USAID & Sustainable Tourism: Training
Course for Field Officers
February 19 - 25, 2006
A seven-day training course in Sustainable Tourism
for USAID field staff from all regions, presented by the EGAT Bureau’s
cross-sectoral and interagency Sustainable Tourism Working Group. The training will:
- increase understanding of the basic principles of sustainable tourism and knowledge of the tools
and techniques available;
- develop capability to analyze whether tourism would be a good tool, and to identify entry points
for utilizing tourism to accomplish Agency goals;
- explain how to approach tourism project design and implementation; outline activities that build sustainability; and
- illustrate realistic expectations about what can be accomplished in 3–5 years, with examples of indicators for measuring success.
Tourism is now generally recognized to be one of the largest industries in the world. It has grown rapidly and almost continuously over the past twenty years, and is now one of the world’s most significant sources of employment and of GDP. Tourism particularly benefits the economies of developing countries, where most of the sector’s new tourism jobs and businesses are being created. This rapid growth has encouraged many developing nations to view tourism as key to promoting economic growth.
USAID is increasingly using tourism programs and activities to achieve Agency goals of reducing poverty and improving livelihoods in the world’s less developed countries. USAID sees sustainable tourism development as having enormous cross-sectoral potential for accomplishing strategic objectives related to economic growth and poverty reduction, biodiversity conservation, and natural resources management, and it is viewed as a powerful tool for addressing other important cross-cutting agendas such as gender equity, global health, education, and local governance.
The training will be held at the Ngurdoto Mountain
Lodge, midway between Kilimanjaro Airport and Arusha, Tanzania’s
“safari capital.” The lodge is located within a 140-acre
coffee plantation adjacent to Arusha National Park, with spectacular
views of Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Meru. Field trips will take us
out to Tarangire and Lake Manyara National Parks to explore community-based
tourism initiatives, see the newly constructed visitor facilities
at both parks, and experience an evening wildlife drive.
For more information, please contact Roberta Hilbruner (rhilbruner@usaid.gov) or Carol Hansen (chansen@nric.net)
To register, please submit a completed registration form.
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