9:00 am, 12th May 2016: STAKEHOLDER MEETING at International Trade Centre (ITC) office, Loikaw

09:30am: Around half of the stakeholders made it to the ITC office by now. I guess we still have to get used to the Myanmar concept of punctuality. So we continue waiting while everyone is enjoying a cup of tea or coffee.

09:33am: “Are you almost here?” – “Yes, yes, 2 minutes”

Intro_Speech_Loikaw09:45am: Introduction speech by Alice of the ITC. Chezu Tinbardeh and thank you to everyone who came to our meeting today. Short refresher about the work done by ITC, which is focused on inclusive tourism and creating benefits for local communities in the villages in Kayah state, as well as working together with businesses in Loikaw. Additionally, ITC works together with tour operators in Yangon which are interested in offering a tourism product that benefits local communities. In Europe tourism in Kayah state and Loikaw is being promoted. The various training programmes that ITC offers in the local villages are being introduced.

Brief introduction by Rico Lie, our teacher, about the programme we are enrolled in at Wageningen University and NHTV Breda. In total we are in Myanmar with 29 students; 14 in Loikaw and 15 in Kalaw and Pindaya. Back to our study programme: we are enrolled in the Bachelor of Science Tourism which takes 3 years, we are 2nd year students. We are taught how to do scientific research on tourism. Rico shows pictures of Wageningen University and NHTV buildings. And in the background you see our library.

What did we actually do in Loikaw? We have 3 groups doing research in Loikaw, one on hotels, one on restaurants and one on tours. To collect data we conducted interviews, participant observations and visited the villages Hta Nee La Leh and Pan Pet.

And why are we in Loikaw? We want to learn about how local people and local businesses can benefit from tourism. When local people and local businesses are involved in tourism, and benefit from tourism, it is called inclusive tourism.

What did we do at Inle Lake? We were in Nyaung Shwe and Inle Lake to look at the positive impacts of tourism. We worked with Myanmar students at Inthar Heritage Hospitality and Vocational Training Centre. We went to local villages, went trekking and met local shop keepers and craft people. A lot of hands on experience. We have worked very hard to understand the situations we encountered and to make suggestions, but only had very limited time. If anything is wrong or not quite right, we apologise and hope you can forgive us. We are all here to learn.

10:10am: Introduction of the programme. Current delay: 25 minutes. That deserves a round of applause!

Stakeholder_Meeting_Loikaw2

10:11am: The first student group gives their presentation about the restaurant sector in Loikaw and the work they did. Thank you to everyone who showed up, especially to our new friends that made the last week incredible for us. We have been studying the relationship between Community Involvement and Destination Competitiveness, by using Loikaw as a case study. We present a simplified version of our research project and for this stakeholder meeting we focus on the Quality of Experience. We found out, that the restaurants are already doing a great job at view and access to a certain extent, the quality and freshness of raw materials, as well as friendliness. Things that could be improved are music, decoration, visibility (i.e. presence online, for instance on Google Maps or Tripadvisor), menu development, and the skills of employees, especially regarding English. Opportunities include the creation of atmosphere, marketing, menu development and English skills. We present recommendations, that will be discussed later on. Chezu Tinbardeh.

10:28am: We continue immediately with the next group, who studied the hotels sector. Again, thank you very much for coming today and thank you for the inspiring last two weeks. The goal of the research was to find opportunities for community involvement in order to improve the quality of life. In addition to interviews and participant observations, the students stayed in multiple hotels in order to experience the hotels from a tourist’s point of view.

What did the students learn? Most of the furniture is imported from China, most hotels do not have online accessibility and most services are provided by the hotels directly. Furthermore, mostly local employees are hired, mostly local food is used, however there are almost no existing connections with tour operators. The students make suggestions about which parts of the hotel business map could be outsourced, in order to enhance the quality of the hotel experience. Recommendations for the hotels include improving the quality by hiring specialised companies, cooperation between hotels and tour operators, using local designs and improving accessibility.

10:48am: Lastly, the third group who studied the community tours and activities inKayah state presented. The students aimed to explore the ways in which stakeholders of community tours work together to improve community involvement and stakeholder collaboration. The field project is embedded in a broader academic discussion on destination governance.

The students participated in community tourism in Pan Pet and Hta Nee Na Leh, conducted interviews and engaged in participant observations at bus and train stations and the airport in Loikaw. The students found out that there are opportunities regarding location and accessibility which could be improved by tour operators promoting their businesses online. Furthermore, the airport, bus and station, i.e. the transport locations, provide an opportunity for local tour operators to offer and promote community tours. There is potential for stronger teambuilding between tour guides, tour operators, community villagers, hotels and so on. Plastic garbage is mentioned as an issue, which the students believe could be recycled into souvenirs, maybe even as a tourist activity.

11:10am: A well deserved tea and coffee break.

11:35am: The group discussion begins. The students wrote their previously-mentioned recommendations onto pieces of paper which have been attached to the wall. Each stakeholder got 3 stickers with which they can vote for their favourite recommendations. We are happy about the active engagement/participation. These are the results:Stciky_Note_Recommendations_Loikaw

  • Organise a local English teacher to offer training.
  • Plan meetings with hotels & tour operators to help each other to provide a better service to the tourist.
  • Have trainings on how to recycle plastic water bottles into souvenirs.

Afterwards, there is an opportunity for the stakeholders to speak up and share their ideas and opinions.

12:43: We’re reaching the end of our meeting. Thank you for coming and the active engagement. A special thanks goes out to the ITC for facilitating the International Field Project and providing such a great opportunity for everyone involved. Thank you also to the local people, who have been very kind and helpful at all times

It was an unforgettable experience. A final chezu tinbardeh!

Authors: Flora, Laura, Maaike, Nellie & Wiebke