Overview
Covered by a lush rainforest, the Cardamom Mountains in Southwestern Cambodia are home to many unique flora and fauna, including threatened species. Although ecotourism and community-based ecotourism products are well established in Cambodia, there remains a largely untapped potential to increase its market share. There is a substantial potentially for developing rural ecotourism across the Cardamom Mountains landscape, which alongside related non-timber forest product value chains, can realize inclusive growth for rural communities. This will improve income opportunities and overall well-being for local residents, enhance their access to key resources and information, and support biodiversity conservation of natural resources. Additionally, this development will contribute to spreading tourists across multiple parts of the country, reducing overtourism, encouraging longer lengths of stay, and increasing tourist expenditures.
The goal of this project is to prepare a six-year Regional Ecotourism Development Plan for three priority destinations that are to be developed as hubs for ecotourism, based on in-depth understanding of local conditions. Solimar International, in collaboration with Emerging360, will conduct an extensive analysis of the existing circumstances in the destinations, future potential and recommended interventions, benchmarking with destination development models from around the world. The plan will rely on validated desk and field research, involving a large number of local stakeholders in order to create a shared vision for ecotourism development, which will facilitate its implementation in the future. As part of the analysis, appropriate investment opportunities will be presented, as well as the potential positive and negative social and environmental impacts that may result from these interventions.
Major Activities
- Formulated a Detailed Work Plan and Methodology: Developed a comprehensive work plan and methodology to guide project implementation and stakeholder engagement.
- Conducted Desk Research: Reviewed existing ecotourism visions, destination development plans, and other relevant tourism strategies to assess their feasibility, implementation status, outcomes, and applicability to the assignment.
- Conducted Primary Field Research: Assessed existing tourism products and experiences; identified current and target visitor markets; evaluated infrastructure and connectivity constraints; analyzed opportunities for socioeconomic impact; and examined environmental governance considerations.
- Conducted Key Informant Interviews: Engaged a diverse range of stakeholders across the ecotourism value chain to identify key concerns, constraints, challenges, opportunities, and success factors affecting destination development.
- Facilitated Participatory Consultation and Validation Workshops: Led interactive stakeholder workshops to test preliminary concepts and recommendations, gather feedback, and refine proposed solutions throughout the planning process.
- Produced Assessment Reports and Plan Drafts: Prepared assessment reports and draft planning documents for review and validation by the client and key stakeholders.
- Finalized the Regional Ecotourism Development Plan: Completed the Regional Ecotourism Development Plan and supported the development of highly visual destination visions for each of the priority tourism destinations.
Results
- Developed a Regional Ecotourism Development Plan: Produced a regional ecotourism development plan that recommended ecotourism models aligned with the context of the protected areas and built upon existing local livelihoods.
- Prepared Investment Plans: Developed investment plans that prioritized and sequenced innovative, actionable, and market-based interventions related to private-sector and community participation, infrastructure development, destination governance, environmental management, and other key investments necessary for sustainable tourism development in the priority destinations.
- Established a Shared Vision for Sustainable Tourism Development: Facilitated the development of a shared vision for the strategy development and implementation process that was supported by a broad cross-section of stakeholders.
- Strengthened Natural Resource Management: Contributed to strengthening the management of the Cardamom Mountains’ rich and diverse natural capital through sustainable tourism planning and conservation-focused development strategies.
