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During the training, many exercises were designed for the local community’s engagement. This is also a good way to get information from local people about their community. One of the exercises in tour itinerary development training encouraged participants to plan a full-day tour incorporating remarkable landscapes and food within their local area. However, it must be noted that the participants might have different views on what ‘remarkable’ or ‘beautiful’ is.
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Training workshops also offered a good opportunity to identify ‘local champions’ who willingly initiate the delivery of tourism services and products within their communities. An assessment of infrastructure conditions and strengths / unique features was conducted to see how their stories feed into the overall theme / routes of the itineraries (majority of which was built upon the inputs of the training participants).
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Not only the excursion activity but the storytelling was also important in delivering / conveying the message to customers. The training participants / ‘local champions’ were asked to create an outline of what they want to introduce to the guests.
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Complete tour itineraries were adjusted, finalised and ready for testing.
The initially designed itineraries feature both conservation work of the PA and the community. However, the residents' knowledge of the conservation side was not sufficient for tour guidance. Therefore, the focus was shifted to the community aspect of the tour itineraries. This approach allows visitors to learn about the life of local communities in harmony with nature in the PAs while highlighting the conservation work at the grassroots level. The community members are also more confident in telling their own story from their perspective.
Most participants were still hesitant to engage in tourism initiatives without initial support in finance. In this case, having local champions who proactively showed their interest in initiating something new in the community really helped. Oftentimes, they might already have other livelihood tools, or the household’s finances are taken care of by their children or their spouse. It is those local champions who will play an important role in defining / shaping tourism in their community and being an example for other community members.