Hidden Valley Cabins Ecotourism Report Essay Example

hybrid of both studies analytical categories to describe the practises of Hidden Valley Cabins in relation to ecotourism. The categories under consideration are building design, power and water management, waste management and, activities and attractions. Hidden Valley Cabins Operational Practises According to the Hidden Valley Cabin website the lodges were designed to blend with the natural environment (Hidden Valley Cabins, n. d. ).

This statement complies with Osland and Makoy’s (2004) design criteria for ecolodges. It is an important aspect from an anaesthetics point of view allowing the ecotourists to view the natural environment in the most undisturbed manner as possible. An important natural asset in Australia is the suns heat producing properties, Australian ecolodges should look to take advantage of these assets in every possible way. No information was available on whether any thought had been put into placement of the lodges at Hidden Valley Cabins in relation to sun exposer.

For example, Aquila Eco Lodges have been built in precise locations to maximise their solar design, allowing maximum sun exposure in the winter and minimum exposure in the summer (Henderson & McAuliffe, 2006). The timber used through the lodges is recycled or selectively-logged hardwood resulting in minimal impact on the environment. The furniture is handcrafted from local timber, minimalizing the use of machinery and lowering delivery expenses (Hidden Valley Cabins, n. d. ). Hidden Valley Cabins is Australians first fully carbon neutral resort and tour business (Cheatham, 2008).

It is possible to release Carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere and still be carbon neutral, so long it is balanced by a CO2 reduction elsewhere (Martin, 2006). An example of this is

burning biofuels. For every gram of CO2 released by burning a biofuel, there was a gram removed from the atmosphere by photosynthesis just a few months ago (Martin, 2006). Hidden Valley Cabins is a hundred precent solar powered, which results in a saving of seventy eight tonnes of (CO2) (Hidden Valley Cabins, n. d. ).

This was Australia’s first standalone system (not requiring assistance of biodiesel generators etc…) for a tourism resort with no support from the power grid (Hidden Valley Cabins, n. d. ). This amazing achievement was made possible by Hidden Valley Cabins’ power conservation practises and solar power system. The cabins replaced conventional light bulbs with energy-saving compact fluorescent, reducing energy consumption by more than 80% (Hidden Valley Cabins, n. d. ) Every night all power supply to the common areas is switched off (Hidden Valley Cabins, n. d. ).

They further encourage guests to be energy efficient by providing a 10 step brochure on energy efficiency (Hidden Valley Cabins, n. d. ). In terms of waste management, Hidden Valley Cabin composts food and paper products for use in gardens, and is currently researching worm farms (Hidden Valley Cabins, n. d. ). Their efforts are minimal however in comparison with Aquila Eco Lodges waste management practises. At Aquila all organic waste ends up in a biolytic composting system (Henderson & McAuliffe, 2006). This includes all toilet waste, as the pluming is directly linked into the system (Henderson & McAuliffe, 2006).

Grey water at Aquila is also filtered through the system and released deep underground (Henderson & McAuliffe, 2006). Further at Aquila guest are strongly encouraged to bring and only

consume products with recyclable packaging and are educated on good recycling practises (Henderson & McAuliffe, 2006). A key way to minimalize waste is to use products which use recyclable or biodegradable products. Hidden Valley Cabins states that it “recycles all aluminium cans, cardboard, paper ect…” (Hidden Valley Cabins, n. d. ).

There is no information available on if/how they encourage guests to recycle or use products with recyclable packaging. Nowhere on the Hidden Valley Cabin’s website is there information on whether they used products with biodegradable packaging. Providing unique activates and attractions are key to ecolodges success (Stem, Lassioe, Lee & Deshler, 2010), without significant pull factors many lodges will fail to attract profitable numbers of tourists. Hidden Valley Cabins has no shortage of pull factors, they provide a range of tours and environmental educational facilities.

The standout activity, which has gained attention of Tourism Queensland, is Hidden Valley Cabins solar power workshop. The solar power workshop is run over two days, costs $699. 00 per person which includes all material, accommodation, meals and beverages (Tourism Queensland, n. d. ). The workshop is run by Frank Dallmeyer an experienced engineer, lecture and the director of tropical Energy Solutions (Tourism Queensland, n. d. ). The workshop caters to all types of customers from small business owners looking to cut operational costs or even house owners looking to lower the cost of living (Tourism Queensland, n. d. ).

At Hidden Valley Cabins a broad range of nature-based tours are on offer for both ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ ecotourists (Weaver, 2001). For the price of $499 per person, The North Queensland Highlands Safari is a 2 night/3day

tour designed to allow guests to “Explore the ancient Rainforest and North Queensland wild life in the comfort of our air conditioned buses. ” (Hidden Valley Cabins, n. d. ). For $30 per person ecotourists can undertake a 2 hour tour to Running River to view the rare platypus (Hidden Valley Cabins, n. d. ).

The Night Safari Tour allows guest to see some of Australia rare nocturnal animals (Hidden Valley Cabins, n. d. ). The tour runs for two hours and costs $30 per person (Hidden Valley Cabins, n. d. ). For guests who like less structured tours a customised tour can be arranged for $70 per person (Hidden Valley Cabins, n. d. ). Positive and Negative Impacts Hidden Valley Cabins has wide ranging positive and negative impacts on the surrounding biodiversity and local communities. Measuring these impacts requires a subjective inquiry of Hidden Valley Cabins operation.

This is report accomplishes this by using the logical framework (logframe) developed by the International Finance Corporation (IFC). Logframe provides a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) methodology for examining the impact of ecolodges development (The International Finance Corporation, 2004). The logframe is divided into the three triple bottom line categories: ecological sustainability, socio-cultural and economic sustainability (The International Finance Corporation, 2004). Data is collected from subjective observations of the particular operation guided by M&E indicators provided by the framework.

Three levels of achievement are used to assess the operation performance in relation to the various indicators. These levels of performance are poor, moderate and well. The environment and its natural maintenance is the pivotal idea behind ecotourism, it is appropriate therefor to deal firstly with

ecological sustainability. Hidden Valley Cabins overall performs well on the M&E indicators. The cabins perform poorly on two indicators, performed moderately on five of the indicators, performed well on seven of the indicators and information was not available to assess the other seven indicators.

As a result of the logframe analyses concerning ecological sustainability, some general positive and negative environmental effects resulting from Hidden Valley Cabins, may be stated. Some positive effects include, zero CO2 omissions resulting directly from the operation of the lodges (not including tours), encourage sustainable practises, weed and non-native feral animals, conserves large area of natural rainforest, lodges aesthetically fit in with natural environment, minimal artificial light produced at night.

Negative effects include: loud and fuel inefficient vehicles used for tours and transport to and from cabins, no serious effort to use products which use biodegradable packaging or recyclable packaging. Under the definition of ecotourism is the idea that an ecotourism operation should involve an aspect of improving the life of the locals. On all six of the indicators Hidden Valley Cabins performed well. There are a variety of positive and negative effects as a result of Hidden Valley Cabins that are visible under the logframe.

The positive sociocultural impact of the cabins are: revenue directly and indirectly flowing into the local community, increased community pride and employment opportunities as a result of the cabins (Kwan, Eagles & Gebhardt, 2008). The only negative sociocultural impact of the cabins is an assumption based on literature on ecotourists operations in various countries. The negative sociocultural impact of the cabins may be a cultural and moral clash between guests and locals

in their social interactions (The International Finance Corporation, 2004).

Economic sustainability is crucial, it does not matter how ecologically or socially sustainable a lodge is if it is not economically viable it will not survive in the long term. Hidden Valley Cabins performed well on the all the economic indicators. Dealing first with the positive economic impacts resulting from Hidden Valley Cabins processes: the cabins are financially viable without over dependency on government support; the majority of customers feel that the value gained from staying at the cabins was greater than the expense of the holiday (Tripadvsior. com, 2012); increased revenue flows onto local national parks; promotional business activity encourages ecologic sustainability.

The negative economic impacts are as follows: business model appears viable only on a small scale (therefor no room for growth), only two local people employed fulltime, still finically dependent on minor government support. Strategies When discussing strategies it is important to clearly outline what are the goals you are developing strategies for.

For the purpose of this report the goal for Hidden Valley Cabins is to perform well under triple bottom line framework and to comply with the generally accepted definition of ecotourism and ecolodges. Strategies for Hidden Valley Cabins were comprised with combined reference to the available literature on ecolodges and the former two components of this report. Strategies and there accompanying rationales are numbered below:

1) Hidden valley cabins should look to provide greater value for price. Two reviews discovered on the internet stated Hidden Valley Cabins was excessively over priced for the facilities it provided (Tripadvisor. com, 2012). Lee and Moscardo (2008), when looking at ecotourists preferences

for eco-friendly accommodation and tours, found that only 4. 9% of visitors were willing to pay an extra $AU50 in total for eco-friendly accommodation. One reason for this finding could be that ecotourists believe eco operations should have similar if not less operating costs than regular accommodation establishments.

In reality this should be true; the basic principles of an ecolodges lend itself to being low cost. Therefore, if Hidden Valley Cabins is not finically able to offer cheaper rates, under their current cost structure, they should look at cutting unnecessary costs. 2) Increased use of products with recycling and biodegradable packaging is necessary. Although eco lodge managers cannot control what packaging suppliers choose they can influence the supplier’s behaviour by using their combined bargaining power to force change.

Further, it could be assumed guests are more likely emulate recycling behaviour in their homes if they are educated and actively participate in recycling on their holiday. 3) Increases in the marketing efforts of the manger of Hidden Valley Cabins should be undertaken. From the information provided on the Hidden Valley webpage, the cabins management lacks marketing experience. One case study found that Ecolodges run by mangers with marketing experience outperformed their counterparts with zero marketing experience (Kwan, Eagles & Gebhardt, 2008).

The managers should enrol in a marketing course or employ a marketing professional to help with their efforts. a. The webpage should be upgraded. Webpages are critically important to an ecolodges success (Miller, 2006). This may be due to most ecotourists preferring to book their own holidays, as supposed to going through a travel agent, and therefore performing an internet search on

available Eco accommodation. Webpages should be user friendly (easy to navigate), exiting, easy to locate in a web search and include all relevant information.

4) Use more fuel efficient vehicles for tours and transports to and from lodge. Although the ecolodges at Hidden Valley Cabins are completely carbon neutral, some of their tours and transport to and from the lodge still require the use of diesel or petrol fuel. If the cabins cannot fully eliminate their carbon exhausts than they can purchase carbon credits to offset their usages. 5) Use evaporative coolers in lodges and buses. Aquila Ecolodges use evaporative coolers for their air cooling needs (Henderson & McAuliffe, 2006).

The evaporative cooler use the same amount of energy as a 60 watt light bulb, drastically less than that of a conventional air conditioner (Henderson & McAuliffe, 2006). Conclusion This report has been complied to examine the operation, impact and potential strategies of Hidden Valley Cabins. The Hidden Valley Cabins operation has all the characteristic of an ecolodges and complies with the generally accepted definition of ecotourism. The positive benefits of the lodge far outweigh the negative impacts. The strategies provided at the end of this report have been developed to increase the positive benefits and eliminate the negative effects.