KOTA KINABALU: Carol Patterson, coauthor of the book "Saving Paradise: The Story of Sukau Rainforest Lodge", believes the book will be of interest to those in the tourism industry or similar situation as the lodge's founder and her coauthor, Albert Teo.

I think this is because the story of Sukau Lodge is a good one and that it talks about how eco?tourism can help to show a community as well as how it can make money from sustainable sized tourism," Patterson said.

The proboscis monkeys and pygmy elephants are unique species and that gives Sukau an advantage over other communities that may not have that kind of diversity, she said after the book is launching yesterday.

"The reason I got involved and I like the book is because it talks about some of the lessons that Albert has learnt in its 10 years history," she said, adding that it also deals with successes and failures.

"It is not a perfect story (as) Sukau has a lot of challenges and there are still lots of things that have to be dealt with," Patterson pointed out.

"But it is no different from other communities which struggles with the same issues."

The book chronicles the story of Albert's work to build and operate Sukau Rainforest Lodge and it includes many of his photographs of the wildlife found in the area.

Patterson also included the lodge visitors' comments in the book as they inspired her, she said, adding: "I like to read the visitors' comments...to see how a visit to Kinabatangan changes a person and how enthusiastic they are even after a brief encounter of just two or three days. "

Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister cum Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister, Tan Sri Chong Kah Kiat said Sukau Rainforest Lodge was developed as a model eco?lodge in line with the State Government's ecotourism objectives and with WWF Partners for Wetlands Vision for Ecotourism objectives in the Lower Kinabatangan floodplains.

"It adopted an integrated and proactive approach to encourage the preservation of habitat and biodiversity and sustainable use of resources through education and creating awareness among visitors, staff and the local community on conservation," he said in a speech read by Assistant Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment, Datuk Karim Bujang.

At the same time, Chong said that through best practices, the lodge showed efforts to minimize consumption, waste and pollution as well as ensuring that local communities also derive benefits from the development.

The efforts and achievements of Sukau Rainforest Lodge have helped the Kinabatangan Region earn an international reputation as a premier ecotourism icon, he said, adding: "I have no doubt that this publication will further enhance the Kinabatangan Region as a world class ecotourism product."

Source : The Borneo Post 14th April 2005

KOTA KINABALU: Tourism businesses must move beyond the provision of goods and services to 'experiences' in order to-thrive in the competition today, said the president of Kalahari Management (Canada) Carol Patterson.

"When we talk about experiences, it is usually not where you stay or eat (during your vacation), but how you feel that matters.

"You have to go up a level, instead of just offering goods and services. You have to sell that 'one of a lifetime' experience, to make a vacation special," she said in her paper entitled Ecotourism Experiences: The Next Generation of Travel Products at the Borneo Ecotourism Conference 2005 .in Pacific Sutera Hotel here yesterday.

Carol was providing insights to participants of the ecotourism industry on how to make their business work- by creating experimental tour for visitors to the State.

Stating changes in consumer preferences today, Carol stated that mass customization is a concept rapidly growing in the West while highlighting an interesting fact that 80 percent of consumer decisions are made through female influence.

Although older people are interested in vacation activities that are active and engaging, most people are still less interested in 'roughing it'," she added.

This is where ecotourism comes in, said Carol, where people often associate the term with suffering or, inconvenience.

Do most people find the idea of a holiday in nature appealing?

Well, according to Carol, most Malaysians would not think of taking ecotourism-based vacation as they had the assumption that they would suffer.

Therefore, a good travel experience would have to be authentic, educational, memorable, fun, convenient and planned, she stated.

Authentic features would allow the tourists to try on other peoples' lives during their travel experience, while educational feature would mean to provide, visitors a chance to learn new skill, information on natural history or culture, or maybe more about that person's inner self (their ability to do something).

"To make an experience memorable, we have to provide behind the scene opportunities ... to let them participate. There should be a chance to meet the local people, and agencies should prepare custom itineraries or activities even to a small group of two people," she said.

Allowing time/ flexibility for spontaneous addition or changes to itinerary is one of the important keys of adding 'fun' in travel, and this might also include positive element of surprise.

As for convenience, travel agents have to assist in minimizing time for visitors to organize their trip, plus provide suggestion of activities while offering value-added services like souvenirs.

A good travel experience should also be planned, meaning they should have great guides, who know how to handle overseas visitors, while adding interpretative scripts - staging of any particular experience that is worked out between the guides earlier for the visitors, Carol stressed.

Local partnerships should also be built, she added, where for instance with any craftsmen or specialty suppliers who could sell products such as Borneo handicrafts.

"To, build an Experiential Tour, one must have a theme for the tour, the Must See areas which is consistent with the theme chosen, behind the scenes opportunities, a chance to get in the act, meet the local people, evening activities when the night falls, and activities and products unique to your community," she added.

Source : The Borneo Post 13th April 2005 by Sandra Sokial