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

KOTA KINABALU: Sukau, one of the State's attractions, has good potential for eco-tourism, said Professor Ross K. Dowling of Edith Cowan University (EDU), Australia.

When met on Monday after visiting Sukau, Dowling however pointed out that there are some good points and bad points to its potential.

"The good points is that you have a diverse wildlife and rainforest experience. Second it is very unaffected and is a genuine experience," he said.

"There is not too much built infrastructure there which is good (as) genuine eco-tourists don't seek that," he said and added that the lodges operated by the tour operators there are low keyed and small scaled which is good.

He rated the quality of experience out there in Sukau as 'good' and spoke highly of his guides at Borneo Eco's lodge.

Some of the guides were extremely good and would stand out anywhere in the world, he enthused.

Dowling, who is EDU's Foundation of Tourism, School of Marketing , Tourism and Leisure, was one of the key speakers at the Borneo Ecotourism Conference 2005 (BEC) that is being held here from April 12 to 13.

Touching on the negative points, he pointed out that Sabah has much potential in eco-tourism and the prospect is not only in Sukau as the State has other attractions such as Danum Valley and Maliau Basin .

"The downside of Sukau is that I saw lots and lots of boatloads of tourists going to the same spot (to see the proboscis monkeys) and this affects the caring capacity issue there," he said.

According to him, the environment might stand 100 people being in one spot and looking at the rainforest from the river as there is not much impact on the environment but the social caring capacity of the tourist won't tolerate that.

Genuine eco-tourists, he said, if they are having a wilderness experience, they want the perception that they are the only ones there.

"So where you've got for example like a river with lots of branches and everyone goes into one particular one, is stupid. It should be regulated and (though) it is still in the same rainforest you'll feel that you are the only ones there," Dowling added.

The second thing that caught his attention and disappointment was that he saw guides lounging in the boats with their feet up and worse, smoking.

"(Smoking is) Not acceptable anywhere in the world. That absolutely would never be tolerated if we were in a natural environment (and) the last thing they (eco-visiting tourists) want to see," he stressed.

"If (it is) local people smoking it is fine but if you are on an eco-tour, smoking is taboo it is against the environment," he said and pointed out that smoke belching engines used by some tour operators on the river cruise in Sukau is also a problem that needs to be addressed.

The operators use two-stroke engines instead of four-stroke engines and when revved up, emits blue smoke, he said.

Genuine eco-tourists who see such a thing would never ever go back there. They would not support it and they will tell other eco-tourists not to go there, he stressed.

Because of the crowding issues and the perceived lack of personal and professional respect for the environment given by the companies and the guides, they would not go back, Dowling said.

The competition is so tough in eco-tourism around the world that the company's service and product have to be at a very high level, he said.

Source : The Borneo Post 13th April 2005