News

FAM Trip Supporting Community Tourism in Uganda

07/09/10 – Kampala, Uganda

Batwa Trails, a look into Batwa life in the forest

The USAID-STAR (Sustainable Tourism in the Albertine Rift) Program, supported by USAID-Uganda and implemented by the Global Sustainable Tourism Alliance (GSTA) will be launching many private sector-based initiatives that focus on sales and marketing of community and conservation linked tourism in the Albertine Rift. During a recent tour operator survey, USAID-STAR and tour operators discussed visitors’ growing demand for authentic experiences with local people as a vital aspect of planning their vacations. This was followed up with the first of many Community Support FAM trips, the Batwa Trails of Bwindi and Mgahinga. The objectives of the FAM trips are improved community tourism enterprises, strengthened relationships between tour operators and communities, awareness from press coverage for both the tour operators and community tourism providers that participated. The intended results of the FAM trips are increased sales of the community product, increased enterprise revenue, increased household income from alternative livelihoods and decreased illegal incidences in the regions.

Six of Uganda’s biggest tour operators as well as three media representatives participated. With support from International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP), the operators visited two “in-development” community tourism products that provide visitors with an opportunity to learn about Batwa livelihoods while supporting them in preserving their cultural traditions as they adjust to their new way of life. After each product experience a reception was held and the operators participated in panel discussions to field questions from Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), IGCP, United Organization for Batwa Development in Uganda (UOBUD), Uganda Community Tourism Association (UCOTA) and Nkuringo Conservation and Development Foundation (NCDF) on their market knowledge of what their tourists would like. Their critiques will be taken and applied to the final developments of the two products, ensuring they are market driven and therefore sold competitively. In general the tour operators were so happy about the Batwa trail in Mgahinga and they are willing to start selling the product at the suggested amount of $80 to the tourists, the cave was the most exiting activity on the Batwa trial in Mgahinga.

Solimar International is a managing and implementation partner of the GSTA and the STAR-Uganda Program.

Click for more information about STAR-Uganda

Solimar & National Geographic Maps Create Alliance Providing Destination Media Solutions

07/01/10 – Washington, DC

June 2010 marked the beginning of an alliance between Solimar International and National Geographic Maps. This exciting initiative provides a means to promote sustainable tourism destinations with innovative destination media solutions such as online interactive mapguides, paper maps, multimedia integrated solutions and interactive atlas solutions. Mr. Jim Dion will lead the initiative and holds the role of both Business Development Associate for the Maps Division at the National Geographic Society and Vice President of Destination Media Solution for Solimar International.

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Central Cascades Mapguide Wins Award

07/01/10 – Eugene, Oregon

The National Geographic Central Cascades Geotourism MapGuide was presented with the Eugene, Cascades and Coast Partnership Award last month. The Award was in recognition of the collaboration between the project’s hundreds of partners, including National Geographic Society's Center for Sustainable Destinations, Travel Oregon, Rural Development Initiatives and numerous other agencies. These partners worked with several committees and work groups, and thousands of participating businesses across two states to create the printed Geotourism MapGuide and accompanying website, featuring dozens of businesses, landmarks and other attractions across Lane County. Todd Davidson and Kristin Dahl of Travel Oregon, one of the project’s collaborators, accepted the award on behalf of all the partners during the Travel Lane County Annual Industry Appreciation and Awards Dinner.

Click to read the press release about the award

Gorilla Documentary Wins Film Award

05/08/10 – Kampala, Uganda

A Ugandan documentary on mountain gorillas used in the 'Friend A Gorilla' campaign in late 2009 has won second place in the prestigious TourFilm Brazil International Tourism Film Festival. Uganda’s submission, a documentary, titled ‘Uganda: Friends of the Gorilla’, is a short film starring Hollywood celebrities Jason Biggs and Simon Curtis, and depicts a wildlife adventure in Uganda tracking mountain gorillas. The winning documentary was shot to raise publicity for Uganda’s mountain gorillas and awareness for conservation efforts. There are only about 780 mountain gorillas in the whole world, all located in Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Of these, more than half (about 380) are in Uganda.

The film was directed and produced by Rachel McDonald, and shot during the launch of the www.friendagorilla.org campaign in 2009. The film was first screened in December at Sony Studios in Los Angeles, California to great aplomb, attended by, among others, Chris Klein, Chelsey Handler and Rhys Coiro.

Solimar International is a managing partner of the USAID funded STAR - Uganda (Sustainable Tourism in the Albertine Rift) program.

For more information, visit www.friendagorilla.org www.star-uganda.org www.tourfilmbrazil.com and www.cifft.com

Gorilla & Hollywood STARs Build Conservation Awareness for Uganda

11/013/09 – Kampala, Uganda

In a bid to raise awareness of conservation at a national and global level as well as build Uganda’s image as a prime sustainable tourism destination, the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) with support from the USAID funded STAR - Uganda (Sustainable Tourism in the Albertine Rift) program, launched an awareness and promotional campaign, Friend-a-Gorilla (www.friendagorilla.org). The campaign uses social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) to inform people about the Gorilla’s activities and build awareness of these unique animals. People can ‘friend’ a gorilla, learn about their gorilla, see video’s and pictures, and get updates from the rangers on their activities. The program officially launched on September 26th and already has 13,000 followers on Facebook. The program was also covered by hundreds media outlets, including CNN International, USA Today and BBC News.

To assist UWA in this effort, STAR mobilized Hollywood stars Jason Biggs, Kristy Wu, and Simon Curtis, to help launch the campaign and act as Uganda’s spokespeople for conservation. The stars joined in the gorilla trekking as part of the launch along with the Uganda cabinet Minister of Tourism, Kahinda Otafire. Ultimately the campaign stands as a tool to achieve conservation goals while at the same time raising awareness and funds for conservation.

STAR - Uganda (Sustainable Tourism in the Albertine Rift) is a 5-year program of the Global Sustainable Tourism Alliance, started in August 2009 and Solimar International is the lead organization driving the program. The approach embraced by STAR is to build collaboration among tourism and conservation partners by engaging the whole tourism industry in the process and building momentum through catalytic activities identified by the partners. STAR was able to realize fast action by meeting with partners such as UWA, identifying quick activities that could build large-scale support and awareness and then injecting targeted assistance to help catalyze action by these partners. UWA had the great concept of Friend-a-Gorilla, STAR helped to take it to scale so that the program could have maximum impact for conservation.

Click for more information OR to 'friend' your own gorilla visit www.friendagorilla.org