By Dan Burden, content specialist, AgMRC, Iowa State University, djburden@iastate.edu.

Developed December 2009.

In the early 1980s, ecotourism was initially connected with outdoor travel to remote, unique and/or scenic areas. Early ecotourism usually involved an educational or retreat focus. As ecotourism has increased in popularity, these educational elements became increasingly important. The recognized ecotourism industry has developed an organized framework for planning, management and economics. The encompassing methodology considers the immediate environment, site-specific information including historic human use, conservation and preservation education, community responsibility and equitable social benefits; as well as outdoor activities and education. Ecotourism has been described to include pursuits as diverse as bicycling, bird watching, big-game hunting, meditation, sailing, paddling canoe trails, hiking and visits to buffalo farms, historic reenactments and museums.

Ecotourism and agritourism have many parallels and some development professionals consider the latter a subset of the former. In either case, much of the experience is designed around an area's natural variety, including its animal, plant and human cultural diversity. However, some adherents take exception with many of the activities of agritourism (for example, traditional farming and preserve-type hunting operations) if they are seen to be unsustainable or environmentally or culturally intrusive. In general, ecotourism includes several major principles that should be a part of any basic business plan: education about the area; sustainable resource use, no environmental degradation; local community enhancement and assistance in the area’s overall sustainable development; respect for the local people’s cultural/social/political concerns; and profit for the business and the area’s overall tourism industry.

When ecotourism is considered a component of rural development, its underlying concepts closely parallel those of modern rural-development and business planners. The underlying philosophy of rural development has changed from what was simply dumping any business “in the country” toward models for sustainable local development. The latter approach seeks to consider the development process in light of pressing community problems and issues and tries to directly address the most pressing reasons for under-development. This concern for community and sustainable development is echoed in modern ecotourism thinking. Any sustainable business or community development should consider both overall community development; as well as a targeted group-approach to planning and problem solving. Participatory “buy in” from local and state government and engaged members of the community is a necessity.

This approach recognizes the full gamut of rural-society sociology: interrelationship between social groups, social institutions and taboos, political economy of the rural social structure, dynamics of social change, human relations and social environment, identities and locations of rural women in the development process, micro-financing and participation of marginal communities in development practices, contemporary and future rural development strategies, rural-urban migration; institutions for rural development and the reasons for and effects of participation of government and Private Voluntary Development Organizations (PVDOs) and private and public Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in the development process. The old saying “No man (person) is an island,” obviously applies to whether one is considering an overall development model for a community or a business model for an ecotourism venture within that community. Each reflects the identity of the other.

For example, most ecotourism in an agricultural context will be a farm-based agriculture-education or on-farm experience. This could be an activity like a corn maze, farm bed and breakfast or a visit to a northern-state sugarbush where maple syrup is produced (reduced) from tree sap. All of these reflect the cultural identity of the local area. (Please note: Many of these activities are subject areas considered in greater detail elsewhere on AgMRC.)

Is it possible to make money off of what is right out your back door? Some enterprising individuals have done so by combining their love and knowledge of the out-of-doors with sound business planning and a vision for sharing this with others within and outside the local community. A simple Internet search will find businesses based on the operator’s love of birds and wildlife, agroforestry and permacultural education, to local farming museums and hunting and fishing operations. Many are centerpiece examples of ecotourism education programs that stress local natural character, history and the potential of the landscape. The key to these businesses is that they are driven by individuals who know the subject, enjoy communicating their knowledge to others while striving to make any visit an enjoyable experience the client will want to repeat.

So what are other ideas for these types of businesses? Again, a survey of any successfully vibrant rural community or general Internet search will produce ideas and identify activities that can inspire part or all of an ecotourism project. For example, a 2008 New York Times article on novel, innovative ecotourism projects and the future of ecotourism on the upper Great Plains suggested that it is the upscale consumer interested in novel experience that drives the industry. This article mentioned aircraft and off-road plains and bad-lands tours, bison hunts, wolf-watching and week-long birding expeditions with accommodations ranging from austere to five-star lodging. Of course, there are many others:

• Nature center with an emphasis on retreats or local-history, perhaps with catering or a local-craft outlet;
• Managed habitats and natural habitats and the role of trees and plants of the landscape: identification, speciation and co-evolution with insects, birds and mammals; plant identification (elementary taxonomy: major families and unique specific attributes); great naturalists in history; the concepts of xerascaping, agroforestry and permaculture; succession and the natural forest, prairie or riparian habitat;
• Outdoor educational demonstrations and hands-on activities that involve birds: falconry demonstrations, bird banding; birdhouses building, blinds and hides, properly using optics;
• Outdoor educational demonstrations and hands-on activities that involve area pre-history: Native-American pottery from hand-quarried clay and clam shells, flint-knapping, atlatls, fire-making with bow-drills;
• Outdoor educational demonstrations and hands-on activities that involve fishing and entomology or watercraft: fly-casting, fly tying and the dynamics of aquatic environments and the hydrosphere, kayak and canoe rentals and guided trips;
• Outdoor cooking:  “gathering” (natural products from field to table), organic gardening;
• Outdoor team-building exercises or skill development (traditional canoe and kayak making, snowshoe making, shelter construction, winter-camping);
• Equine ecotourism (exploration on horseback, equestrian-skill training);
• Modern art from the landscape: weaving, photography, painting and sculpture workshops;
•  Other activities: yoga, meditation, spiritual development, literature or history “of place” workshops.

Any exploration of a business venture should include a rigorous self-assessment. The individuals involved need to survey their capabilities, resources and potential time commitments. More involved business planning should include a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis. These need not be unnecessarily complicated and are relatively quick and easy to do. The object of the exercise is to examine the general feasibility of your idea. Models and templates can be found elsewhere on AgMRC or other business-development sites.

In the course of your planning activities, you should define your product and then gauge your market with respect to what other entities compete for the client’s entertainment dollar. Critically judge the quality and value of the product that you intend to bring to the table and then consider whether your “competition” are really competitors or potential cooperators. If you are in any way contemplating educational or immersion-type experience programs, since many people have relatively short attention spans, be sure that your program moves along with ample hands-on participatory activities, especially if children are involved. Additionally, be sure that your operational plan contains risk-management contingencies for travel delays, bad weather and medical emergencies; and that some of these policies are clearly stated in writing in initial communications with the client.

Finally, look to the future. How do you plan to grow or at what level do you wish to comfortably sustain this business? What will by your eventual exit or succession strategy? Remember, you are not alone; network to find the assistance and information that you need. There are many local, state and national small-business resources that include Internet sites like AgMRC that include entrepreneur- and small-business-related discussion groups with links to and directories of public- and private-development specialists. There also are state and regional, Native-American, guide-outfitter, bed and breakfast, and similar tourism organizations.