Ecotourism Guide Training: What Makes t Effective?

Qwynne Lackey Author

03/04/2016 Added

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Second Place in the Masters category of the 2016 School of Natural Resources Elevator Speech Contest. Qwynne is a master’s candidate seeking a degree in Natural Resource Sciences with a specialization in Human Dimensions.

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[00:00:00.814]Something that has come into many things of the heart.
[00:00:02.995]I have a heart, you have a heart,
[00:00:05.541]and despite what social media tells us nowadays,
[00:00:07.562]even most politicians have a heart.
[00:00:09.582]Well, for ecotourism--
[00:00:11.660](audience laughs)
[00:00:15.224]Well, for ecotourism,
[00:00:16.095]an environmentally and culturally-responsible
[00:00:17.836]form of tourism,
[00:00:18.857]that heart is the eco-tour guide.
[00:00:20.730]Guides play a very important role.
[00:00:22.379]They educate guests,
[00:00:23.330]keep them safe and make sure
[00:00:24.701]they have an enjoyable experience.
[00:00:26.558]They also play a key role in minimizing the negative
[00:00:28.531]environmental impact of tourism.
[00:00:30.715]However, there is very little research outlining
[00:00:32.955]what type of training best prepared guides
[00:00:34.697]to play all of these roles.
[00:00:36.600]This past summer, I took on that challenge.
[00:00:38.817]I traveled to South Africa to research EcoTraining,
[00:00:41.958]one of the oldest and most reputable guide training
[00:00:44.005]programs on the continent.
[00:00:45.726]While I was there, I had the opportunity to go through
[00:00:47.840]a guide training course,
[00:00:49.000]seeing first-hand how guides learn how to handle everything
[00:00:51.380]from angry elephants to grumpy guests.
[00:00:54.027]I also had the opportunity to conduct surveys with
[00:00:56.338]and interview trainers, current and former students.
[00:01:00.498]Through this qualitative and quantitative data,
[00:01:02.348]I was able to gain valuable insight into
[00:01:04.229]the training philosophy and methods adopted by EcoTraining
[00:01:07.764]as well as the outcomes and limitations of their program.
[00:01:10.329]I'd like to share a couple of those key findings with you.
[00:01:13.649]First of all, EcoTraining students do not spend their day
[00:01:16.233]sitting in lectures.
[00:01:17.614]They spend six to eight hours a day out in nature,
[00:01:19.739]using all of their senses including taste
[00:01:22.060]to learn their trade.
[00:01:23.663]Trust me, you'll never forget why most animals
[00:01:25.694]do not eat silver cluster leaves
[00:01:27.297]after you've chewed on a couple.
[00:01:30.022]Another key characteristic of Ecotraining's program
[00:01:33.505]are it's instructors.
[00:01:34.863]During the course,
[00:01:35.443]students have up to 13 different instructors.
[00:01:37.684]Each one is different,
[00:01:39.019]but all are highly passionate and experienced guides.
[00:01:41.306]My instructors were so good at their job,
[00:01:42.966]they could make us as excited about species like lichen,
[00:01:45.067]or millipedes as they were about elephants and lions.
[00:01:49.006]Spending time with these instructors
[00:01:50.620]in this amazing environment has a huge impact
[00:01:52.523]on students.
[00:01:53.684]Most students reported having a stronger connection
[00:01:55.600]to nature, and a stronger desire to protect it
[00:01:57.956]after training.
[00:01:59.628]These impacts were also evident in the survey data.
[00:02:02.275]I found that once they become guides,
[00:02:03.610]most students practice environmentally-responsible behaviors
[00:02:05.607]most or all the time.
[00:02:07.267]I also found a statistically significant correlation
[00:02:09.473]between transformational leadership scores
[00:02:12.166]and their guiding competency scores,
[00:02:14.291]suggesting that once students succeed in training,
[00:02:16.868]they have a high potential to become leaders in the field,
[00:02:19.224]capable of influencing the environmental ethics
[00:02:21.075]of other guides and their tourists.
[00:02:23.838]So, based on my research,
[00:02:25.335]it's clear that EcoTraining's program produces
[00:02:27.389]competent guides that are motivated to put their heart
[00:02:29.330]into their career.
[00:02:30.872]This research is very important because if we can uncover
[00:02:32.765]how to create more training opportunities like this one,
[00:02:34.982]we will be able to keep the heart of this
[00:02:36.630]environmentally-responsible industry beating strong.
[00:02:38.848]Thank you.
[00:02:40.206](audience clapping and cheering)

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Ecotourism Guide Training: What Makes t Effective?

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