- 3 years ago
These case studies showcase individuals from diverse backgrounds who have achieved remarkable success in their respective fields, hailing from Bhutan, Goa, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka
#Outlook #ResponsibleTourism #Tourism #RTSummit2018 #Travel #Goa #Bhutan #Bangladesh #SriLanka
#Outlook #ResponsibleTourism #Tourism #RTSummit2018 #Travel #Goa #Bhutan #Bangladesh #SriLanka
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00:00 I'd like to invite on stage Mr. Kinga Wangdi from the Royal Society for Protection of Nature, Bhutan,
00:00:08 to talk about their community-led Bhobjika Valley Project,
00:00:12 where the locals have taken it upon themselves to promote and conserve the biodiversity and culture of their valley.
00:00:19 Ladies and gentlemen, please put your hands together for Mr. Kinga Wangdi.
00:00:23 [Music]
00:00:50 Hello. Hope all of you are awake. As the anchor has rightly mentioned, you know, normally it's very difficult to keep people awake
00:01:01 when your presentations are just after lunch. So I was very thankful to the organizers here today.
00:01:08 It was very good that you had a very, you know, interactive session after a heavy lunch, you know.
00:01:17 So that, I hope, as the anchor mentioned, you know, I hope that the activity helped me keep you awake.
00:01:23 But nonetheless, you know, my presentation, as already introduced, you know, it may not take long.
00:01:33 Actually, I have a lot of slides to share, but I was strictly instructed to keep within 15 minutes,
00:01:40 so I have to live with it, that time limit provided to me.
00:01:44 Well, thank you so much. Once again, I would like to thank the organizer, Outlook, for having me here
00:01:51 and giving me this opportunity to, you know, share the experience that we have from Pobjika.
00:01:57 Before I start with my experience sharing, I would like to, you know, very briefly introduce my organization.
00:02:05 My organization, you all, yesterday over the dinner, we were having some conversation with the colleague from India
00:02:14 and Afghanistan, as well as, you know, from Nepal and others, and we were saying that people are a little confused about my organization.
00:02:22 Today here, we have a house full of tourism experts, you know, who are working with tourism and all kinds of things relating to tourism.
00:02:29 But my organization, as you may come to know about, you know, is not all about tourism promotion.
00:02:39 The most important, you know, focus that we have is the environment conservation in Bhutan.
00:02:47 As you all know, Bhutan is already known for good environment policies.
00:02:52 Environment conservation activities are very active, and as it is, Bhutanese are very sensitive to environment.
00:02:58 So, yeah, with this, I will briefly introduce my organization.
00:03:03 My organization name is the Royal Society for Protection of Nature.
00:03:07 It's a small organization.
00:03:09 It's taking some time, sorry.
00:03:15 This is the outline. Before I go to the introduction of my organization, this is my presentation outline.
00:03:23 I would like to briefly introduce RSBN, introduce to Phobjika, that is the focus area for my presentation today here.
00:03:31 I will also talk about the community-based sustainable tourism, we call it in Bhutan.
00:03:36 And, you know, there are various names being called to this program.
00:03:40 Some call it community-based tourism, some call it urban-rural-based tourism,
00:03:45 but for us, we choose to call it community-based sustainable tourism, because this is coming from the community themselves.
00:03:52 I will also highlight small, little issues that we have learned over the period of time while implementing this program.
00:04:00 We have come across some issues and challenges.
00:04:03 So, very briefly, I will touch on the issues, and of course, there is no question-answer session.
00:04:07 I'm sorry for that Q&A session.
00:04:09 Yeah, this is the logo of my organization, Royal Society for Protection of Nature.
00:04:17 In between, you see two birds, that is the black-necked rain, with which we initiated our program way back in 1987.
00:04:26 So, we are 30 years old now, so we have recently celebrated 30 years in conservation.
00:04:32 My organization was established in 1987 under the royal command of the fourth king himself.
00:04:38 He is a very pro-environmentalist.
00:04:40 He has been rewarded with a lot of awards for being very sensitive to the environment,
00:04:48 and he has been the main proponent of all the gross national happiness in Bhutan.
00:04:54 At the same time, he has been focusing so much on environment conservation in Bhutan.
00:04:58 We registered in 2010 under the civil society authority of Bhutan.
00:05:06 Prior to that, we didn't have any entity looking after civil society organizations,
00:05:12 so we registered under the Companies Act of the Kingdom of Bhutan, with a special clause on non-profit entity.
00:05:19 So, our focus mostly, you know, we try to complement the royal government's effort in conservation.
00:05:25 This is our vision.
00:05:27 As you can see, you know, I would like to also share what my king, our king of Bhutan, used to say.
00:05:34 He always used to say that we have not inherited the environment from our forefathers.
00:05:39 We have borrowed it from the future generations.
00:05:42 So, as it is, you know, we have to hand it over to future generations.
00:05:46 As much as we have the right over the environment, we have our future generations do so.
00:05:52 So, therefore, you know, our vision is for future generations,
00:05:57 we want to provide an environmentally sustainable society for them to live in.
00:06:02 And this is our mission, to inspire individual responsibility
00:06:07 and actively involving them in conservation through, you know, research, education,
00:06:12 as well as, you know, our livelihood opportunities that we are providing.
00:06:16 So, under these livelihood opportunities, we work on the community-based sustainable tourism.
00:06:21 Yeah.
00:06:22 So, where do you work?
00:06:24 Obviously, in Bhutan.
00:06:25 We are not going outside Bhutan because we are the national organization.
00:06:29 And the yellow square one is the headquarter in Thimphu,
00:06:32 and then the green one is our field office in Bhutan.
00:06:36 So, we have in the east, south, and the central.
00:06:39 And Phobjikha is next to that yellow square box.
00:06:44 So, Wangdi, where you can read, this is a political map of Bhutan.
00:06:47 Okay, our focus.
00:06:50 I will not go in detail about our focus, but we have three pillars,
00:06:55 three main programs at RSBN, conservation and sustainable livelihood.
00:07:00 We have environmental education and advocacy,
00:07:03 and then biodiversity research and species conservation.
00:07:05 These are our main focus.
00:07:07 And as you can read, there are a number of activities being implemented
00:07:10 under these three main pillar programs that we have at RSBN.
00:07:17 Tourism.
00:07:18 I will, as I am instructed to talk only about Phobjikha, you know,
00:07:22 I will not really dwell on the tourism sector in Bhutan.
00:07:26 So, this is just to give an outline.
00:07:29 Tourism is one of the most important sectors in Bhutan, under the service sector.
00:07:34 As you can see, in 2016, we have over $73.4 million as a contribution to GDP
00:07:42 from the tourism sector, which is a very huge proportion from the tourism sector.
00:07:47 So, with this brief description about my organization and the tourism sector in Bhutan,
00:07:53 I would like to welcome you to the key area for today.
00:07:57 Welcome to Phobjikha.
00:08:00 This is the signage you will see on the way to Phobjikha.
00:08:03 This is the signage put up by the Phobjikha community themselves.
00:08:07 You can also read that CVST group.
00:08:09 This is the main coordinating group in Phobjikha.
00:08:13 This coordinates all the CVST programs,
00:08:15 of course, under the guidance of my organization, Royal Society for the Protection of Nature.
00:08:20 This is Phobjikha Valley.
00:08:23 I don't know how beautiful you may look at it,
00:08:26 but to me, you know, this is a paradise all the time.
00:08:30 Because I work there, I've been there many times,
00:08:33 and I work there, so I always want to be there.
00:08:35 And this, as our preceding earlier presenters have mentioned,
00:08:39 this is a common pool of resources we have in Bhutan.
00:08:42 You know, this belongs to the community as a whole.
00:08:45 This does not belong to any individual.
00:08:47 This belongs to the community themselves.
00:08:50 So therefore, you know, we are promoting tourism,
00:08:54 I mean, as a tourism destination in Bhutan.
00:09:00 Taking care of this common pool of resources,
00:09:02 we have this group already formed.
00:09:05 So this is the Gandhi Phobjikha Environment Management Community.
00:09:09 This group is the custodian of this common pool of resources in Phobjikha.
00:09:13 They take care of this whole resources, social, culture, economics, and everything.
00:09:18 It's been taken care of by this group.
00:09:20 Without this group's consent, nothing will move in Phobjikha.
00:09:24 Again, this is Phobjikha.
00:09:28 We have natural resources intact.
00:09:30 This is one of the tourism resources we have.
00:09:33 This is beautiful Phobjikha Valley.
00:09:35 The green, white valley you see is wetland, measuring 2,227 hectares.
00:09:45 And recently this has been declared as Ramsar site
00:09:48 and brought to the international highlight to conserve this area.
00:09:54 This is also the largest wintering ground of black-necked crane.
00:09:58 We have a number of black-necked cranes arriving.
00:10:00 I'm sorry for the typo.
00:10:02 The figure is quite wrong here.
00:10:05 We had 504 black-necked cranes this winter.
00:10:09 This is black-necked crane.
00:10:12 I don't know whether you have seen this, but this is a majestic bird.
00:10:16 We have so much respect for this bird,
00:10:18 and the communities are even more respecting this bird.
00:10:21 Because of this bird, communities are working so hard
00:10:26 to prepare a very enabling environment to welcome this bird.
00:10:30 So every winter we get no less than 500 birds in Bhutan.
00:10:35 And they are flying from Tibet.
00:10:37 And I'm pretty sure that the Indians also have birds in Ladakh as well.
00:10:43 Next one we have very diverse flora and fauna.
00:10:47 I mean, sorry, flora and fauna, these flowers.
00:10:50 Of course you have to be on right time to see these flowers.
00:10:54 To see black-necked cranes, you have to be there sometimes
00:10:58 in October till March, mid.
00:11:01 So you will see black-necked cranes.
00:11:03 The flowers, of course, it starts flowering from April till June.
00:11:08 You will see beautiful flowers.
00:11:10 Even towards the autumn site, you will also see a lot of wildflowers.
00:11:14 These are all wildflowers, and of course the leopards.
00:11:16 You will not sight it that easily because that is not a zoo.
00:11:20 So it's also dangerous to go and hunt for, I mean, look for the leopards in the wild.
00:11:25 Very wild leopards.
00:11:28 Culture and festival, needless to discuss, you know,
00:11:31 as Bhutan is a landlocked country, isolated by so many mountains,
00:11:36 and we are landlocked, therefore every small place has their own culture
00:11:41 and festivals being organized within their communities.
00:11:44 So there are a lot of festivals organized by community themselves.
00:11:48 So these are one of the important tourism resources that we have.
00:11:52 And the left lower one is the Black-Necked Crane Festival,
00:11:55 which is hosted every year by the CVST group in Phobjikha.
00:11:59 And on 11 November, coinciding with the birth anniversary of the fourth king of Bhutan.
00:12:05 So therefore, you know, this is getting very popular internationally.
00:12:10 So this year alone, during the Black-Necked Crane Festival,
00:12:13 we had around 700 international tourists coming solely for the Black-Necked Crane Festival.
00:12:21 That is just for one day program.
00:12:24 And then, just to highlight, in 2017, October to December,
00:12:30 we had around 7,000 visitors in Phobjikha.
00:12:37 And then communities.
00:12:39 We have very supportive communities, they are helping us, you know,
00:12:42 conserve the environment in Phobjikha.
00:12:44 This is not in the paddy field or not in their farmland, it's in the wetland.
00:12:48 And they are preparing the ground for the Black-Necked Crane's arrival.
00:12:53 Normally this is organized sometimes in October.
00:12:57 So our communities from Phobjikha, they go to the field and they go to that wetland,
00:13:01 they prepare the roosting area for Black-Necked Crane.
00:13:04 This particular area is being used by Black-Necked Crane to roost at night.
00:13:10 These are some of the community members, you know, trying to build a bridge for themselves.
00:13:15 And that is basically to conserve the wetland that we have in Phobjikha.
00:13:19 Otherwise, you know, these farm tractors are using it as and when,
00:13:23 I mean, they are cruising through all parts of the wetland
00:13:27 and there's a lot of chances that they might destroy the wetland altogether.
00:13:31 Therefore, the community themselves, they initiated, you know,
00:13:35 having a designated route for the tractors to fly.
00:13:38 And at the same time, wherever possible, they are building bridges.
00:13:41 And other development activities are all coordinated through the community themselves.
00:13:49 This is one important aspect that I highlight every time.
00:13:53 And most of you must have been to Bhutan, and this is part of Bhutan.
00:13:57 You know, you see a lot of stray dogs in Bhutan.
00:13:59 And even in Phobjikha, you know, you have a lot of stray dogs.
00:14:02 So our communities are trying to reduce the impact of stray dogs on the Black-Necked Crane.
00:14:08 That is the main tourism resource that we have in Bhutan.
00:14:11 So this is the sterilization campaign, you know, organized by a community
00:14:16 with the help of the livestock department in Phobjikha.
00:14:19 So even the monks, you know, from the monasteries are volunteering to get the dogs sterilized.
00:14:26 The main objective is to reduce impact on Black-Necked Crane by reducing birth rates.
00:14:33 Environment-friendly development, I think we had a very short discussion yesterday over the dinner as well.
00:14:39 You know, RSPN, my organization, is one of the organizations we have been always advocating for
00:14:45 environment-friendly development activities taking place in Phobjikha.
00:14:49 So this is the electrification of Phobjikha wetland.
00:14:53 I mean, the Phobjikha community, so it was all underground.
00:14:56 You will not see any overhead cable going through the valley.
00:15:02 So this is a solar project, I mean, solar home light system initiated from RSPN.
00:15:08 And these two ladies, these are ladies by the way, these two ladies are the trained technicians
00:15:13 for maintaining the solar lighting system in Phobjikha.
00:15:18 It was way back in 2005, six times we have initiated this and, you know,
00:15:23 still people are using it despite they are connected with grid electricity.
00:15:29 So with all these efforts, we wanted Phobjikha valley, it's still looking like this
00:15:35 and we want to continue to make this valley look like this for all times to come.
00:15:41 So you will not see any overhead cables flying through the valleys,
00:15:45 mainly because we don't want cables to obstruct the flight of the crane as well.
00:15:50 And at the same time, we do not want to also destroy the scenic beauty of the valley.
00:15:54 These are some of the very important initiatives that we are taking in Phobjikha.
00:15:59 So therefore, you know, with all these resources intact, in 2003, I think this was typo again,
00:16:06 2003 we initiated community-based sustainable tourism.
00:16:11 Initially we called it ecotourism program and then later we thought,
00:16:16 renamed it to community-based sustainable tourism with the objective.
00:16:20 This is the objective which you can read, you know, our main objective is to conserve the valley,
00:16:24 at the same time provide some livelihood resource for the community themselves through tourism.
00:16:32 So as I mentioned earlier, after having all these resources intact,
00:16:36 you know, we initiated capacity building program for the communities,
00:16:40 mainly to gear towards, you know, promoting Phobjikha as a tourism destination.
00:16:46 So these are the community people being trained. You will see some foreigners there.
00:16:51 These are the resource persons we have invited. Some are from Japan, some are from Vietnam,
00:16:55 and we also have our partners.
00:17:00 Sorry, I've been reminded of my time. Sorry. These are the photographs.
00:17:05 I mean, the upper one is the community-based tourism group members,
00:17:10 and then lower one, this is also a capacity building program
00:17:13 where people are trained on homestays and other things.
00:17:16 This is homestay we have in Phobjikha,
00:17:19 and the lower pictures ones are the activities that you can do.
00:17:22 These are the rooms. We also have the food and how people live as a homestay member when they come in.
00:17:30 Local guides, we have trained so many local guides, so they are actively taking part in the program.
00:17:36 We also have local activities, you know, with the communities,
00:17:39 they can do a lot of activities, you know, dancing, horse-drawn path,
00:17:43 and then going around the valley, knowing about the valley, what they do and all.
00:17:48 So local activities, we can have basket weaving, you know, playing dart, archery.
00:17:54 These are some of them. And then this is bicycling, which we can very well enjoy.
00:17:59 Phobjikha as it is, is a very good place for biking.
00:18:02 If you are a biker, if you love biking, you should go to Phobjikha at that time.
00:18:06 Nature trails, nature activities, we have long trails as well as short trails being developed.
00:18:12 So if you at all plan to go to Phobjikha, please don't miss this.
00:18:16 These are very interesting and breathtaking, I would say.
00:18:20 These are some of the souvenirs that we have developed by community themselves, and they sell it.
00:18:25 That's how they make some, you know, income from the tourism.
00:18:30 These are the issues. I will not really get into all the issues, but definitely, as discussed earlier this morning,
00:18:38 you know, the garbage is one of the major issues that we are facing.
00:18:41 And then we also have a lot of encroachment into the wetlands because a lot of resorts are coming in,
00:18:47 and then wetlands contamination. These are some of the highlight issues that I have.
00:18:52 So in the interest of time, I think I will not read through all the issues.
00:18:57 These are our partners. We work with the ministries to the communities.
00:19:03 And then the roles of the partners.
00:19:06 These are some of the brochures and pamphlets that we have developed to promote the CVST program in Phobjikha.
00:19:13 Manuals and output. We also have a homestay manual, which has been developed by RSPN,
00:19:18 and now this has been adopted as a national guideline for homestays.
00:19:24 Thank you so much.
00:19:28 I think I forgot to introduce myself. I am Kinga Wandhi.
00:19:31 I am working as a Conservation and Sustainable Livelihood Division Head.
00:19:35 I am heading this division. And in case, in the future, if you come to Bhutan, please contact me.
00:19:41 Thank you so much for listening.
00:19:48 Thank you, sir. Thank you, Mr. Wangui.
00:19:51 We wish the Phobjikha Valley Project and RSPN more success in the future.
00:19:58 Well, from the beautiful hills and valleys of Bhutan,
00:20:02 we will now dive into the wonderful world of marine management off the west coast of India.
00:20:09 Please welcome Pooja Mitra from Terra Conscious,
00:20:12 which is making thoughtful dolphin watching a possibility in the overcrowded, overstretched Goa.
00:20:19 Ladies and gentlemen, Pooja Mitra.
00:20:29 Good afternoon. Thank you, Outlook, for giving me this opportunity to be here today.
00:20:35 It's been an extremely enriching morning hearing all the wonderful examples and stories and insights
00:20:41 from all the experts and practitioners gathered here.
00:20:44 And I've got, I mean, my story is fairly new. I've only been doing this the last six to eight months in Goa.
00:20:50 But I'll take you through what I've done so far.
00:20:53 And I hope you find some merit in it.
00:20:55 And we can always catch up after the presentation if you have any questions.
00:20:59 So primarily, I work on community-based conservation and responsible marine tourism in Goa.
00:21:09 I work on, so my issue is something which is not creating a new product,
00:21:15 but actually looking at transforming an existing livelihood that grew out of the marine life that Goa has.
00:21:22 So Goa has a very extensive wildlife watching industry,
00:21:26 but it doesn't think of itself as a wildlife watching industry.
00:21:29 It's sort of a mishmash of a party boat and a dolphin sighting, which is incidental.
00:21:34 And unfortunately, that number has led to it being almost 400 operators in the north alone
00:21:40 and a lot of opportunistic operators from along the coast, then in the south.
00:21:45 And this is obviously having an impact on the species and on the habitat.
00:21:49 And when I started looking at it, I began really trying to understand why is this gap there?
00:21:55 People are going out to see this dolphin, but yet the entire image of this activity is just party and having fun.
00:22:02 And which is also what you can do when you're watching wildlife,
00:22:05 but you don't have to do it by dancing on the boat.
00:22:07 And I have some examples of what the current scenario looks like.
00:22:11 Also, I think Goa has had this party and beach image for so long,
00:22:16 and it's so entrenched that even the policy that is made in the state, the way the state looks at tourism,
00:22:23 it's almost as if it's just, you know, feeding into that same image.
00:22:28 But Goa is part of the Western Ghats. It's a global biodiversity hotspot.
00:22:32 It has, most people are unaware, but it has two species of whales and porpoises.
00:22:37 Whales, dolphins and porpoises are collectively known as cetaceans.
00:22:40 So we have one dolphin species called the humback, which you can see in the picture there.
00:22:44 And we also have the finless porpoise.
00:22:47 You have two species of otters, two species of turtles, a species of crocodile, a coral reef,
00:22:52 and all this within just 101 kilometers of coastline.
00:22:56 And why I say that policy also needs to look at tourism holistically
00:23:01 is that Goa is planning a 51 million ton coal port.
00:23:04 It has mining. It wants a 100 cruise ship terminal,
00:23:08 while also being able to sustain scuba diving, wildlife watching and all of this.
00:23:12 And I don't think it can all happen if you want to put everything into 100 kilometers.
00:23:17 So as experts have mentioned earlier in the day, prioritization is key.
00:23:21 And that's something we are hoping to highlight through our work, that this is what we have.
00:23:25 This is our resource. This is our heritage.
00:23:27 And this is where our attention needs to be and not trying to make the coastline everything.
00:23:32 The other picture is of my colleagues, Konkan Explorers, who are also here today.
00:23:37 And they're also representing the marine space.
00:23:39 So yay for the oceans, at least we've got like some representation.
00:23:43 They're also shortlisted as a candidate for tonight's award.
00:23:46 So it's in all the parting and the noise and hullabaloo on the beach stretch,
00:23:51 there are these beautiful pristine pockets where we work.
00:23:54 And we're trying to keep it that way.
00:23:56 So we work in the Shapora-Murgeon Biozone.
00:23:58 It's an Olive Ridley nesting site.
00:24:00 It's a river mouth and it's got dolphins and it's a beautiful part of the coastline.
00:24:06 Not changing.
00:24:10 So this is a video that we've just taken of footage in Goa of all the underwater life.
00:24:19 It has audio with it.
00:24:21 These are all the species we find.
00:24:26 Some footage is as recent as this February.
00:24:30 [Music]
00:24:34 [Music]
00:24:38 [Music]
00:24:41 [Music]
00:24:50 [Music]
00:25:01 [Music]
00:25:04 [Music]
00:25:23 [Music]
00:25:26 [Music]
00:25:51 [Music]
00:25:54 [Music]
00:26:15 [Music]
00:26:18 Only the picture of the finless popoys is a file photo.
00:26:35 They're very hard to spot in the wild because they don't have a fin.
00:26:38 You barely see them break the water.
00:26:42 The focal species that I work on is the humpback dolphin.
00:26:45 It's the dolphin watching industry in Goa that I'm trying to make some sort of a dent in.
00:26:50 The idea behind starting TerraConscious was to really wake up people to the fact that we have this incredible marine biodiversity
00:26:58 right off our coastal waters in the most popular, irresponsible, tourism-filled state.
00:27:04 Unless we as the customers start to look at that and respect it and ask for that,
00:27:10 there's no motivation within the state, either from the operator or the authorities, to pay attention to this and to protect it.
00:27:17 Another important thing about these species is that they're coastal dolphins.
00:27:21 They live their entire life within two, three kilometers of the shoreline.
00:27:24 That's 35 to 40 years that they live.
00:27:27 They don't dive deeper than 20 meters.
00:27:29 They can't hold their breath more than eight, ten minutes.
00:27:31 And unfortunately, their habitat is the busiest part of our coast.
00:27:35 That's where all the action is.
00:27:37 These are Schedule 1 species.
00:27:40 They have the same protection as the tiger.
00:27:42 And whereas nobody questions why we need to regulate action around tigers,
00:27:47 because of the consistent messaging around tigers that has existed for so many years in India,
00:27:52 when it comes to the ocean, we aren't having conversations around how do we regulate activity around a protected animal
00:27:59 that doesn't live in a protected area, because Goa doesn't have any protected areas.
00:28:04 And you can't even. These are animals that have 100 kilometer lengthwise home ranges
00:28:09 and two, three kilometer wide home ranges.
00:28:12 So you're going to have a problem trying to control.
00:28:15 So the only way to do it is to change the way we are engaging with the species.
00:28:19 So just to give you a picture of what the current dolphin trip looks like in Goa when you go,
00:28:25 it's also priced at 300 rupees, out of which they give 200 to the agent.
00:28:29 100 rupees maybe the boat guy gets to keep.
00:28:32 And that's ridiculous, because anywhere in the world you go to see a protected cetacean,
00:28:36 you're paying at least 80 dollars upwards.
00:28:39 And here you're paying not even, you know, 5 dollars.
00:28:42 And therefore, there's no value for that trip. There's no incentive.
00:28:46 They've tried to, because they've allowed uncontrolled competition,
00:28:49 you have 400 operators who all go in a queue system,
00:28:52 but because you're not supporting them with marketing or incentives or any proper content,
00:28:58 they have to just grab tourists off the road or go with agents or do whatever they can.
00:29:02 So there's no incentive for them to change. Why would there be?
00:29:05 Even if they tried to give information, they still can charge only that price.
00:29:08 They still can go only in one queue.
00:29:10 So the whole system has been developed with sort of this exponential growth in mind
00:29:15 without really thinking of what is the quality of experience we're offering the tourists.
00:29:19 Sorry. Can I have the tourism video, please?
00:29:24 And because it's priced so low, they start to play music and serve alcohol
00:29:33 and do other things to get more money.
00:29:51 And you can imagine, if Goa's tourism looks like this
00:29:54 and we have coastal dolphins across the country's coastline,
00:29:58 every other state will start doing the same copy-paste model
00:30:01 because Goa is the premium tourism or at least it's still trying to hold on to that tag in India.
00:30:07 And the other problem with this kind of dolphin watching is obviously
00:30:12 that the animal has no focus in this trip.
00:30:14 Everybody is just drinking and dancing. It's unsafe.
00:30:17 And that leads to also people disposing the bottles and everything into the water.
00:30:22 This is something we've collected from an underwater cleanup.
00:30:25 So this is all on the reef.
00:30:27 So at one hand, the state wants to promote scuba diving
00:30:30 and they want to say that, "Oh, Goa has all this."
00:30:32 And on the other hand, you are telling people to get into waters that look like that.
00:30:37 So there's no quality of ecosystem that we are trying to maintain.
00:30:41 So this animation is very simple.
00:30:44 How do I… do I just press it here and show it?
00:30:49 Okay, so when the humpback dolphin comes, they feed in the river mouth.
00:30:53 So they would just go directly.
00:30:55 This is the most populated dolphin watching bay.
00:30:57 It's called Sing Kerim and it joins in with the Nerul backwaters.
00:31:00 But now when the dolphin appears, this is actually GPS points we took on different boats
00:31:06 when we went on surveys and this is how they do it.
00:31:08 They just chase it.
00:31:09 So the animal is just spending the entire day,
00:31:12 from 8 in the morning to 6 in the evening that the trips run, avoiding the boats.
00:31:16 Which means it's not doing anything else properly.
00:31:19 It's not hunting, it's not resting, it's not socializing, it's not nursing, it's young.
00:31:23 And over time, this stress will reduce its reproductive health.
00:31:26 It's going to move it away from that habitat and we're going to lose this species
00:31:30 that we are committed by law to protect.
00:31:33 And of course, once your apex predators, that is your dolphins, disappear from your coastline,
00:31:38 it causes something we call an ecosystem collapse
00:31:41 and all your other fish species will start to disappear,
00:31:44 which affect other livelihoods like fisheries, your seafood, which brings people to go up.
00:31:49 So it's all, you know, all our fate is sort of linked in with our ecosystem surviving.
00:31:56 The other thing that boats do is surround them and they don't put off their engines.
00:32:00 Dolphins use sonar and they communicate underwater using whistles, squeaks and clicks.
00:32:06 This is very important in how they communicate with each other.
00:32:09 And if you constantly are interfering with that, with your engine sound,
00:32:13 then all you're doing is panicking the animal.
00:32:16 So what happens when you do that?
00:32:18 So I also started a monitoring network, which I run with the lifeguards.
00:32:22 Goa is quite lucky that way it has 600 lifeguards across the entire coastline.
00:32:26 So we started something called Ocean Watch,
00:32:28 where we train the lifeguards and the forest department on how to monitor wildlife
00:32:32 and report it and deal with standings.
00:32:34 And in the last six months that we've run it, we've had 37 dead animals, dolphins and turtles.
00:32:40 And this is what the state is promoting.
00:32:42 It says it has and this is what is the result.
00:32:45 And this is what happens when you don't take care of your tourism.
00:32:48 You will end up with your biodiversity disappearing in front of your eyes.
00:32:54 So that's where we come in looking at all these issues.
00:32:57 So our way was to identify a bay called Mojim,
00:33:01 where we have eight community operators who decided to partner with us.
00:33:06 I had a conversation with them.
00:33:07 I said, will you try doing it with guidelines?
00:33:09 Will you try doing some content for the guests?
00:33:12 And they said, OK, let's give it a shot.
00:33:14 So we started doing it with them.
00:33:16 We created these few experiences, the ethical dolphin watching safari.
00:33:20 We did some experiential programs for students
00:33:23 and for anyone really who wants to learn about the marine biodiversity.
00:33:27 We did trainings with the boat operators.
00:33:29 We started following the Dolphin Smart Guidelines, which are pretty simple.
00:33:33 You know, you keep your boat parallel.
00:33:35 You put off your engine.
00:33:36 You don't chase them.
00:33:37 These are internationally accepted guidelines.
00:33:39 We began advocating for better policy.
00:33:41 So we just show up at every meeting and I've got my video and I try to put it up
00:33:46 or I harass the captain of ports or anyone who will give me even five, ten minutes
00:33:50 and I'll be like, you know, this is what we want to talk about.
00:33:53 And collaborating with like-minded ethical operators.
00:33:56 Believe it or not, Goa has a lot of people who still care about the environment
00:34:00 and they want to make a difference.
00:34:02 And we are trying to form a collective and ensure that it's responsible tourism
00:34:06 that gets the thrust and not this age-old party, casino, take what you want kind of tourism.
00:34:12 And of course, doing outreach and awareness.
00:34:15 So we've done infographics.
00:34:16 That's some photographs from our training.
00:34:19 And we do a lot of outreach in schools and basically wherever anybody will call us,
00:34:23 we do cleanups on the trip.
00:34:25 There's that Ocean Watch program.
00:34:28 And I thought better than my speaking about whether the program is working or not,
00:34:32 maybe we can hear from our partners themselves.
00:34:35 Can I have the first boat operator video, please?
00:34:38 There are subtitles also.
00:34:46 (speaking in foreign language)
00:34:50 (speaking in foreign language)
00:34:54 (speaking in foreign language)
00:34:59 (speaking in foreign language)
00:35:03 (speaking in foreign language)
00:35:08 (speaking in foreign language)
00:35:12 (speaking in foreign language)
00:35:16 (speaking in foreign language)
00:35:20 (speaking in foreign language)
00:35:24 (speaking in foreign language)
00:35:36 (speaking in foreign language)
00:35:40 The second video, please.
00:35:52 (speaking in foreign language)
00:35:58 (speaking in foreign language)
00:36:03 (speaking in foreign language)
00:36:07 (speaking in foreign language)
00:36:11 (speaking in foreign language)
00:36:15 (speaking in foreign language)
00:36:43 (speaking in foreign language)
00:36:48 (speaking in foreign language)
00:36:53 (speaking in foreign language)
00:37:21 (speaking in foreign language)
00:37:26 (speaking in foreign language)
00:37:31 (speaking in foreign language)
00:37:59 (audience applauding)
00:38:02 Thank you so much, Pooja.
00:38:07 Well, I know while there are many coastline
00:38:10 adventurous enthusiasts sitting in the room
00:38:13 who are doing their bit for it's such a long coastline,
00:38:16 we really do need more and more people like you
00:38:19 to protect it.
00:38:21 Well, we travel east now
00:38:24 to the country of gorgeous Gossamer textiles
00:38:28 with us here today is Rafiqul Islam Mithil from Ajiyar
00:38:32 who runs a community-based stores that highlight crafts
00:38:36 and intangible cultural assets of Bangladesh.
00:38:39 And this afternoon, he will share his experience
00:38:42 of working with a community of weavers in Tangel
00:38:45 who protects the rich traditions of Hanloom
00:38:48 and the syncretic culture of the country.
00:38:50 Ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm welcome
00:38:53 to Mr. Mithil.
00:38:56 (audience applauding)
00:38:59 - So, (speaking in foreign language)
00:39:18 May the peace, blessing be upon all of you.
00:39:22 So, honorable guest, ladies and gentlemen,
00:39:24 this is Rafiqul Islam Mithil from Bangladesh.
00:39:27 The name of my company is Ajiyar Fair Trade Tourism.
00:39:30 It's my pleasure to be here on behalf of my company.
00:39:33 Thanks to Outlook, of course,
00:39:35 for having this wonderful opportunity.
00:39:38 Basically, I'm here
00:39:41 to share our experience on behalf of this man,
00:39:46 Mr. Shahid Hussain Shamim,
00:39:48 the founder of Ajiyar Fair Trade Tourism.
00:39:52 The journey was started in 2002
00:39:55 when a UK-based company, Tradecraft,
00:39:58 offered Mr. Shamim to run a tour
00:40:00 with their senior citizens,
00:40:02 which they call Meet the People Tour.
00:40:04 Fortunately, it was the innovative and new idea
00:40:09 in that time in Bangladesh.
00:40:11 So, fortunately, Ajiyar have got the stage,
00:40:15 and so it has become the pioneer
00:40:17 of community-based tourism in Bangladesh.
00:40:19 Later on, as it was very special,
00:40:22 Mr. Shamim started to engage the other communities
00:40:27 with his activity through training and talk show.
00:40:31 So, these are the training we used to give our community.
00:40:35 Just mention one thing, storytelling.
00:40:38 We also trained them how to tell a story to the tourists.
00:40:43 Then gradually, we moved forward to other activities,
00:40:47 like food and nutritional security,
00:40:49 women empowerment, community-based tourism, of course,
00:40:53 safeguarding intangible cultural heritage.
00:40:55 It's the most important part of our activities.
00:40:58 Research and knowledge sharing.
00:41:00 Currently, we are working in four locations.
00:41:03 These all are mostly textile and craft-based communities.
00:41:06 There are two communities, which is ethnic communities.
00:41:10 The core values we have.
00:41:14 The company is originated from the fair trade practice,
00:41:17 as the name says, Ajiyar Fair Trade Tourism.
00:41:20 Responsible tourism means to us,
00:41:23 we believe it has to be in both ways.
00:41:26 As a tourist, you have to make your tour very impactful.
00:41:32 It has to be positively impactful for you.
00:41:35 At the same time, it has to be impactful for the community.
00:41:40 From our side, what we used to do,
00:41:43 like we sent a pre-tour questionnaire to our tourists,
00:41:47 so that the norms and code of behaviors,
00:41:50 they are supposed to follow.
00:41:52 Our motto is to provide organic food to our tourists,
00:41:57 but we are struggling for it.
00:41:59 In one location, we have succeeded.
00:42:01 In other three locations, we are just not meet yet.
00:42:05 Safeguarding intangible cultural heritage,
00:42:08 what we believe, due to urbanization and global pressure,
00:42:11 the community people are also adopting the changes.
00:42:16 They are forgetting their intangible cultural thing,
00:42:20 like traditional food cooking system,
00:42:22 like the unique and very innovative life-saving knowledge of our midwives,
00:42:28 which we call "dhymas" in Bengali.
00:42:31 Also, the agro-based seed-keeping system,
00:42:35 these are the things, or these are the intangible practices that are in danger.
00:42:40 So, from our point of view,
00:42:42 Azure is trying to, Azure is struggling to safeguard these intangible things
00:42:47 by providing them with some benefit out of their activities.
00:42:53 Let's see how do we operate.
00:42:56 It seems very simple, but trust me,
00:42:59 in reality, it's not easy to connect the people with your activities.
00:43:05 Initially, we do our awareness activity,
00:43:10 our community, then engage them in a maybe professional way.
00:43:14 Formation of TDMC.
00:43:16 TDMC is Tourism Development Management Committee.
00:43:20 It's the main responsible and accountable committee in the operation level.
00:43:25 Then we provide them with training.
00:43:27 These are the training we used to give them.
00:43:29 After having this training, we believe they are ready to operate.
00:43:35 How do we operate?
00:43:38 Tourism Management Committee, as I said,
00:43:41 this is the main,
00:43:45 this is the committee which is responsible and accountable in the operation level.
00:43:51 They fix the food menu, they set the itinerary,
00:43:55 and also the daily activities which tourists are going to perform,
00:43:59 it's set by just TDMC.
00:44:01 To have a sincere and friendly environment for our tourists,
00:44:05 we engage and train, we just provide training to our rickshaw pullers,
00:44:11 CNG drivers, food vendors, local souvenir shops, and tea shop owners as well.
00:44:17 Revenue sharing is the most important motivational thing
00:44:20 to keep the community in the activities.
00:44:24 So in our case, it's almost fixed to share our revenue in proportion,
00:44:30 like 20% goes to TDMC, that we call Tourism Management Committee,
00:44:35 other 60% having for the community,
00:44:41 and 20% goes to tour operator.
00:44:43 Ensure local benefit, how do we ensure local benefit?
00:44:46 We follow some principles, like we try to follow the principles of buy locally.
00:44:52 For conduction of any tour, the required things,
00:44:56 we want to buy it, and most of the time we buy it from the local market.
00:45:01 Directly connect local artisans with the tourists.
00:45:06 Three-layer security system, we follow three-layer security system
00:45:11 during conduction of tour.
00:45:13 First layer is given by the Homestay Facilitator,
00:45:16 second layer by the community and the TDMC,
00:45:20 and the third layer, of course, by the local government,
00:45:23 maybe in civil dress.
00:45:25 These are our partners, let's just avoid it,
00:45:28 as we are in short of time.
00:45:31 These are our foreign partners.
00:45:35 Recently, AGIAR has been declared as the first community-based tourism place
00:45:39 in Bangladesh by the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
00:45:44 These are the pictures where, to develop regional cross-border tourism,
00:45:49 AGIAR, in partnership with Asian Confluence,
00:45:53 arranged and attended in the Nodi Fest 2002.
00:45:59 It held in India.
00:46:02 Now, the impact of community-based textile tourism by AGIAR in Bangladesh,
00:46:08 the impact is our history, the impact is the visibility of our textile,
00:46:13 the impact of engaging community,
00:46:16 the impact is, you know, like, experience the lifetime homestay
00:46:21 with local community in identifying textile,
00:46:24 and you can have the, you know, real experience
00:46:27 how to keep good quality agro-seeds.
00:46:30 The impact is like planning organic farming,
00:46:33 daily livelihoods of the villagers.
00:46:35 You can have the experience of natural dye,
00:46:38 understanding weaving and other crafts.
00:46:41 We have some pieces of, you know, like, textile that developed by our community.
00:46:52 These are very unique pieces.
00:46:54 In this jamdan, can you just help me? Excuse me.
00:46:57 Anyon, can you just help me?
00:47:03 Like, this piece is...
00:47:08 You can just see the 13 motifs of Dhaka jamdani.
00:47:15 It's difference in... Can you just...
00:47:19 Difference in one motif is there, another is there.
00:47:23 It's all around is 13 motifs.
00:47:25 The all motifs of jamdani that possibly woven,
00:47:29 that's all are in this piece.
00:47:32 There is another one.
00:47:34 It was awarded by the World Craft Council International.
00:47:41 Can you just help me?
00:47:50 This was developed by our community people.
00:47:52 So these are our story, mainly.
00:47:55 There are some others, so in short,
00:47:58 we couldn't display all those things,
00:48:01 but I can show you later in short.
00:48:08 These are the challenges we are facing.
00:48:11 It's not different. It's same as others.
00:48:15 Now I am to end my speech, like, showing you on video,
00:48:20 just very short video.
00:48:22 Can I have the video, please?
00:48:24 Ready, go!
00:48:27 [Laughter]
00:48:29 [Music]
00:48:37 [Applause]
00:48:45 [Music]
00:49:13 [Music]
00:49:23 [Music]
00:49:33 [Music]
00:49:43 [Music]
00:49:53 [Music]
00:50:03 [Music]
00:50:13 [Music]
00:50:23 [Music]
00:50:33 [Music]
00:50:43 [Music]
00:50:51 [Music]
00:51:01 [Music]
00:51:11 [Music]
00:51:21 [Music]
00:51:31 [Music]
00:51:41 [Music]
00:51:49 So thanks to all of you for having your sincere patience.
00:51:53 Thank you.
00:51:54 [Applause]
00:51:56 [Music]
00:52:09 Can we have another round of applause, please?
00:52:14 Thank you so much, Mr. Mithil,
00:52:16 for taking us through the clickety-clack world of possibilities,
00:52:20 a world where fair trade and authentic experiences are given.
00:52:25 And now for our final case study,
00:52:28 and for that we swim down south to the island of Sri Lanka,
00:52:33 which has always been, I think, future forward in tourism.
00:52:37 And one such project that combines conservation and true luxuries
00:52:43 is Vil Uyana in Sigiriya.
00:52:46 And to talk about the immersive experiences in Vil Uyana
00:52:50 or translate it into the Garden of Lakes,
00:52:53 I'd like to invite Mr. Jude Kasturi Arachi,
00:52:56 Director of Jetwing Hotels, who's come here from Sri Lanka.
00:53:00 Please put your hands together for Mr. Arachi.
00:53:03 [Applause]
00:53:07 We know you had quite an eventful trip to Delhi,
00:53:12 but we are very, very happy to have you with us.
00:53:16 [Music]
00:53:27 Let me start by saying, "Ayubowan."
00:53:31 May you live longer.
00:53:36 My presentation will be in two… these things.
00:53:41 One is, as she said, the second one is on Vil Uyana,
00:53:45 a property that has won a lot of publicity for what they have done.
00:53:52 And the first one would be overlooking sustainability
00:53:56 from a company's point of view.
00:54:05 We have been in existence for the last 44 years,
00:54:09 and there is about 33 prestigious properties
00:54:13 that we own and operate in and around Sri Lanka and overseas.
00:54:20 And we are responsible for creating spaces and pioneering discoveries
00:54:27 as a sense of brand, promoting responsible tourism,
00:54:33 and then practicing it right from the beginning to the end.
00:54:41 How do we see sustainability as a company?
00:54:46 I think these areas are quite common for you.
00:54:50 We focus on these areas, and in the other couple of slides,
00:54:56 you can see what our approach has been and our rate of success has been.
00:55:02 In some areas, we have been strong enough.
00:55:05 We have been working very hard on it.
00:55:07 In some areas, we have to work hard in the future.
00:55:12 Just to go through the five pillars that the sustainability strategy focuses on,
00:55:32 I think if I am to talk about the thermal usage in the industry,
00:55:56 thermal energy is a vital aspect in energy consumption.
00:56:03 And right now, most of our boilers are running on sustainable cinnamon wood
00:56:16 that produces steam or hot water.
00:56:19 If you take the industry, a central air conditioning system like this
00:56:27 will cater for 40 to 60% of the electricity bill.
00:56:32 Our main focus, as I told you earlier, is on the five key areas.
00:56:38 We have been the pioneers of using cinnamon wood.
00:56:42 As you all know, Sri Lanka is very famous for cinnamon, world-class cinnamon.
00:56:47 We are the first to identify cinnamon wood as a sustainable crop.
00:56:52 Cinnamon wood is harvested twice a year.
00:56:56 There is a lean period from November to January,
00:57:02 where we use sawdust or copper briquettes.
00:57:06 What you see on the right-hand side is the vapor-absorbing chiller.
00:57:12 These conventional chillers run on electricity.
00:57:15 As I told you earlier, it accounts for about 40 to 60% of the total electricity,
00:57:21 which is huge.
00:57:23 Our strategy has been to implement vapor-absorbing chillers using steam.
00:57:29 How does the steam get produced?
00:57:31 It is produced by burning of cinnamon wood.
00:57:34 [Slide change]
00:57:56 We have also implemented solar PV.
00:58:01 There are two types of solar PV.
00:58:04 One is used for solar thermal, and the other is used for solar PV.
00:58:08 Right now, the installations in and around our properties go up to about 3 MW.
00:58:15 The largest multiples go on the 300 kW plants.
00:58:20 These are all ground-mounted or roof-mounted at site.
00:58:27 The 300 kW plant supplies about 30 to 40% of the energy requirement
00:58:37 in a property with about 100 rooms.
00:58:42 [Slide change]
00:58:52 [Slide change]
00:59:21 [Slide change]
00:59:24 This shows the carbon footprint of each property.
00:59:28 Here, what we have taken is only the main properties,
00:59:33 just to show the carbon footprint of each property.
00:59:37 If you take the totality of the carbon footprint,
00:59:42 it amounts to about 10,000 metric tons of CO2 emission per annum.
00:59:50 If one may question, why are these heights different?
00:59:56 It differs from property to property.
00:59:59 In some cases, it's over 100 rooms.
01:00:02 In some cases, it's less than a number.
01:00:07 [Slide change]
01:00:11 The wastewater is 100% recycled in all our properties.
01:00:18 We use it for gardening.
01:00:22 Lately, we have been using it for cooling towers,
01:00:25 which is about 20% of the total consumption.
01:00:28 [Slide change]
01:00:31 We thrive on a strategy of zero waste-out.
01:00:34 In most of our properties, the waste is recycled at site.
01:00:38 There are three methods that are being used.
01:00:41 We use the traditional composting method and window-type batch method.
01:00:46 The solid waste goes into a very successful biogas digester,
01:00:52 where all the food waste goes into it.
01:00:55 The methane content of it is about 65%,
01:00:58 and the CO2 content is about 35%.
01:01:02 The gas that is being produced is used for supplementing the kitchen and the staff areas.
01:01:09 [Slide change]
01:01:16 Biodiversity and awareness.
01:01:19 The low-risk conservation sites.
01:01:21 Actually, I'll speak more about it on the presentation.
01:01:28 And creating of wetlands.
01:01:31 And earlier, it was spoken about the dolphins.
01:01:35 The southern part of Sri Lanka is very famous for dolphins.
01:01:39 [Slide change]
01:01:41 Community outreach.
01:01:43 I'll talk more about it, the success rate of the JYDEB,
01:01:48 Jetwing Good Development Project, which started off at Vilyu.
01:01:52 [Slide change]
01:01:56 We have our own bottled water plants in the company.
01:02:01 And as much as possible, we have organic farming.
01:02:06 That is mainly where there is a lot of property.
01:02:12 [Slide change]
01:02:15 Going on to the next thing, Jetwing Vilyu.
01:02:19 It's in the central triangle, in the central cultural triangle,
01:02:29 5 km away from the iconic Sigiri rock.
01:02:33 36 luxury dwellings integrated into a wetland in 28 acres.
01:02:39 How did this idea come in?
01:02:41 It was inspired by the wetlands in London.
01:02:45 Abandoned marsh or paddy land was converted into a wetland.
01:02:53 In the two photographs you see, on to your corner, before and after.
01:02:59 These are some of the pictures.
01:03:04 It has taken about 4 years for us to build the hotel,
01:03:11 and do the reforestation, and 10 years of operation.
01:03:19 [Slide change]
01:03:23 Environment-friendly design, where a lot of local material has been used.
01:03:29 And if you see, the roofs are attached.
01:03:33 And most of the dwellings are surrounded with water bodies,
01:03:39 which actually creates a 2 degree difference of temperature among the surroundings.
01:03:45 [Slide change]
01:03:51 As I told you earlier, the kitchen waste and other things that have been recycled,
01:03:58 100% of the waste water is being recycled.
01:04:01 [Slide change]
01:04:06 And this is one of the unique things.
01:04:09 You can see the figures. In 2015, the species, 12 mammals.
01:04:17 And in 2017, this is totally inventorized.
01:04:20 And birds, 29 species, and 138 in 2017.
01:04:27 And butterflies, 2005 and 43 now.
01:04:32 And the amphibians and reptiles, from 3 it has gone up to 33.
01:04:36 So this is what we have done, how we have conserved.
01:04:41 And then, there is this booklet that is being done.
01:04:52 I have brought some of the copies, and it's in display.
01:04:55 It's free of charge, so I have given it to Neha.
01:04:59 Whoever is interested can take it and go.
01:05:04 It's called Wildlife in and Around Jetwing Willuena,
01:05:08 a photographic guide to animals and flowers.
01:05:12 It's fairly comprehensive.
01:05:14 And then, this sort of thing, in the future,
01:05:18 where wildlife and other things are there,
01:05:24 we are trying to promote this sort of booklet as a sort of education.
01:05:28 If you read through, you will know what Slender Loris is.
01:05:43 Again, this is in the property.
01:05:46 There is a special booklet that is being done on Slender Loris.
01:05:50 And as of now, it has created a huge impact.
01:05:57 And most of the tourists come in to see the Loris
01:06:02 and other species that are there at the site.
01:06:06 So this book is also published, and most of the wildlife lovers love this.
01:06:12 The Loris trail is a must-see in the property.
01:06:23 What I'm trying to tell you here is it can become a business model.
01:06:28 So you can see from the trail what we have earned.
01:06:33 And as of 2017, it is becoming more and more popular
01:06:38 because of the awareness that has been created.
01:06:42 And down below, you can see the comments from TripAdvisor.
01:06:52 I'll elaborate a bit more on this.
01:07:00 This JYDP Jetwing Youth Development Program started off with Villuvana 10 years back,
01:07:08 taking youth in, school leavers, mainly from the area, in and around the area,
01:07:17 and training them in skills.
01:07:20 The first six months, they are given training free of charge.
01:07:24 And on successful completion, most of them have been taken into the hotel.
01:07:31 Now, this is a model that started 10 years back, and it has won the Pata Grand Award.
01:07:37 And this model is practiced in all our properties,
01:07:43 in the north, in the south, all our properties.
01:07:46 And we are very successful in that.
01:07:48 As you know, the country tourism trend is going up,
01:07:51 so there's a scarcity for skilled people to come in.
01:07:56 So this has provided the opportunity, and without no bonding.
01:08:02 If they want to leave after the training, they feel free to leave.
01:08:10 With that, let me wrap up by saying thank you.
01:08:14 [APPLAUSE]