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Canoe tour veteran goes it alone
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CANOE TOUR VETERAN GOES IT ALONE
John Gray's new company aims to put the environment
before profits
Bangkok Post, May 9, 2002
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John Gray, seacanoe founder, has left SeaCanoe and formed
a new company, John Gray's SeaCanoe.
Currently at 57 years of age, the kayaker first explored caves and lagoons
or hong in the labyrinth of islands in Phang-Nga Bay in 1989 and introduced
the ever-first unique experience or exploring nature up close to nature
lovers from around the world.
Since the scores of kayaking operators have sprung up. Caves and lagoons
that used to be devoid of human presence started to get crammed from
overcrowded tourist traffic.
"Who cares about nature as long as they can make a lot of money,' he said
sarcastically.
Committed to marine tourism since he was in Hawai'i, chairing the coastal
tourism steering committee of the State's Marine resources Master Plan, he
introduced kayaking as an environmentally-sound way of exploring nature
usually inaccessible by traditional ways.
Mr. Gray says Ecotourism is not successful in Thailand because authorities
are too irresponsible. Plus, a Thai mentality cherishes freedom. That means
people can go as far as they can without rules. They can do anything they
want without proper control or regulation.
"As long as people think like that, all that happens is that when you go
into nature, the other people follow and destroy the nature you are trying
to protect," he said.
"The case I see is like a woman. You chase up after a woman all the time.
And she runs away all the time. That's what money is like. She has the
control." he said.
"What if people are not thinking about the money but the quality of nature?
The western countries think like this and make a lot of money out of
Ecotourism. (In Thailand), many think let's make al little money and kill
nature. They try to make as much money as the can today.
So, they are always poor," he said. When his company grew, he did not
realize he was making competitors out of his own company. Asked if he is
going into the same trap of producing more competing operators? He said he
picks and chooses better staff now. "I'm really worried that Thailand is not
ready for Ecotourism," he said.
He blames it on irresponsible government control. On the side of an
operator, you have to know how to kayak, to protect the nature; you have the
purpose of going more than just making money. While successful in the
Philippines, Fiji and Hawai'i, his Ecotourism concept in Thailand still has
not been achieved. The problem is the business is too successful until the
concept cannot be maintained. Decided to leave and form his own company, he
does not have any dreams of getting big. "My concept is how your can create
economy for a community." He revealed.
His idea is to train poor fishing villagers on how to provide an
adventure/nature-learning kayaking experience to tourists, while their
community and natural resources are sustained. Let them operate under the
same franchise. We will help them with marketing through our company's
website. In this way, each village will not been in competition with one
another like is happening now. "One day my staff will go back to their
village and introduce this, maybe by way of co-operation. " he said. Until
now he has not been committed to any particular community. He says he has
two particular communities to work with in mind and needs time too go
step-by-step. He challenge is not to keep this new company on the go.
I believe there should be two companies to protect the consumers," he said.
From his experience, he learned that any responsible plan involves input
from four 'publics' - academic, government, commercial and local users. When
it comes to issues of environmental impact and carrying capacity, the
academics rule. . They set the qualifying standards for the commercial
sector, and the local users hold open public hearings to issue the permits -
or not. In a perfect world a single "labor of Love" operator with a permit
(concession) would maintain quality and set a fair price under monopoly
conditions. However, we are a microscopic minority; He said all professional
standards should be required of all Ecotourism activities, just like other
professions. Commercial birdwatchers should know their birds; rock climbers
should know their rocks; and kayakers should know how to kayak - and be able
to prove it. In pristine concessions, standards of stewardship and natural
history should be set by academics and required by government and local
users before a permit is issued.
Carrying capacities should be set, not by the TAT or local communities, but
by scientists and academics. All too often in Thailand, somebody sees a good
idea, overlooks the years of experience and skills required to reach a
commercial level and opens a business as an "Ecotourism operator". If these
opportunists are granted a monopoly permit, - which could never happen in
the West because they do not meet professional criteria - they will let
quality drop and raise their prices, and the consumer will have no
protection. If visitors want to see a particular area or species, the will
have to go with a shabby, over priced operator with a monopoly on the
concession. He explained, by having two professionally qualified operators,
competitive market pressures force them to maintain quality and competitive
prices. If the experience is competitive in the world market, they will have
no problem maintaining full carrying capacity and the can become friendly
competitors working together to protect the sustainability of their
concession. |
