This work proposes a group of basic knowledge that, based on a sustainable development, the directors of the Cubanacán SA Company, Península de Zapata, in the south of the province of Matanzas, Cuba, must know to achieve effective management of the corresponding businesses. tourism, based on a situation that marks the environmental footprint of this business organization:
the insufficient awareness, culture and environmental knowledge of the Company's managers to plan and manage their corresponding businesses in a sustainable way, especially since it is a zone of fragile ecosystems, framed in the Ciénaga de Zapata area, the largest and best preserved wetland in the Caribbean basin. Sustainable tourism, Cuban tourism managers.
Introduction
Tourism, more than any other sector of the world economy, depends on and is sensitive to the qualities of the natural and human environment. The reason why tourists choose a destination is strongly influenced by the cultural and natural environment of that site.
The long-term viability of the industry depends on the maintenance of natural, cultural and historical attractions. The very existence of tourism can put pressure on the maximum capacity of the environment it uses.
The actions of individuals in other sectors of the economy affect the quality of the environment and access to it, and may degrade the environment on which tourism depends, which is why tourism entrepreneurs must find ways to participate in the management of other economic sectors.
For tourism leaders, executives and administrators, these options constitute a new challenge: to carry out more effective and sustainable management of the relationship between tourism and the environment, as part of the decision-making process.
The direct links between tourism activities and the quality of the environment demonstrate that this industry has a lot to offer and to gain by becoming the leader in sustainable development. This is particularly true in developing countries, as is the specific case of Cuba, where the tourism industry constitutes both a support for development and a vehicle for cultural contact.
A modality in Cuba marked especially by what was previously stated is nature tourism, which has experienced a real boom in recent years based on the potential existing in the Cuban archipelago.
Taking for granted what was previously expressed and in correspondence with the essential relationship between tourism and the environment, the fact that there is no economic activity that transcends beyond the destruction of its own base, which adjusted to the subject under development, would be understood as: there is no ecological tourism in Cuba that survives the destruction of the environment on which it is sustained.
Understood in this way, only one effective key remains for a lasting and happy union between tourism and nature: sustainable development.
An important aspect to take into account along the way to go in order to achieve a truly sustainable nature tourism in our country is effectively made by the decision-making of the managers of the sector, which often obviate the urgent need to balance economic income with the conservation of the environment, not only for the future but also for the present.
Within the broad spectrum of nature tourism in Cuba, an unquestionably important place is occupied by Empresa Cubanacán SA Peninsula de Zapata, in the south of the province of Matanzas.
The marked importance within this Company's destination in Cuba, in relation essentially to ecological and nature tourism, is proclaimed to be the entity that monopolizes this type of tourist activity in the significant region of the Zapata Peninsula, located geographically to the south of the Matanzas province in the Cienaga de Zapata area, the largest and best preserved wetland in the Caribbean basin, declared a Biosphere Reserve and Ramsar site by UNESCO.
Como parte del sistema empresarial del Ministerio del Turismo cubano, esta empresa, enfocada fundamentalmente al turismo de naturaleza, sin negar sus valores históricos y de sol y playa, no escapa a la desmotivación y desconocimiento que con relación al medio ambiente y su sustentabilidad padecen sus directivos en sentido general, a pesar de ser un tema “tocado formalmente” en no pocas reuniones, encuentros y documentos.
The aforementioned phenomenon does not occur in the same way in all the units and establishments of the aforementioned Company, nor among all managers, but it does constitute an unquestionable truth to a greater or lesser extent the following problematic situation: insufficient awareness, culture and environmental knowledge of the directors of the Empresa Cubanacán SA Peninsula de Zapata to plan and manage their corresponding businesses in a sustainable way.
The present work does not intend a detailed analysis and search of causes and consequences of the aforementioned problematic situation, its possible impacts, much less analyze the economic priority in terms of "foreign exchange collection" of any activity in the Company, which will be to a greater or lesser extent, above the possible economic impacts; nor, in any way, to quantify and qualify the influence of the political decisions of the different instances of power in the country, which has undoubtedly twisted more than one path towards environmental sustainability.
Apart from the above, if it is intended to expose and comment on a series of knowledge and concepts that to a greater or lesser extent the managers of the Company in general must possess.
Something is worth remembering, the worrying situation that is addressed in this work is not a specific case within the Cuban business system, so the circumstances that are exposed in it are a mirror of a reality that is manifested from the present to the future, having as epicenter that wonderful creature of creation: man, and beyond, his consciousness.
• Some elements on sustainable development.
The Brundtland Commission (the World Commission on Environment and Development, 1978) and the World Conservation Strategy (1980), began to spread the term "sustainable development" as a goal for human society.
This concept is being increasingly used to designate the use of natural resources in order to create economic activity without compromising the ability of the human environment to produce such resources for future generations.
At the Global Globe and Environment Conference 'Globe '92' held in Vancouver, Canada, a statement was produced that was challenging for the global tourism sector.
It identified the critical steps that the industry should take if active measures were to be taken to achieve an environmentally sustainable situation.
- Measures aimed at establishing an institutional framework for sustainable tourism, including a long-term development strategy and the creation of broader regulatory instruments and planning structures; Measures to protect basic resources essential to the success of the industry; Measures to establish partnerships with host communities and with other companies to develop sustainable tourism; improvement of inventory and control systems for both the basic resource and the action of tourists; use of better technology and better design to minimize impacts negative; Measures to take advantage of the opportunities that the market offers for the development of a greener tourist product;
As can be seen within these modules, environmental training for executives related to tourism is not included. This omission constitutes an important weakness, at least from the formal point of view, considering that an effective and conscientious sustainable tourism management cannot be expected if it does not start from the own culture that each manager in the sector has in this regard.
Each region in which economic activity is carried out has limits that are dangerous to transgress. These limits constitute the maximum capacity of a region, the degree to which the region can be exploited for economic activity without degrading the environment on the site or the interactive harmony between sectors of the economy, groups of people and individuals.
Only recently has it been recognized that tourism takes place in environments that have limits. Often, these limits have been discovered when transgressing them, generally to the detriment of the tourism industry.
In some cases, the industry has suffered serious and irreversible damage as a result of the actions of tourism entrepreneurs and / or tourists themselves.
Cuban tourism does not escape the situations and problems previously exposed, even more so when it is increasingly established in a place of honor within the branches of our economy, establishing itself among the leading sectors for the economic boost of the nation.
• Empresa Cubanacán SA Peninsula de Zapata.
The topics of this work are developed in relation to Empresa Cubanacán SA Península de Zapata, a company with an integrative characteristic subordinated to the Ministry of Tourism of the Republic of Cuba.
The term "integrator" refers to the fact that unlike most MINTUR companies, it is structured by several units with different social objects, but which complement each other in some cases.
• Managers: who they are.
As managers, those leaders are to be understood by nomenclature, who have management powers, but not the specialists, cadre reserves, and others.
From a generational point of view, the Company's managers, as a general average, have an age between forty-two and fifty-six years.
They thus present a fairly concentrated generational environment, having a process of training as cadres, mostly between the eighties and the first years of the nineties. These years were not fruitful for the issue of sustainability in our economy, which begins to be felt in the press and in the official speech, especially since 1992 with the intervention of President Fidel Castro at the Rio Summit.
In relation to training as cadres, the highest percent of current managers and those who preceded them emanate from the quarry of the Cuban Communist Party, the Organs of Popular Power, the Union of Young Communists, as well as other organizations They are politically and massively so they sadly lack a sophisticated and technically modern professional and business training, as they weigh down the culture and mentality of the socialist production of the old days.
Another part of the cadres have been formed "in the heat of combat", under the constant demand of compliance with the plans at all costs. To a lesser extent, and in a lesser hierarchy, the cadres with a stronger training from the business point of view are presented, many of whom have graduated from the courses of the Ministry of Tourism for training of cadres, but because they occupy a lower position in the food chain they must finally submit to the line of work of the cadres of the old and not so old guard.
This vision does not constitute an anti-directive manifesto at all, much less a destructive criticism of them, since it is recognized that in almost all of them they have taken advanced courses, including bachelor's degrees and diplomas, especially within the Hotel Schools system. and Tourism but it is also true that these have been framed, not in all cases, in the obligatory and planned need for improvement, acquired knowledge that sometimes belittles, considering them as mere academic theories divorced from reality in the exercise of business leadership, on very frequent occasions assumed as command and command.
• Managers: what conceptual elements do they have?
The reality that emanates from interviews by open question questionnaires that were carried out, contrasts with what was previously exposed.
The characteristics and length of this work do not allow a detailed statistical analysis in relation to the results obtained by the applied research instrument, nor a precise use of the sample in relation to the population for a correct margin of error.
Apart from this, it does allow a vision of the awareness that the Company's managers possess in relation to the sustainable management of their businesses.
According to answers to the open questions of the interview, the central idea of sustainable development was well understood by most managers as the development of an economic activity without affecting the future of it.
In disagreement with this they did not have a clear focus when asked what they understood by environmental impact assessment. It was even worse when asked how they evaluated the environmental impact for the introduction of new products on the market or for new establishments.
In these cases, some understood it as the simple application for an environmental license in the case of new establishments, others as the care and cleaning of green areas and others as care in the dumping of waste, some even explained that for that existed the specialists in exploitation.
It is clear that these conceptual elements do not correspond precisely to an environmental impact assessment, a correct assessment of the environmental impact is not taken into account when faced with new products and facilities.
When asked about the limits of the maximum capacity of an ecosystem, the responses mostly agreed that they did not know what he was referring to, and that in any case that would be a problem for the Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment and not the Ministry of Tourism, since with Clean green areas and waste-free facilities were no problems; leaving out of concern the carbon monoxide and dioxide, the polluting refrigeration gases, the impact of the waves produced by the navigation on the mangroves, the overexploitation of the reefs by diving and other damages and erosions.
The aforementioned shows that the conceptual elements that managers possess are not precise and consistent in such a way that they are applied in the practice of tourism management and in accordance with the good uses of sustainable development.
• Managers: what basic concepts should they know.
Sustainable Tourism Development.
This development is achieved through a great national effort and if we look back we will be able to see that from the beginning it was created within a concept of sustainability, aimed at benefiting the country as a whole, in a responsible and respectful action with society, the culture and the environment, with stable economic results, growing and committed to the future.
For our country, Law 81 of 1997, Environmental Law, defines Sustainable Tourism Development as:
"That which is carried out in a way that harmonizes the effective use of the aesthetic, recreational, scientific, cultural and any other potentialities of the natural resources that constitute its base, with the protection of these resources and the guarantee that they can provide equal or superior benefits to future generations ”.
Furthermore, the World Tourism Organization has established the following definition:
“Sustainable Tourism meets the needs of today's tourists and of the receiving regions and, at the same time, protects and fosters opportunities for the future. It is also based on respect for the national culture and its territorial expressions and on the integration of local populations in the development of their activities, thus contributing to raising the quality of life of human beings. ”
• Maximum admissible capacity for sustainable tourism.
As demonstrated above, the sustainable situation of tourism in particular rests on the guarantee that this capacity is not exceeded, while a healthy industry may exist developing activity levels that are below the maximum capacity.
The tourism industry can benefit from management approaches that anticipate and prevent the kinds of problems that occur when the maximum allowable capacity is exceeded.
It is possible, then, that even when the environmental capacity can be successfully identified, it is not properly taken into account when making decisions regarding tourism development.
• The maximum capacity of the place depends on the following factors:
- what is naturally in the place (the present ecosystem); who (or what) is using the site; the type of activity proposed for the place; the use of land (and water) in the surroundings; the design of the facilities; the tastes of the users (the lake can be too cold to swim); the vulnerability of the valued products and services currently obtained at the proposed construction site; the degree of management proposed (for example, night cleaning).
The identification of important values and the rational analysis of the commitments to be accepted constitute the key for those who must decide. If the crucial values of the site depend on the beauty of its panoramic views (unspoilt landscapes), the observation of wildlife and the possibility of being alone in the middle of nature, the degree of use of the place to be tolerated will be very low if you want to keep those values.
• The approach of environmental impact assessment.
Development planning should clearly identify the fundamental attributes of the natural environment and natural systems of the site or region.
The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was conceived as a tool for the identification and consideration of these attributes. The objective of the EIA is to identify in advance the factors that may affect the capacity to build a projected tourist center or those that will be affected by the proposed activity.
The results can then influence the decision to undertake the work or not, the choice of its conception and stages, and the identification of the need to mitigate the undesired effects.
The stages of the EIA are relatively well known, as they were established in the United States National Environmental Assessment Act around twenty years ago, in 1972. The approach of the United States Department of Commerce includes the following:
- Inventory of the social, political, physical and economic environment; Forecasts or projection of trends; Goal setting; Analysis of alternatives to achieve these objectives; Choice of the preferred alternative; Development of the application strategy; Application; Evaluation.
This procedure has been truncated in many of the jurisdictions that have begun to require the EIA.
As a result, only a simple review process is carried out that analyzes, for example, the problems posed by the site from the engineering point of view (drainage, soil depth, stability) and the chosen aspects of the site itself (vegetation, fauna) that would be directly disturbed. Neither alternative development sites nor options nor the effects on the immediate vicinity are examined.
• The ecosystem assessment approach.
The ecosystem concept can lead to the sustainable development of tourism. However, due to the fact that many of the fundamental resources on which tourism depends are managed by third parties or are affected by the actions of third parties (for example, forestry, fishing and hunting, which in the case of Zapata Peninsula are managed by the Municipal Agriculture Company “Victoria de Girón”), it is not enough to draw up plans for tourism outside of other economic sectors.
Implementation of the strategies can be difficult, particularly under the pressure of rapid development. However, they serve to reduce the impacts of individual events.
• Ecological tourism: the promise in the Zapata peninsula.
Ecotourism constitutes a subgroup of possible activities within the tourism industry, generally consisting of trips for recreational purposes, vulnerable environments are visited, with activities with little impact on the environment (bird watching and hiking).
Due to the fact that its object is fragile cultural and natural environments, ecological tourism requires, more than any other type of tourism, a deep knowledge on the part of its managers of the maximum capacity of the ecosystem that it uses to receive tourism.
The achievement of sustainable tourism will depend on a more knowledgeable management of all aspects of the industry and more sensitive to them, from general planning, the choice of type of development, the degrees of use and the management of impacts and products. derived from industry.
Conscious managers will be required, who agree to take responsibility for the repercussions that their own acts have on the environment. The intervention of local and national authorities will also be necessary to ensure that the degree of use and the nature of the impact are acceptable.
Probably, such a guarantee will be achieved only as a consequence of the development of standards at the local and national level, and of the mechanisms used to put them into practice, as well as the application of self-control mechanisms.
As already mentioned, the director of tourism, in his role as decision maker, must establish a measure of the maximum capacity of a site, to reduce the risk of transgressing cultural or biological limits, which would result in degradation of your own company or would adversely affect third parties.
Examples abound from the time when tourism activity degraded the environment to such an extent that it could no longer accommodate the type or degree of tourism it was intended to receive (for example, polluted beaches, the banks of trails eroded and deteriorated cultural heritage).
Examples of third-party actions that affected the ability of the environment to continue to attract tourists (such as polluted rivers, or formerly wooded hills now devoid of vegetation) also abound. We may be less sensitive to the fact that the actions of tourists also negatively affected what other sectors considered to be valuable elements (the effects of noise on natural life and the surrounding communities, the pollution of local fishing areas caused by sewage water).
• Conclusions
The managers of Empresa Cubanacán SA Península de Zapata do not have adequate environmental awareness, knowledge and culture to manage their activities that guarantee real sustainable development in the spaces in which they are carried out.
However, it is essential to understand that a better analysis of the link between tourism and the environment can make a difference only if there are institutions and mechanisms capable of using the resulting knowledge in the decision-making process.
The science of forecasting environmental and cultural impacts is evolving rapidly, but a key problem is that these predictions have often been ignored or underestimated when making the specific decision regarding a particular resort.
Even though we can predict that an ecological space will be destroyed, the perspective of a landscape will be disturbed or an important habitat will be damaged, whoever takes responsibility for the decisions must still face the problem of balancing these factors with values such as job creation or the need to facilitate the entry of foreign currency.
There is no easy way to solve this problem; the decision is ultimately determined by national or regional priorities, often expressed in a national plan or in a regional strategy document. Sustainable tourism planning poses the challenge of providing crucial information to executive managers, necessary to prevent unacceptable harm from inadvertently being caused.
Tourism is at the highest level in the food chain for human consumption. The challenge of planning and managing sustainable tourism is important for the future of the industry, both globally and locally.
To meet this challenge, a high degree of commitment is required in the global planning and management of the industry. The key to achieving a sustainable situation in the tourism sector is to clearly recognize the limits and capacities of the environment and to understand the relationships established between the environment and the human activities that constitute tourism.
This work has shown that the tourism sector actively seeks the treasures of land, water and air, the most fragile natural and cultural environments, as a basis for the experiences it provides.
Due to irresponsible development or narrow vision management, tourism often caused the degradation of the basic resource on which it is developed.
The prosperity of tourism over the next century, both globally and locally, depends on the benefit to be derived from these lessons and the continued development of sustainable solutions that benefit both the industry and the regions that are the source. on the values on which it depends.
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