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What can tourism concessions do for protected areas
Andy Thompson
To help determine the most important objectives for a concession system and how to prioritize their importance, government leaders must consider what is important to them. The more focused a concession system is on its objectives; the more likely it is
USNPS Parks Canada New Zealand Department of Conservation
Ministry of Environment and Tourism
Namibia
Great Barrier Reef Marine
Park Authority Australia
No concessions: 600 contracts plus 6000 commercial use authorizations
2752 leases, licenses, business licenses
3700 concessions of which 43% are tourism related
45 940 (approx) tourism
Income concessions: US$74m US$7.4m US$12m (from tourism and other concessions)
US$1.7m US$7.3m (approx) through environ. mgmt charge
Staff (FTE): 200 (40 in HO) 30 25 3 22
Structure (centralised or decentralised):
Centralised admin for contracts over the value of US$5m
Centralised for large issues, decentralised for smaller contracts, relationship mgmt & monitoring
Regionalisedprocessing centres
Centralised Centralised processing & contract mgmt, field staff do compliance
Preferred allocation mechanism:
Tender for contracts, application for commercial use authorizations
Tender Receive applications from the private sector
Direct award to communities, tender, auction and some direct awards in special circumstances
Application on a first come, first served basis. Capped opportunities through EOI
Benefits Income Visitor services & facilities Managing overuse & impacts Economic (USA) & rural development Interpretation (Tasmania) & conservation advocacy, marketing &
promotion Regional security (Columbia) Economic empowerment of people living near the protected area
(Namibia) Biodiversity conservation (wilderness safaris)
To help determine the most important objectives for a concession system and how to prioritize their importance, government leaders must consider what is important to them. The more focused a concession system is on its objectives; the more likely it is
4 key elements to success
Element 1: Principles of good process
1. Well defined, transparent and consistent processes
2. Explicit, clear and transparent criteria
3. Decision-makers must be identifiable and independent from the process
4. Conflicts of interest need to be avoided
5. Natural justice principles need to apply
6. Processing and decision-making separation
Element 2: Systems approach
Organisational support
Transparency
Clear & fair decision making
Continuous improvement
Law & Policy
Database
Web info applicants
/public
EIA, monitor,
compliance
StaffStandard contracts
Planning
Process & procedure
Fees, cost recovery, incentives
Element 3: PAM
Plan Allocate Monitor
Element 4: Concession lifecycle
Application or tender
Assessment
Decision
Management
Expiry
conclusion
Income
Visitor services & facilities
Managing overuse & impacts
Economic & rural development
Interpretation & conservation advocacy, marketing & promotion
Regional security
Economic empowerment of people living near the protected area
Biodiversity conservation –individual concessionaires