The Unsustainability of Community Tourism Donor Projects: Lessons from Zambia - Responsible Tourism: Critical Issues for Conservation and Development - page 301

A quantitative assessment of 37 community projects (including but not limited
to ecotourism) selected specifically for their commercial potential and funded by
the Biodiversity Conservation Network in Asia and the Pacific, found that ' in many
cases, it may be hard for the enterprise ever to cover all its costs ' (Salafsky et al, 2001,
p1593). Four enterprises had no revenue, 3 had minimal revenues, 13 only covered
variable costs, 10 covered variable and fixed costs and just 7 made a profit. Key
factors that influenced enterprise performance included the level of competence in
management and book-keeping, market conditions especially competition, the
adequacy of market research and whether business development was based on
skills and technologies pre-existing in the community.
A Mid-Term Review of the €12.8 million European Union (EU) funded Wild
Coast Spatial Development Initiative Pilot Programme in 2003 demonstrated
' very low deliverables from a massive community tourism programme ' (Ashley, 2006,
p23).The review found that the main programme outcome was the establishment
of a community-based horse and hiking trail along the coast but that this had
come at a high cost and the sustainability of the enterprises and jobs created had
yet to be ascertained.The programme faced many challenges but a key failure had
been inadequate involvement of private sector tourism companies (Mid-Term
Review, 2003). The final evaluation of another EU-funded programme in
Swaziland in 2006 concluded that eight new community tourism enterprises that
had been developed were likely to fail unless further financial subsidy was
provided (Final Evaluation, 2006). The evaluation noted that of major concern
was a lack of linkages between the community enterprises and commercial tour
operators as this would undermine the new products and was contrary to govern-
ment policy that tourism development should be private sector led. A review of 54
members of the Namibia Community Based Tourism Association estimated that
after many years of intensive support, only between 5 to 10 enterprises would
survive without further assistance (Hitchens and Highstead, 2005). A study in
Kenya found that six community tourism enterprises remained heavily reliant on
donor funds after several years in operation and faced daily problems running
their enterprises (Manyara et al, 2006).
The growing evidence that projects are failing to deliver viable tourism enter-
prises has been accompanied by strong suggestions that interventions do not
necessarily protect species or their habitats (Brechin et al, 2002).The review of 37
community conservation projects in Asia and the Pacific concluded that ' a
community-based enterprise strategy can lead to conservation, but only under limited
conditions and never on its own ' (Salafsky et al, 2001, p1585). Initiatives to develop
community tourism and conservation projects in Honduras ' exacerbated local
conflicts' and 'the great disparity between the rhetoric and the reality of such efforts has
caused many people to begin to give up on such efforts entirely ' (Stonich, 2005, p77).
The failure of community conservation carries the danger of amplifying calls for
stricter enforcement of protected area boundaries and ' this resurgent focus on
authoritarian protectionist practices … could lead to morally and pragmatically
questionable prescriptions that most likely will not safeguard biodiversity over the long
term ' (Brechin et al, 2002, pp41-42).