*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.100333 The Management of Ecotourism as a Way of Contributing to the Development of Protected…*

of Tanzania, stating that it was time for a more proactive local role. Western said: "People should be the main beneficiaries and inspectors of natural resources".

Meanwhile, since its emergence in 1960, ecotourism has been known as an activity aimed at generating new sources of work, local structuring, zoning, community performance in rural and protected areas, through legal or other types of effective means in order to achieve the long-term conservation of nature and its ecosystem services and their associated cultural values [8].

It is inferred that ecotourism is a process of local interpretations and sensible scientific, technological, economic, psychological, socio-cultural and environmental relations between the local population, their homes and guests. Under this sense, the most recent concept was born: "responsible travel to natural spaces that conserve the environment, sustain the well-being of the local population and involve interpretation and education" [9]. In this definition, the political, coordinative aspects and the local self-management associated with nature conservation are absent, with multidimensional impacts [10–13].

However, we must continue to deepen the theory on the subject. For the author, the essence of ecotourism is concretized in three fundamental constructs, without one of them there is no ecotourism: leisure, nature and community: the practice of leisure, as a psychsociological implication - is the main and social function of ecotourism. That is, in the present, everyone has the right to rest, vacation and to protect the interests of present and future generations; nature conservation, culture and environmental education as an intermediate function of ecotourism, for which they must generate processes that promote environmental conservation and cultural preservation; e Impact on communities: the ultimate goal – must generate benefits to the community; be able to insert it into local and global society; raise the quality of life and control over their reality.

The links between Sustainable Development (SD) and ecotourism focus on the sensible and responsible outcomes that both demand. The term sustainability first appeared in the forest fields of Germany in 1713 [14]. Nevertheless, as a global concept, it was taken up by the Commission for Sustainable Development's document "Our Common Future", Brundtland Report, in 1987. In this, the concept was made known, as one that meets the needs of the present without involving those of future generations, that is, from a coherent and sensible current use of resources, well-being can be shared with others.

Conversely, it has to be approached from the local and from the vision of each individual that is part of this context. For this, Alonso [15] states that local development "are those who seek solutions with their own resources and are urged (...) local actors to become the protagonists of their own growth." In this line, Sachs [16] and the speeches of Fidel Castro, propose a foreign aid to the local, where the most developed become donors to the less developed and through the aid investments are made in 5 major areas: agriculture, health, education, infrastructure and water management. This approach is called the "top-down" development of the World Bank, which was adopted in 1975, but its materialization towards the local level is consequent to us due to a weak distribution mechanism, which makes it easier for these supports to actually reach the most deprived people.

Meanwhile, in turn, the term management dates from 1884 and comes from the etymological root gesto, which comes from the Latin gestos, defined as attitude or movement of the body, which in turn is derived from gerere, which means to execute and carry out. Management as an influence factor of sustainability at local level of protected areas is very recent, comes from the 80s, after the Brundtland report, and is today in a stage of theoretical-methodological redesign, assuming the name of local development management.

It turns out then to link the management from what is strategy, its operational component. In this way, the research led to the following definition: Strategy for the management of ecotourism: it is a logical plan based on the context and tourism resources (natural, cultural and historical), with coherent objectives and actions, to achieve sustainable local results; increase the tourist demand and manage spaces, in an average time.

For a better local coherence, the management has different techniques to assist in the making of strategic decisions to give rise to the characterization of the context, among them: the theory of the games, decision tree, Balanced Scorecard and the critical factors of event (FCS), etc. [17, 18]. But in the author**'**s opinion, manipulating the FCS is an outstanding way to know the premises properly and guide the management, while other techniques have a more entrepreneurial vision.

## **4. Design of the procedure for the management of ecotourism**

Procedures of international authors for the management of ecotourism were studied [10, 19–22]. These authors agree on the need for the design of a procedure for management and reinforce its systemic, scientific, dynamic, flexible and objective-oriented character.

In general, they do not have such a procedure for the management of ecotourism. Then there is no consensus. Most do not consider the conservation of environments as an imperative; some do not assume carrying capacity; the accuracy of local FCS in making decisions is insufficient; all do not incorporate the ideas of the community and there is little clarity in the strategies of commercialization of the local tourism potential, that is, it can be observed in the policies and actions, they are designed without the direct participation of those involved in the future destination.

The previous shortcomings led to the proposal of a procedure that is essentially based on the contributions of Rodríguez et al. in his study, incorporates community and management into a methodological design, suggesting that villagers have the need to propose their own ideas; exchange with tourists and integrate the management process, as shown below (**Table 2**):

#### **4.1 I. First stage: pre-preparation**

Step 1. Selection of actors who will participate in the process and establish the premises, scenarios and the management system.

They constitute tasks of the present stage, the selection of actors who will participate in the process and establish the premises and scenarios.

The proposed procedure comprises the following **foundations:** systematization; the philosophical; the sociological; the psychological; local self-management; training; participation and partnership.

The management of ecotourism as a way to bring development to protected areas must be formed by a local **hierarchical structure.** In the specific case of Cuando Cubango, the Provincial Governor is in office to coordinate and mobilize efforts to achieve the expected results.

Along with the governor, the team include other members of the local management: Intermediate: directors of the local office of Tourism, Environment and Culture; Directors of the Okavango Development Pole; private companies, middle managers, university professors and private sector officials, and at the grassroots: they include academics, members of non-governmental organizations and community leaders.


*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.100333 The Management of Ecotourism as a Way of Contributing to the Development of Protected…*

#### **Table 2.**

*The procedure for the management of ecotourism.*

The procedure, based on the previous studies and the objectives pursued, adopts the following **premises,** previously set to the participants: The local community; el potential that has the province of CuandoCubango; lto will and political participation, and a business sector.

For this, the following mission is proposed: to design a procedure for the management of ecotourism that contributes to the local development of Cuando Cubango and creates a theoretical-methodological basis for local policies.

In turn, the vision as the futuristic point of what is to be achieved consists of those assumed indicators: economic (one - tourist demand; two - new infrastructures); sociocultural (three - elevation of community quality of life) and ecological (four - conservation of flora and fauna).
