Ps for tourism marketing. This includes programming, people, and partnership. Under programming, the trip provider will diversify the product so as to increase the amount that the consumer will spend during the process. In this case, the trip shall include wildlife professionals to provide the customers with a unique education plan. From the peoples’ perspective, the advertisement will be conducted such that the customers see the distinct experience they will have during the trip. Finally, the trip will opt to collaborate with both the private and public partners to ensure that customers from different parts are not only reached but also understand the merits of indulging in the trip.
Evaluation
The assessment process will use a 360 degrees feedback mechanism. This will ensure that information is collected from the various stakeholders regarding the outcome of the entire process. Through this approach, both the result of the process and the response of the participants can be gathered. It is important to note that this trip is very beneficial to the society and the world in general. Nevertheless, it can be made to be more productive if professionals from vast fields are involved in addition to calling for the need for more individuals to participate actively in such activities.
References
Driscoll, L., Hunt, C., Honey, M., & Durham, W. (2011). The importance of ecotourism as a development and conservation tool in the Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica. Center for Responsible Travel (CREST) . Retrieved from http://www.responsibletravel.org/docs/Importance%20of%20Ecotourism%20Osa%20Peninsula%20-%20English.pdf.
Goeldner, C. R., Brent Ritchie, J.R. (2009). Tourism: Principles, Practices, Philosophies 11th Edition . Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons
Sakman, S., Wackernagel, M., Galli, A., & Moore, D. (2011). Sustainable development and Environmental Challenges in the MENA Region: Accounting for the Environment in the 21st century. Economic Research Forum , Working Paper No. 592, June.
