Worldwide, tourism is the worlds largest industry and demand for nature based tourism is increasing (USAID, 2002).

Protected areas can use Tourism User Fees (TUF's) to generate revenue for conservation.  TUFs are market based mechanisms that generate revenue from tourism based activities.  These mechanisms can be structured around different activities such as visitor use fees, licenses and permits, tourism-based taxes, and concession fees (http://guide.conservationfinance.org).

Conservation International has identified that the private sector is key to generating resources that are needed for the conservation and management of protected areas.  The private sector often has the financial stability and business experience that enable them to generate tourism revenue more efficiently than the protected area agency.  We believe, there is a need for a concentrated effort to analyze the options available for private sector concessions, along with the successes and failure of various approaches, the management skills necessary and the most desirable methods in various circumstances (Eagles, 2002).  This effort would enable us to develop and implement a set of best-practices for private sector involvement in protected area concessions.  It would ensure that concession agreements are formed in ways that consistently benefit all parties involved.

There is a wealth of written material that discuss concessions within the context of promoting and financing the conservation of biodiversity.  While these documents do a good job of outlining the concession process, detailing how and whom they might benefit they don’t go into the details of concession agreements.  In addition, very little of the current literature, particularly on developing regions of the world, discuss how various concessions have worked or failed.  This may be due to the fact that in many regions, the private sector has not been involved in protected area concessions until recently.  In Southern Africa, many of the current concession agreements between local communities and the private sector were not finalized until the late 1990’s (Spenceley, 2004).  Because concession agreements typically have long contracts, often lasting between ten and twenty years, the success or failures of these agreement have yet to be determined. 

Currently, approximately one in five protected areas use some form of concession or licensing system, and with the growing privatization of the service industry in protected areas the use of these systems will increase (Font, 2004).  The types of tourism related concessions offered in protected areas can vary widely.  The most common tourism services provided through concession contracts include: lodging, food and beverage services, horse rentals, recreational equipment rentals, guided tours and boat transportation, and gift / souvenir shops (http://guide.conservationfinance.org).

From an agency’s point of view the goal of a concession is to further the goals of the park, provide access to the area’s resources in a way that coincides with legislation, and provide for the needs of visitors.  The contract must detail the legal authority under which permits and concessions are allowed, the services required, their timing and their quality (Eagles, 2002).  At Conservation International we have identified five major issues that need to be considered in creating successful concession agreements.  These issues are as follows;

• concessionaire qualifications
• legal responsibilities
• financial responsibilities
• environmental responsibilities
• empowerment/social responsibilities

Because of the lack of literature on the success and failures of current concession agreements we must rely on the personal accounts and experiences of people within NGO’s, government agencies, and local communities who have worked on concession agreements.  The first step to generating a set of best-practices for concession agreements is to get input from these people. 

We need your help.

We have supplied a list of questions (Survey) to guide you in discussing your experiences.  We have supplied the questions in a format that follows the five central issues to concession contracts.  We are hoping your responses detail the best and worst of your experiences within the context of each question.  In addition, to help guide your responses, we have supplied some experiences and practices (Background) that our research has already generated.  These experiences and practices are not to be considered either “best-practices,” or “worst-practices,” they are only an example of the sort of information that we are looking for.

Conservation Finance Alliance.  (2001).  Conservation Finance Guide.  Retrieved August 14, 2006, from http://guide.conservationfinance.org/

Eagles, P., McCool, S., and Haynes, C.  (2002).  Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas: Guidelines for Planning and Management.  IUCN Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. Xv + 183pp.  Retrieved July 18, 2006, from http://www.uneptie.org/pc/tourism/library/st%20in%20prot.areas/Best-Practice-8.pdf

Spenceley, A. (2003).  Tourism, local livelihoods and the private sector in South Africa: case studies on the growing role of the private sector in natural resources management.  Sustainable Livelihoods in Southern Africa Research Paper 8.  Institute of Development Studie, Brighton.  Retrieved July 7, 2006, from http://www.anna.spenceley.co.uk/virtual/www.anna.spenceley.co.uk/files/TourismLivelihoods&PrivateSectorSpenceley.pdf

USAID.  (2002).  Environmental Guidelines for Development Activities in Latin America and the Caribbean.  Chapter 7: Environmental Issues and Best Practices for Ecotourism.  Retrieved July 6, 2006, from http://www.usaid.gov/locations/latin_america_caribbean/environment/docs/epiq/chap7/lac-guidelines-7-ecotourism.pdf