WWF Conservation Travel Scorecard

Challenge

How can the World Wildlife Fund use tourism to strengthen coastal and marine conservation while creating tangible benefits for local communities?

Solution

To identify where tourism could most effectively support conservation and community livelihoods, WWF Madagascar partnered with Solimar International to assess conservation tourism opportunities across Madagascar’s priority coastal and marine sites.

Using WWF’s Conservation Tourism Readiness Scorecard, Solimar evaluated ecological conditions, community stewardship, tourism readiness, market potential, and national enabling factors. The assessment focused on five priority sites: Ankazomborona Mangrove Area, Ampasindava / Nosy Hara National Park, Kivalo Mangrove Area, Nosy Sakatia Sea Turtle Snorkeling Area, and Lokobe Nature Special Reserve.

Solimar combined desk research, site visits, stakeholder consultations, and market analysis to understand each destination’s conservation value, current tourism offer, readiness for investment, and potential to generate benefits for communities. The resulting report provides WWF with site-specific recommendations, national policy guidance, and a practical roadmap for advancing community-based conservation tourism in Madagascar.

Results and Impact

5

Priority conservation sites assessed

100

Stakeholders involved

5

National-level recommendations developed

Lessons Learned

1.

Conservation Tourism Works Best Where Communities Have a Clear Role – The assessment found that community associations are already protecting mangroves, supporting visitor experiences, guiding tours, preparing meals, and sharing local culture. Strengthening their formal rights and business capacity is essential to ensuring tourism revenues reinforce conservation outcomes.

2.

Strong Biodiversity Alone Does Not Create a Tourism Product – All five sites have globally significant conservation value, from mangroves and seagrass beds to sea turtles, lemurs, coral reefs, and marine protected areas. However, many sites still need improved infrastructure, interpretation, safety standards, visitor services, and market visibility before they can attract consistent tourism demand.

3.

Market Linkages Are Critical for Community Benefit – Sites near established destinations such as Nosy Be and Diego Suarez have strong potential, but community enterprises remain poorly connected to tour operators and visitor markets. Solimar recommended familiarization trips, operator partnerships, improved promotional materials, and integration into existing tourism circuits to help communities reach paying visitors.

4.

Joint Ventures Can Connect Conservation, Communities, and Private Investment – The report identified opportunities for community–private sector partnerships, including mangrove dining experiences, lodge partnerships, guided excursions, conservation fees, and sub-concession models. These approaches can raise service quality, attract investment, and ensure communities share in tourism revenues.

5.

National Systems Must Support Site-Level Success – Site-based tourism initiatives will not reach their full potential without broader enabling conditions. Solimar recommended a national conservation tourism brand, stronger concession systems, a sustainable tourism investment conference, voluntary certification, and a global marketing campaign to position Madagascar as a leader in community-based conservation tourism.

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    “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow‑mindedness“

    Mark Twain | American Writer

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    “Travel shows that all people cry, laugh, eat and die; by demonstrating this shared humanity, travel introduces the idea that if we try to understand each other, we might become friends“

    Maya Angelou | American Poet

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    “We initially travel to lose ourselves and then to find ourselves. Travel opens our hearts and eyes and teaches us more than newspapers ever will.“

    Pico Iyer | British Novelist

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    “Move. as far as you can, as much as you can. Across the ocean, or simply across the river. The extent to which you can walk in somebody else’s shoes–or at least eat their food–it’s a plus for everybody. Open your mind. Get up off the couch. Move.“

    Anthony Bourdain | American Chef

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    “One’s destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things“

    Henry Miller | American Novelist

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    “There is no future for travel and tourism if you’re not welcomed and embraced by the local community.“

    Talib Rifai | Jordanian Businessman

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    “Tourism does not go to a city that has lost its soul.“

    Arthur Frommer | American Writer

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