5^th European Ecotourism Conference was held in Tbilisi, Georgia, 10-12 September. The event provided a platform for a range of stakeholders throughout the continent and beyond – to present their research results and development activities on ecotourism and sustainable tourism as well as to start discussions on the work of the European Ecotourism Network. I wrote more about the conference topics and workshops here.

Keynote speakers and moderators at EuroEco18 from (left to right): Belarus, Estonia, Germany, Japan, Poland, Montenegro, UK, Portugal and Romania.

I moderated several sessions during the first two days. My first session, “Ecotourism as a Tool for Community Development in Destinations”, focused on the role of ecotourism as an instrument for poverty reduction as well as on the role Protected Areas play in Economic Development. Here is a short speech I made to introduce this session:

Good morning. Thank you all for coming to this first sessions of EuroEco18 that will focus on Ecotourism as a Tool for Community Development in Destinations.

My name is Marta Mills and I have the pleasure to moderate this session together with Nata from the Georgian Ecotourism Association. I first came to Georgia 17 years ago for a month as a tourist, and as it was pretty unusual to visit Georgia back then, I was welcomed like a queen by the local people wherever I went. I have immediately fallen in love with the amazing landscapes, food and wine but most of all with the incredible Georgian hospitality that I have experienced even in the poorest areas of the country. Since then I have been back and forth 16 times, closely observing the social, economic, and environmental impacts of the rapidly developing tourism.

Even back then in August 2001, the local people wanted more tourists because they saw tourism as a way to help reduce poverty, particularly in the most remote regions such as Svaneti. I don’t know for sure, but I think it is safe to assume that the Svans I talked to in 2001 saw tourism and ecotourism as an additional source of income, not the main way to earn a living. But this is what has happened to a significant number of them. In many destinations across Georgia, ecotourism has proven to be an effective tool for community development and poverty reduction.

As the impacts of tourism are both positive and negative, ecotourism represents a great challenge for making destinations better place to live, better place to visit and for developing the local economy at community level. Building environmental and cultural awareness and respect; minimizing negative physical, social, behavioural, and psychological impacts of tourism, and generate financial benefits for the local community and businesses are not easy, and different destinations use different approaches, methods and indicators to develop, manage and monitor ecotourism.

During this session, we will listen to speakers from Poland, Romania, Finland, Georgia, Italy, Turkey and others who will share case studies and best practice examples from their destinations. We will also look at the relationships between tourism and Protected Areas, and their role in social and economic development in Georgia and other places. We all know how important it is to gather and disseminate transnational experiences and learn from each other to ensure that tourism development is sustainable. So over to you now. We wish you a very informative and enjoyable session. 

Didi Madloba.