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Organization type: Contractor
Profile:
Nathan Associates provides innovative tourism consulting services to developing countries that help destinations make optimal use of their environmental and cultural resources, while respecting the socio-cultural traditions of local communities and providing economic benefits to communities, businesses, and national economies through responsible tourism planning and development.
Areas of Sustainable Tourism (ST) expertise:
- Tourism development assessments
- Tourism planning – nationally, regionally, and locally
- Tourism policy development and reform
- Tourism product and service development
- Tourism industry competitiveness
- Small and medium enterprise development and improved market access
- Institutional capacity-building
- Workforce development
- Tourism investment promotion and investor mobilization
- Economic and financial analysis of tourism projects
- Tourism infrastructure assessments, economic analysis, and interventions
- Destination marketing and promotion
- Monitoring and evaluation
Regions worked:
- Africa:
- Asia and the Near East:
- Federated States of Micronesia
- Mongolia
- Sri Lanka
- Europe and Eurasia:
- Latin America and the Caribbean:
- El Salvador
- Guatemala
- Panama
USAID projects:
- Northern Mozambique Tourism Project
In early 2005, Nathan Associates undertook extensive fieldwork in the three northern provinces of Mozambique—Cabo Delgado, Nampula, and Niassa—to design a long term, multimillion dollar project to support the development of the tourism industry in Northern Mozambique. The project’s objective is to increase tourism arrivals and expenditure through the promotion of a Northern Mozambique tourism product by attracting investments, creating jobs, and building the capacity of local service providers to respond to the expected growth in the tourism industry. The project will expand the quantity and quality of tourism services and products provided and promote preservation of the environment and cultural/historical resources that make Northern Mozambique so appealing as a destination. The project will create a basis for a major tourism industry in Northern Mozambique by attracting niche market segments interested in diving, bird watching, game fishing, whale watching, hunting, mountain (Inselbergs) climbing, culture, and adventure trails. In addition, and based on conservation activities planned during the implementation of the project as well as on-going underwater archaeology around Ilha de Mozambique, SAVE (Scientific, Academic, Volunteer & Educational) and other segments of the international tourism market will be targeted to ensure that sizeable tourism traffic is generated into Northern Mozambique. This will establish Northern Mozambique as an emerging destination and thus redress the current situation where tourism visits are mainly to destinations in the southern provinces of the country. It will also lay the foundation on which a large and diversified tourism market will be built.
- Sri Lanka Competitiveness Program
Nathan Associates is working with Sri Lanka’s tourism industry to implement a competitiveness strategy that aims to reposition Sri Lanka as a destination for distinct, high-value products and services by: (1) improving the mix of tourism products; (2) upgrading tourism offerings; (3) modernizing the industry's organization and key institutions; and (4) reforming select tourism and investment policies. Examples of interventions that Nathan Associates is supporting include the development of a best-practices ecolodge in the Sinharaja Rainforest of southern Sri Lanka. They have supported the management, curriculum development, and strategic planning of the Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management (ITHM), to help the skill level of the industry reach international standards and to ensure that the school’s programs reflect the tourism industry’s workforce development needs. Nathan Associates also worked to develop and promote Sigiriya, Sri Lanka’s cultural heritage icon, into a world-class destination.
In the wake of the tsunami that devastated Sri Lanka’s coasts in 2004, USAID provided additional funding to Nathan Associates to develop and implement a global marketing campaign to revitalize the tourism industry and convince tourists (particularly in India, Europe, and North America) that Sri Lanka is still a prime tourist destination and has much to offer to all types of tourists. This destination marketing campaign is directed at tourists, travel agents, tour operators, industry experts, and the media. The project is working with counterparts in the tourism industry, the Sri Lanka Tourism Board, Sri Lankan Airlines, and the local advertising industry on three project components: rapid response and tourism recovery, improving and strengthening the public-private synergy, and tourism and communications capacity-building. The campaign will incorporate messages spotlighting Sri Lanka’s diversity and will appeal to nature, culture, history, and adventure enthusiasts.
Nathan Associates has also worked with the tourism industry on physical damage assessments and a recovery plan to assist workers and families living and working near tsunami-damaged hotels. The incomes and livelihoods of these people were in jeopardy from the drop in tourists during the peak season, and many suffered personal damages from the tsunami.
- Croatia Competitiveness Initiative and Croatia Enterprise Support Project
Nathan Associates was awarded the Croatia Competitiveness Initiative and is currently implementing a follow-on project, the Enterprise Support Project, which is preparing Croatia for the international marketplace by working to: (1) remove barriers to investment; (2) strengthen public agencies that provide services to business; (3) improve the strategic positioning of selected industry clusters; and (4) develop public understanding of the importance of competitiveness. Nathan Associates worked with the tourism industry to draft a competitiveness strategy with concrete implementation plans to overcome regulatory and operational constraints and to capitalize on market opportunities. The tourism cluster brought together representatives from the tourism board, restaurants, food producers, airline and ferry boat companies, tour operators, and hoteliers countrywide. The project has supported the development of a “Certificate of Authentic Tourism” for companies that develop and preserve unique Croatian products. This criterion of preservation has been integrated into a credit program offering support for refurbishment of structures and tourism properties.
- Mongolia Competitiveness Initiative
Nathan Associates implemented The Competitiveness Initiative (TCI) in Mongolia, a three-year project that began in 2000. Supporting the tourism industry, Nathan Associates worked with companies to develop new events to attract visitors year-round while developing Mongolia as an adventure travel destination, strengthening the Mongolian Tourism Association (MTA), and building relationships among tourism-related organizations. Mongolia is a unique destination for travelers, owing to its exceptional wilderness, rare wildlife, fascinating nomadic culture, and rich history. For tour companies, tourist camps, and tourism-related organizations, Nathan Associates has provided technical assistance and training in product development, marketing, and quality and service improvements. It also provided tour companies with one-on-one assistance in developing new products, marketing, defining their image, writing business plans, and participating in international travel fairs. TCI emphasized improving the skills of guides, tour operators and managers, drivers, cooks, and hotel staff—all service quality improvements that strengthened Mongolia’s tourism product offering. By developing practical training-of-trainers courses, Nathan Associates has built capacity in the industry to continue quality and service improvements.
- Ghana Tourism Evaluation
Nathan Associates staff conducted an evaluation of the USAID-funded Natural Resource Conservation and Historic Preservation Project (NRCHP) in Ghana. The NRCHP has been supported with grants and activities from USAID for over a decade, with the purpose of conserving Ghana's natural resources and preserving important historic heritage sites in the country. The evaluation team was asked to look at several aspects of the NRCHP. First, the team needed to determine if an NGO, the Ghana Heritage Conservation Trust (GHCT), had built the institutional capacity necessary to carry out its mandate and to assume full responsibility to manage the assets and activities of the trust endowment, funded by USAID. The evaluation also looked at the effectiveness of consolidating conservation and preservation activities that began in Phase I of the project (1991-1998), into the Second Phase (1998-2001)—for example, the continuation of historic preservation, and efforts required to sustain the conservation of Kakum National Park. In conducting the evaluation, the team focused on the economic impact of the entire project from 1991-2001, looking for successes or failures in the linkages developed between conservation and heritage tourism, and economic development. A key objective of the exercise was to estimate the direct economic benefits and costs of project-funded tourism development activities within the Central Region of Ghana and nationwide, as well as the potential benefits and costs of tourism development in the future.
Additionally, Nathan’s UK subsidiary, Emerging Markets Economics (EME), brings tourism experience from projects that include:
- Caribbean Region: Tourism Investment Fund (2005)
- Jamaica: South Coast Sustainable Development Plan (2002-2003)
- Jamaica: Master Plan for Sustainable Tourism Development (2000)
- Ghana: Overview of Prospects of the Tourism Sector
- Development of Investment Fund for Caribbean Tourism Industry
- Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Trade Policy Project in support of the Regional Negotiating Machinery (RNM) in Barbados (ongoing)
- Bhutan: Strategy for Sustainable Tourism Development
- Botswana: Tourism Plan (1987-1989)
- East Africa: Review of Tourism Sector (2001)
- West Bank-Gaza: Feasibility Study for Craft Village in Bethlehem (1997)
Recent ST partnerships and collaborations:
- Aurora Associates International
- Cargill Technical Services
- Colombo University
- Empresa Portuaria Quetzal
- Federated States of Micronesia
- Ghana Heritage Conservation Trust
- Independent Management Consulting Services
- International Finance Corporation
- JE Austin Associates
- Kenan Institute Asia
- Mongolian Tourism Association
- Peradeniya University
- Sigiriya Heritage Foundation
- Sri Lanka Airlines
- Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management
- Sri Lanka Tourism Board
Contact:
Nathan Associates Inc.
2101 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 1200
Arlington, VA 22201 USA
Phone: (703) 516-7700
www.nathaninc.com
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