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Dr. James Dawos Mamit - Deputy Minister of Tourism, Ministry of Tourism, Malaysia
Monday 7 November 11:20-11:40 - ASEAN and OCEANIA Tourism Forum

The Synergy Between Community Based Tourism and Ecotourism in Malaysia
Community-based tourism in Malaysia entails the participation of local communities, mainly the rural indigenous people, in the tourism industry. In this branch of tourism, the rural communities provide complete tour packages for tourists, such as accomodation, meals, tours of natural areas and activities for tourists in the natural environment, cultural shows, and learning activities of the community's traditional cooking and cultural arts. Since the indigenous communities generally reside in the rural areas, the locations of nature, i.e. the Tropical Rainforests, rivers and lakes, are just in their backyards. Thus, the activities of ecotourism is widely chosen as a tour package in the natural environment and forest ecosystems. The involvement of the indigenous communities in Community Based Tourism and Ecotourism is governed by their participation in the Homestay Programme. The Homestay Programme is a strategy devised by the Ministry of Tourism, Malaysia to enable the rural indigenous communities to gain economic benefits from the growing tourism industry in the country. In 2010 alone, the income derived from the Homestay was US$4.1 million from a total of 144 homestay destinations. The homestay destinations are the tradional villages of the indigenous communities where rooms are provided as accomodation for the tourists.

Biography
Education: BSc & MSc in Forestry; MSc & PhD in Environmental Management. Current Employment: Deputy Minister of Tourism, Malaysia since January 2010 Member of Parliament, Malaysia since November 1999. Previous Work Experience: Advisor of Environment to the State Government of Sarawak, Malaysia since 2001. Controller of Environmental Quality, the State Government of Sarawak, Malaysia 1993-1999. Principle Researcher in Forestry Department, State of Sarawak, Malaysia 1984-1992. Participation in International Fora: Member of Malaysian Delegation in UNCED 1992 (preparatory meetings 1991-1992), participated in negotiations in Convention on Biodiversity, UN Convention on Climate Change, and Forest Principles. Member of Malaysian Delegation in negotiation for the International Tropical Timber Act in 1993 under UNCTAD. Leader of Malaysian Delegation in the Asia Pacific Parliamentarians' Conference on Environment and Development since 2002.

Prof. Rowena Delgado - PhD Candidate and Researche, University of Melbourne, Faculty of Architecture Building and Planning
Monday 7 November 14:10-14:30 - ASEAN and OCEANIA Tourism Forum

Ecotourism Housing and Community: impacts of participation in *Gawad Kalinga Villages, Cam Sur Philippines
Studies reveal housing issues as one setback resulting from tourism. Indeed tourism take priority over the local residents’ needs and desires, pushing the locals aside. This predicament is in disparity with concepts associated with community involvement in ecotourism. However, studies on community-based ecotourism demonstrate how tourists are attracted to an experiential learning of local culture and how it contributes to the sustenance of the host community. This paper investigates Gawad Kalinga Villages in the province of Cam Sur Philippines, where housing provision for the poor and homeless residents are seen as tourist attractions. Findings demonstrate how the process of housing provides a model for upholding the principles of ecotourism, leading to the creation of new communities as well as the upgrading of existing ones. It is argued in this study that ecotourism may be improved if the housing process is integrated in the plans and policies for tourism development.

Biography
Prof. Rowena Santos-Delgado finished a Bachelor of Science in Architecture at the University of the Philippines in 1995, and a Master of Arts in Urban and Regional Planning in 2004. She was in the Architecture Faculty at the same University from 1999 to 2008, as well as a practicing architect. She had various research engagements concerning tourism and shelter programs in the region of Davao Philippines. Her interest on Gawad Kalinga's shelter programs has led her to do a research on the influence of housing strategies on ecotourism. She is now on her second year of her PhD by Research Degree in Architecture and Planning, under the supervision of Dr. Sidh Sintusingha and Prof. Catherin Bull of the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, University of Melbourne, Australia.

Prof. Ross Dowling - Foundation Professor of Tourism - Edith Cowan University
Monday 7 November 13:50-14:10 - ASEAN and OCEANIA Tourism Forum

Branding Issues in an Ecotourism Destination: the case of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo
This presentation reports on research carried out in Sabah with stakeholder groups to examine the processes of the State's destination branding in regard to ecotourism. Elements of consistency, clarity and realism were investigated where promotional tools accentuate the activities, experiences and key benefits of visiting ‘Destination Sabah’. The research identified the challenges faced by 37 public and private stakeholders of Sabah’s tourism industry via in-depth interviews. This process gave insight into the challenges faced by key stakeholders in their effort to create a unified branding vision for ‘Destination Sabah’. It revealed a gap between an ideal branding perception and reality. Key conflicts identified included the prefererred target market (Ecotourism versus Nature-Based tourism), a lack of integrated destination management (pollution and development in conflict with a Nature-Based product), the lack of community involvement, as well as a controlling, rather than, an involving, style of management from the top. It was recommended that ‘Destination Sabah’ re-assess its direction against its tourism resources, to identify those assets which appeal to clearly defined, well researched, target markets.

Biography
Professor Ross Dowling OAM is Foundation Professor of Tourism, School of Marketing, Tourism & Leisure, Faculty of Business & Law, Edith Cowan University, Western Australia. He is a co-founder and Deputy Chair of Ecotourism Australia; Board Member of Australia’s Coral Coast Tourism Marketing Board; Chair, Australia’s Geoparks Network; and Advisor to Cruise Down Under. In Western Australia he is Chair of the Forum Advocating Cultural and Eco Tourism (FACET) as well as a Council Member of the Royal Automobile Club and the Minister of Tourism’s appointee to the Council of the National Trust.

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Miss. Afsaneh Ehsani - Educational Manager, Avaye Tabiate Paydar (Ecotourism Institute)
Monday 7 November 16:10-16:30 - Indigenous Tourism Forum

Effects of Ecotourism Residences on Local Community
The present study is aimed at examining the impact of native residences (ecotourism cluster) on the local community. This article is based on the author's field observations and interviews with the local people living in Iran's ecotourism sites. As a model, 81 questionnaires were completed by local residents of Garmeh village who were somehow in contact with tourists. The author, as an ecotourism guide, has studied the positive and negative effects of native residences through organizing educational tours and talking to the host community in these regions. The findings of this field study suggest that existence of native residences in the studied rural areas have contributed to the enhancement and improvement of the quality of life of the local community. The positive impact of the native residences on these regions and in particular on Garmeh village includes the presence of women in social activities, their participation in the production of handicrafts, their empowerment for selling and marketing the handicraft products; equipping the village with more facilities, more attention paid to the needs of the village by the authorities etc. Poorly planned visits by tourists, inattention to the cultural and environmental considerations of the host community, unjust distribution of revenues, unhealthy competition among the members of the local community, increased price of land etc., are among the negative effects of the promotion of ecotourism in these regions.

Biography
Bachelor’s Degree: Biology -1994 - Shahid Beheshti University - TEHRAN
Master’s Degree: Tourism planning & Geography 2008 - Olum Tahghighat- Azad University -TEHRAN

Teaching Background:
- Teaching ecotourism in educational institute of tourism indust
- Teaching the leadership techniques in educational institutes of tourism industry
- Professor of tourism geography in Alameh Tabatabaie University
- bachelor degre

Publishes:
- Publish the Eftekhare Mandegar handbook(in tourism field) 2005
- Publish articles related to tourism in some tourism magazines

Presentations:
- Presentation in the first educational and specialized congress of Ecotourism (Iran-Tehran)
- Presentation about the relation between handicraft and ecotourism -Iran - Tabriz university
- Presentation in training course for experts of national committee of ecotourism about local community.

Professional and Research Backgrounds:
- Organizing 9 ecotourism guide training courses of and 4 cultural guide
- Organizing courses and workshop for children and their teachers about nature.
- Management, planning and executing the project of editing the educational booklet of tour guide training course
- Manager of the project of empowering of Qeshm Island’s women for marketing their handicraft and traditional arts
- United Nations Development Program/GEF/SGP
- Member of curriculum council of national committee of ecotourism

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Ms. Louise Faulkner - Manager Recreation and Tourism, Forests NSW
Wednesday 9 November 11:00-11:20 - Tourism: a strategic partnership for protected areas

Partnerships, People and Forests: a way forward for tourism in NSW State forests
Forests NSW (FNSW) is responsible for the sustainable use and management of over two million hectares of public State forests in NSW. In addition to its key role of growing and managing forests, FNSW is charged with promoting and encouraging the use of forests for recreation. Recently, FNSW embraced ‘tourism’ as an aspect of recreation and pursued nature-based tourism development via commercial partnerships. A proposed high ropes/tree-canopy development in State forest was trialled under the renewed ‘partnership’ approach, with significant environmental, social and economic benefits for all involved. An updated FNSW Recreation and Tourism Policy, and a new Tourism Strategy, incorporates and builds on the positive aspects of this trial.

Biography
Louise has worked in the areas of community partnerships, recreation and tourism with Forests NSW (FNSW) since 2007. She established the current FNSW state-wide recreation & tourism policy and developed improved processes for sustainably managing activities and events held on State forest. Prior to this she has managed sustainability and community engagement programs for both state and local government. Louise is particularly interested in balancing the sustainability of the natural environment with community accessibility and appreciation. She holds a Bachelor degree in Science and a Graduate Diploma in Natural Resources. Louise lives and works in Newcastle in the Hunter Region of NSW, Australia.

Mr. Frank Fisher - Inaugural Australian Environmental Educator of the Year [2007-8], Faculty of Design & Convenor, Graduate Programs National Centre for Sustainability, Swinburne University of Technology
Wednesday 9 November 12:00-12:20 - Urban Ecotourism: greening the destination

Doom(ed) Tourism and the Suppression of its Consequences
My paper will be by way of a compliment to the Australian Financial Review on its article “Paradise Loss: … we’re loving some of the world’s destinations to death.” [Boss, 10/2/10:49]. It was the first attempt i have seen, by a major daily in Australia, to counteract a particularly perverse anti-environmental trend: advocacy of “doom tourism”.

The level of self-interest and cynical manipulation of the public’s dawning green sentiments evident in the travel pages of our thoughtful daily papers has become - to an environmentally aware citizen - grossly indecent. In advocating travel to doomed ecological systems, there is no recognition that the travel itself generates greenhouse gases let alone many other negative environmental consequences. For instance the AFR's "Life & Leisure" cover story, 1-5/4/10, “Flightseeing Alaska” was typical. However, Fairfax press’ “Eyes to the white” [Age/Sydney Morning Herald: "Traveller", 9/1, p.3] really took the cake. It touted Antarctic overflights in an Airbus A380 which has now been added to the southbound fleet and, incredibly, a thoughtless glaciologist is quoted in the breakout, saying ‘Seeing [Antarctica] reinforces the idea that we are one globe and one environment’. S/he seems quite unaware of the tons of CO2 each person on that flight is responsible for. An “Imax” [large screen cinema] presentation followed by discussion with a few Antarctica-savvy scientists would be a more visually spectacular, informative and sustainable way of seeing Antarctica and just as “real”.

The “grossly indecent” contradictions lie in the failure to mention:
a) the environmental consequences of travel generally but, especially the travel associated with getting (by boat or air) to ecotourism’s destinations - thereby hastening their doom,
b) the cynicism associated with what I call the “junk (unrealistically low) offsets” offered by the airlines which are far below the offsets now recognised by even Australia’s Environment Protection Authorities.
c) the consequences of the (travelling) public’s on-site and in-person attention to the doomed destinations – accelerating their doom further, through trampling, litter and the many other complex effluents of high class hostelry.
d) the withholding-from-publication of letters such as this which attempt to raise these issues [i have tried Australia’s travel-section letters’ columns repeatedly].

35 years ago as a Swedish graduate environmental science student i visited the home of the Danish fishing fleet. We (students) tried to convince the fishermen of the consequences of their North Sea fishing behaviours and were laughed at. Today, there is no North Sea fishing fleet of any nationality. Must the tourism industry follow that path? Must it too kill the goose that for so long has laid its golden eggs?

Biography
Frank Fisher is Prof. Sustainability, Faculty of Design and convenor Grad.Sustainability programs Nat.C.Sust., Swinburne Uni. His work is based on the idea that humans create their expectations of the world socially and therefore can change them - socially. For a decade he was an electrical power engineer in Sweden, Switzerland and Australia; retrained in languages, geography and environmental science; was lecturer to assoc. prof. Env.Sc.and director Monash Uni. Graduate School of Environ. Sc. from 1978 to 2005; initiated various research & consulting centres (recently The Understandascope) and a 52.5MW windfarm at Ararat in Victoria.

His 50 years with Crohn's Disease and its consequences have lead to another life in consumer health advocacy (at any time working on some 12 local, state & national committees). He has two sons, a musician/fashion designer and an editor; his partner is an environmental scientist and farmer.

Inaugural Australian environmental educator of the year (2007-8).
Recent book: Response Ability: Environment Health & Everyday Transcend-ence, Vista, 2006.