Move from adventure tourism to quality services proposed

(La Paz, May 28, 2010)-. After 12 months of fieldwork and a prior diagnosis, the Sustainable Tourism Development Strategy for Salar de Uyuni and the Colored Lagoons was completed. The study was funded by CAF through a non-reimbursable operation at the request of the Bolivian Vice Ministry of Tourism, and prepared by the Spanish firm Epypsa (Estudios, Proyectos y Planificación S.A) after being selected in an international bidding process.

"Tourism in Bolivia is a sector with interesting comparative advantages and high potential for development which could help reduce structural poverty in the country. However the productive and sustainable development of tourism depends not only on attractive tourist destinations, but also on a set of requirements such as good infrastructure and trained human resources," CAF director representative in Bolivia Emilio Uquillas said.

CAF promoted this strategy because it considers that successful development of this tourism destination would allow replication of the experience in other destinations with outstanding natural, historical and cultural attractions. "One of the advantages of the strategy developed is that tourism management must involve the communities, creating a sustainable and inclusive development for the destination," he said.

Competitive diagnosis

The consulting firm prepared a diagnosis of the competitive situation of the destination, which covered supply, demand side opinions, the market and comparison with other similar competing tourism destinations.

The consultants covered 5,000 kms in the territory, carrying out consumer tests of lodging, tours, and restaurants, and compiling an up-to-date inventory of resources and services. In addition, six workshops were held in Uyuni and Tupiza with local actors in the tourism sector.

To meet current demand and the offer of operators at international level, the firm conducted 1,000 surveys on Incahuasi island, Uyuni , Tupiza, Sucre and La Paz of tourists of various nationalities, and studied the characteristics of the products of over 200 operators. They also collected and analyzed documents on tourism and related sectors at national, departmental, regional, joint and local level and interviewed over 100 local institutions and tourist agents.

The main conclusions of the diagnosis reveal that management of the destination has weaknesses, such as excessive concentration of visits to specific resources, environmental impact in the areas where they are located, poor condition of roads and paths, non-existent tourist information offices, lack of public services in rural areas and deficiencies in urban centers. At the level of food, lodging, guides and tour services, several opportunities for improvement were identified.

Salar de Uyuni and the Colored Lagoons have attracted a growing number of international tourists; since 2000 over 500,000 people have visited the area, generating significant revenue for the region and other destinations in Bolivia. However, this important influx of tourists - the diagnosis reports – is more due to the tourists’ own decisions than to a planning process, which has led to some unwanted effects such as excessive concentration of visits to a few resources and imbalances in the share of benefits generated by tourism.

Another conclusion shows that 65% of the tourists who visit these attractions are aged under 30 and have limited purchasing power, so low prices associated with adventure tourism predominate with deficient services, especially food and lodging.

The study shows that in recent years the price of services has fallen due to fierce competition between operators to the detriment of quality. This is one of the difficulties in attracting segments with higher purchasing power, longer stays, or raising the cost of services.

Participative strategy

The proposed strategy aims to exploit Bolivia’s tourism potential with a view to increasing and broadening social and economic benefits to the communities and people through commercially viable initiatives which create quality employment and improve living conditions.

In this respect, the development strategy recommends improvements and attracting older tourists with higher disposable income by integrating the cultural component into the positioning and replacing the expectation of "living an extreme adventure at cheap prices" with "enjoying a unique experience with quality services."

Actions are proposed to enable the country to compete with other destinations in Peru and Argentina, along with improvement and diversification of the existing offer, creating new products, "broadening" the destination and spreading the influx over more periods of the year, strengthening institutions and the system of relations between agents, and improving the knowledge and professionalism of borrowers, as well as promotion and marketing, and financing and development of eco-investment.