Project Sustainable Tourism by Steve Diasio

Sustainable Tourism Project

January -‐ April 2014 Kamal Hakim khakim@c.ringling.edu Nandin-‐Erdene Bayaraa nbayaraa@c.ringling.edu Luke Nassiff lnassiff@c.ringling.edu Nathan Schumer nschumer@c.ringling.edu

Dedication We would like to thank Explora Caribe Tours for providing us with this fabulous opportunity to work on such a great project that will surely be a main focus for many years to come. We had a wonderful time coming up with new and exciting ideas that can be implemented fairly easy right from the start. We would also like to thank Dr. Steve Diasio, our professor who made this all possible, as well as the Ringling College of Art + Design librarians who tirelessly helped us with our research effort.

Table of Contents INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION STUDENT BIOS PROJECT SCOPE OBJECTIVES TIMELINE DELIVERABLES

MISSION STATEMENT SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGIES RECOMMENDATIONS MEASURING PERFORMANCE MASCOT RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

ABOUT EXPLORA CARIBÉ SWOT ANALYSIS COMPETITORS INDUSTRY DADA 5-‐FORCES MODEL EXAMPLE OF SUSTAINABILITY IN TOURISM CONCLUSION

CONCLUSION CITATIONS

Introduction

• • • • •

Introduction Student Bios Project Scope Objectives Timeline

Introduction

For this class we have had the opportunity to work with Explora Caribe Tours, a tourism service provider that aims to build awareness of the environmental, economic and social issues impacting sustainability in the Yucatan Peninsula. Throughout this project we are examining Explora Caribe competitors using five force models, examine Explora Caribe itself with SWOT analyze and how they are currently doing now as well as how to do better in future. Also we are creating iconic mascot for Explora Caribe to be more recognizable tourism service provider to customers. Over the course of this project, we used various project management skills that we have acquired throughout the semester to make the Explora Caribe the most eco-‐ friendly tour company in the region, based on what other companies are doing world-‐wide. Our goal was to come up with new, innovative ideas that bring awareness for Explora Caribe and educate people about the environment. Throughout our research, meetings with Fernando and Rod, we come up with several different ideas, including new designs and an overall more eco-‐friendly environment.

Student Bios

Kamal Hakim is a third-‐year student studying Business of Art and Design at Ringling College of Art and Design. He is a passionate, creative businessman who brings focus and leadership to people with creative ideas to fulfill their dreams. He finds the best in people and funnels their creative ideas.

Nandin-‐Erdene Bayaraa is third-‐year student studying Business of Art and design at Ringling College of Art and Design. She has participated in many projects with real clients such as Tervis Tumbler, Microsoft, Hasbro. She has many different sets of skills such as managing projects, leadership, teamwork and more.

Luke Nassiff is a third-‐year student studying Business of Art and Design at Ringling College of Art and Design. His accomplishments with this program have been influenced by the opportunities provided to him by the College’s reputation. He sees himself as one-‐day owning a successful art-‐ inspired business.

Nathan Schumer is third-‐year student studying Business of Art and design at Ringling College of Art and Design. He wishes to establish his own business after graduation, which will work for mankind by benefiting and enriching all who he encounters.

Project Scope • Create a platform that communicates Explora Caribe’s mission, values, and practices of sustainability (internally and externally). • Develop strategies or activities for Explora Caribe to grow its market share. Objectives • To gain experience helping a client to clarify their strategies and develop new growth opportunities by applying strategic planning tools. • To research and present findings about the Yucatan Peninsula, tourism, and sustainability. • To add to the student’s portfolio of projects that can be used to show your skills and experiences to potential recruiters. • To successfully connect theoretical concepts and tools of strategic planning and apply them to internal and external initiatives for a client. Timeline • Jan. 13- Introduction to sustainable tourism project • Jan 27- Meeting with Explora Caribe via Skype • Feb 03- Research check-in presentation • Feb 10- Consultation meeting with the librarians • Feb 17- Final research presentation • Mar 03- Midterm presentation • Mar 24- Develop strategies or activities to grow market share • Apr 21- Final presentation

Deliverables

• • • • •

Mission Statement Sustainability Strategies Recommendations Measuring Performance Mascot

Mission Statement Our mission is to appeal to a new audience as well as provide the company with new ways to make sustainable principles and practices a part of day-‐to-‐day life, as well as capitalizing on our existing consumer base from the cruise industry. Sustainable tourism is perhaps the most prominent feature of contemporary tourism.

Sustainability Strategies

CO2-‐Eating Lamps

Explora can install street lamps that eat up CO2. It will be a great head turner and bring attention to Explora’s business and their sustainable values. Our atmosphere is filling up with CO2 and we to be the major cause of that. So, the generally accepted solution seems to be cutting back on emissions as quickly as possible, but implementing such cuts is problematic because everyone has to agree to do more, which essentially ends up costing a lot of time and money. There is an alternative to such measures. Instead of relying entirely on cutting emissions, lets start taking CO2 out of the atmosphere. Biochemist Pierre Calleja is doing so. Calleja has developed a lighting system that requires no electricity for power. Instead it draws CO2 from the atmosphere and this uses it to produce light as well as oxygen as a byproduct. The key ingredient to this eco-‐friendly light is Calleja’s Algae. Installing these CO2 lamps makes them impossible to be ignored. Even in your own facilities can use these lamps. Make them colorful and the algal light will help bring attention to Explora’s sustainability efforts. Use the mascot on the lamps to embody the values of Explora. Perhaps even emit free Wi-‐Fi from these artistic lamp installations to direct customers to your website. Then providing the community ways to purchase everything they would want to buy off of you for their time in the Yucatán Peninsula. The lamps consist of algae-‐filled water along with a light and battery system. During the day the algae produces energy from sunlight that is then stored into the batteries. Then at night the energy is used to power the light. However, as the algae can also produce energy from carbon, sunlight isn’t required for the process to work. That means such lights can be placed where there is no natural light and the air will effectively be cleaned on a daily basis as well as illuminate the surroundings.

Bicycles

Have Explora provide bikes to get around when on vacation. Just like the Dutch. Create an environment with bikes that’ll reduce fuel emissions for tourist travel and enable an invigorating experience when moving around the Peninsula. A great plus about bicycling in the Yucatán is that you can load your bike onto the busses and vans when going to other towns and villages. If enough people switch from polluting transport modes to a bicycle there is a zero emission form of transport when in use. This promotes reduced carbon emissions that sets an example to the rest of Mexico and improved air quality in the city. When Explora provides bicycles to bike around, make deals with local restaurants that if they have an Explora Caribe bike, they get a discount. Thus supporting local food. Ideally serving local and more organic sustenance to eat. Pollution is about more than just emissions. Noise levels in cities can also be considered a pollutant, with associated long-‐term health risks from stress. In fact, cities will always use energy, emit carbon, and make noise. However, a city that depends on bicycles more than other automated forms of transportation will require less energy, emit less carbon, and make less noise. This will better the Yucatán experience for everyone.

Fry Power

What if Explora Caribe could refuel their cars at a restaurant instead of a gas station? Some enterprising environmentalists have discovered that restaurants will gladly give away their used fryer oil, since they usually have to pay to dispose of it. Make deals with local businesses to receive this fuel or have them pay you to do so. Make sure these businesses are supportive local food in the peninsula. In return you can recommend their restaurants for Explora tourists to eat at. Supporting the local economy. This oil is filtered and used to run Explora vehicles that have been converted to run on vegetable oil. Your exhaust might smell like fries (no joke), but you’ll be recycling, emitting less CO2, and saving yourself money. When doing this, install valves that will allow you to switch from diesel to veggie once the veggie oil is warmed up and manual switch on the dash so you can activate the changeover. You also need to purge the fuel lines of veggie oil by running on diesel a few minutes before turning the engine off. The conversions can cost around $1,500 to $3,000 for parts and $1,500 for labor, although there are more expensive options for features like automatic shifting from diesel to veggie after the car starts up. But the mechanically inclined can also purchase do it yourself conversion kit for $595. That’s the super cheap option and these kits can be purchased from Greasecar.com and Frybrid.com. These modifications “tend to lengthen the lifetime of the older diesel vehicles.” This is presumably because newer vehicles are made to comply with higher emissions standards.

Environmentally Friendly Sunscreen

Have Explora Caribe Support sunscreen that is biodegradable and does not harm the coral reefs. There are many commercial sunscreens that are harmful to the sea reefs. Those sunscreens affect the grass beds and mangrove growth, on which creatures are dependent. Studies are out that have proven most commercial sunscreens are bad for the coral and for people’s health. There is tons of sunscreen that is washed off into the reef areas every year. Using these sunscreens while you are on land or sea means that the chemicals will eventually end up as wastewater that leaches into the sea it comes in contact with the coral. Guests should come prepared and be able to buy some harmless sunscreen in the Yucatán Peninsula. Either buy it from Explora, or be directed by Explora as to where to get some non-‐harmful sunscreen. Given that the coral reefs bring in a great deal of tourism to the area as well as food from it’s marine life, supporting the good sunscreen can be seen as a long term investment for businesses in the Yucatán to have a brighter future.

Recommendations Throughout our research we found out that there are so many opportunities for Explora Caribe to grow their market share and expand their customers. 1. Explora can engage with their customers better through keep contact with them after they are done with tour, send them e-‐card, discount offers for customers who have already taken tour with them. As well as before the tour they can also contact with them through e-‐mail and send how excited they are to meet them, send the itinerary of the tour also during the tour they can be very friendly and offer help to after the tour if they come back to Cozumel, show that they really care about their customer and engage them with fun activities. 2. Having an online presence and using social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram also have their own official website would really help them to be more engaging with their customers and they can easily connect, contact and share their thoughts, opinions, give feedback to their staffs and as well as their future customers will know what they do, and can find out about different tours, activities from online. 3. Also their mascot is their brand name, identity. During the tour, Explora can give away prizes and souvenirs including perhaps an Explora Caribe t-‐shirt, hat, awesome button pins, and postcards with their mascot. It would be great opportunity for them to advertise their company and be different from other competitors. As well as they can send these items to customers before they arrive and show them that they care, they are excited to have them. Also even after the tour people would keep it and use those items and it would be word of mouth advertising for Explora Caribe.

Measuring Performance In order to measure the performance of these strategies when implemented, Explora Caribe must: 1. Annually monitor the online presence with customers’ feedback, experience and collect it and discuss in annual meetings. And during the time talk about their staff members’ success, how they are making the tour more energetic, influencing customers with good vibe. 2. Explora Caribe can measure their success from its employees. If employees are happy to working in the environment, excited to spread the word of Explora Caribe in good way, and also Explora Caribe recognizes their hard work and reward them it can show their success. Because when employees are happy to work in the environment it will highly influence on their working performance and invite other customers to take the tour with the company. 3. Explora Caribe can measure their success through their sustainable tour quality and comparison from its competitors. Because their competitors are doing tours, however they are not being sustainable and encouraging people to be environmentally and sustainable. They can measure through, how successful the sustainable tour was, how the tour influenced and inspired people? 4. Also through their innovative ideas, implementations on their tour can measure their success and shows their creativity, innovation of normal/standard tour of their competitors.

Mascot PEDRO THE PELICAN “Totally A Fun Time!” Two pelicans, Pedro and his wife Maria, are enjoying their new home in the islands of the Caribbean. A group of crocodiles approaches their habitat and eats all their eggs. Pedro wakes up to find Maria and all of the eggs missing. Pedro develops a small injury in his right wing because of the damage from the attack, which limits his ability to fly and he is captured by a group of sailors. After a hazardous escape from the boat, he sees a warm and friendly-‐looking cruise ship. Seeking a nice place to go, he makes the small flight over to the ship and rides it all the way to the port-‐of-‐call in Cozumel, where he now calls home.

Pedro the Pelican

Below is a collection of sketches that highlight our process in developing and designing the mascot, Pedro The Pelican:

And, here are some of our inspirations:

Research & Analysis

• • • • • •

About Explora Caribe SWOT Analysis Competitors Industry Data 5-‐Forces Model Sustainability in Tourism

About Explora Caribe Explora Caribe Tours is a leading enterprise that was founded in 1996 with the firm intention of being the best tour operator in the region by creating adventurous shore excursions. Explora Caribe began operations with the first Jeep tour in Cozumel gaining wide acceptance for their quality, guest service and innovative market ideas. Since then, Explora Caribe has expanded its operations to provide shore excursions to tourists in some of Mexico’s most unique locations such as Costa Maya, Progreso, Playa del Carmen, Chiapas, and Huatulco. Explora Caribe Tours currently operates for over 15 cruise lines. These include the high-‐end cruise lines such as Azamara, Silver Seas, Noble Caledonia, Residensea, Sea Cloud, among others. They are proud to also host shore excursions with the more unique lines such as Cunard, Disney Cruises, Costa Cruise, Aida, MSC, Holland America, Celebrity among many others and we also operate in the mass market of Carnival Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, Norwegian Cruise Line, etc. In conjunction with their cruise ship based operations, Explora Caribe works closely with many hotels and up to 30 travel agencies. They are committed to providing their clients with safe and fun adventures through quality service and respect for the environment operating in a way that allows them to reach all those who visit Mexico’s most important tourist destinations.

SWOT Analysis A SWOT analysis is a common tool for business analysis and marketing planning. The letters stand for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Marketing managers using a SWOT analysis may list columns on a sheet a paper for each category, with intersecting rows for the marketing manager’s company and relevant competitors. This creates a chart showing how the companies match up.

Weakness

Strengths Green Certification Top beach destination Location Culture Resorts Cruise Industry Good Service Attractions

Opportunities

SWOT

Expand in sustainability Introduce more eco-friendly tours Provide internet access on the island Develop a mascot More environmental activities Explora Caribé app Use more bikes Local Organic Farming

No Internet presence Limited to cruise lines A lot of tourist companies around the area Tour company does not offer many languages Hard to access if not through cruise Not memorable Can be more eco-friendly

Threats Competitors in the area (Vallarta Tours, etc.) Weather/Climate change Harming the wildlife Endangering species Water quality contamination Preserving culture + heritage Taking away natural resources

Competitors Explora Caribe Tours faces some competition in the Caribbean regions in which they operate including Altournative, Vallarta Adventures, and Wild Tours, among others. Altournative’s mission is to provide wonderful and unforgettable experiences through expeditions full of nature, culture and adventure. Vallarta Adventures offers a wide selection of adventure-‐based tours and excursions with things to do for people of all ages -‐ from zip lines to swimming with dolphins, whale watching to snorkeling, scuba diving to an award winning dinner show. Wild Tours has put together a bundle of great combos for guests to do during their stay in Cozumel, including excursions packaged with hotel combos.

Industry Data Demographics are quantifiable statistics of a given population. Also used to identify the study of quantifiable subsets within a given population which characterize that population at a specific point in time. Through our research, we found that one of the most toured destinations in the world was the Caribbean/Eastern Mexico region. Over the past decade, this portion of the globe has garnered around fifty percent of the overall tourists who choose to vacation on cruises.

(“Cruise Lines International Association”)

Another Interesting point we found was that not many people go on cruises alone. They tend to have somebody with them, whether that be a spouse or their entire family.

(“Cruise Lines International Association”)

5-‐Forces Model This model identifies and analyzes five competitive forces that shape every industry, and helps determine an industry's weaknesses and strengths.

Example of Sustainability in Tourism

In Westchester County, NY, there was an abandoned farm that was left to rot for many years. Facing demolition, the community decided they should do something about it. They gathered together and came up with a plan to make the farm sustainable and use it as a tourist destination for people from around the world to come and learn how to implement eco-‐friendly and sustainable measures in their own businesses. Some key points include: • All the farm's activities promote green solutions to environmental problems facing Westchester County residents. • Young and old come to the farm to learn about organic gardening, greenhouse design and maintenance, green roofs, rain barrels, rain gardens, composting toilets, healthy eating, and jam and pickle making. • In 2009 volunteers and staff grew 7,000 pounds of organic vegetables. Thirty percent were sold at a farm stand that has become one of the Hilltop Hanover's most popular features. The remaining 70 percent were donated to local food banks.

Conclusion

• Conclusion • Citations

Conclusion In Conclusion we have dedicated a great deal of time, effort and research into our project to help Explora Caribe effectively profit while creating a sustainable advantage within their industry. We proposed to implement our ideas of harmless sunscreen, fry power, bicycles and CO2 eating lamps into Explora Caribe business practices. This in turn will help reinvent their tourism threw sustainability, while creating a balance in the dynamics of the Yucatán. Threw this balance, it will increase efficacy and effectiveness while reducing harm to its surroundings of the Peninsula.

Citations “Cruise Lines International Association 2011 Cruise Market Profile Study.” Web. 10 Feb. 2013. http://www.cruising.org/sites/default/files/pressroom/Market_Profile_2011.pdf "Cruise Passengers Visits, Caribbean, 2012." Cruise Passengers Visits, Caribbean, 2012. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2014. "Cozumel Mexico, The locals." YouTube. 06 Nov. 2013. YouTube. 02 Feb. 2014 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQ7AqNBEKbk>. Higgins-desbiolles, Freya. "The Elusiveness of Sustainability in Tourism: The CultureIdeology of Consumerism and its Implications." Tourism and Hospitality Research 10.2 (2010): 116-29. ProQuest. Web. 23 Jan. 2014. Jayawardena, Chandana. "Mastering Caribbean Tourism." International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management 14.2 (2002): 88-93. ProQuest. Web. 29 Jan. 2014. McIntire, Lynnette. “Seven Sustainability Trends to Watch for in 2013.” The UPS Upside, 30 Jan. 2013. ‹ http://blog.ups.com/2013/01/30/seven-sustainabilitytrends-to-watch-for-in-2013/> Moore, Molly. "Divers, Cruise Ships Battle Over Cozumel's Coral Reefs; Mexico Wants New Pier to Draw Tourists." The Washington Post (pre-1997 Fulltext): 0. May 25 1996. ProQuest. Web. 29 Jan. 2014. Morello, Robert. "Analysis of the Cruise Line Industry." Small Business. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2014. Moser, Alfredo. “Bottle Light Inventor Proud To Be Poor,” Gibby Zobel. Web. BBC New Magazine. 12 Aug. 2013. ‹http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23536914> "Overview of Cruise Industry." Overview of Cruise Industry. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2014. Rice, Paul. “Why Social Sustainability Should Be Part of Every Business.” Fast Company. Web. 22 Jul. 2013. ‹ http://www.fastcoexist.com/1682494/why-socialsustainability-should-be-part-of-every-business> Sautter, E. T. and Leisen, B. (1999). Managing stakeholders: A tourism planning model. Annals of Tourism Research 26(2), 312-328. 14 Feb. 2014