Suggestions of Better Practices for Responsible Tourism on Ilhabela island, Brazil

1-3 April 2016, Ilhabela island, Brazil
Suggestions of Better Practices for Responsible Tourism

SUSTAINABLE TOURISM WORKSHOP
The municipality of Ilhabela Island, Brazil,
hosted its 1st Sustainable Tourism Workshop.
More than 50 local tourism professionals and visitors,
including hotel owners, operators, consultants, media and public officials,
participated in the presentations and field activities, which included the Global
Sustainable Tourism Criteria and best practices, tools and solutions to develop and
market a more responsible tourism on the island.
GSTC criteria: www.gstcouncil.org
D’Arcy Dornan

The event included 5 field excursions:
• Historical visit of the city center,
• Lunch and boat excursion to the north of the island,
• Visit to the traditional Caiçaras community of Castelhanos Bay,
• Visit to the traditional Caiçaras community of Bonete,
• Bird watching in the Aguas Brancas Trail of Ilhabela State Park.
This Experience enabled participants to:
• Introduce many future local actions on Ilhabela
with local and international share experience
• Help understand how to implement sustainable
tourism
• Learn how to set up and design a project that
corresponds to the interests and desires of all
• Make things better and build together new
projects and new ideas

As a result of the event, the group of international professionals who visited Ilhabela
to attend the workshop compiled a list of suggestions for the improvement and
development of better ecotourism and sustainable tourism practices on Ilhabela.
Maud Vannelli, Ambassador Hopineo & BaRaKa Trip & Consulting,
put together and added further suggestions from her experiences and the freely
accessible library of good practices on
www.hopineo.org/en/hopsolutions-resources/good-practices/search

RESPONSIBLE PRACTICES
BY CATEGORY
Construction
Social Responsibility
Local Development
Travelers’ awareness
Local Heritage & Biodiversity
Energy
Water
Waste
Agriculture & Catering
Eco-mobility
Learn about field solutions for responsible tourism on
www.hopineo.org/en/hopsolutions-resources

ENERGY MANAGEMENT
 The presentation took place the first night at
Sambaquis using energy efficient small light
bulbs
 The space at Hostel Da Vila is naturally lit by the
sun of Ilhabela
 Associations and local businesses can think of
compensation for energy consumed / Carbon
offsetting during activities and events
 Local stakeholders can invest together in
renewable energy, buy in group or join a
producer of sustainable energy
 Ilhabela needs a more efficient internet system

WATER MANAGEMENT
 Clean and odorless dry toilet system saves water (replaced
by sawdust or chips). Recovery of excrement to make
compost for the communities (gardens, etc.) on the island
and in the Ecolodges/EcoHotels
 Ilhabela should develop a more complete/comprehensive
waste water treatment system before discharge into the
sea
 The tap water is drinkable in Ilhabela, conduct an
information campaign in all tourist structures
 Sell or lend gourds (containers for water) for excursions
and allow people to recharge with tap water in all stores
and public places of the island
 Using natural cleaning products in all Ilhabela businesses as
well as the public sector and NGOs
 Develop Horseriding activities on the beaches and to cross
the rivers/island for access to the Castelhanos beach in
order to reduce pollution.

WASTE MANAGEMENT
 Equipping the place of your event sorting bins in strategic
places
 Educate participants with information signs
 If you use badges, use those that are reusable, and ask the
participants to leave them with you at the end of event,
so you will not need to buy for the next!
 Buy in bulk and avoid unnecessary packaging
 Avoid unnecessary distribution of goodies that will never
be used. Preference to serve local produce, local crafts,
planting seedlings (young trees) and putting the
participant's name and photo on the website of the event,
etc.
 In a different location from the workshop, we used dishes
from the hotels, avoiding the use and disposal of plastic
dishes
 Stop the use of disposable cups and favor a deposit
system combined with good marketing and communication
campaign "Friends of Ilhabela" with a rental system

ECO MOBILITY
 The event's accessibility is a decisive factor in the impact
of the event: a more central and better connected
location will help decrease greenhouse gas emmissions.
 Include a location map on invitations with practical
information such as public transport (plane from the
station with travel times ..).
 If the event lasts several days, provide participants with
transport tickets or arrange with your event partner to
use private collective transport
 Encourage the use of soft mode mobility such as cycling
by providing bicycle rentals for the event, why not
organize a taxi-bike system to pick up your speakers
 Carpooling is also a good way to transport your guests,
you can see if an organization like BlaBlaCar could be an
event partner
 Developing Horseriding activities on the beaches and to
cross the rivers/island to the Castelhanos beach to
decrease pollution

CONSTRUCTION
As a result of the event:
 Idea of creating an association of tourism professionals to work on these
challenges together.
 Idea of creating an interactive map with tourism activities and incoming
agencies
 Open letter with demands for island wide sustainable tourism initiatives
which will be sent to all the mayoral candidates running for office.
 Compilation of suggestions for the improvement and development of new
ecotourism and sustainable tourism products in Ilhabela, free access for all on
www.hopineo.org
 Creation of a website for the communities
of Bonete and Castelhanos and training a
person in website administration.
 Creation of a digital library of free pictures
to promote ecotourism in Ilhabela.
 Editing and publishing a collaborative video
to show and share the great ecotourism
potential in Ilhabela on social media.

LOCAL DEVELOPMENT
 The partnership policy is often an issue of heated debate
within an organization. Can we organize an eco-responsible
event being financed with not very "green" business? It is
up to you to launch discussion in your association or
company.
 Working with local communities and preventing upstream
and downstream helping
 The Ilhabela State Park Visitors Centre was very interesting
and complete. Working with the various hotels to arrange
tours and help spread knowledge about the attraction.
 For each community to create an associative structure that
enables them to share the tourist management : marketing,
projects, furniture, training and recruiting of qualified staff
 Working with the local community on a new responsible
beach furniture (wooden pallets for example).

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
 Educate the organizers , participants and providers about the importance
of sustainable tourism issues
 Improve the positioning of the organization in the media and ensure
commitment to the community
 Self-assess and report on the findings : the weight of
recovered or recycled waste packaging , carbon offsets, compensation,
inventory of ideas for the next event, implementation of new actions and
new projects, etc.
 Ensure the safety of tourist excursions : snake protection, lifejackets for
boat tours and canoe, natural repellent,
 Promote accessibility for people with physical and or mental challenages
and identify the different sites available on the official website of Ilhabela

LOCAL HERITAGE
 Exchanging more with local people , participate and help communities to
cook meals, etc.
 To enhance the rich cultural heritage and natural environment of the
communities : fishing practices, local cuisine, pirates and folk legends, etc.
 In Bonete, follow the complete chain of traditional boat making, from
planting and selecting the tree to creative workshops with tourists,
everyone could make and paint a small souvenir boat for example…
 Implement training to secure the employment of guides and tourists : First
Aid training , environmental education , training on how to welcome and
sell to tourists , etc.
 Education for sustainable development and
responsible practices in the tourism industry and
hotel business for an Ilhabela Responsible
Tourism Charter and Charter Agenda 21 towards
Ilhabela .

 To provide tourists with books and check lists that
allow them to know the local flora and fauna at
different sites (hotels, historic center, beaches, forest,
etc.)
 Facilitate the knowledge of the children with books
and games
 Work on information and interpretive signs in the park
to highlight the names of different flora and fauna
 Protect visitors by training guides on the risks and
dangers
 Protect visitors with adequate equipment
BIODIVERSITY

TRAVELERS’ AWARENESS
 If you need to print documents, here are some rules to
remember in order to limit the impact on the
environment : document layout, front/back, necessary
drawings, avoid color backgrounds, certified printer
and prints made on 100% recycled paper with vegetable
inks
 When you send mail, urge your readers to not print
them by inserting a statement such as " print only when
necessary
 Create a platform for the official website that lists all the island's
infrstructure and returns on various websites
 Choosing communication media: posters , flyers, programs, plans ... should
we print everything ?
 A few well- placed posters, catchy messages, buzz on Internet/ Facebook/
Instagram /Twitter and select well addressed press releases will have the
same impact
 If you have a website, all for the free download of documents on Dropbox or
Slide Share
• ,

Contact :
Maud Vannelli
maud@hopineo.org
www.hopineo.org/en
This document was elaborated in a series of sessions during which
time, tourism professionals could make suggestions in order to make activities more sustainable.
In building a better world, each person is responsible for his/her actions and decisions. It is not worth waiting for
political decisions to be put into action and the development of laws. Many people in the world have taken the
initiative to do make change. Take the initiative and then see its effects on the world such as with the
wing flapping of a butterfly.
What is missing? Which improvments could be made?
Please, feel to free to share with us your feedback to continue
building a better future together for Hopineo, its partners, and more globally
for a more responsible tourism.
« The recognition of tourism as an economic powerhouse and contributor to all three pillars of sustainable
development – economic, environmental and social – underlined the enduring relevance of UNWTO’s mission to
promote responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism. »
United Nations World Tourism Organization, 2013

Suggestions of Better Practices for Responsible Tourism on Ilhabela island, Brazil

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