PUP Manual English

Site Planning for Life
Manual for PUP Core Planning Teams
Copyright is Continuous
This manual is continuously being updated all the time so be sure to download the most recent edition
just before use. Note the last updated date at the beginning of each module.
Use Rights
The PUP Global Heritage Consortium supports the creative commons and makes the manual freely
available for anyone’s use. We only ask that users properly cite the Consortium as the publisher and
that users share with us any feedback on how to improve the work.
http://pupconsortium.net/pup-consortium-programs/pup-program/pup-manual/
For outdated other language versions, please request to info@pupconsortium.net

This volume focuses you on the details of the public use planning process.
Last updated April 2015
Introduction to the Conversations Intro-5

PUP MANUAL
CONTENTS
Planning Modules Training
Introduction to the Modules
Mod 1: PUP Planning Preparation 1
Mod 2: Interpretive Framework
Mod 3: Directory of Touristic Attractions
Mod 4: Zone and Sector Mapping
Mod 5: Public Use Products 2
Mod 6: Wider Review of Product Proposals
First Review of Results (FRR)
Mod 7: LAC Monitoring
Mod 8: Regulations and Controls 3
Mod 9: Calendar of Activities
Mod 10: Financial Plan
Second Review of Results (SRR)
Mod 11: Preparation for Implementation
Mod 12: Organizational Learning & Continuous Plan Implementation 4
PowerPoint Presentations Appendix
Background Materials Module Materials
1. PUP Introduction ¾ Chapters This folder contains MS
2. Experience Planning ¾ Modules Office editable module
3. Module 2 Interpretive Framework ¾ Miscellaneous agendas and work
5. PUP Concept Model ¾ References Cited documents.
6. Strategic Planning ¾ Printing Instructions
7. Module 3 ¾ Public Use Plans
8a. Module 4 ¾ Photo Credits
8b. Attraction Authenticity Zoning Example
9a. Module 5 Part I
9b. Module 5 Part II
10. Module 7
11. Module 8
12. Tourism Industry
Background Readings
1. Confronting Plan Implementation Barriers
2. Introduction: Public Use Planning
3. PUP Conservation Connection
4. What You Need to Be a Public Use Coordinator
5. Facilitation: Navigating the PUP Planning
6. Interpretive Planning: Connecting Meaning and Management
7. Strategic Planning: Tight On Ends; Loose on Means
8. Tourism Industry: More Than Just Visiting Heritage
9. Plan Implementation: It Takes a Village to Raise a Plan
Glossary of PUP Terms
Intro-6 Introduction to the Conversations

S
ite Planning for Life contains all the modules (soon
renamed “conversations” to better represent their INTRODUCTION
participatory nature) to produce a basic public use
plan (PUP). It is not advisable to use the manual alone
TO THE MODULES
as the full program involves training and mentoring. Our
PUP Facilitators accompany sites through a a three-year
relationship with the PUP Consortium. Facilitators help
to ask critical questions that lead to a continuous planning
process rather than just a public use planning document
that remains on the shelf.
After the module menu, we then present a
description of the standard format, so that you can better
understand how each module is set up.
Module Menu
Module 1: PUP Planning Preparation
Module 2: Interpretive Framework
Module 3: Directory of Touristic Attractions Training 1
Module 4: Zone & Sector Mapping
Training 2
Module 5: Public Use Products
Module 6: Wider Review of Product Proposals
First Review of Results
Module 7: LAC Monitoring Training 3
Module 8: Regulations and Controls
Module 9: Calendar of Activities
Module 10: Financial Plan
Second Review of Results
Module 11: Preparation for Implementation
Module 12: Organizational Learning & Continuous
Training 4
Plan Implementation (under development)
The PUP process has been broken up into discrete units called
modules or conversations. Each module is defined by a particular
product or related set of sub-products. The modules are sequential
and together provide the building blocks of a complete and
implementable public use plan.
Modules are not synonymous with workshops. Some modules
are clearly dominated by a central public workshop from one to even
two days long (Module 5). Yet modules also include other forms of
data collection including private meetings, field interviews, and book
research. Modules 1 and 11 are multi-part, containing several closely

related but distinct processes. Modules nonetheless, are strictly how-
to. They are technical guides to be modified for the circumstances
of each site. These modules are generic, written for the “average”
site. Of course, no site is average, therefore, no module can be used
without modification.
In some cases sites will opt to use only certain modules as they
already have certain components in their strategic planning or else
others do not interest them. PUP modularized the process specifically
to allow this kind of flexibility. PUP does recommend highly though
that you discuss with its staff before deciding to eliminate any of
the modules in the PUP process. They were selected and tested with
utmost care and logic.
Study Questions
At the beginning of each module you will find several study questions.
Read these carefully before reading the module for the first time.
They will help guide your attention to some of the most important
messages of the module. PUP instructors may ask you to answer the
questions in writing before attending the PUP course Training 1.
u ts i d e
O
Thinking Ω the Box
PUP challenges many aspects of conventional
planning from its assumptions to its practices.
Each module gives form to these challenges
both in words and in processes. In each mod-
ule, as well, appears this small box “Think
outside the Box” that calls attention to some
of these conflicting ideas. To master PUP, you
should spend some time thinking about how
the modules take a new stance, likely quite
different from what you have been taught as
a heritage site manager. Most points are ex-
plained in the Background Readings, but if you
encounter one that you cannot understand,
please contact your PUP contact.

PUP Module Format
PUP has designed every workshop with techniques to make their use
easier for you. Most modules have the following four components:
1. The Information Box. This box, which appears at the beginning

of the module, contains important reference information.
2. The Body. The majority of the module comes in the body, which
describes the preparations, the background, methodology, post-
workshop tasks, and evaluation.
3. PUP Examples & Illustrations. All the hand outs you should
need during workshops are found neatly ordered at the end of each
module. They serve both as examples to you as you learn about the
content of the modules and for the participants during the workshop.
While you might make some modifications to suit your local context,
for the most part you can simply photocopy, staple, and distribute
these packets to participants. You probably do not need more than
one packet for each two to three participants.
4. PowerPoint Presentations. Modules 2–5 and 7–8 have PowerPoint
presentations designed to accompany them. They illustrate the
principal theory and give examples in full color. There are three
versions: one for your personal study, one for workshop participants
(shorter and less technical) which is shown with a projector, and one
for printing with reduced graphics.
For modules with workshops, you can divide the workshops into
three parts: pre, during, and post.
a. Pre-Module Preparations.
You will have to do a series of preparations that are necessary to
carry out each workshop. Most are logistical, and some require
producing new materials that will guide the theoretical component of
each workshop. For example, all PowerPoint presentations should be
tailored to the local context by inserting locally relevant pictures and
examples, replacing some of the generic and international examples
that come with the presentations.
b. Workshop.
Each workshop lasts from one to two days.
c. Post-Workshop Tasks.
After every workshop there are one to four tasks that you and a select
group of participants carry out to make the results of the workshop
become reality. Sometimes it is to flesh out the details – a task that

does not require the participation of all the stakeholders in the full
group. Committees do not write documents well, so the writing tasks
will be left for a small number of people, sometimes just you.
Each module will introduce new vocabulary marked in bold. This

vocabulary can be found in the glossary in the back of Volume 1.
Note that you can find the estimated time for each section in
the agenda at the end of the module as well as the Master Calendar
of Events (Intro-17). These times will vary depending on your skills,
the group, the topics, etc. But it is important to have a guide to avoid
having the group run away with the time before you accomplish all
that you have set out to do. Sometimes very interesting discussions
can break out, but if you do not facilitate the discussion to stay within
reasonable time boundaries, it could end up being more costly than
productive.
What follows is a brief description of each field found in
the modules. Once you read through this, you will understand what
every piece tries to accomplish in the actual plans that follow.
Information Box
Focus Question: This question, as defined by the Technology of

Participation, guides participants toward the objectives.
Summary: This gives a brief overview of what the module attempts
to accomplish.
Format: Workshop, meeting, field research, etc.
Time: How much time should be budgeted to the workshop.
Materials: All the materials you will need to carry out the module.
Participants (X-Y): The kinds of stakeholders that should be
participating in this workshop. A recommended number of
participants is shown in parentheses.
Deliverables: The products that should result from an unmodified
version of this module. If a site modifies it, different products will
result.
This Module Contains
Pre-Workshop Preparations
I. Introduction
II. Major Topic I
Next Steps in PUP
Evaluation
Post-Workshop Task 1:
Additional Reading

Examples & Illustrations
Agenda Module 1
You will have a series of preparations you will need to do before the
execution of the module. They include ensuring that the deliverables
from the previous module have been prepared for use; readying
materials; preparing correspondence (such as sending out the agenda
in advance); and preparing pre-tasks or handouts that might have to
be sent to participants. You should be reading this section at least
a week before the actual execution to ensure that you have time to
carry out all the needed preparations.
Introduction
Warming Up
Once everyone is in the room where the module will be executed,

you will want to make a presentation that provides a quick update
of your previous efforts. Remember that many of the participants
may not have participated in previous modules and could be starting
cold. Also be sure to review the agenda.
Each introduction will carry a descriptive title that you can
use with participants, or you can come up with one on your own.
This warming-up section provides only a quick overview of the
theoretical background, explaining why this module follows those
that came before (which are reviewed in the previous section). It is
intended to give participants a vision of what is to come, and how
the module fits into the entire picture. You will likely use the image
of the PUP Progression to show where you are in the process.
Most modules have a PowerPoint presentation for the
participants that can be used at the beginning of the workshop to
introduce them to the relevant ideas and examples.
I. Main Topic 1
Each module covers one to three related major topics. This section
introduces each major topic. Within each major topic you see:
What Does It Mean?
This section covers the theory in the background presentation. The

WARNING: PUP Format Can Soften presentation usually has an accompanying PowerPoint show that you
Your Brain use to help introduce the basic theory that participants will need.
These presentations are often backed up by handouts found in the
Because of the refined structure
and sequence presented in this
Examples & Ilustrations.
manual, a planning team can
easily fall into the trap of becom- How Do I Do It?
ing overconfident that the manu-
al provides all the answers. This
sensation leads to mindlessness, In this section you have all the steps to execute the module. They
that is, a lack of attention to the are all represented in the agenda.
many problems and local context
that PUP cannot manage. All
PUP modules must be modified II. Main Topic 2
for your particular situation
and some of your needs will fall
outside the PUP structure. You Same as above.
must either foresee these issues
or be always attentive to their
emergence in order to avoid Next Steps
emergencies and surprises that
can damage the process. This section is for you and those who are most involved in the
For example in Module 3, you use
five criteria to rank attractions. process. It is important to keep on track and have a vision of what
But if after seeing the results, follows so that the results of one module flow into the next.
you feel uncomfortable that the
results did not take into con-
sideration all points or that the Evaluation
order isn’t what your collective
intuition indicates it should have
been, then change the rankings!
Though you will often be tired at the end of a workshop, and maybe
The ranking tool should NEVER depressed or elated, the temptation is to cut short and go home. But
substitute for thinking. The goal taking that extra 10 minutes to evaluate the workshop can be very
of the modules is to combine
past experience in public use
useful for your future workshops and for improving the methodology
management with a lot of col- for other sites that will participate in this program. PUP will work
lective intelligence leading to with you to analyze your recommendations for possible inclusion in
a temporary consensus in your
heritage area constituent com-
future editions of this manual.
munity. Thus never: Note that the evaluation questions tend to be very specific.
This is based on experience that shows that most participants tend
• Copy blindly from pre-ex- to compliment the methodology without critically examining it. They
isting examples to your
own case
also tend to give general answers that do not help us. Remember
• Never mindlessly accept the that few people are trained in SMARTI objective writing. Encourage
results from any rankings people to be as specific as possible with their comments.
• Never ignore issues simply
because PUP has no module
It is very important that participants have the opportunity
or tool to deal with them to voice any doubts about the process, the results, or the materials.
(for example, guidelines for The doubts should be added to the module proceedings although
designing a visitor security
plan)
they may not have a solution.
• Never just follow a step that
you don’t understand
• Never ignore a stakehold-
Post-Workshop Task 1, 2, 3
er’s opposition simply be-
cause it contradicts results After each module, there are some follow-up tasks that you and
that come from PUP tools
Continued on next page...
some select participants need to carry out before proceeding with

the next module. Most of these tasks typically do not require all • Never move on to the next
stakeholders as they are more technical, such as number-crunching, step if your intuition tells
you something is not right
etc. The deliverables are the direct result of these tasks. or good enough
• Never become complacent
with success
• Don’t let participant satis-
Examples & Illustrations faction fool you into think-
ing that problems don’t
exist
Maps, lists, tables, examples of products: The E&I pages are found • Don’t be seduced by simple
in the appendices for each module. These pages are to be distributed explanations for complex
to participants during the workshops. problems
• Don’t ever let a failure go
unanalyzed. The manual
Additional Resources can only point the way, but
it can never do any of the
work for you.
A list of materials available on the Internet. • Never lose focus on imple-
mentation. If you do, PUP
becomes worthless and
mindless.
Agenda • And don’t overrely on
PUP’s or any methodol-
This is a suggested agenda using the Technology of Participation ogy’s tools or else your
brain will get soft!
format. It has the focus question as well as rational and experiential
goals. Refer to your materials on the Workshop Method for
further explanation. You certainly have to modify the times, place,
and logistical and other details for each workshop, but this will
hopefully serve as a useful guide. Hint: Try to put action verbs and
interesting things in the agenda to make it more attractive (PowerPoint
presentations, coffee, guest speakers, videos, etc.).
Action Verbs
You will find action verbs throughout the module text; they help you
quickly identify the kind of action needed. The following are used:
♦♦ Ask (an ORID or other question)

♦♦ Do (something only for the planner)
♦♦ Explain (a theory, “What Does It Mean?”)
♦♦ Facilitate (a process, “How Do I Do It?”)
♦♦ Introduce (a person)
♦♦ Orient (what are we doing in this module or this
PUP process, where are we?)
♦♦ Review (previous results or modules)
♦♦ Show (a PowerPoint show or some other kind of
demonstration)

Module Agenda
The following is an example of an agenda from Module 2.
Public Use Planning [Organization] [Date]

Focus Question: What are the most significant attributes and stories about [our site]’s
heritage that illustrate or reveal new perspectives about nature, the universe, and being
human?
Rational Goals: Experiential Goals:
• Understand what makes our heritage site • Discover [ ]’s deeper identity
significant among other areas • Get excited when the emerging
• Generate emerging messages messages take form
Minutes Activity Notes

Introduction
5 Welcome address Site Director
15 Self-introduction All
15 About interpretation PowerPoint presentation
10 Address about site creation Site Director
15 Snack Coffee, healthy cookies
Recreating Site History

20 Introduction by Historian About site history
100 Recreation of site history Timeline
60 Lunch
Defining Emerging Messages
120 Definition of Emerging Messages
Evaluation
10 Evaluation
10 Future Steps
This agenda can be found as an editable MS Word document in the Appendix.

Relationships between Modules
PUP classifies all modules as strategic and operational. This classification reflects PUP’s intention to link strategic planning
to operational planning and thus achieve the minimum necessary for plan implementation. Later, strategic modules are
classified as either set up or related to product planning. Set up modules (1-3) are those needed to establish the foundation
for planning. Results of Modules 4-6 depend upon the participants, the visits, and the actual and foreseeable market. In some
ways, the results of Modules 2-3 are absolute, whereas the results of Modules 4-6 are relative. Therefore, the operational
modules aim towards implementing the strategic plans generated in the former modules.
(under development)

Module Proceedings
After modules 2–10, you should quickly create proceedings. Pro-
ceedings not only serve to document the methodology, attendees,
logistics, challenges, considerations, consensus, and contributions,
but also the rapidity of their production and accuracy increases
greatly the credibility, transparency, and ownership of the process.
In conventional planning workshops, consultants often write
down what they think is important to include in the final docu-
ment from every workshop. With this approach, they may ignore
or lose many contributions and misrepresent people’s ideas and felt
needs. This approach may contribute to the public perception that
facilitators or planners have rigged the process toward pre-cooked
conclusions and ultimately do not care about people’s opinions and
needs.
In a participatory process, however, facilitators document
all contributions of individuals, (but not all comments), their main
points, conclusions, decisions, proposals, and expressions of ideas
especially those supported by others. This documentation does not
imply that all expressions will make it to the plan, but the process
preserves them and gives them importance. Of course the proceed-
ings also include all formal module products.
In terms of process, you will want to identify PUP assistants
to help write down contributions and note take. Often times, how-
ever, you will have to remind the note taker to capture elements as
they may be unconsciously filtering information or not paying suf-
ficient attention. It is always better to take more notes than fewer.
You should edit proceedings as soon as possible (next day?) and
then send them to participants for their feedback, revision, edition,
and modification. You don’t have to impose strict deadlines as you
can continue to modify proceedings as comments come back. Often
times later modules will reflect on earlier ideas to which ideally you
should cross-reference in both proceedings.
While you have to be fair and not allow people to change
their ideas without noting the change, you can add additional ideas
after the workshop, simply recording the contribution, date, and
contributor. You want proceedings to be clear, complete, and brief.
And the proceedings should demonstrate that the process considers
everyone’s participation important and it does not censor or filter
people’s contributions through your or the planning agency’s biases.
Thus it may be strategic to use at least two different stakeholders as
note takers, someone outside of the planning agency.
All proceedings should remain publicly accessible (at least
on the Internet) for years to come. People should feel ownership
for the process and the products represented by the proceedings.

Major Step Activities Principal Tasks Product (#drafts)1 Due Dates2 Days3
Last updated; 21 March 2012
Training 1: Set Up Modules
Tentative schedule of tasks for Modules 1–4 Schedule (1) .25

Module 1. PUP Set up Core Planning Consider basic assumption of having a lead agency Written implications
Planning Choose assistant or close collaborator to start work Two-person startup team 1
Preparation. Study PUP together Knowledge 2
Identify stakeholders who must involve in process List of stakeholders .5
Core Planning Make presentation to explain PUP to stakeholders Presentation(s) made .5
Team (Part A)
Propose core planning team members and roles List of team members (1) .5
(All Module 1 Formalize team in TOR Team established
steps listed Establish and Train Hold opening dialogues Dialogues, trust 2
sequentially on Core Planning Team Choose and pursue training needs Trainings Variable
page 1-5) Read background readings Knowledge 2
Establish basic operation Operations established
Total Time Part A: 6
Self-Assessment Analyze organization Analyze, format varies according to situation Self-analysis report (1) 3
(Part B) Total Time Part B: .5
Master Calendar of Events
Planning Research policies Research documents, combine with interview results Research notes 4
Framework Make first draft of Planning Framework Framework (1) 2
(Part C) Prepare list of issues for TOR based on framework List of issues 1
Total Time Part C: 1
Terms of Preparation Prepare draft Calendar of Activities Calendar .5
Reference (TOR) Prepare draft budget for PUP Budget 1
Introduction to the Conversations

Meetings (Part D) Confirm participation of invitees to TOR meeting Participants 1–3
Prepare draft suggestions and logistics 1
Meetings Carry out TOR Meeting (s) 1–2
Task 1 Write TOR TOR (3) .5
Circulate to participants 1–2
Integrate comments and finalize TOR TOR (1) 1
Task 2 Present to entire staff Support .5
1 This is recommended number of drafts that facilitator should review to attain high quality based on prior experiences. No number means facilitator does not expect a deliverable.
2
Includes dates for various drafts
3 Time refers to length of time for step to be completed; does not refer to amount of time that public use coordinator actually works. A task that takes 2 days to complete (as reported in
this column) may only take 2 hours of work time and the rest is wait time used for other steps. Time in gray occurs simultaneously with previous steps.
Intro-17
Total Time Part D: 2
Stakeholder Stakeholder Analysis Identify and analyze stakeholders Analysis (1) .5
Interviews & Preparation Make invitee list with director List
Presentations Interview and invite stakeholders PUP concerns 4
Intro-18
(Part E) Prepare for presentation 3
Presentation Give first presentation Understanding 1
Give second presentation if necessary Support 1
Total Time Part E (weeks): 2
Logistical Recruit participants for Prepare recruitment materials Materials (1) 1
Preparations (Part module workshops Phone invitations to most important invitees .5
F) Send out invitation materials
Confirm participants Participants .5
Create Big Site Map Recruit students to help create map Students recruited .5
Brief them on design
Supervise progress
Have site staff review map for accuracy/additions .5
Revise big site map Site map (1 photo of map)
Total Time Part F: 0.5
Total Time Module 1:4 12
Module 2. Module 2 Prepare materials and logistics History line (1), messages 2
Interpretive Carry out workshop (3) & significance 1
Framework Task 1 Capture results attributes (1), proceedings
Task 2 Rewrite messages (1) .5
Task 3 Describe messages Descriptions (2) .5

Task 4 Research and write Interpretive Framework Interpretive framework (2) 2
Task 5 Update Planning Framework (see Module 1) Plan. Framework updated
Update TOR work plan Work plan (1)
Total Time Module 2: 2
Module 3. Module 3 Prepare materials and logistics Preparations 1
Directory of Carry out workshop Proceedings (1) 1
Tourist Task 1 Edit directory (includes photo acquisition) 2–3
Attractions Review directory by site staff Directory (3) .5
4 Time estimates for individual tasks are only for actual work time; they do not include weekends, holidays, and other functions that PUCs have to do during the course of their work
week. The total for each module tries to reflect generally how many weeks should be budgeted.
Total Time Training 1: 9.5
Training 2: Strategic Planning Modules

Module 4. Module 4 Prepare materials and logistics Materials 2
Zone and Sector Find map maker Mapmaker
Mapping Carry out internal workshop for zones Zones (3) 1
Carry out public workshop for sectors Sectors (3) 1
Write up site-wide public use strategy Strategy (3) 2
Distribute strategy to participants/integrate comments Strategy updated .5
Develop maps or photo tour of attractions 2 maps (1) or PPT (1)
Staff reviews maps 2 maps reviewed 1
Module 5. Module 5 Research present and future visitors Profiles (2) .5
Public Use Prepare materials and logistics Product Description (PD) 2
Products Carry out workshop for activities Sheets filled (2), 1
Carry out workshop for services proceedings (1) 1
Task 1 Refine results 1
Module 6. Module 6 Prepare for trips to communities Preparations 4
Wider Review of Carry out workshop in each community Proceedings (1) 1/com.
Product Review results with staff and update PUP Support 1

Proposals Prepare for interviews with visitors Surveys 3
Carry out interviews with visitors PD sheets (1) 1–3
First Review of Review Recruit participants Participants recruited 1
Results (FRR) Prepare for review Preparations .5
Carry out review 5-year zone map (1) .5–1
Task 1 Write up results Improvements, approvals .5
Task 2 Get any necessary approvals (1) .5
Total Time First Review: 0.5
Total Time Training 2: 7.5
Intro-19
Training 3: Operational Modules
Module 7. LAC Module 7 Prepare materials and logistics Preparations 1

Monitoring Carry out workshop Proceedings (1) 1
Intro-20
Task 1 Revise results LAC plan (2)
Module 8. Module 8 Ask that participants to come with ideas
Regulations and Prepare materials and logistics Preparations 1
Controls Carry out workshop Proceedings (1) 1
Task 1 Develop regulation logistics Regulations, fees, 2
Task 2 Write up regulations regulation logistics, 1
Task 3 Develop licensing and other requirements requirements (2) 3–5
Task 4 Do an external review of regulations Variable
Module 9. Module 9 Prepare cards and logistics 1
Calendar of Carry out workshop Proceedings (1) 1
Activities Task 1 Put it into the computer Calendar (2)
Task 2 Choose techniques for implementation Techniques (1)
Total Time Module 9: 1.5
Module 10. Module 10 Recruit financial planning team Team recruited (1) 1
Financial Plan Define needs Needs (1) 1

Establish site fees Fees (2) 1–3
Determine costs and income, BEP, finances Financial plan (3) 7–9
Make a contributions register Register (1) 1
Task 1 Adapt to accounting system Accounts (1) 5
Second Review of Review Recruit participants and prepare logistics Preparations .5
Results (SRR) Carry out review .5
Task 1 Write first draft of photographic vision Narration (2) 1–2
Task 2 Write up results Improvements (1) .5
Task 3 Get any necessary approvals Approvals Variable
Total Time Second Review: 0.5
Module 11. Implementation Workshop Hold workshop Strategies, proceedings (1) .5
Preparation for Preparation Plan the presentation content .5
Implementation Invite participants and media 1–2
Prepare presentation Preparations 1–2
Getting PUP Carry out logistics 2
Ready for Presentation Give the presentation Support .5
Approval Integrate comments Discuss comments with staff .5
(Part A) Integrate comments into PUP Improvements .5
Preparing PUP Version Review the table of contents meeting TOC (1) .5
1.0 Identify art needs (photos, drawings, diagrams) Needs identified
Assign writing parts
Write PUP Version 1.0 7
Edit PUP Version 1.0 2–3
Receive art
Lay out PUP in printed and virtual form 2
Review by staff 3
Preparing the Second Incorporate comments to second draft .5
Draft of PUP Version Do last review 1
1.0 Ready PUP Version 1.0 PUP V 1.0 (2) .5
Getting Formal External Review Make copies for distribution
PUP Approval Select external reviewers with staff .5
(Part B) Write cover letter for reviewers

Distribute second draft to reviewers .5
Follow up with the reviewers by phone/email .5
Receive comments from reviewers List of review comments 21
Ready PUP Review comments by staff .5
Incorporate comments to second draft .5
Edit second draft
Create a virtual HTML PUP Version 1.0 PUP V. 1.0 (online) .5
Approval of PUP Create a recipient list Recipient list
Version 1.0 Distribute PUP Version 1.0 and publish on-line Plan published online .5
Fulfill approval process Approval completed Variable
Intro-21
Total Time Training 3: 14
Total Time all Trainings: 31
Note on Module 12 (Training 4) has not yet been designed and thus is not included here.
PUP Planning Preparation 1-1
Planners must think hard about the process before beginning, in order to avoid delays and
e
Outsid
conflicts down the road.
Study Questions Thinking Ω the Box

1. What are the basic roles that should be filled on the Top-down vs.
core planning team? consensus-based planning
2. Why do we cultivate and align the community at the
very beginning of the process?
3. What is the importance of presenting PUP to colla- Power concentration vs.
borators? power-sharing
4. Why is identifying SMARTI objectives during the TOR
considered by PUP as so crucial? Community cultivation vs.
5. How is strategic recruiting of workshop participants rational technical process
different from the way it is often done?
Last updated November 2015

1 PUP Planning Preparation
Make the basic decisions, cultivate and align the community, and carry out
preparations necessary to commence planning without undue delay and conflict.
Focus Question: Is everyone ready to go on the journey we’re calling “public use?” Can
we agree on all the necessary preparations for this trip?
Summary: This conversation guides the core planning team through the most important
preparations, especially preparing the constituent community to participate. It assumes
that the more preparation for PUP planning that takes place the better quality of products
that result. The main component is a document called the Terms of Agreement (TOA)
that contains the most important decisions to carry out the PUP process.
Format: A: Internal meetings & trainings; B: Semi-public conversations & interviews; C:
Team research; D: Public workshop; E: Private meetings; F: Team preparation
Time: See Master Calendar of Events for more detailed time investments by steps; the
entire conversation usually requires at least two months to complete
Materials: Varies by section
Participants: A: Core team; B: Varies significantly but most community constituents; C:
Core team; D: (6-15): principal stakeholders and leaders; E: (4-6): key actors including
director, administrator, board members, project leaders, donors, others in public use de-
velopment in the site, principal friends of the project; F: Core team
Deliverables: A: Core planning team established; B: Informational materials; greater trust,
understanding, enthusiasm, and commitment to participate in planning and implemen-
tation; community interests and concerns identified; C: Guiding statements document;
D: Macro-strategy, preliminary vision; E: TOA signed; F: Recruited participants, guiding
metaphor, big site map
Background Readings: 1, 2, 3, 5 (readings will be updated)
This Conversation Contains
Part A: Establishing the Core Planning Team
Part B: Cultivating and Aligning the Community
Part C: Researching the Guiding Statements
Part D: Defining the Macro-Strategy
Part E: Developing Terms of Agreement
Part F: Preparing the Logistics
Materials in the Appendix
1-4 PUP Planning Preparation

Steps to Launch PUP Process
Y
our agency has decided that it wants to launch a public use
planning process, but where do you start? What should you
focus on first and second? The following generic list of steps
will guide you through Conversation 1. You will modify some steps,
reorder them, add to them, skip some, and carry out others simul-
taneously. Each step includes the conversation part that describes it
in more detail. Also do not hesitate to consult the Master Calendar
of Events to see all steps in sequence. Your PUP technical support
team is always available for any questions or ideas you may have.
Best of luck!
1. Establish core planning team members and roles (A).

2. Study PUP together (A).
3. Train together (A).
4. Do an organizational self-assessment together (A).
5. Study exploratory trip report (B).
6. Improve the constituent analysis from the exploratory trip (B).
7. Design a community cultivation and alignment strategy (B).
8. Prepare informational resources (B).
9. Carry out community cultivation activities (B).
10. Research guiding statements together (C).
11. Prepare guiding statements document (C).
12. Do a public site problem analysis (D).
13. Write preliminary public use objectives (D).
14. Define a macro-strategy including preliminary vision (D).
15. Invite TOA participants and potential signees (E).
Core planning team in Vietnam
16. Prepare TOA discussion points with key collaborators (E). plans out the PUP process.
17. Facilitate TOA meetings (E).
18. Hold public signing of TOA (E).
19. Prepare PUP process logistics (F).

Establishing the Core Planning Team
Part A
A
core planning team is essential to a successful participatory
PUP Process. A team can accomplish several objectives at once:
♦♦ By sharing tasks among team members, the team

can achieve far more work overall without being too
much work for any one person.
♦♦ By having multiple minds and perspectives involved,
decisions and analysis will be of higher quality.
♦♦ By having multiple constituents represented, the
process will gain more credibility among more com-
munity groups.
♦♦ By training people from various community groups,
the overall site will have more capacity to plan and
implement and not rely on only one organization or
one person. It increases a site’s sustainability.
Set Up the Core Planning Team
1. Recruit members of the core planning team.

Do
Likely a single person is reading this, a person who participated in
the exploratory trip with our PUP technical personnel. Also likely
that trip identified potential core planning team members, including
members from organizations that brought the PUP Global Heritage
Consortium to your site. So you have the beginnings of a team, but
must now complete it.
The core team should include people, groups, or institutions
without which the public use planning process would likely not suc-
ceed, where the definition of success turns on the probability that
the plan could be implemented and adapted over the medium- to
long-term. Usually there are 3–5 key people including the lead agency,
often a donor, one or more government agencies that have jurisdic-
tion in the heritage site, a local village leader, and may also include a
conservation non-profit or private sector operator in the area. These
would be those with sufficient power to motivate their representative
groups and get things done.
A core planning team has a variety of roles that it should
meet. No one person should try to do them all. First of all the team
should have a coordinator, which should be chosen by the team
itself to avoid political appointments. We will assume the coordinator

is you. Thus you are responsible for moving the process forward,
keeping the team operating efficiently and on time, managing the
ToP Facilitation Training
budget, communicating with key community groups, and resolving
internal problems. PUP tries to arrange a formal
two-day training for the core
Next the team should have an experienced process facili-
planning team and allies in the
tator. Ideally this person has formal training in different aspects of Technology of Participation
facilitation and experience in moving groups through participatory facilitation methodology. The
ToP approach underlies most of
processes toward decisions. The lack of facilitation experience will
the conversations in this manual
not short-circuit the PUP process because the manual includes and is a good set of basic skills
many specific recommendations on how to structure and run for process facilitation.
workshops, but a good facilitator will increase the quality of the
results, increase time efficiency, reduce conflict, and improve the
process’s transparency, fairness, and participation. Ideally the team
also has a reporter who has the principal responsibility of capturing
data from the entire process and communicating it most especially
in the proceedings that emerge quickly from every workshop and
meeting, including especially the evaluations that your team does
after each event. The reporter uses written documents as well as
photographs, audio and video recordings. The reporter documents
all the cards and substantive comments made during workshops,
protecting everyone’s contribution. Their success determines in
great measure the feelings of transparency and community owner-
ship in the process.
PUP recommends a team size between three and seven
people. It is possible to have some people who participate only part
time. In fact, it is helpful to see the planning team not so much as a
discrete group, but part of a gradient or matrix of people involved
in the planning where the core team is at the center and coordinates
everyone else. Consider the diagram.
“Direct colleagues of the core team” refers to other people
who might work side-by-side with core team members but are
not on the core team itself. “Invitees” refers to specialists such as
historians and writers (Conversation 2) or private
sector product designers (Conversation 5) whom Core Planning Team
the core team invites to offer special assistance on
particular topics. In essence, these people become Direct Colleagues of Core
Planning Team, Key Stakeholders
temporary extensions of the core planning team.
Also refer to Background Reading 5 in the Workshop Participants & Invitees
section “Stakeholders Can Help the PUP Process”
for suggestions about how other constituents can Interested stakeholders who did
carry out additional tasks in the PUP planning not participate in workshops
process that both makes the process more par-
ticipatory and reduces work for the core planning General stakeholder categories
team.
General Public

2. Discuss together how teams mature.
Do
Hopefully your team includes people you have not worked with
before. If so, your team will pass through stages as it matures. This
is commonly known as Forming-Norming-Storming-Performing.
Qualities of a Team Coordinator Understanding how your team changes will prepare you for these
• Enthusiastic/champion of
this process changes, reducing conflict and increasing efficiency. To see a brief
• Respected description of these stages, see an article in the Appendix or at its
• Respectful source www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_86.htm. The
• Good at delegating respon-
sibilities website has active support links that the PDF article in the Appen-
• Organized dix does not. Please discuss these stages with your team, asking for
• Good process facilitator examples of each in people’s experience and how different teams
dealt with these stages.
3. Facilitate opening dialogue.

Do
Groups develop trust, understanding, and solidarity based on the
conversations that they hold. This principle underlies the PUP work-
shops and should underlie the development of the core planning
team. This occurs because people not only share with each other
their perspectives but together co-create new perspectives and com-
mitments that move them closer to shared goals and visions. Use the
five techniques of engagement (see the following sidebar) to promote
team dialogue. Ideally the team has these conversations throughout
its existence, and not just at the outset. Logically as time passes, the
the group will answer the same questions very differently.
♦♦ What is the crossroads at which we find ourselves

as heritage site stakeholders? What can we create
together that we couldn’t create alone? (Possibility)
♦♦ How valuable do you plan this core planning to be?
How much power are you willing to share? (owner-
ship)
♦♦ What doubts and reservations do you have? (Dis-
sent)
♦♦ What price are you willing to pay in order that this
team and process be successful? (Commitment)
♦♦ Which past experiences can we apply to PUP to
help us transcend plan implementation barriers?
(Understanding)
Later questions:
♦♦ How have we as the core planning team contributed

to the current reality (good or bad)? This question

goes well with After Action Review analysis.
♦♦ What story about this heritage area community do
you most often hear yourself telling?
♦♦ What is the promise I am still postponing?
4. Establish basic team rules.

Do
You should decide as a group which internal operating rules you will
adopt so that the team runs smoothly. Consider the following:
♦♦ Be open to new ideas before critiquing

♦♦ Recognize and accept differences of ideas and per-
spectives
♦♦ Provide timely feedback
♦♦ Tolerate errors and mistakes; understand that learn-
ing only comes from mistakes (this comes mostly
from senior members on the team to model embrac-
ing mistakes without punishment). Consider the old
saying, “Good decisions come from wisdom, knowl-
edge, and experience. And wisdom, knowledge, and
experience come from bad decisions.”
♦♦ Wait until a person finishes before talking, do not
interrupt
♦♦ No personal attacks and no blaming
Some teams like to nominate a well respected person to watch out

for violations of these rules and give polite and timely feedback to
correct them.
You should also establish some standard operating procedures and

systems:
♦♦ Regular meetings, either weekly or one meeting be-

fore every workshop and after every workshop to
evaluate and carry out after workshop tasks.
♦♦ Carry out an After Action Review after each work-
shop and a Before Action Review before each
workshop.
♦♦ All workshops and meetings about the content of
PUP should be captured in a proceedings and made
public as soon as possible. Internal meetings such
as strategy, process, and political related can remain
internal.
♦♦ Party after every completed workshop.

Set up a listserv, Facebook page, web page, or other on-line com-
munication forum, both for the core team and for the general public
that might contain the PUP schedule, proceedings, photos, and other
documentation. Often times, it is quicker and easier for a private or-
ganization to do it on behalf of the team rather than a governmental
agency. You will use this site a lot!
5. Study PUP together.

Do
Your team should study PUP together before proceeding. While you
will have trainings with our PUP staff, the more you can understand
with a team and develop questions in advance, the more you will get
out of the trainings. Waiting until the actual PUP trainings, means
using a lot more time on explaining basic ideas that you could have
The Future Has Other Plans understood beforehand while strengthening your team cooperation.
In 2016 the PUP Global Heritage
Consortium in partnership with
There are many ways of studying which will depend on your culture,
Fulcrum Publishing published The education level, and personality types. One way would be to break
Future Has Other Plans: Journey from up into pairs and review parts of Conversations 1–3 to begin and
Conventional to Holistic Planning in
Natural and Cultural Heritage Sites by
then present to each other. You should also read the appropriate
Jonathan M. Kohl and Stephen F. background readings and discuss the study questions at the front of
McCool. This book serves as the each conversation. Briefly review Conversations 4–12 so you have
foundation for PUP’s approach.
For those who are truly inter-
a good idea of where you are going. We do not expect that you will
ested in the ideas behind PUP, agree with all the concepts and certainly not be limited to them, but
ideas that go much deeper than to understand the premises upon which PUP is built will help you
this manual or program can, we
invite you to read the book.
make wiser decisions about how to use and modify PUP to your needs
and circumstances. PUP is not a recipe. You must modify every step
to your unique situation.
Team members should read Background Readings 1, 2, 3,
5, and 9 to start out. With respect to plan implementation barriers
discuss with the following questions:
Ask
O: What were the main points of Readings 1 and 9?
R: What was your reaction to the essay? Did it make you feel resis-
ORID Questions
If you are unfamiliar with what tant to the new ideas? Did you feel excited about new possibilities?
these letters O-R-I-D refer to be- I: What are some deeper problems with plan implementation than
cause you have not participated just lack of time, money, people, information, and political will
in a Technology of Participation
workshop, please use a browser (The Big Five)? How much power are we willing to share with other
search for “ORID questioning” stakeholders to achieve a community that can mobilize resources
such as http://pacific-edge.info/orid. more rapidly and adaptively? Which barriers still stand in our way?
You will see that the ORID ques-
tioning method mimicks the D: What can we now do differently in this process than planning
human mind’s natural process processes that we have engaged in the past? Which actions can we
and adds structure to what often take to reduce or go around existing barriers, especially institutional?
and otherwise are conversations
without sufficient structure.

6. Create a training program for the new team.
Do
Ideally your team does not just jump right into action. You have a
long road ahead and the better you prepare, the better you will work
Checklist for Team Building
together and serve the rest of the heritage area community. While • Recruit members inside
team building is an on-going process, you can do several things in a and outside the lead agen-
relatively short period of time to get going. You will want to create cy
• Identify the coordinator,
a training schedule that includes at least the following elements. facilitator, and reporter
• Avoid political appoint-
♦♦ Identify training needs. During the Exploratory ments
• Understand the team is
Trip you might have identified some particular part of a continuum of
needs that the lead agency or the community in participation, not an iso-
general sorely lacks. This needs you should discuss lated group
• Discuss how teams grow
with the PUP team and try to find someone in the and mature
community or beyond who can offer the team some • Hold opening dialogue
assistance. PUP will do what it can within its budget to build trust and under-
standing
and its contacts to help meet those needs. • Establish basic team rules
♦♦ Before and After Action Reviews (BAR/AAR). • Set u p v i r tu a l h o m e,
Before and after every event — conversation work- whether webpage, Face-
book page or other forum
shop, meeting, public activity — the team should • Study PUP together
evaluate how things went. These evaluations are • Create training program
conversations whose conclusions get written down. for team
• Use the five techniques of
Your team as well as the PUP Global Heritage engagement
Consortium uses these evaluations to improve our
learning and our methodology. The PUP technical
staff around the world also uses this same tool and
they will teach you how to use it as well. You may
have seen it during the Exploratory Trip.
♦♦ Technology of Participation (ToP) tools. PUP
strongly believes that group process facilitation
skills are essential to participatory processes. So
PUP has been training public use team members
ever since PUP began in 1998. In fact, numerous
conversations are built on the methods of ToP
tools. Hopefully a training by a certified trainer of
the Institute for Cultural Affairs has been included
in your project budget. The PUP technical staff
will know more about this possibility. For more
information see for example http://icausa.mem-
berclicks.net.
♦♦ AQAL. One or more of your team should have
learned how to use this situational analysis ap-
proach during the Exploratory Trip. If not, your
PUP technical staff will seek an opportunity to do
so during Conversation 1.

♦♦ Suspending beliefs and holding multiple perspec-
tives. These learning skills are essential for anyone
who works with people from different cultures,
economic status, or educational levels. Different
people have different perspectives and to understand
those perspectives, we have to temporarily suspend
our own beliefs and learn to hold multiple perspec-
tives at the same time, even if we don’t agree with
other perspectives. We can’t work well with people
of other perspectives if we don’t understand them
first. Understanding their perspective is one of the
first steps to show respect to someone else. Please
find a self-led exercise in the Appendix.
Five Techniques of Engagement
Peter Block offers five strategies to engage participants to be emotionally committed to implement and to choose
responsibility (not just compliance) for doing so. This requires first that there exist trust, transparency, and a sense
of fairness. These techniques have proven highly effective for those who truly want to share power and co-create.
Balance between presentation and participation. At conferences, in board rooms or the cafeteria, the more one person speaks,
the less others participate. Even more, the speaker can often dominate the venue and transmit the message that he
or she is the expert and the only one with something important to say — everyone else should just sit and learn.
To even the playing field and share more power, planners should minimize speaking and maximize partici-
pating. They realize the important conversations are those that occur between participants.
Transparency, full disclosure, and the public expression of doubt. Anyone who has worked in a bureaucracy, regardless of
whether a park agency or toy factory, knows that many things cannot be spoken in the open. Mistakes must be
hidden. Criticisms silenced. If workers want to declare what they really feel, they often have to do it in bathrooms.
Speaking one’s mind in public is political power. Public expression of doubt is power. To redistribute this
power, every time people meet, they must have the right to speak their mind in front of others.
Placing real choice on the table. In many parks, employees comply — they do just enough to avoid punishment. Compliance
is necessary when employees enjoy little motivation to build someone else’s pyramids. The leaders may threaten with
punishment or dangle carrots, either way, inducements to do what people otherwise would not. But the more people
join in co-creation and fashioning the shape of a project, the more responsibility and accountability they choose.
Changing the Conversation. Most conversations echo with déjà vu, that we have heard them before. Often people frame
problems the same way as always and the solutions come right off the shelf. We need
♦♦ Better monitoring
♦♦ More money, time, personnel, information, and political will (The Big Five)
♦♦ To hire a consultant
♦♦ More buy-in from local communities
♦♦ To reorganize for greater efficiency
♦♦ Another plan
Who hasn’t heard these? Notice how these are all expressions of helplessness, placing both blame and solution
elsewhere. We disempower ourselves. Our conversations are often guarded where people feel they must protect or
hide their true opinions and feelings. By doing this, they avoid key issues and avoid deeper connections with other
people that comes with being more vulnerable, personal, and taking risk.
Ultimately our meetings breed cynicism. We feel reluctant to go to the next meeting, and when the choice
exists, such as with tour operators, we don’t go at all. Block proposes some ground rules for new conversations.
Continued on following page

Cultivating and Aligning
the Community Part B
T
raditionally, planners simply see community members as
♦♦ Discuss the personal impact
sources of information. They mine them like iron ore for change has on me and us.
their information about the site, sometimes they mine them ♦♦ Do not discuss anyone not
for their concerns, but in most cases, planners extract information in the room.
♦♦ Be careful about discussing
to use for their purposes in the planning document. PUP views the history.
community differently. We see them as participants in the decision- ♦♦ Postpone discussing action
making process, not always equals power, but with enough power plans as long as possible.
♦♦ Discuss what part we have
to co-create planning products. played in creating the situ-
PUP recognizes that heritage areas once had power to imple- ation.
ment plans all by themselves. But today life is different. There are
fewer resources, more demands, greater uncertainty, faster change A physical room structure that sup-
ports community. We often say
on all fronts. Now, heritage areas need their constituent communi- that the message is the medium
ties to implement plans. They need their political support. They and then think medium refers to
need resources from the community in terms of time, money, labor, the communication technology.
Rarely does the room in which
materials, new ideas, and good faith. Without these inputs, plans we meet constitute that medium.
will end on shelves, partially or never implemented. Because if it did, then planners
But community members must know each other and then would realize that auditoriums,
hotel rooms, or other spaces
trust each other at least minimally (and the lead agency is a com- with institutional lighting, no
munity member) before they begin planning. Most of us will not windows, no plants, and seats all
commit to a task in a plan if we are unsure or do not trust that lined up in neatly arranged rows
facing forward exude messages
the other guy will also do what he says he will. Most of us will of efficiency, hierarchical status,
not sacrifice short-term gains for long-term prosperity if we are bureaucratic culture, restraint,
unsure that the other guy will also sacrifice for the common good. power, and minimal engagement.
Most office and hotel
We fear that the unknown other guy will take advantage of our meeting rooms are designed for
sacrifices. We might fear that he will misrepresent his intentions, persuasion and instruction, not
hide his agenda, play nasty tricks that people have done to each dialogue, feeding expectations
of standard meetings, standard
other generations ago. In short, without trust, no one contributes results, standard yawns. Where
to plan implementation. do we often go when we want to
So we must build or strengthen basic trust in the commu- do real work? We go to informal
locations like someone’s house,
nity before planning starts. We do this by helping people to know often with side or outside light-
each other, to understand the process, goals of other constituents, ing, comfortable furniture, lots of
and agree to work together. This requires what we call community vegetation, freely available food
and bathrooms, and we sit in
cultivation so that trust can grow. Eventually it also requires com- circles where everyone is equal
munity skills to mediate conflicts, dialogue together, and respect and can easily talk together. Try
each other. That comes later. sitting in a circle with no table
in the way and close enough
Also before any planning can begin, the community mem- for knees to brush each other
bers should share or align their vision of the planning process’s to feel what a different kind of
mission, objectives, and vision. They do not need to have the same conversation might feel like.
interests in the site, but they should generally agree on the process,
for example, that it is a continuously planned, transparent, consen-

Different Stakeholder Analyses sus-based process that makes decisions in a participatory, adaptive
There are many different stake- way for the better of the heritage area. If their views on the planning
holder analysis methodologies.
Some measure relative power
process do not generally align, they may view it as illegitimate for any
and distance such as Venn Dia- number of reasons and thus will not actively participate or worse
grams (bubble diagrams), others may act to sabotage the process.
indicate how stakeholders must
be influenced for them to support
a project, others still character-
ize the actors in different ways. Google search “stakeholder analsyis” or visit this useful article,
www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newPPM_07.htm
Constituent What are your major concerns What are the Describe your personal,
regarding the development of public obstacles or conflicts economic, political,
use in the site? that impede the wise spiritual, or recreational
development of interests in the site and
tourism in the site? how should they be
addressed in the planning
process?
Mayor He is concerned that site uses city Site sees itself as Would like to see the city more
infrastructure but city does not receive any autonomous and doesn’t involved in managing visitors
revenue from the site. interact with the city who arrive to the site.
enough. This causes
He also would like tourists to stay longer in friction.
the city. He sees lodges around the site
competing with local hotels.
Nature guide Lots of nature guides come in from There is a dam coming I make a living from the site. I
disreputable places. They are only interested that will eliminate white have grown up around the site
in money. They pick the flowers and let water rafting and the and it is a very special place for
tourists do whatever they want. They need pretty river in the site. me.
to be regulated so they don’t have an unfair
advantage over good guides like me.
Tour operator The site needs to do more to promote itself. The dam is a major I make a living off the site. I
It must offer better quality service otherwise problem coming. The site would like to see it stay in good
we don’t want to use its guides and isn’t doing enough to stop shape.
damaged trails and especially whitewater put it. This is more important
in location which usually has trash lying than quality service.
around.
Big landowner Land tenancy around the site is poor. Site needs to work directly I want to build some lodges near
near site with landowners, rather the site but the site isn’t sure of
than try to get the land where its borders are. They think
agency to do its dirty that part of my land is in the site.
work. It’s not.
Police chief I don’t have any issues. The dam I guess would be
a big problem.
International Tourism needs to be connected with The dam. To protect biodiversity in the site.
conservation conservation.
organization
Farmer in site Site threatens to kick us out if we don’t stop Either the dam or working I earn my living from the land.
farming anything but trees. I don’t know with the local people in
how to farm trees and I can’t wait for trees the site.
to mature. I need to feed my family now.
Site agency Would like to see the local sites agency The dam definitely.
official working more closely with site to set
up the general management plan.

1. Carry out a constituent analysis.
Do
You may have done this during the exploratory trip. If so, your team
can strengthen it now with the team’s new participants. If not, you
can do it for the first time.
Before you engage the community, the core planning team
should better understand the heritage site’s constituents. PUP uses
a Constituent Analysis (below) for identifying constituent members
of the community, their support level for PUP, and their current and
desired positions or interests. This table helps you decide strategies
for cultivating and integrating different community groups into the
PUP Process.
First the team brainstorms community actors, estimates
their current position and then how supportive and trusting they
need to be for the process to be successful. You can use this tool
to determine the amount of marketing needed or where the team
needs better communication, gestures of goodwill and transparency,
or ways to create spaces in the process to engage them in dialogue.
Do note that the team tries not to negotiate at this phase, rather
presents opportunities to talk to get to know each other better.
2. Design a cultivation and alignment strategy.

Explain
Based on the exploratory trip results, your constituent analysis, and
People’s Resistance Is an Impor-
your own thoughts as a multi-disciplinary, multi-perspective team, tant Sign
you can design a cultivation strategy. Again, your objectives are Often we get frustrated when
community members resist our
efforts to plan. They are unavail-
♦♦ Ensure that people understand the project and can able for meetings, do not show
have conversations with you about it up when scheduled, or even
♦♦ Share common goals about the planning process worse speak badly about the
process to others. In all these
you are going to build cases, however, you should re-
♦♦ Understand their perspectives and objectives while gard these acts of resistance as
they understand yours signs of two useful possibilities: 1)
people are dealing with new ideas
♦♦ Get constituents to know other constituents and and resist while they think about
their agendas. them. Resistance in this sense
♦♦ Mediate existing conflicts. is completely natural and NOT
personal. 2) The process is not
♦♦ Enter the planning process with some level of trust reaching people’s true interests.
between participants. If participants respect each Thus the resistance is a signal
other, they will be open to work together, and trust that you need to understand their
perspective better and make
will grow during the PUP Process. In other words, greater efforts to reach out.
you are also inviting people to participate in the Resistance in this sense is very
workshops. See the kinds of participants you need useful to indicate when there is a
problem. Don’t get mad at them.
by workshop on 1-64. Understand them and that resis-
tance is almost never personal,
Though we say that Conversation 1 takes two or three months, rather a glimpse into their mind.

Stakeholder or Constituent? this assumes that there are no major conflicts among community
It is common to say “stakeholder” members. In reality, there often are, often with the lead agency itself.
in development talk, meaning
any person who has a stake or
Sometimes these conflicts go back years or decades and cannot be
interest in something, such as a simply mediated away. In such cases, you may work individually with
heritage area. PUP prefers the conflicted constituents for a long time if it is not possible to bring
term “constituent” because it
implies not only interested in the
them together in a constructive way. One case in Canada where a
area but part of something larger, facilitator was setting up a community forestry cooperative, he had
notably a constituent community. to meet with different groups independently for three years. In fact,
Where stakeholders compete
for their own personal interest,
he practically completed the project without their meeting face-to-
constituents can work together in face. This is not ideal. But it is possible.
their community to achieve com- There are four main types of cultivation activities.
mon goals and interests, aside
from their own personal agendas.
Do
The vision of a group of actors, a. Interviews. Often to start out, your team or part of your
wherever they are located, with team meets with different constituents, tells them a little about the
the potential to achieve both
personal and collective goals is
project, but mostly asks questions to the constituents about the con-
far more powerful and attractive cerns or ideas they have about the heritage site, problems they have
than a group of stakeholders who with other constituents, lack of trust maybe with the lead agency itself.
are largely motivated from their
own interest. It’s a point of con-
Let them do most of the talking. Listen carefully and show respect
notation only. What determines for what they say. It is valuable information. Leave some written
one’s motivation is in large part
the process in which they find
themselves embedded. Community interviews work in different formats and speeds depending on the
background of the interviewees.

information about PUP with them and promise to get back in touch PUPoints for Your Presentation
soon, maybe even sharing your notes of the conversation with them 1. The world changes very quickly
with high levels of uncertainty
to ensure that you understood what they were saying. This too is a and surprises, more objectives
sign of respect and transparency and helps to build trust. Interviews to meet, threats to heritage to
also tend to involve less conflict so they are good to start off. You can overcome, and fewer resources.
Governments do not have the
also combine several constituents to have a group interview, called a resources anymore or the ability
focus group interview. In this format, the constituents are allowed to to adapt quickly enough to meet
answer the questions as a group, discussing their points of view. Be the change. Only with commu-
nity help can there be sufficient
sure to take a lot of notes, perhaps recording the session. See 1-14 resources meet these challenges.
for examples of questions by type of community member. These Give examples of surprises and
interviews will also help you to design your introductory PowerPoint uncertainty in your site.
2. PUP was born to overcome
presentation by focusing on issues and images of concern to them as planning implementation barri-
well as issues that need to be managed in the Terms of Agreement. ers caused by conventional ap-
Do invite people to a public presentation about PUP (see below). proach. Give examples of barriers
encountered or unimplemented
b. Presentations and group dialogues. When you can invite plans in your site.
multiple constituents together, you can offer a more formal pre- 3. PUP is a participatory pro-
sentation, such as introducing the team, showing a brief PowerPoint cess that focuses as much on
implementation as it does on
presentation about the process (based on the one included in this producing a plan. Identify what
manual), and having a dialogue with the larger group about their implementation means. It does
problems and what the heritage area could look like in the future. this by sharing power with the
rest of the community.
Remember to apply all five of Block’s Techniques of Engagement and 4. PUP has worked with heri-
you might use the presentations and dialogues from the Exploratory tage sites and cultures around
Trip as useful examples. the world (Indonesia, Vietnam,
Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras,
c. Social events. You can sponsor social events that might Portugal, Belize) to
include interpretation or performances based on the heritage. You Do develop its approach.
can give a brief introduction to the PUP Process, but most of the 5. Measures of success
depend on what each site wants
time will be about getting participants to know each other. You to create. It could be creating
could do this through interactive activities (for example, people high-quality public use plans
introduce themselves or maybe they create the site map together or (numerous successful examples),
training technical staff in facilita-
some other fun activity) or more casual conversations, depending on tion, participation, and public
your audience and your culture. But the focus should not be on your use management (successful
team, rather on the participants. See example from Valle de Oro in examples), promoting stronger
stakeholder community involve-
Appendix. ment in public use management
d. Remote participation. Since PUP understands “commu- (beginnings of success such as in
nity” as all those actors with an interest in the site, whether they Vietnam), improvements in orga-
nizational learning, adaptability,
live in a neighboring village, the capital city, or half way around the and decision-making (PUP has
world. Community members can include politicians, scientists, and not yet convened the conditions
friends of the protected area. With this global view of community, necessary for this to occur).
6. PUP builds long-term planning
you cannot physically reach some members, but this does not mean and managing processes, not just
they cannot participate in the PUP Process. Some people will come another document on the shelf.
from the capital city for certain workshops during the process. Others 7. PUP is carried out by a com-
munity-based planning team with
would be very excited to be invited to offer comments via an on-line the help of the PUP Consortium.
forum or review drafts of documents. They may be willing to produce This organization does not do the
materials and write up parts of a document without ever traveling work for us.
8. Use PUP introductory videos at
to the site. This requires some cleverness and knowing your remote www.youtube.com/pupconsortium

audience. Part of cultivating these folks is
having written materials you can send them
and put on your website. See below for more
examples.
How do you know which people to

invite? The most important are those with
direct interests in public use and heritage
management. But another general rule of
thumb is if the people make you feel un-
comfortable for any reason, they should be
invited! We often tend to invite “friends”
and avoid “enemies” but excluding commu-
The director of Florencia Eco- nity members will lead to conflict and perhaps failure. Frequently we
logical Park in Guatemala presents
do not understand the perspectives of those we don’t like, so these
PUP for the first time to stakehold-
ers in his site. Pico Bonito’s public are the most important people to know better.
use plan sits on the table in front Remember that the best way to sell the idea of PUP isn’t
of the projector.
to show them many details, but to engage in a dialogue that illus-
trates how PUP will be carried out. Our presentations will be small
examples or models of the entire process to come: we use AQAL,
allow participants to create, not just offer opinions. Show them the
level of participation you intend to use throughout. See Terms of
Agreement for more information on levels of citizen participation.
3. Prepare informational materials.

Do
Given both your local and remote audiences, you need a variety of
materials to inform people about PUP and invite them to participate
in the planning process. You have the following materials to help
explain PUP to people.
a. PUP PowerPoint Presentations.

This manual includes an introductory PowerPoint presentation, one
that you likely saw during the exploratory trip. As you can see, it
focuses only a little on theory and background and more on the
physical process. It is pretty but not too long. It serves to provoke
thought and conversation. Your presentation really should not exceed
a half hour leaving at least that much or more for conversation. You
should have a series of questions ready to move the conversation
along. For example?
♦♦ Why do plans suffer from non-implementation?

What are some of the barriers?
♦♦ What about the process creates these barriers, aside
from lacks of resources?

♦♦ What seems different about the PUP Process than Cultivating the Community Is
processes that you have been involved in before? Neverending
♦♦ How much power has been shared in the past? Does While cultivating and aligning
this seem any different? the community may seem like
♦♦ If you had to build a more participatory process, a discrete, one-time task in this
manual, in fact, it should be
what would you include or how would you do things an on-going process. As condi-
differently than the normal way we are familiar with? tions and community members
♦♦ With PUP the role of the technical assistant is very change, management agencies
must continue to generate sup-
different than the conventional approach. How? port, re-establish consensus,
and forge new facets to the vi-
You need to modify this presentation to fit your needs, such as sion. PUP worked in the Valle de
Oro National Wildlife Refuge in
Albuquerque, New Mexico with
♦♦ Translate to your language refuge administrator, Jennifer
♦♦ Photographs of your site Owen-White. She has a clear vi-
sion of the investment necessary
♦♦ Cut or add workshops or elements that better apply for the community to support a
to your case protected area. Aside from giv-
♦♦ Include references to your site’s history and lead ing her cell phone number to
all community members, she is
agency’s desire to do things differently constantly driving around time
showing up at one event after
In terms of design remember to use as few words in your presentation another. She warmly supports
and is supported by the refuge
as possible. PowerPoint is strongest when it has powerful images. If Friends of Valle de Oro group,
people have to read the presentation while you talk, you will compete and continuously hosts events
with your presentation. Use high resolution photos that cover the on the refuge for a variety of
community members whether
entire slide. The bigger they are the more power they have (resolu- birding festivals, refuge birth-
tion need not be greater than 1024 x 750 pixels). days, or Environmental Justice
events. She also issues most of
her public outreach in English
b. PUP Consortium Brochure and Website. and Spanish and send a con-
You may have need both to describe the PUP Process and use the tinuous flood of photographs
Consortium’s name and reputation to help people better understand and material through the refuge’s
Facebook page. In short, she sees
what you are undertaking. For that, PUP has several materials includ- part of her role at the refuge as a
ing our brochures which come in various languages. You may want to networker, ambassador, outreach
write a one-page summary based on information from the website. specialist, and good listener.
Based on these principles, she
If you require any photographs or additional support materials about and her colleagues chose to work
PUP or the Consortium, contact your PUP facilitator. with the PUP Consortium to carry
out a participatory interpretive
theme-writing process (see Con-
versation 2 of this manual).

c. PUP Master Calendars.
PUP offers two calendars, a full step-by-step calendar called the
Master Calendar of Events and a brief version for general interest.
The Master Calendar will be your most important and loyal guide
through every step in the PUP process. While you will have to modify
the steps for your purposes and will have to insert dates according
to your time estimates, the calendar will prove an essential planning
element for you, as well as provide a clear view of how PUP operates
chronologically. The Master Calendar can be found in the Introduc-
tion to Conversations.
d. PUP and local on-line forums.

In addition to written materials, the PUP Consortium has a website,
LinkedIn, and Facebook page. We invite your community members
to use these media. But more important than the Consortium’s virtual
sites is a virtual site for the PUP Process for your protected area.
Ideally you should have your own website, Facebook page, Google
Group, Twitter account, or other social media. If you do not have
one readily available already, contact your PUP facilitator about which
one to set up. The Consortium could host on its server a website as
a subdomain (www.phongnahkebang.pupconsortium.net) and even
buy a domain name for your project such as www.phongnhakebang-
pup.net or any name your team desires. They are inexpensive. An
on-line presence not only makes materials easily accessible for many
community members, it allows remote members to participate, and
eventually will be the site where you could house your actual public
use plan.
e. Local project brochure.

Though PUP offers a variety of materials about the Consortium and
its processes, you would enjoy significant benefit in creating your own
brochure or information that speaks a little about the PUP approach,
but more importantly what your site will do with it and how. See an
example from Pico Bonito in the Appendix.
Site
The planning corral is a metaphor useful to understand PUP’s
Purpose
range of action. It says that all site decisions must be made within
three criteria represented by the decision corral. The corral has
three gates. No decision should be outside any gate without
significant justification. That is, decisions must be consistent Guiding Interpretive
with the site purpose, elements in the interpretive framework
(Conversation 2), and Guiding Statements (Part C). Generally a Statements Framework
decision that falls outside the corral is not only unstrategic but
counterproductive. Nonetheless it is possible to pursue a large
break from the past in which case, you would need to build a
new planning corral to contain the new worldview or paradigm.

Researching Guiding Statements
Part C
I
n part what makes strategic planning strategic is the creation of
strategies both efficient and equitable to achieve specific objectives Explain
within limitations laid down by previous entities, both formal and
informal, written and spoken. In effect, planning possibilities should
occur inside the Planning Corral whose fence posts represent the
outer limits. See diagram on previous page.
The Guiding Statements document then compiles these
“wills” or limits from a wide variety of sources to ensure that all
subsequent planning conforms to the path set down prior to this
moment. This policy framework or guiding statements analysis
should precede all planning and will become more useful in the fu-
ture both to ensure that your site does not overstep its boundaries
and also serve as a ready source to defend decisions that are made.
The compilation is a useful resource for community members and
some elements (such as quotes by famous people), which might not
influence planning directly, still contribute to the site’s story and
heritage. The challenge of a good Guiding Statements document is
to balance breadth with depth. We do not want to miss important
historical policy guideposts on one hand, but do not want to include
so much detail from other documents that it no longer serves as a
quick and easy reference. Do
Your community cultivation may have produced references to
famous people or community consensuses about issues that should
be included. Because these references may not be so important to
those outside the community, this cultivation process is important to
uncover them, such as famous sayings or words of wisdom by local
elders, deceased shamans, or rising politicians. The exploratory trip
may have uncovered some. So check that report. The team should
include these statements not only to improve the breadth of the do-
cument but its legitimacy in the eyes of the community as well. Last,
it simply adds local color and historical value. This process in itself
is part of an interpretive investigation of the site’s policy history.
Last the document and community research (including the
exploratory trip) may reveal policy conflicts and other considerations
for the public use planning process that might be addressed in the
Terms of Agreement and the planning process itself. For example,
♦♦ The Exploratory Trip Report or any other agreement

between the PUP Consortium and lead agency would
guide elements in the TOA.
♦♦ Current policy may prohibit site from collecting and
retaining fees or giving private sector concessions.

♦♦ The site has boundary disputes caused by unclear
regulations and procedures.
♦♦ Stakeholders have unsettled claims against the site.
♦♦ Projects such as a dam threaten tourism in the site.
♦♦ Site might be micro-managed by a central agency.
♦♦ The site might not be able to keep track of its fi-
nances since that is done by the central agency in
the capital.
♦♦ Site guards might have a conflict of interest because
they are allowed to act as guides at the same time.
♦♦ A cooperative of site employees might monopolize
site services, excluding private sector participation.
♦♦ The law prohibits a guide certification system.
♦♦ Include other projects related to public use either in
development or under consideration as it makes little
sense to develop a public use plan and develop other
projects in separation. If this happens the PUP has
less relevance and thus less likely to be used.
Guiding Statements Incomplete
Until Conversation 2 We include in the Appendix two Guiding Statements examples, one a
In Conversation 2, you will de- simple early format for Pico Bonito National Park in Honduras and
velop your site’s interpretive
framework which is an integral a more complete and recent example from Valle de Oro National
part of the Guiding Statements. Wildlife Refuge in Albuquerque, Mexico, USA (with both internal
Remember that the planning and external versions). Both contain at least the following objectives,
corral has one gate for the in-
terpretive framework. decrees, laws, policies, treaties, etc. You can later add the interpretive
framework to this document after completing Conversation 2.
Guiding Statements Lead to PUP
Objectives ♦♦ Law that establishes protected areas
By studying the Guiding State- ♦♦ Law on tourism management in protected areas
ments you can often identify ♦♦ Decree that established your site
challenges and problems that
should be turned into objectives ♦♦ Decree that established the organization
for the public use plan and be ♦♦ General management plan of the protected area and
incorporated into the macro- guidelines for public use
strategy in the following section.
♦♦ Any related agreements, contracts, or treaties
♦♦ Any other study or document discussing legal is-
sues

Defining the Macro-Strategy
Part D
F
or years PUP did not have a separate activity to write objectives
on the assumption that a management plan (or other Guiding
Statements) would direct the attention of the public use plan-
Explain
ning. Experience has shown, nevertheless, that very often this kind
of guidance does not exist and when this happens, PUP conversa-
tions can seem like independent exercises that do not fit together
well enough. Thus, it is important to create a macro-strategy which
can be included in the Terms of Agreement to give more specific
direction to the planning process.
A macro strategy refers to the overarching strategy related
to public use management to confront principal site problems. The
idea for the macro strategy may have emerged during the exploratory
trip, during the constituent analysis, or AQAL analysis. It may also
emerge from hints during community cultivation or the Guiding
Statements analysis. If not, the strategy might emerge as a result of
the following connecting circle activity.
A macro-strategy includes a narrative of a strategy but also
includes a preliminary vision (updated in Conversation 11) and ob-
jectives. See example from Evora, Portugal in the Appendix.
1. Define the site’s principal problems.

Do
Your team should already have a good idea of what the principal
problems are whether inappropriate tourism development, poaching,
drought, illegal encroachment, etc. We do not look just for public
use-related problems because public use and tourism strategies can
often be used to confront a wide variety of heritage site problems.
The answer(s) should come from your research during the community
cultivation and Guiding Statements.
2. Identify the connection between the problem(s)

and public use management.
Do
To make this connection your team can use the Connection Circles
activity or concept modeling if you have experience with adaptive
management tools, such as those promoted by the Conservation
Measurements Partnership and explained in the book, Measures of
Success. Connection Circles, however, is simpler and has a greater
systems orientation.
1. Choose the most serious problem.

2. Draw a large circle easily seen by the whole team. This circle can

be drawn on a large piece of paper or a piece of string arranged
in a circle. You can also use a projector or white board, but the
use of strings on a table is more participatory.
3. Cut 10 pieces of string long enough to cross the circle’s diameter.
4. Brainstorm elements of the problem that meet these criteria:
♦♦ They are important to changes in the problem (in-
creasing or decreasing).
♦♦ They are specific nouns or noun phrases (poacher
population, deer population).
♦♦ These elements decrease or increase for some value.
♦♦ Elements can be tangible (number of poachers) or
intangible (community concern for poaching)
These photos show a connection
circle activity that used cards and 5. Write 5–10 elements on cards and place around the circle.
string on a table. The above is the 6. Identify elements that cause other elements to increase or
circle produced by Bentsen State decrease. Draw an arrow from cause to effect. The causal con-
Park in Texas.
nection must be direct. This means there should be no hidden
intermediate elements. If there are, write these factors up as well.
7. As the team discussed the problem, they can add more elements
to the circle (no more than 10). Encourage participants to add,
erase, and reconnect elements as they discuss. This is the process
of understanding the problem.
8. Ensure that you are talking about something that can change.
Each element should refer to a quantity. For example, “poaching”
does not imply change, while “number of poachers” or “poaching
intensity” are quantities that can increase or decrease.
9. Discuss the causal connection of every connection to make sure
everyone agrees or suggest improvements. Every connection
should be justified.
10. Attempt to connect all elements. Some connect to multiple ele-
ments or none at all.
11. Search for paths to make a closed loop. That is, can you begin
at one element, follow the arrows to all the other connected ele-
ments, and return to the starting element?
12. There may be multiple closed loops. Each should be drawn in
a different color (see example to left of real project analysis).
13. Draw each closed loop separately and tell the story of that loop,
that is, describe the cause and effect relationships. Decide whether
each loop is self-balancing where one element controls the in-
crease or decrease of other elements. Or the loop is reinforcing
where the loop produces more and more.
14. Ensure that at least one element is about tourism or visitation
management. Including this element ensures that some aspect
of public use management connects to resolve the problem.
15. Now connect the loops according to elements common in both

loops. See the example from Bentsen State Park in the Appen-
dix which resulted from this activity. In this example, the park
uses interpretation to combat an invasive grass by recruiting
volunteers to pull it out and raising money to buy tools to fight
it. See Background Reading 2 on conservation for other public
use strategies shown as macro-strategies. To see an article on
this methodology, see Connection Circles (p. 7) in the Appendix.
3. Write a narrative to describe the macro-strategy.

Do
In this narrative of several paragraphs, you describe the problem as
understood from the previous example and how public use will work
to reduce the problem. You are describing the WHAT of the future,
not the how, which will come out of the PUP Process. In effect, What Planning Horizon Should I
you are writing a detailed vision statement which you will update in Use?
Conversation 11 once you have the HOW determined. Thus this
That depends.
narrative is a preliminary vision. It follows a very different form of
vision called a photographic vision in which you describe in some There are 3 horizons:
detail what the world will look like, as if you were walking through
Tactical--->Strategic--->Visionary
this world and describing it to a blind person. Yet the description may Specific tasks-->investments->inspirations
also include the reputation and intangible elements as well. See the
example from Pico Bonito National Park of a photographic vision The length of time of these dif-
ferent horizons depends on what
in the Second Review of Results in the Appendix. Also see a more kind of system we are working
limited macro-strategy statement from Evora World Heritage City, with. For slower changing, less
also in the Appendix. Refer to Background Reading 2 on conserva- complex systems, we can often
predict farther into the future.
tion which shows concept models of several macro-strategies cre- For trees we have to plan farther
ated by RARE Center for Tropical Conservation when PUP began. into the future. Also we can plan
farther into the future for mature
public use systems than we can
4.Write objectives that describe what public use for new, growing ones.
will do. Do
The length of time depends also
Now you want to write some more specific objectives, tentative on whether the planning is expir-
though they might be. That is, your strategy will evolve during the ing, updatable, or continuous.
PUP Process and new opportunities will emerge from darkness. Thus If it is a continuous or rolling
agenda, we can have a longer
these objectives will evolve with the process. You should write several time frame.
objectives that correspond to each arrow related to public use. Again,
see the project plan for Bentsen State Park where they started with Social systems tend to be com-
plex and variable. So the hori-
their connection circle model and devised an entire strategy for the zones have to be less. In busi-
use of interpretation to combat Guinea Grass invasion. You may ness world, business plans for
use the PowerPoint that describes SMARTI objective writing. non-building investments tend
to be three years, for building
One objective should also refer to the level of achievement investments must be more.
that you discussed during the exploratory trip. Remember that PUP
has four levels of achievement at which it works. Since SMARTI
objectives must be measurable, you should write down the indicators
as well, which will be used in Conversation 7 on Monitoring.

Part E Developing Terms of Agreement
S
ince governments sign so many agreements and documents, it
is easy for officials to think that the Terms of Agreement is just
Orient
another document to be signed, another document required by
Utility of TOA in Tikal bureaucracy, another protocol gesture.
1. Though PUP usually plans for PUP, however, does not believe in the value of simple
an entire site, Tikal was only plan- bureaucratic procedures. A site can write and sign the Terms of
ning a model section and only
when the park can reach a certain
Agreement with vague objectives, nice statements of agreement
level of management in that pilot and cooperation, and typical government formalities — all of
section will PUP help the park which lead to a piece of paper that has no real influence over the
extend those techniques to other
parts of the park. It is an explicit
planning process. Or the site can write the Terms of Agreement as
strategy in the TOA designed for the community’s best protection against conflicts and delays later
Tikal’s situation. in the process. If done well, the Terms of Agreement will obligate
2. Tikal specifically targeted its
fire prevention program as the
a site to write down its hidden assumptions, define its sensitive
recipient of resources generated problems related to public use, create specific and concrete links to
by the public use program. The conservation, and capture the details that will lead PUP to success or
conservation link was made clear
and concrete.
doom it to failure. So when participants leave the TOA negotiating
3. Some parts of the PUP process table, they leave knowing exactly what their agreement is, not leave
can and will be applied to the thinking they have some kind of agreement, but really have hidden
entire site not just the model
section. This has real implications
disagreements.
for the work plan. Thus, it is essential to do the TOA well. It requires that a
4. The government specifically site make commitments it might prefer not to make; discuss topics
permits the use of the model sec-
tion by a new breed of naturalist
some would prefer not to discuss; spend time making decisions about
guide. This permission is essen- the who, what, where, when, and how such as who gets invited to
tial to the successful use of the workshops that some may not want to attend. It is a critical part of
model section by outside tourism
service providers.
the planning process. Consider the TOA for Tikal National Park
5. The approval section of the (sidebar) and some of its decisions that go beyond symbolism.
TOA specifies exactly how the To enjoy the benefit and protection of a TOA will almost
PUP will be approved: what kind
of legal instrument and issued by
certainly require 2–3 meetings between major participants in the
which government officer. Now management of the planning process to review 2–3 drafts. Remember
there is no doubt about whom the our PUP team will review carefully your work and offer suggestions.
approver is and how the approval
will take place.
6. The government took an un-
precedented step in committing Pico Bo-
itself to set up an independent nito chose
form of charging entrance fees a comfort-
in the model section and outlines able loca-
the legal process to make it of- tion to car-
ficial. This was a major accom- ry out the
plishment of the TOA in setting TOA meet-
public use policy, eliminating an ings. They
essential barrier necessary to did it in two
allow PUP to generate resources. sittings.
Tikal´s TOA are in the Appen-
dix.

Do
Meeting Environment. You should have refreshments on hand as
these meetings can take a while and involve a lot of sitting down.
TOA Meeting Participants. Usually only top staff and community

members who will directly play important roles in the execution of
PUP would attend, such as a representative of the donor, the site
director, perhaps a government official, site administrator, and of
course the whole core planning team. It includes only those who
will define the rules of how and why PUP will be carried out. But
as many community constituents can participate as you see pertinent
to continue the community cultivation process. Involvement in the
rule-making meeting is clearly a power-sharing activity.
Exploratory Trip Report. Study the report as there may well be

ideas there need representation in the TOA. If there is any kind of
agreement already between the site and the PUP Consortium, this
too, is part of the Guiding Statements document and would influence
the PUP Process.
TOA Draft. The meeting will be more easily conducted if you have a
TOA draft on hand. The planning team should first propose options
Challenges Organized by
for each point of discussion. Generally, participants will appreciate
that the team took time the Integral Quadrantsnt
to plan ahead. The draft Interior Exterior
should include the budget Upper Left (UL) Upper Right (UR)
(you will find examples Psychology Behavior
of the generic budget “What I experience” “What I do”
and TOA for Fort Jesus Areas of improvement for protected areas: Areas of improvement for protected areas:
Individual
National Monument in
Community actor feeling of empowerment, their role,
Kenya in the Appendix. morale, expectations of a planning process, level of Behavior of community members during
See the Master Calendar contentedness with the site management, and self-
confidence of park staff, vision for the future,
planning, behaviors on the job, and physical
health of staff members, conflict management
of Events in the Intro- community trust for park management, mental and process facilitation skills (ToP)
wellbeing of community constituents, level of
duction to Conversations. consciousness in general of community members
Lower Left (LL) Lower Right (LR)

Photocopies. Distribute
Culture Systems
any photocopies needed “What we experience” “What we do”
for this meeting. Areas of improvement for protected areas: Areas of improvement for protected areas:
Norms written and unwritten that guide behavior, Plan formats, tools, techniques, administrative
Collective
organizational culture, relationships between and planning systems, policies, structure

stakeholders, degree of honesty/corruption and feelings incentives in the bureaucracy, decision-making
of entitlement, customs, lines and forms of process, transparency, accountability, economic
The Terms of Agreement communication, beliefs about planning, power, system, monitoring and enforcement
community involvement, government, science and mechanisms, contracts and concessions
should identify challenges management, beliefs about how decisions should be protocols, tourism products, Holistic Planning
to overcome during the PUP made, park management/governance models, and who approach, PUP Process
Process. This table shows should control tourism operations, concept of heritage
interpretation, community vision, role of World
many areas that may be over- Heritage in society
looked.

I. Introduction
Warming Up
Facilitate
1. Have the site director give some introductory remarks about why
people have been gathered for this meeting, making reference to the
introductory presentation.
2. Introduce the journey. PUP recommends that you use a journey
metaphor to describe the process the community will go through
during the planning process. A descriptive metaphor is one way to
Two is Better than One motivate people to continue with the program and follow its progress.
All participants should have par- It visually illustrates the challenges you face and how much remains
ticipated in some introductory of the journey.
presentation. The TOA can be
broken up into a couple of meet- 3. Then ask, “Are we ready for this journey?” Note that many stra-
ings if you feel you will go over tegic plans fail because the organization is distracted by financial or
the five-hour mark. The agenda political crisis or any situation that might prevent the community
for this meeting only indicates
how much each step might take. from concentrating on planning. You can say something like:
You can distribute those time
estimates across the number of Look at a picture of some islands I drew on a paper. A boat
meetings that best suits your represents your organization and you can see the staff man-
needs. ning it. There are several hundred people watching from the
shore (board members, visitors, other organizations, etc.). The
island is a really attractive place with three mountains, forests,
and lots of green vegetation. There are many different ways
to get there. What are some other places you have never been
but would like to go? It is reachable, though far away. There
are sharks on the way and bad weather. Mechanical problems.
The trip should be motivating yet challenging.
In this first meeting, you must meticulously plan the excursion

as you would a mountaineering expedition. If it is well planned, you
will be successful. It would be sadly ironic to not plan well a planning
process and suffer a serious accident along the way.
Then do a quick ORID with the journey metaphor. Encour-
age everyone to participate.
Ask
O: What real challenges (versus metaphorical ones) do we face on
this journey?
R: How do these challenges make you feel about this journey?
(emotionally)
I: What is the importance of undertaking this journey? How is it
different from previous planning trips?
D: How will having such a plan, reaching the mountaintop, change
[the organization]? Is the point really only to reach [destination], or
are we doing it for another reason? In other words, when really is
the end of our journey?

What Does It Mean?
Explain
Avoiding agreement on critical points will almost surely damage
the planning process. When important points are left unattended,
confusion, tension, conflict, and even serious threats to the process
result. Thus, many consultants use a TOA meeting and a resulting
document, which puts into writing agreements and expectations
for all that follows in the process. The TOA serves more to make
expectations and responsibilities clear than it does as a binding legal
document.
As you might imagine, you should sit down with all the site’s
public use decision makers. You should bring with you a rough
draft of suggestions as starting points for discussion. You then go
point-by-point, discussing and agreeing. At a first meeting, you can
use tools such as ice-breakers if the people are new to each other,
collect baseline data on people’s perceptions of the project, devise
operating procedures, and do anything else that helps put the process
on its proper course.
You can distribute a copy of For Jesus’s TOA to participants
as an example. No TOA will ever look the same for all sites. Each
place has a separate set of concerns and issues based on its context,
its organization, Guiding Statements, and personalities who partici-
pate in the process.
Public Use Definitions
Public Use, Public Use Planning Program

All products, programs, facilities, as well as touristic, educational, interpretative, recreational, and investigative
services, designed to manage visitors that participate in activities that do not extract or introduce resources into
a protected area for commerce or subsistence.
Del Teide National Park, Spain

Public Use: Set of practices or activities developed by persons who visit a protected area, individually or as a group,
spontaneously or organized, with the purpose of enjoying its beauties, ecological values, nature conditions, and
high environmental quality.
SEMARNAP, Mexico (1986)

To disseminate ecological values, the reserve’s management principles, and scientific and technical knowledge de-
veloped in the area to the local population, visitors, scientific community, public land, communities that surround
the reserve, and the general public.
Sian Ka’an, Mexico (1996)

Public Use: Management and control of visitors that will prevent possible impacts to the natural and cultural resources,
and that will also satisfy the demands of the ecological tourist community (ecotourists), in terms of recreation, edu-
cation, and interpretation, as well as the integration of the local community into these activities with the purpose
of preserving the area.
To the public use definition, a site could add training, public relations, or environmental education. These should
ONLY be added if the capacities already exist, or if there is an overwhelming reason to add them more than in
other sites.

II. Deciding Responsibilities
What Does It Mean?
Explain
The clarification of responsibilities is crucial to avoiding inefficiency
and misunderstanding during the process. We want to cover all major
responsibilities. If disagreements erupt in any area, it will likely be
this one. Why? First, the site administration has to get used to the
idea that there are no consultants here to do the work of the site. The
PUP Consortium team only supports the work fo the core planning
team. If the team fails to do the work, it won’t get done. They may
underestimate the importance of facilitation and the preparation it
requires; they may think you are not doing your share of the work.
For PUP to be truly effective in developing staff and community
capacity, it is necessary that the entire organization be involved.
How Do I Do It?
Explain
You explain the different responsibilities of the PUP players.
a. Site Director.
While the director may or may not be on the core planning team, this
person has the very important responsibility of both supervising the
team, ensuring that PUP is executed properly and on time, and also
being fully involved in the process and committed to it. If the site
director takes only a sideline involvement (as many do), then several
Responsible Party Must be a consequences may result:
Person
All responsible parties must
be specific people or decision- ♦♦ The director won’t participate in writing of PUP
making bodies. The responsible ♦♦ He won’t integrate it into the annual operating plan
person is he or she that all others
know is authorized with ensuring ♦♦ He won’t fundraise for it
that a certain task is completed. ♦♦ He won’t lobby enough to get PUP approved and
So it does little good to write supported
“site administration” or “private
sector” or “tour operators.” If ♦♦ He won’t pursue the PUP learning process
you choose a specific body like ♦♦ He won’t work to implement PUP.
a management board or review
committee and do not include
the name of a person or a par- b. Core Planning Team.
ticular position, automatically The team will coordinate all activities, recruiting other community
we are talking about the head constituents to events and to complete tasks. The team may be
of that organization, the person
responsible for that organiza- charged with writing the plan, but should in reality coordinate its
tion’s actions. Thus it is clearer writing and editing. The more of the community to participate in
simply to put that position as its creation, more ownership will be generated. The core planning
the responsible person from the
outset: president of review com- team, or at least its coordinator, will communicate principally with
mittee, for example. the PUP team.

c. Staff.
Explain
Technical staff not on the core planning team can offer a support
role such as logistical assistance, research, or just consultation. In
many cases, they may not play a role beyond that of conversation
participants.
e. Conversation Participants.
The core planning team will invite a variety of community members
to participate in Conversation activities. They should of course do
what they commit to do. See Recruitment Table.
f. Public Use Review Committee.

If you decide to have such an advisory or oversight committee,
it critiques and reviews content. It may have the power to change
content to make it more consistent, logical, and realistic. In all cases,
the committee should have public legitimacy or else the community
could perceive it as a tool by the lead agency to control the process.
Refer to levels of citizen participation to see where this committee
will operate. This committee is not normally the same as the partici-
pants of the First Review of Results. To be legitimate and effective
such a committee should be composed largely of people outside
of the site administration such as private sector service providers
and government officials. A member of the lead agency, however,
might coordinate the committee, perhaps the site director or some
other person whose participation is very important. Giving them
title of coordinator of the review committee might attract them to
participate.
g. PUP Technical Assistance. Do

The PUP Global Heritage Consortium team is responsible for quality
control of the methodology and products, monitoring its execution,
advising you, making resources available to you remotely, and evalu-
ating both the PUP and the plan’s implementation. It will not write
the plan or do the workshops for you. The Consortium furthermore
has likely committed during the Exploratory Trip to a multi-year
relationship, often three if the site agreed to the same.

SMARTI Objectives III. Selecting Objectives & Policies
Planners often get confused by
the “goals,” “objectives,” “mis- What Does It Mean?
sion,” “results,” etc. One way
around both the confusion and
general objectives such as “Im-
You can draw from several sources of objectives, including
prove the quality of the visitor
experience” which have little ♦♦ The Guiding Statements (starting with the manage-
or no power to guide decision
making. Instead you can write
ment plan)
SMARTI objectives, which is a ♦♦ The Macro Strategy which is based partially on the
slight modification to the well Guiding Statements
known SMART objective. The let-
ters stand for the following.
♦♦ The table of Challenges Organized by Integral
Quadrant may present key issues easily overlooked
S: Specific Explain by conventional thinking.
M: Measurable
A: Attainable
♦♦ Individual conversations have implicit objectives.
R: Relevant Conversation 10, for example, creates a financial
T: Time-bound management system for public use. Conversation 2
I: Impact-oriented
develops an interpretive framework because interpre-
Specific means that the target of tation should form the basis of all visitor program-
the objective is specific in quan- ming at a heritage site.
tity or quality so that we truly
know when we have reached it.
Measurable means that the objec- While you should not weigh down the TOA with too many general
tive can actually be measured. objectives and policies such as those that often appear in manage-
Even if it is specific, if we don’t
have a means to measure, then
ment plans, some community members might insist that you have a
we cannot know if we have few to give direction. See examples on next page.
achieved the objective. Attain- More important are specific objectives that will actually influ-
able means that the objective is
not impossible to achieve. Con-
ence planning decisions and help you to design the PUP Process. For
versely, an objective should not example, if your macro strategy and objectives call for an interpretive
be too easy to achieve either. The navigation system as Evora’s does, then you know that you will need
objective should be relevant to
context or relevant to the Guiding
to add some steps to the PUP Process since no current conversation
Statements. The objective must deals with site navigation. Some examples of SMARTI objectives:
be achieved/bound within a time
period. It is one thing to increase
funding by 10% in just one year
♦♦ Reduce the invasive Guinea Grass coverage by 10%
(perhaps an attainable but chal- in three years.
lenging target) or in 100 years ♦♦ Fortify the site guard squad by 5 guards by 2016.
(or unknown in objectives that
are not time-bound). Finally the
♦♦ Integrate the Yaming Monument into the site by
objective should propose enough 2105.
impact that it will actually make ♦♦ Increase site endowment by $50,000 per year for the
a significant difference. We can
choose a financial objective that
next three years.
raises $100,000 which is attain- ♦♦ Develop a new protocol for tracking volunteer time
able, but if we need $200,000 by the end of 2016.
to even start construction, then
the objective perhaps does not
♦♦ Hire an assistant administrator by 2015.
target the right amount of dol-
lars, the right amount of impact.
This last criterion comes from
Measures of Success (1998). Other-
wise Google “SMART objectives”.

General Public Use Policies
Your site can use general policies or leave them implicit. Some prefer lots of policies, while others pre-
fer not to write more than necessary. For example, you could say that a site is going to provide all the
services necessary for a good visitor experience, or you could just provide them. Either way, here are
examples. (A policy become an objective by writing about a specific product in SMARTI format.)
Some General Policies of a Public Use Program

1. To generate resources of all kinds in support of the conservation of protected resources in a site (might also contribute
to the administration of the site).
2. To build constituencies among the public that support the site.
3. To balance the demands of conservation and visitation in the site.
4. To contribute to the economic development of resident communities through the promotion of sustainable tourism.
5. To build commitment and ownership of all the site’s stakeholders to the site’s management and protection.
By Conversation
1. To ensure that all visitors encounter the principal site messages in order to develop public constituencies that support
the site (Mod 1).
2. To provide all visitors with a quality experience based on protected resources (Mod 3, 4, 5).
3. To protect site resources from visitation within limits of acceptable change (Mod 7).
4. To manage the financial development from a business orientation (Mod 10).
Public Use Policies of Costa Rica’s National System of Conservation Areas (1997)
General Policy
To promote, facilitate, and participate in the development of sustainable tourism in the protected wild
areas, based on responsible administration, planning, and management, using a decision-making process
and criteria compliant with the conservation policies for natural and cultural resources.
Specific Policies
1. Establish a tourism program in each conservation area that will guarantee compliance with vistor management and deve-
lopment objectives of the protected wild areas.
2. Define and establish administrative and legal means and devices to generate income from touristic activities in the pro-
tected wild areas.
3. Promote, facilitate, and support community efforts for touristic activities that promote the conservation and responsible
use of the natural and cultural resources of the protected wild areas.
4. Establish and strengthen communication channels, coordination, and the administrative and legal devices in accordance
with the directives decided upon by the institution necessary for the development of the touristic activity in the protected
wild areas.
5. Promote and establish adequate infrastructure for visitors and to provide the necessary information and logistics to fully
understand and enjoy the touristic natural and cultural patrimony of the protected wild areas.
6. Assure that the infrastructure in the protected wild areas generates the same impact as the existing natural resources and
that it complies with the technical and scientific criteria that guarantee the users’ safety.
7. Carry out permanent monitoring in the protected wild areas to collect clear and updated indicators of the state of the
services provided to the visitors, in order to facilitate adequate decision-making for improved management.
8. Promote tourism according to the institution’s purposes, so that the information provided is precise, updated, and based
on the conservation objectives and responsible use of the natural and cultural resources of the protected wild areas.
9. Conservation areas must comply with the rules established for signals and image, with the purpose of preserving the
system’s identity.

IV. Approving the PUP
What Does It Mean?
Explain
While the PUP will no doubt go through several revisions during
the first couple of years, requiring that the modification and update
mechanisms be highly flexible, you may still have some kind of ap-
proval procedure. The government or your internal procedures might
require such approval. Whatever that process is, you must identify it
as soon as possible and learn how to navigate it. You need to know
how flexible it is and what requirements it imposes. The last thing
you want is to get to Conversation 11 and find out that you need to
change the format to meet some bureaucratic requirement, or find
out that you will have to wait several months because you did not
start the process earlier. That wait can hurt community motivation
and set back implementation. Or worse: get the PUP rejected.
Below find a table that compares several approval strategies
in case you have can choose which best fits your circumstance.
A second related issue to approval is the relationship be-
tween PUP and the general management plan (GMP), if one exists.
Will PUP overrule the GMP, and if so, how? Are there aspects of
it which are completely off limits to you? Clearly the GMP serves
as a starting point, and in some cases an ending point, but because
it was derived through a different methodology and assumptions, it
will have different results. We assume that our methodology, which
focuses much more intensively on public use, will yield results more
pertinent to the needs and conditions of the site.
Last this section should describe the quickest and most ef-
ficient way of getting activities from Conversation 9 into the site’s
official annual operational plan. For many countries, an activity is
not official until it is in this plan and approved by whatever mecha-
nism exists. This is essential to getting PUP formally approved and
implemented.
Do
1. Answer the following questions.
Do you have to have the approval of certain government agencies
before official implementation can begin? Does the board of direc-
tors (if your site has one) have to sign off ? Is there a special format
required? Special paperwork? Is the plan considered an unofficial
supplement, becoming official when entered into the formal annual
work plan? How does PUP relate to the GMP? How do we integrate
PUP activities in the annual operational plan?
2. Describe each step of the approval process in the TOA by choos-
ing from the following table or some other mechanism.

Comparison of Plan Approval Strategies
Strategy How It Works (Dis)advantages Participation
Centralized Traditionally after the draft plan has been • Often takes a long time during which the plan goes out of Very low
agency completed it goes to a centralized decision- date and stakeholders lose motivation. Also this strategy
approval making body in government, often in the sends a message to stakeholders: “It doesn’t matter how
capital city. Technocrats decide whether the participatory or how much consensus the planning process
plan meets their requirements (sometimes achieved, we retain power to decide; we retain the final
formal and transparent, sometimes not). After word.”
approval is granted, then the plan may enter • Exempts state from having to participate in process since it
into implementation. has the last word.
Public Planning authorities give the public a period • Period is limited so plan does not go out of date Medium
comment of time (for example, 30 days) during which • Public has an opportunity to comment to low
period they must submit written comments about a • Power is retained by a central body to use or ignore public
before draft. After comments have been received and comments
approval reviewed and plan possibly modified, plan
• Does not require multiple signatures thus no one or few
enters into implementation.
stakeholders can block implementation simply by
withholding signature.
This common strategy is used by the United
States Government. • Made more participatory when all comments are posted
publicly and decision-making process for integrating
comments is transparent.
Full release A continuous plan can use the Agile Software • Reinforces continuous planning and does not allow plan to Medium
approval Development approach, that is, a series of full go out of date.
and partial releases (1.0 or 2.1b) as described • Government can approve but the approval process does
in the Approval section. In this approach, the not halt planning and implementation.
government approves only full releases (1.0, • Both government and local planning community share
2.0) perhaps once a year while incremental approval power.
releases (1.1) are issued by the planning
• History of updates is recorded with incremental releases.
community without the need for centralized
approval, though likely passes through a local
approval procedure.
Stakeholder When plan draft is completed all members of • Gives equal power to all stakeholders. High
signature either the core planning team or more likely • How stakeholders are chosen can be more or less
approval stakeholder community sign the plan to participatory.
indicate their approval. • It could take a long time to get all signatures.
• One stakeholder can block by withholding signature and
making unilateral demands
Consensus Planning stakeholders approve through • Trusts stakeholder community to co-create through Highest
by consensus each component (for example, in consensus the future they truly desire.
component each conversation) and each step (meeting • No central authority takes decision power from commu-
approval proceedings) along the way. Thus there is no nity as authority participates in this consensus
need for final approval. conversation.
• Without final approval, the plan can immediately and
smoothly enter implementation.
• PUP currently can do this.
• While this may take longer during planning, it saves time
by avoiding final approval and also accelerates
implementation because stakeholders already support
documented commitments.
No approval Instead of approving the plan, its actions • The plan does not need to be approved. Depends
determined by participant consensus feed into • Though actions might feed into planning cycle, how does
the formal action planning cycle of the main the agency approve new policy proposals and strategies?
agency or other stakeholders. • Less commitment by other stakeholders to actually
implement the agreed upon actions without formal tool.
Notes
1. Several of these can be combined and modified to meet certain criticisms.
2. Planners must still define how to modify the plan after initial approval, except for consensus by component.
3. Remember the rhyme: “If plan approval has long to wait, the plan will go out of date.”

V. Modifying the PUP
What Does It Mean?
Explain
Composed of interchangeable conversations, the PUP Process can be
modified to suit your needs. While a great deal of thought went into
designing the basic conversations, your site may already have materi-
Continuous Updating of the TOA
Work Plan
als that partially or completely fulfill requirements of a conversation.
One major implementation block You must work with your staff to determine how to modify the
is the inability to continuously PUP. You will face the temptation to use whatever has already been
update plans, to keep them
updated and relevant and alive.
finished, good or bad. Not wanting to waste effort is understandable.
Continuous updating demands Nonetheless, most previous efforts do not incorporate many elements
practice and discipline to tran- proposed by PUP. Inventories do not take a business perspective;
sition from work plans that
planners write in one moment
monitoring systems depend on carrying capacity; regulations are full
and then do not update until of holes and too general; zones do not have operational guidelines;
the next annual planning cycle. and so forth. Even more important often these products do NOT
Therefore, the work plan for PUP
must become a microcosm in
have community ownership. They were likely created by consultants
which stakeholders practice con- or internal meetings and do not have public legitimacy. For that rea-
tinuous planning. If you simply son alone, you should carry out the corresponding conversation and
sign these Terms of Agreement
and then put them on the shelf,
integrate previous results as inputs to the decision-making process.
you would perpetuate the same To help you decide how much previous work could count
crisis of non-implementation as credit toward conversations, you should refer to the Recruitment
that PUP aims to reduce.
As such, it is important
Table. Deciding whether or not to skip a conversation is rarely a yes
that you include language in this or no question. If your staff decides there is some overlap between
section of the TOA or in the gen- the conversation and what has been done before, take one of four
eral clauses at the end that allow
PUP planners to update the work
actions:
plan in a rapid, efficient manner,
every month, without undue bu- ♦♦ Complete PUP conversation in its entirety
reaucratic approval procedures.
We recommend that planners
♦♦ Do a partial or internal (only site staff) PUP conver-
simply send proposed changes sation with a reduced version of PUP that comple-
to those who sign these terms ments pre-existing results
or some other designated body,
which then only speaks if it has
♦♦ Just do an internal re-write of PUP without any
some recommendation to share. workshops, by rewriting the pre-existing results and
Thus approval is tacit and does integrating PUP elements
not interfere with the unfolding
PUP process. The Master Calen-
♦♦ Complete adoption of pre-existing work, where the
dar of Events offers reminders previous results so closely resemble or are better
for this updating. than PUP products that there is little or no need for
further work.
As a good facilitator, you will have to identify issues that are

especially important to this site and either integrate them into PUP
Resist the temptation to use PUP
or create additional workshops or discussions to deal with them. See
as a recipe; think and modify it. Background Reading 5 for identifying hotspots or topics that need
to be addressed through the PUP Process.

VI. Selecting Strategic Communities
What Does It Mean?
Explain
You should review the Conversation 6 introduction. It is best to
choose those communities among the decision makers now, as that
will influence how you select participants as well as make other de-
terminations during the conversations. See strategic community se-
lection criteria.
Strategic Inviting
Many people think that reaching consensus means inviting everyone to every
event so that no one can say they were left out of the process. This, however,
is unnecessary. A person does not have to be present in a workshop to agree
with a decision. Many issues and decisions are of little interest to most com-
munity members. If you see to it that each person is involved in decisions
relating to their particular interest, they will most likely feel included. You do
not need everyone at every conversation. For PUP, you strategically invite
participants in each conversation depending on their interest and what they
can contribute. You do not need to invite people to conversations where they
will simply eat the food and make little contribution. You also should try to
avoid inviting people only for symbolic or diplomatic purposes, when possible.
See the Recruitment Table to guide you in your selection.

VII. Selecting Community Participants
What Does It Mean?
Explain
The participants of this PUP participatory planning process are com-
munity constituents with interests in how the site is managed. These
parties often include site management, subject-matter experts such
as concessions specialists, media specialists, or interpretive planners,
cooperating associations, friends groups, concessionaires, chambers
of commerce, affiliated cultures, non-governmental conservation and
preservation organizations, schools and universities, museums, other
government agencies, visitors, local residents, and other partners. See
Background Reading 4 on public involvement.
It is important not to overlook the female staff ’s perspective
whether administrative or field as if often differs from that of the
men. In addition to staff, participants will also contain people who
have different or fresh perspectives on the site, have other interests
in the site, have decision making power over the site, have knowledge
complementary to that of staff, or belong to other cultures and have
something to do with the site.
You should guide the composition of your group, making
sure it represents the important stakeholders, that duplication is
minimized, and that various people are not overlooked. Also do not
forget to include remote participants who can participate through
on-line means, offering opinions and even working on components
of the public use planning. When you consider the wider community,
you will discover many willing experts and people who can contribute
to the process.
How Do I Do It?
Do
1. You should go through the Recruitment Table and identify people
who should participate. After the TOA, you will invite these people
for corresponding conversations.
2. This table may be used as part of your invitation materials. Poten-
tial participants can be invited to certain conversations, but they may
also select those that seem most interesting and appropriate to them.
You should always create opportunities for general public members
to attend PUP Process events.
3. After you complete the chronology section below, you can fill in
the last column of the table.

VIII. Reviewing the Calendar of Events
What Does It Mean?
Explain
You should have already suggested dates for all steps, based on the
Master Calendar of Events. Those dates will be modified at the
end of each PUP training when you learn more about how to apply
PUP to your site. You should go over every date in the meeting. It is
essential to make these dates clear so principal participants can set
their schedules.
Aside from the operating plan, you should consider any other
organizational cycles when determining your calendar. You need
to know financial cycles (when budgets are planned and approved)
and reporting cycles (quarterly reports, periodical evaluations, staff
retreats, reports required by PUP, etc.). A variety of steps in PUP
could benefit or suffer substantially depending on how well they
correspond to these cycles.
These TOA meetings in Indonesia involved a few top site decision-makers and
allies.

Recruitment Table
Conversation Summary Participants Needed Questions to Determine If We
# participants Need to Carry Out in PUP
1-40
1 Planning Prep- This conversation covers major areas of preparation including The core planning team requires some 5–8 people Core planning team is highly advisable
aration putting together the core planning together; preparing the con- from inside and outside the lead agency. Cultivating although it is possible for planning to be
stituent community for planning; researching the Guiding and aligning the community may require few or many facilitated by a single public use coordi-
Statements that influence the direction of planning; defining an different community members. Guiding Statements is nator. When the community is perfectly
overriding or macro-strategy and objectives for public use a task for the core planning team. The macro-strategy aligned and ready (which is almost nev-
planning; developing the terms of agreement to launch the workshop requires some 6-15 people including major er), no cultivation may be necessary. It is
public use planning process; and the preparation of the actual decision-makers and interested parties, process leaders. always necessary to review previous
logistics. The terms of agreement requires (4-6) including key plans that influence the next. Is there
actors including director, administrator, board mem- overarching objectives or macro-strategy
bers, project leaders, donors, others in public use de- gives overarching frame to link all pieces
velopment in the site, principal friends of the project. of the plan? To skip Terms of Agree-
The logistics is for the core team. ment is to invite conflicts and delays.
2 Interpretive Using heritage elements, participants will produce a complete Administrators and government officers involved with Is it clear what makes this site special
Framework (15– set of local interpretive themes, universal processes, and site the history of the site; area historians; persons with and significant? How does the visitor
30) essence to guide visitor interaction with the site and motivate interpretation experience; persons with literary, educa- interact with the site’s heritage? Though
them to participate in the site’s conservation programs. A small tion experience that can perceive the importance of messages might exist, rarely are they ac-
committee refines the large-group ideas into an interpretive places and objects beyond their mere physical traits. companied by universal processes and
framework. Especially, writers, artists, and historians from all cul- essence and almost never created
tures present. through a participatory process.
3 Directory of This conversation filters resources to obtain the most promis- Site staff; persons who know the site’s resources well; Have tourist attractions been identified
Touristic Attrac- ing attractions and other elements identified in the Interpretive tour operators or persons who are able to distinguish versus biological and cultural invento-
tions (9–20) Framework. The process takes into consideration a wider range between attractions and general resources. ries? Have their qualities been studied?
of criteria than normally used to determine priority for public Have their development limitations been
use development. After evaluating barriers and solutions, a evaluated? Are they ranked?
PUP Planning Preparation

directory is produced and will be used in the following steps.
4 Zone & Sector Zones should prescribe future desired conditions based on Zone definition: site managers; government officers Have visitor experiences been defined?
Mapping visitor experiences and resource conditions. PUP does this or managers of other sites that are somehow interested Does the site zoning prescribe future,
through Recreation Opportunity Spectrum zones as well as in the site’s zoning; site field staff who know land well desired conditions based on visitor expe-
Zones: 3–6 local zoning based on authenticity criteria. It then divides the Sector definition: all stakeholders who might care riences and resource conditions or just
Sectors: 10–20 site into sectors, units of public use development (such as a site about sector names and who have a stake in which part define them on present activities? Is
entrance or a visitor services area or pristine area), which to- of the site is developed when; includes landholders, there a site-wide, chronological strategy
gether form the site-wide strategy for public use. community members, private sector service providers; for implementing public use? Are visitor
does not require visitors at this point profiles clearly defined (this is an area
often done and more easily skipped)?
5 Public Use The conversation produces visitor profiles to see the demand Site authorities, tour operators, other business people, Have products been defined in relation
Products (12– for the supply of visitor experiences identified earlier in the foreigner travelers experienced in international travel, to site-wide strategy? Are they based on
20) conversation. tourism experts, service providers from strategic public ranking of attractions and high-priority
use communities sectors? Do we know who will provide
Profiles: core Based on attractions, themes, zoning, sectors, visitor profiles, the services? Does infrastructure serve
team and guiding statements, participants define products (esp. ac- the strategy or dominate it?
tivities and services) that support site public use macro-
strategy. Afterwards, participants decide which types of rela-
tionships should be established with the public sector to pro-
vide the services.
This table describes each conversation, kinds of participants that might attend, and questions about whether the conversation should be used completely, partially, or not at all.
6 Wider Review During the small workshops there is little opportunity for par- Key planners, community members, representatives of Are there strategic communities in and
of Product Pro- ticipation from members of communities and representatives the most important profiles. around the site? Has the planning pro-
posals (variable) of different visitor profiles (aside from leaders). For this rea- cess been designed to give them true
son, the core planning team takes the results obtained to date voice or just symbolic representation?
to strategic communities, so they can evaluate products in their Have visitors been consulted?
own context. In the same manner, the team takes the results to
the two most important visitor profiles to find out if they can
improve what has been proposed.
First Review of The team convenes a small group of critical people and an Some team members, site director, highly logic people, Are there other mechanisms already in
Results outsider that has not participated in the process so they can a person that understands the field of public use but place ensure quality control? To create a
(4–5) review and improve the results to date. The group’s purpose is that have not participated in the process draft outline for the plan?
to obtain consistent, logical, clear, and specific results. They
also write a first draft table of contents for the PUP document.
7 Monitoring (9– The monitoring plan outlines the indicators of high priority Administrators, field staff, at least one foreigner and Is there a monitoring strategy? Is it based
15) activities and services to protect site attractions and visitor one tour operator to determine quality of the monitor- on ensuring that resource conditions stay
experiences, how they will be measured, by whom, how often, ing and to represent the private sector in the monitor- within certain limits to achieve the de-
where, and what control strategies may be used. It is not bio- ing activities; someone who has experience in social sired experience opportunities? Is there a
logical monitoring or monitoring of the site as a whole, but a impact monitoring. single-minded adherence for the carrying
means to find indicators of activities specific to pubic use. capacity concept without experience in
applying it?
8 Regulations The participants will look for the minimum regulations neces- Site administrators, private sector service providers, Is there a coherent system of regula-
(12–18) sary to jumpstart the regulation phase of the program. For local politicians, landowners or community representations? Are regulations designed to pro-
these regulations to be operational, there will be a protocol to tives, directors of other sites who have experience with tect not only resources, but experience
update the regulations and logistics to implement them. regulations, relevant regulating agencies (site services, opportunities? Do they regulate the site
tourism ministry, law office of natural resources minis- authority as well as visitors and service
try, national police) providers?
9 Calendar of The site needs a specific calendar in order to implement the Administrative staff, board of directors, organization Does an updated and dynamic imple-
PUP Planning Preparation

Activities (10– tasks proposed. The calendar must answer who, when, and advisor (mostly internal) mentation plan exist? Does it contain
12) what. The site also should have procedures to help it actually names of responsible parties, dates, and
use the calendar. It is a continuously rotating five-year calendar. actions? Is the site implementing accord-
ing to a long-range plan of some kind?
10 Financial Plan The financial plan involves pricing out costs and predicting Site director, administrator, business person, manager Is there a program-wide budget? Does it
(3–5) revenues. With this information, the site will be able to make or accountant; reviewers project costs and revenues into the fu-
better financial planning decisions. ture based in visitation objectives? Does
it determine fundraising needs and say
“no” to unfunded proposals?
Second Review Same as first review. They also write up a two-page narrative Same as first review, plus a creative writer Mechanism for quality control? Steps to
of Results (4–5) “photograph” of how they want the site to look in five years. consolidate vision after previous conver-
sations?
11 Preparation The results of the conversations should be presented publicly Public presentation: all stakeholders great and small Must be done.
for Implementa- for additional input. They need to be written up into a docu-
tion (variable) ment, which then goes through an approval process.
1-41
IX. Selecting Conservation Projects
What Does It Mean?
Explain
If a public use program is to conserve site heritage, it is important
to identify exactly how that will happen. If the site does not identify
conservation projects and objectives to be financed at the beginning
of the process, money usually does not go directly to conservation.
There are innumerable immediate needs (“oops, the axle broke yes-
terday; we need gas today; we have to pay the guards”), so money is
often spent before it ever can reach a given conservation project. Also
during these moments, it will be tempting for the site to rationalize
operating fixed costs as conservation costs, such as paying site guards
or fixing the truck. After all, don’t all costs ultimately contribute to
conservation? With this argument, a site can justify any expense at
all, since the site administration ultimately exists for conservation.
But that is not good enough since a site could have a very
well funded staff without any real conservation achievements. Ideally,
public use should be generating money that finances conservation
directly. Thus, before pressures begin, while everyone is fresh and
reasonable, the TOA should identify a conservation project that
public use funds will benefit. They may identify several, but should
be prioritized. In addition to identifying where money goes, partici-
pants should also decide how much money and for what specifically.
Consider the following SMARTI conservation financing objectives:
1Only in extreme circumstances should a site use a general
♦♦ 1% of gross revenue each month indefinitely will

conservation fund, when there are no fundable conserva-
tion projects at the time the PUP is created. It should not
be used as an excuse to postpone deciding where money go into the Tapir Conservation Fund.1
should go.
♦♦ In year 1 1.0% of gross revenue monthly will go to
the Tapir Conservation Fund; in year two, 1.5%; in
year three, 2.0%.
♦♦ By the end of 2016, public use revenues will have
financed the entire battlefield excavation site (valued
at $10,000).
♦♦ Public use revenues will contribute $5,000/each year
to support the cathedral facade restoration.
PUP recommends that the site choose an increasing per-

centage for each of the first three years, even if just symbolic. This
develops a culture of contributing to conservation, not simply
financing an ever-larger administrative machine.
2Last we create a Contributions Registry in Conversation Pico Bonito chose a very small, symbolic percentage, less
10 that tracks kinds of contribution (money, in–kind,
donated services, time, actions, etc.) and where they go. We
than 1% of profits for year 1 and increased it by a half percentage
track these resources just like an accountant tracks money pointsover several years. See more on contributions in Conversation
in a company.
10.2

Criteria for Choosing Conservation Projects
Usually threats that you want to mitigate are clear, but conservation
projects that public use could fund are not. For example in Tikal
National Park, the site assessment clearly indicated that hunters and
fires are major threats. Yet established programs designed to mitigate
these threats did not fully exist. Even when such programs do exist,
they may not make good partners. Consider these criteria in selecting
programs to fund with public use-generated resources.
♦♦ The program should be specifically designed to

combat a particular threat. For example, funding site
guards in general, although they might pursue hunt-
ers, is not specifically designed for hunting. Thus,
many resources donated to the guard system may
not go directly to combat illegal hunting. A specific
guard brigade or unit dedicated to fight just fires or
track hunters, however, might qualify.
♦♦ The program should be of sufficient quality to
achieve conservation. Many programs are poorly
designed, have no objectives, suffer from political
conflict, inefficiency, etc. They might be dedicated
to a particular threat but have no real chance of
converting public use resources into conservation.
♦♦ The program must justify its need for resources.
Although any project will take your money, can
the project produce a justified list of materials that
visitors can donate? Can it make use of volunteers?
Can it take advantage of services donated? Will it
document needs for the public use program? Your
Connection Circle activity in the previous section
might offer insight into the direct connections.
♦♦ Are program managers willing to document and
account for the receipt and use of all resources for
conservation? That is, we want EVIDENCE that
public use resources actually promote conservation.
We need to be able to track1 the path of resources
from visitors to mitigated threats. A program can buy
a car with public use funds, but a car may not be able
to justify its utility for conservation. The program,
then, must monitor and attempt to demonstrate
conservation with the resources. This is a necessary
condition to receive public use resources and a com-
petitive incentive for the program to operate more
efficiently and transparently.

X. Reviewing the Budget
What Does It Mean?

Explain
PUP offers a general budget in the Appendix. You will need to take
this budget and modify it according to available funding, determined
by whatever project funds you have. There are many costs you will
need to determine with staff, perhaps trying to determine them with
1Though this is potential line item, PUP strongly the administrator’s help (or accountant depending on your situation)
recommends against compensating people for attending
before this meeting. Those include:
workshops. This is in effect a coercise methodo to achieve
participation. A contrary assumption is that if people truly
want to attend, they will make it happen. If they do not ♦♦ Field trips
truly want to attend, then paying for their attendance will
not improve their participation in plan implementation.
♦♦ Location and cost of workshops
Even more if they attend when they do not really want ♦♦ Per diem for participants or kinds of food and hous-
to be there hides an important signal for planners tha the
people do not agree with the process or that it does not
ing offered1
meet their interests. ♦♦ Publications
While the line item descriptions probably will not vary too much
from PUP to PUP, their monetary amounts will. The budget is part
of the TOA document.

XI. Arranging the Logistics
What Does It Mean?
Explain
You may consider the following issues.
How Do I Do It?
Do
♦♦ Which online forums will you use to document all
PUP progress and also serve as a place where re-
mote participants can offer opinions and help? For
example, does a website already exist or do you need
to create on? On whose server? The lead agency,
other community member, PUP Global Heritage
Consortium? Should you buy a domain name for the
process? Where will the virtual public use plan reside?
♦♦ Where will workshops be held? Can we get the spaces
for free? Are they neutral territory? Are they pleasant,
inspiring, and accessible?
♦♦ How will deadlines be enforced?
♦♦ How will the review committee interact with the core
planning team?
♦♦ Who will make updates to the director or other staff
and funders?
♦♦ Who else will help you informally or formally?

XII. Avoiding Implementation Barriers
What Does It Mean?
Explain
PUP Consortium research has discovered numerous barriers that
can impede plan implementation (see book by Kohl and McCool).
Waiting until the document nears completion, however, is too late
to address many of these. So as with all elements in the TOA, the
best moment to deal with them is now.
The following issues are some of the more relevant and well-
founded implementation barriers that every site should consider. It
is important to have upper-level protected area agency personnel
present for this conversation, otherwise all money and time invested
in this long process could end on the shelf.
Facilitate
Continuous Planning. After a planning process concludes, planners
nearly always say that a plan is a “final draft.” This language tells
everyone that the plan will not be updated until it expires, that the
planning process has terminated. Thus funding usually terminates
at the same time. Though people often talk of “living documents”
and “on-going planning,” neither usually occur.
To transform this barrier of a perceived end of planning,
PUP highly recommends continuous planning that never ends. One
way to do this is to adopt the system used by software companies.
Consider your favorite browser. When the browser was first publis-
hed and made available it began as Version 1.0. It was not the “final
version.” Software engineers immediately begin fixing bugs, adding
new features, updating according to new conditions in technology
and the market, so within months they release versions 1.1, 1.2, 1.33b,
etc. Eventually they test and release official Version 2.0. Plans easily
can work the same way.
Conversation 11, then, produces V. 1.0 of the public use
plan. Every month thereafter the planning team releases incremental
updates (see “virtual plan” below) and then at the conclusion of year
2, publish V. 2.0. PUP recommends that for partial or simultaneous
approval to occur, the government approves each official release, but
never halts the process. This way the government retains approval
power but the process does not lose momentum and does not create
Guttenberg pioneered the printing
expectations that after Conversation 11 everything ends for the next
press. His technology assumed five or ten years.
that its works would not be up-
dated, indeed that remains true
of Bibles, but not of protected
Virtual plans. Another major obstacle to updating plans and keeping
area plans. them alive, adaptive, and relevant is the very plan format itself. Prin-
ting and bounding a document in a polished and published format da-
www.answers.com/topic/gutenberg-bible-large-image tes back 600 years to Guttenberg’s Bibles. This technology is outdated

and changing rapidly across all sectors. The new technology available, Agile Software Development
one most people already know, is HTML-based webpages. Not only The concept of Agile Software
is it accessible, but interactive, non-linear, quickly updated, graphical, Development refers to the strat-
egy of iterative and incremental
friendly, inexpensive, and can be highly participatory. HTML-based development of software com-
plans do not require Internet connectivity (since many constituents ponents. As developers produce
in rural areas do not have it) as the plan can be distributed on any each component, they receive
feedback from customers and
digital medium. Further, it does not even require a computer as it can ensure that the component
be printed in those increasingly rare cases where people read but do works. Then they add additional
not have computers. A virtual plan moves planning technology into components, gradually increas-
ing the complexity of the soft-
the modern age, saves money, increases participation, adaptability, ware. Most of us are familiar with
and implementation. how software developers add
incremental releases 1.0, 1.1, 1.1b,
etc. The same concept applies to
Declare level of participation. Most of the time protected areas continuous planning. See http://
declare their planning processes “participatory.” They often do so en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_soft-
with good intentions but then design a control process where power ware_development.
is not shared and participation is mostly token. While PUP labors to
integrate participatory techniques into its planning process, many can
still be undermined by agencies which do not share power.
One important technique of participation is to be transpa-
rent and honest and in this case
the planning agency or TOA
committee can choose to be
transparent even if it does not
intend to cede power. At least
the community should know
what to expect and not be de-
ceived. If agencies choose PUP
in the first place, it is likely they
do want fair and transparent re-
lationships with their constituent
community.
PUP, therefore, recom-
mends that planners choose a
level of participation that best
fits their intentions and declare
it openly to the public via the
TOA. The framework called
“the Ladder of Citizen Parti-
cipation” developed by Sherry
Arnstein in 1969 has been widely
embraced by many participatory
academics and organizations.
Sharing this ladder and where on
it this process will take place will
increase the credibility and more

For a fuller explanation of the lad- accurately form expectations. Certainly some parts of the process
der see http://lithgow-schmidt.dk/ may be at different levels, but the question is how high does the
sherry-arnstein/ladder-of-citizen-
participation.html. In Background overall process go? It takes courage to declare honestly, but not to
Reading 5 (“Facilitation”), find do it also sends the message that in this process no real participation
another framework on participa- will occur. See the Appendix for a description of the different levels.
tion called “A Continuum of Stake-
holder Involvement Approaches
and Selected Techniques” Study or plan? Will this plan document commitments or just make
recommendations? This distinction has many implications about how
the process is conducted, framed, who can make a commitment, what
constitutes proof of commitment, what can be included in the plan,
etc. What is the difference? Since planning consultants usually have
no power to implement anything in a plan, they can only offer recom-
mendations. In this sense, consultants carry out a study of possible
options. A “real plan” on the other hand documents commitments
that actors have declared that they will execute (hence the need for
trust). Such a plan names people’s names, time frames, dollar amounts,
and specific actions that community members commit in front of
the community to carry out. A plan-study with recommendations is
sterile with little hope of implementation (since no one has actually
assumed any commitments), while public intentions and expectations
back a plan that documents commitments.
The president of Pico Bonito signs the Terms of Agreement, an essential step
to this process.

XIII. Other Issues
Explain
Likely other important issues both implicit and explicit surround
the site’s management. You will want to include any here that need
addressing (if not already captured by the objectives in the macro-
strategy) in order to clear the way for implementation. Leaving major
conflicts unmentioned results in failure. For example, a conservation
organization and a university joined to produce a series of manage-
ment plans in the Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica. Organizers knew
that the major issue involving one forest reserve’s management was
land tenure conflicts. They predicted that if they tried to tackle the
problem, they would never finish planning. While they did not have
formal TOA, they made a conscious decision to avoid land tenure
in the plans.
One could laud the decision as it brought a major issue to
the forefront and their decision avoided a major problem that might
have otherwise derailed the planning process. One could also criticize
the decision as avoidance of the major issue may very well produce
a useless plan. What is the purpose of planning after all, if we do
not solve conflicts? In the end, the plan was not implemented, even
though the issue was correctly identified before planning began.
Post-Workshop Tasks
Post-Workshop Task 1: Writing Terms of Agreement

Do
The TOA should be short but reflect all decisions made during the
meetings. It should be organized clearly. The cover should have a
large title so that it is easy to read. Many TOAs are signed by meeting
participants. But you may elect to have as many community groups
sign as possible to give the effort more importance for the commu-
nity. You will need to integrate the comments from participants, and
then do whatever is required by the director or board of directors to
finalize the TOA. See example TOAs in the Appendix.
Post-Workshop Task 2: Presenting to Staffs of Key

Community Members
Do
To win the approval and get community member signatures, you might
make one or more public presentations of the proposed terms. You
should also invite other staff from the lead agencies. Pass out hard
copies if necessary. You will need to follow up to secure a verbal
commitment to sign and then invite them to the public signing below.

Post-Workshop Task 3: Holding Large Public Sign-
ing of the TOA
Do
Once you have secured verbal or written commitments to sign by par-
ticipating organizations and individuals, invite them, the general public,
and the media to a public signing of the TOA. See photos below from
the World Heritage City of Evora, Portugal which had 21 institutions
sign their document which they presented at a high-profile event at
the municipality. The purpose of doing this publicly is that it becomes a
commitment that is much more difficult to ignore. A promise in public
is more powerful and binding than a promise in private.
Post-Workshop Task 4: Distributing the TOA

throughout the Community
Do
Once signed, you can increase both public commitment as well public
awareness by distributing the TOA widely via whatever physical and
virtual means that the lead agencies use to communicate with the public.
The Evora city counselor in charge of tourism and the his-

toric center introduces the Terms of Agreement signing
event in the Municipality’s most esteemed meeting room.
Nuno Domingos, coordinator of the historic center and the

PUP Process, presents PUP to his audience of staff and
important city community actors.
Some of the 21 community interest groups who signed

Evora’s PUP Terms of Agreement at a public signing
ceremony. This act increased the political visibility and
power of the process.

Next Steps in PUP
Now it is time to think about the Interpretive Framework (Conversation 2).
Public Use Planning [organization] [date]
Terms of Agreement Meetings

Focus Questions: Is everyone ready to go on the journey we’re calling
“public use planning”? Can we agree on all the necessary preparations for
this trip?
Rational Goals Experiential Goals
 Remember all terms of agreement of the  Get excited about the potential of the
public use planning process planning project
 Develop “Terms of Agreement”  Voice our concerns and feel comfortable
with the process
Introduction
30 I. PUP is a journey
10 II. What is public use?
20 III. Deciding Responsibilities
20 IV. Selecting Objectives & Policies
20 V. Approving the PUP
40 VI. Modifying the PUP
15 VII. Selecting Strategic Communities
30 VIII.Selecting Stakeholder Participants
40 IX. Reviewing the Calendar of Events
20 X. Selecting Conservation Projects
60 XI. Reviewing the Budget
30 XII. Arranging the Logistics
90 XIII.Avoiding Implementation Barriers
? XIV.Other Issues

Preparing the Logistics
Part F After you settle the TOA, the team must prepare certain logistics.
While some are not critical for the process, they can add value and
increase your chances of success.
How Do I Do It?
1. Invite Participants
Do
Based on the TOA, you will have a list of people to participate in
each conversation. Do not forget to include the team members’ own
staffs in the list. Often people underestimate the purpose of the in-
vitation, thinking it just a formality. In fact, an invitation signals how
the process will be operated, how participants are regarded, and what
expectations people should have of it. For example, to show that
participants are important, the best way to invite is to go personally
(the more important the inviter the better) to where the invitee lives
or works and invite verbally. You can leave written materials there-
after. If that is not possible, then you should call them personally by
phone. If that’s not possible, write a personal letter directed to them
and signed by you. If not that, then a hard copy form letter signed
personally. If not that then email. If not that, at the bottom of the
barrel, a public notification by mass media.
Invitation materials should include the following:
PUP a. Invitation letter (see example).

In the invitation letter, for a truly participatory process, invitees have
Pico Bonito modified its logo to have full power to say “no” without any form of coercion which
for the PUP project. includes covering food or hotel costs, a common practice. By allow-
ing an invitee full choice free of coercion or mandate, an invitation
can set the foundation for true accountability. Often organizers try
to influence people by offering meals, housing, and transportation so
that people will come. But they will come if they are truly motivated.
There is a fine line between removing real barriers to participation
and offering inducements for participation.
According to Peter Block, 6 items should be included in an
invitation (for a full discussion see the Appendix):
♦♦ Being clear about whom we invite (which person

rather than an institution)
♦♦ Naming the possibility about which we are convening
(want person to co-create new process and relation-

Sample Recruitment Letter1
Dear Tour Operator X:
As you know Jeannette Kawas National Park has faced numerous challenges in re-
cent years not the least of which is attracting sufficient tourists in order to finance
our conservation activities. Despite difficult relations between the park and the tour
operators, we feel this challenge can finally be overcome as we begin a public use
planning process for the park. Therefore, we cordially invite you to help us forge
better relations between our institutions and as such benefit both with more and
higher quality visitation.
PROLANSATE staff will lead a core planning team that will use a methodology sanctioned by UNESCO’s
World Heritage Center in Paris and will be sponsored by REHDES, Fundación VIDA, and the Instituto Hon-
dureño de Turismo. All thematic conversations will branch from previous efforts such as the proposed General
Management Plan, master plan for the public use zone (a Master’s thesis presented by a student), a publication
by the Tela Tourism Operators, and others.
We realize that all of our stakeholders are very busy and most especially private sector tour operators like you
and thus understand if you cannot attend all parts of the planning process. Although a private sector perspective
would enrich the entire process, your participation is extremely important for Conversation 5 where we develop
product proposals for the park. Please find attached a list of all 11 conversations that make up the process,
which we initiated last October 6. You will also find summaries of the type of participants needed, workshop
products, dates, and times. We have highlighted the workshop to which we would most like you to attend. But,
you are also welcome to participate in any other workshop that might profit from your ideas and interest. The
process is much more participatory and innovative than planning we have done in the past that has led to limited
implementation.
If you choose to attend, we will cover lunch and break but ask that you attend the entire day without interruption
and also that you come with at least two concrete ideas on what form of cooperation with tour operators the
park could adopt to improve visitation that will benefit both the park and companies like yours.
Once again, we realize you may not attend for whatever reason and although we would greatly miss your contri-
bution, we completely understand your decision and hope to enjoy your participation on another occasion.
If you need any further information at all, please do not hesitate to call or email me personally at 448-2042,
fprocans@hondutel.hn. We look forward to your confirmation either way.
We thank you for your consideration.
Very truly yours,
Executive Director
PROLANSATE
1This letter has been modified for purposes of the manual.

ship for managing public use)
♦♦ Emphasizing freedom of choice in showing up (no
coercion or mandate); refusal is perfectly acceptable
and in fact is an indicator of our relationship
♦♦ Specifying what is required of each invitee should
they choose to attend (pay for own transportation,
amount of time, come with ideas, don’t just come
but also engage and participate)
♦♦ Reinforce the request by saying that refusal is accept-
able and their absence will be missed, but understood,
hopefully they can attend on the next occasion.
♦♦ Making the invitation as personal as possible (for
example, in person invitation rather than a paper
letter, paper letter rather than an email, email rather
than Facebook, Facebook rather than a public an-
nouncement)
In short, a genuine invitation shapes the kind of relationship you

Pico Bonito used a mountain as its
metaphor to represent the jour-
want to have with the stakeholder.
ney. You can fill in the progress on
paper as each conversation is com- b. PUP Brochure.
pleted. A copy of the metaphor in
the site office can help motivate
Since many people will not take the time to read long descriptions
your colleagues. of PUP, PUP recommends that you create a visually attractive and
brief brochure that will bring people right to the point. Information
that a brochure should include:
♦♦ Brief description of PUP

♦♦ Objectives and conversations of the project
♦♦ How this is different from other planning events
♦♦ Participants
♦♦ Tables of conversations and participants
♦♦ Logo of PUP
♦♦ Contact information
There is an example from Pico Bonito in the Appendix.
c. Table of Conversations and Participants.
2. Metaphor
Do
Another simple yet effective technique to keep your staff motivated
is the metaphor. It measures progress up through Conversation 11.
With the passing of each conversation, you can have the pleasure of
coloring in another section of the metaphor. You can use a mountain,
a river, or some other image related to the journey you will use for

PUP planning. Try to choose a metaphor related to your site heritage. Choose the Right Metaphor
See example on previous page. You should hang the metaphor in You should pick a metaphor
that agrees with the geogra-
an obvious location in the office where everyone can see it and also phy of the particular site you
on-line or in a public location for wider involvement of the com- work in. It could be a mountain
munity. It is often beneficial to invite a local and popular artist to climb, a boat trip to an island, a
hike across a desert, etc. If you
create the image, which both saves you time, ensures quality, and is choose a famous destination,
a public gesture of community involvement. that choice will make the meta-
phor even more visual and real.
In the case of the pilot project
3. Big Site Map used with Pico Bonito National
Do Park, the participants’ climb of
A big site map proves very useful for various conversations. Putting Pico Bonito mountain symbol-
ized their journey. In the case
a large map on the floor (1.5 m x 1.5-2 m) allows many people to of Jeannette Kawas National
interact with it much more than if you project a map onto a wall or Park in Honduras, the group
use a normal geographic paper map. It is an effective participatory took a boat ride to Punta Sal,
but instead of using a motor,
technique. they paddled.
The map should contain the principal landscape or archi-
tectural features (if the site is a small monument) of your site. Then
you put paper (the thicker the better) up
on a wall, measuring some 1.5 meters on
each side at least. You may need to tape
several pieces of poster board together to
get the full size. Then you project the map
onto the paper. You might enlist students
to trace the map and color in its principal
features. Add to the map any resources,
attractions, and infrastructure in the site.
Eventually you will be adding results
from the Directory of Touristic Attrac-
tions from Conversation 3. Thereafter in
Conversation 4, you may draw outlines of
zones and sectors. So the map should have
a lot of white space, not be overcrowded,
and be very clear and easy to read. But it
should also look hand-drawn and have the
names of the artists, again emphasizing
the participatory nature of the process .
Pico Bonito works the big site map.

Materials in the Appendix
A. Establishing the Core Planning Team
♦♦ Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing Article
♦♦ ToP Brochure 2009
♦♦ Como realizar entrevistas
♦♦ Description of levels of citizen participation
♦♦ PUP panfleto para reclutar Pico Bonito
Several items to conduct organi-
♦♦ Valle de Oro Birthday Party flyer
zational self-assessments are in- ♦♦ Valle de Oro Feliz Cumpleaños Volante
cluded in the Appendix although B. Cultivating and Aligning the Community
not discussed in this text.
♦♦ Como realizar entrevistas
♦♦ Description of Levels of Participation
♦♦ PUP Panfleto (pamphlet) for Pico Bonito
♦♦ Valle de Oro Birthday Party
♦♦ Valle de Oro Fiesta Cumpleaños
C. Resaerching Guiding Statements
♦♦ Pico Bonito National Park
♦♦ Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge
D. Defining Macro Strategy
♦♦ Connection Circles (article)
♦♦ Evora’s Macro Strategy
♦♦ Program Plan for Bentsen State Park
♦♦ Photographic Vision of Pico Bonito National Park
E. Developing Terms of Agreement
♦♦ PUP Budget Planning (Excel file)
♦♦ Términos de Referencia para Parque Nacional Tikal
♦♦ Terms of Reference for Tikal National Park
♦♦ Terms of Agreement for Fort Jesus National Monu-
ment
F. Preparing the Logistics
♦♦ How to invite so people will commit

e
Sometimes a lot of people show up for this fun conversation, as in Tikal National Park, Guatemala.
Outsid
1. How does a site use an interpretive framework?
2. What is the relationship between themes and the Information and entertain-
Planning Framework? ment vs. management tool
3. Why do we use superlative attributes?
4. What does a successful theme accomplish?
5. What is the logic in the sequence from superlative at-
Marketing phrases vs.
tributes (heritage) to themes to processes to essence? interpretive themes
6. Why are we concerned with four mental activities
and not just physical activities for visitors? Focus on local site vs.
7. How does an interpretive framework aid planning? focus on larger context
Last updated October 2015
Interpretive Framework 2-3

2 Interpretive Framework
Based on the heritage and purpose of the site, participants
develop an interpretive framework to plan conservation and
public use/interpretive programs and products.
Focus Question: What are the most superlative attributes about our entire site that make [name of
An alternate site] stand out among other sites locally, nationally, and internationally?
focus question
Summary: By examining the site’s superlative attributes (based in its heritage) and its purpose,
for a university
is: What are the participants will produce a matrix of attributes, themes, processes, and essence that can be used
most superla- to interpret the site and motivate visitors to celebrate it and participate in its conservation.
tive attributes
about the uni-
Format: Public workshop with small group work at night or on following days
versity’s heri- Time: 1 day (8 hours) for conversation/2-3 days for small committee and post-conversation
tage and area tasks. 1.5 hours for introduction, 2.5 hours for each activity, plus break and lunch time.
of i nf l u e n ce
that reveal its
Materials: 50 superlative attribute cards, 7 tag cards (smaller or other color), 7 emerging theme
importance in cards (different color or design), one sheet of paper (any kind) per person, masking tape, big
the world? sign with the focus question (can be projected as well), tacs, poster puddy, or other removable
adhsive (depends on vertical surface), process cards (11 x 17 sheets or other different format
than theme cards), vertical surface at least 2 meter high by 3 meter long), dark permanent
markers (blue or black), toys (for all workshops to come) (cultural) music to play during work
sessions; piece of candy, ball, or heritage artifact
Participants (15+): Administrators and government officials involved in site history; ares histo-
rian; heritage experts; interpreters; literary people who perceive importance of places beyond
physical aspects. Writers, artists, and thinkers, as well as those from other sectors. Usually this
workshop is done 2 to 3 times to ensure community-wide representation.
Deliverables: Interpretive framework with superlative attributes; 4–7 interpretive themes; universal
processes; site essence.
This Conversation Contains: Next Steps in PUP

Evaluation
Pre-Workshop Preparations Post-Workshop Task 1: Describing and Illustrating
I. Introducing the Workshop the Framework
II. Defining Emerging Themes Agenda Conversation 2
III. Identifying Universal Processes Items in the Appendix
IV. Revealing the Essence Additional Resources
IV. Writing the Interpretive
Framework
2-4 Interpretive Framework

Kick-off Metaphor: If you have any visual materials, you should use
them. Also, you should practice the presentation of the metaphor for
dramatic effect. You may also bring an important symbol (material
or image) for the site sufficiently ambiguous to provoke thought.
Guest speaker on purpose of site: You should arrange for one
speaker to give a 10-minute presentation on the site’s official purpo-
se, why it was created, what the enabling legislation says, a founding
vision, criteria for its nomination as World Heritage, or any other
aspects that would shed light on the reason for the site, because it
is not necessarily generally known. This person should explain all
the items in the Guiding Statements created in Conversation 1. You
may want a second speaker, a historian, to talk about the history and
significance of the site. Historians are very capable interpreters, even
if they do not consider themselves as such. If the person talk about
both the natural and cultural heritage, much better.
Introduction: You should practice the introduction. You might try
note cards to guide you, or make infrequent references to this les-
son plan, which you can highlight as necessary.
Toys: Studies show that when people use their hands to manipulate
an item such as a toy during a workshop, they are able to think more
clearly. So use small toys like stuffed dolls, simple puzzles, balls, and
other items. Participants may throw them around (within limits!),
which is fine because it keeps things lively. In the picture you can
observe various toys (the following are just examples) and other
facilitation equipment.
♦♦ Music while groups work independently (if the music Managing Previous Documents
has cultural heritage value, even better) 1) If there are previous docu-
ments that will influence the re-
♦♦ Projector for showing various materials.
sults (other planning documents
♦♦ Stuffed shark and baby white lion (on computer), or studies), then the implement-
Rubik’s cube, ball, two small puzzles, other toys ing organization should assign
someone to represent the docu-
♦♦ Copy of the PUP manual (in back). ment during the conversation.
2) You should also read those
documents. If the legally de-
fined purpose statement is still
too general to give direction in
public use, you may still be able
to elaborate on it. This may make
it more specific, even if is not a
legal document, but is used more
as local policy. In any event, it is
essential to start off the process
with a purpose statement that is
specific to your site, otherwise
you will not have the guidance
that PUP requires.

I. Introducing the Workshop
Warming Up
Facilitate
You will want to gear up a little for this module and to start off
with the right culture, making it animated, energetic, and interesting.
1. Introduce yourself or have the director give the opening words.

2. Illustrate the opening metaphor of the road ahead, whether it is
going down a river, over an ocean, up a mountain, or through a wil-
derness. This metaphor was developed in Conversation 1. If you can
use illustrative media, such as a poster, that is even more powerful.
3. Have participants stand in a circle. Tell them that at random you
will throw a piece of candy to someone (or ball or heritage artifact).
When a person catches it, they say their name, position, institution,
and answer, “What does this site mean to you?” The last person gets
to eat the candy. You should write them down for possible use later.
Pico Bonito National
4. Hand out Examples & Illustrations from the Appendix as well as
Park used the climb- the Guiding Statements and agenda for Conversation 2.
ing of a mountain as a
metaphor in their plan-
Review
ning process. Go over the agenda for Conversation 2 later in this conversation.
Orient
You will always start by discussing why PUP is being carried out in
your site. You can give the definition of public use (see definitions
in glossary) and the general policies (which come from the Terms
of Agreement). Say anything appropriate to orient the participants.
Show
Show PowerPoint presentation for Conversation 2, “Creating an In-
terpretive Framework.”
Orient
Answer any questions, then explain that in this conversation we
examine the purpose of and significance for the site’s creation. We
dig deep into the site, looking for meaning, and then write first drafts
of principal site themes that reflect the most significant aspects of
THIS site and its universal relevance. These themes we want all visi-
tors to understand and take away with them if they forget everything
else. Themes are designed to organize information, motivate, and
excite people about a place, so that they will not only recommend
it to others, but also participate in the site’s conservation. After we
have emerging themes, then we identify processes and site essence
to round out the interpretive aspects of the site.
Thereafter you work with some volunteers to put the aspects

in a structure and illustrate them with superative attributes. See an
example interpetive framework in the Appendix.
A clear understanding of the site purpose (including all re-
lated legislation on site objectives), heritage values, and interpretive
framework forms the foundation of the public use program, upon
which everything else is constructed (as illustrated in the PowerPoint
presentation #6). These statements are found in the Guiding State-
ments, and every subsequent PUP element must be consistent with
and supportive of these statements. Elements may already exist in
many sites, having been developed in previous planning efforts.

Introduce
Have your guest speaker talk about the site’s creation and enabling
legislation.
Pico Bonito director presents the master plan.
Facilitators present the PUP metaphor.
Connecting to the Big Picture: Just Don’t Interpret Your Site, Interpret Humanity
When site managers think of interpretation, they often focus only on their site, sometimes so narrow as a particular
trail in their site. But such a constricted focus sacrifices most of the site’s interpretive potential. True, visitors should
appreciate the site in order to support it, but what matters most, what really moves people deeply, is their re-creation
of their own perspectives about themselves and the human condition through their tourism experiences.
You can tell a visitor that a kind of monkey lives here or that indigenous people years ago carried out rituals,
but this information is mostly entertainment and most likely, according to studies, will soon be forgot anyway.
Or you can use your site as an ILLUSTRATION of a bigger picture about evolving history in your country or
even how this site reflects on humanity. World Heritage Sites are supposed to do this by definition but every site can
paint itself into a larger picture and thus give greater meaning to the visitor experience, than simply interpreting
what’s on site. For example:
• A small municipal park offers nothing unique in terms of heritage, but mangers could talk about how local parks
are the most visited in the world and provide far more community benefits than large national parks which receive
visitors from outside communities who often do not return.
• A small protected grove of trees where indigenous people once made sacrifices to weather spirits can talk about
the universal human need to understand our place in nature, to ask and provide answers to existential questions,
to deal with limited power in a world that seems often not to care.
• A park that has a monkey species found in other nearby areas can interpret not just the monkey, but how that
species has culturally adapted to the same problems as modern man: how to get food, maintain a socially cohe-
sive group, and protect a territory.
• A city with a church could talk not just about that particular church, but about how the Church has influenced
the design of cities across Europe and the world.
Thus for Conversation 2, you want to identify how your site history affects larger histories in the region, country, and
world. And your themes should relate to larger realities that your site illustrates. This way the visitor learns about
the site and comes to experience larger meanings about being human on Planet Earth.

II. Defining Emerging Themes
What Does It Mean?
Explain
A superlative attribute is a fact that describes some outstanding
feature about the site relative to other sites locally, nationally, and
internationally. It characterizes the entire site not just pieces or local
aspects unless those aspects contribute to the character of the entire
Consult the
site. Most of the time these attributes are based in a site’s heritage (4
World Heritage Site Dossier
If your site is World Heritage, you elements include attractions, stories, intangible expressions, and outs-
can often find a variety of sig- tanding features) but may refer also to its reputation or role in larger
nificant and heritage elements conservation, cultural, or political context. They are facts, not themes
in the site’s dossier filed with
the World Heritage Centre. You because they do not present a belief about the site. To get a theme,
should identify these values and you must make some comment or opinion about an attribute. Thus,
include them in the workshop
from the outset. You can find theme = belief + superlative attribute. For example,
these documents http://whc.
unesco.org/en/list Object: Decree 87-87
Attribute (superlative): declared more parks than any other piece
of legislation
Theme: Even though some parks existed in Honduras before the
Park Law (Decree 87-87), this decree in effect created the park system
because it established 37 parks at once, many of which are the country’s
most important protected areas.
Superlative attributes may refer to reputations, symbols, people,

functions, size, form, shape, history, etc. Each attribute should make
the site very important and unique among the protected areas in
the country. Be SPECIFIC to this site. See examples of superlative
attributes in the Appendix.
Facilitate
How Do I Do It?
Follow the table below for a graphical representation
of each step. This method comes from the Tech-
nology of Participation.
Here the facilitator at El Cocuy

National Park in Colombia guides
stakeholders through early steps
of defining site idea clusters.

Steps to Facilitate Emerging Themes, Universal Processes, and Site Essence
Set the Context

1. The facilitator reviews the focus question which should be prominently on wall in front of room: “What are the most superlative attributes about our
entire site that make [name of site] stand out among other sites locally, nationally, and internationally?”
2. The facilitator briefly outlines the process (work individually, small groups, whole group) and the time frame for the workshop.
3. Conduct an ORID to warm group up about the focus question. Some example questions (3–10 minutes):
O: Explain what superlative attributes are (see handout). Think about a principal superlative attribute of your site.
R: What emotions and mental images does this attribute provoke?
I: Has this attribute been shared with visitors and if so what effect does it have? If it were interpreted, what effect could it have? What does the attribute
say about the site’s role in the world, universe, or about the human condition?
D: Could that idea be more fully developed today?
Brainstorm
4. In 10 minutes, each person answers the question with at least 5 superlative attributes that illustrate the significance and identity of the site (4–7 words,
no verbs;, articles and conjunctions don’t count). They may look at their handouts for ideas. Ensure silence to think.
70 Attributes 14 participants x 5 elements = 70 elements
Interpretive Framework
5. Each participant chooses the 3 most important or favorite attributes (3 x 14 = 42), discards other 2. We aim for 35–45 attributes from groups.
6. The facilitator divides the participants into four groups, 3–5 each.
4 groups (3–4 persons

each if 14 participants) =
7. Each group eliminates repetitions among the participants’ selections.
2-9
3 repetitions = 1 1 0 1
39 elements remaining
8. Each group chooses between 9 and 11 favorites from the list (36–44), discarding remainders, honoring diversity of perspectives.
1 discarded = 0 0 1 0
38 attributes = 8 11 11 8
2-10
9. Put a model card on wall to illustrate how to write cards: big (use entire card), legible, black, 4–7 words, 1 idea per card. The card should be readable
from the back of the room. The model card(s) could be written from the World Heritage criteria description for your site and used in the brainstorm.
This is a
well-written
card
10. The groups write the attributes directly on cards. They remain in groups for the next step.
38 cards =
11. The facilitator requests 3 cards from each group that show the clearest ideas (12 cards); those are placed all over the wall. Interviews all cards.
12 cards (3 cards x 4
groups) =
(Round 1)
Grouping
12. The facilitator asks groups to form 4–6 pairs reflecting new relationships, not just similarity of words. Do not make trios/quad clusters yet. The
cards can also remain alone.
5 pairs =
13. The facilitator asks each group to place 3 more cards (12) that represent different ideas (shaded boxes). Continue to form pairs and initial clusters
(more than 5 cards), but looking for relationships beyond the obvious. We are looking for new meanings, never before mentioned in the site.
12 more cards =
(Round 2)
Total cards up = 24
14. Quickly give each cluster a 1–2 word tag card of a different color or symbol in corner to help organize ideas. Ask “What is each cluster about?”
3 tags for 3 clusters =
%__
+__
^__
15. Ask group to mark any remaining cards with the symbols of corresponding clusters or no symbol if none matches.
16. Have groups pass up remaining cards (in blue) with symbols to join clusters. Pass up unmarked cards last and place in most appropriate location.
2-11
14 remaining cards
%__
+__
Round 3
^__
2-12
17. After all cards are up, ask people to look at brainstorm and see if there is another important idea not yet on the wall. Add these.
Naming
18. Read all cards aloud in clusters, starting with the largest one.
19. Ask for the collective wisdom for each cluster. Which 4–7-word phrase best describes all cards in the cluster? Which title would include all insights
of cards?
20. Give each cluster a title of 4–7 words and discard tags. Get consensus on name. Does it hold our group’s insight? Make a border around it to
distinguish from idea cards. Use different color sheet or different size.
5 title cards Fortifications

Fused north- End of Nguyen Wetlands:
south defend reinvents eastward
cultures via
feudal era bygone medieval guardian of
battle in Vietnam values urban planning city
Yo
On
Ve
on
bac
kno
Resolving ck and consult them.
nly the Garbage Gets Tossed
n record at least until PUP
ow when you may need to go

ersion 1.0 is written. You never
ou should keep the attributes
21. The facilitator asks the group to review the Guiding Statements especially purpose and World Heritage designation (if any) to see if some other
cluster idea can still be extracted.
1 New theme = Cluster idea 5 comes from Guiding Statements.
23. Facilitator conducts an ORID on the significance of the consensus.
O: Read title cards.

R: Where are you most excited or intrigued? What makes you uncomfortable?
I: Which breakthroughs or insights do we have? Has anything been left out? What’s the importance of what we’ve done today? Do you see patterns
among the cluster ideas?
D: Can we now try to make the Great Interpretive Jump to create first draft emerging themes?
24. Great Interpretive Jump. Look at each cluster. Which new perspective greater than the site itself about the world, universe, or human condition does
each cluster reveal? In other words, what can each cluster teach us about some aspect of reality that our site so very well illustrates?
Explain that the small committee will continue this step tonight.
25. Try to position title cards in a chart or visual image to create new relationships and meanings and hold the consensus. Then repeat step 24.
Fortifications
Title defend
Title
bygone
title title
Fused north-
title
Title values south Guardians of
title title
Title cultures via values
title
Title Wetlands: battle
eastward
guardian of
city
Distilling Universal Processes
26. Place the emerging themes in different parts of the room. Ask participants to stand near the theme that most interests them.
27. Explain that behind each emerging theme are universal processes or forces that created this unique place. Look at the handout of universal processes
and identify up to four, both natural and social, that created the reality described by the theme. Try to write a single sentence to describe each process or
force on scrap paper or a board. An incomplete phrase will also do. Put the final idea neatly on a universal process card. Give 15 minutes for the task.
2-13
28. Have each group present to the plenary and receive feedback from other participants.
Revealing the Site’s Essence
2-14
29. Place all emerging themes and processes on the central wall along with the heritage element cards. Reunite all participants in comfortable location.
30. Say: Close your eyes, imagine you are an eagle flying over looking at all the landscape patterns, the layers of rocks, rocks of nature, interaction of
colors, the people and wildlife. Picture the processes that we just identified. See their flows of energy and material passing through, under, and over the
landscape. Now what is the single outstanding feature or features in combination that most contribute to the character, personality, or essence of the
place? Now open your eyes and look up at all the cards on the wall.
31. Ask: What do you see? What are the most essential interactions? Which movements are most important to that landscape, to that site?
32. When you have visual mental model of the landscape function (and landscape could also be a cityscape, a churchscape, a cemetaryscape), feel into it
and choose a phrase that best captures its true nature.
33. Facilitate an integration of ideas.
34. End by writing down a phrase that captures the essence. Use concrete verbs and nouns that help to paint a picture in the mind, not adjectives
(“pretty,” “outstanding”), weak verbs (“is,” “conserve”), or nouns (“features,” “elements”).
Refer to Technology of Participation manual on the consensus workshop for more details and hints.
Participants at the Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge in Albuquerque, New Mexico show off emerging themes in
search of greater relationships between them.

How Do We Identify Processes? III. Identifying Universal Processes
A process is any repeating se-
quence of steps, actions, or What Does It Mean?
changes. All places are Explain
unique combinations of
energy, materials, and intention After creating the emerging themes, you can help the participants to
shaped by universal processes or identify the universal processes behind them. See a list of universal
forces. The intention may not be processes in the Appendix. Explain that every unique place and its
conscious like a person making
a decision, but the intention or heritage is the product of the combination of universal natural and
objective is clear enough and na- social processes. These processes, or forces, occur elsewhere in the
ture is full of such objectives that world and in the universe. To truly understand a place, like meeting
organize energy and materials
into stars, trees, and cycles. As a person, you want to know what created that place or person. You
all processes combine in the uni- cannot truly know a place if you do not know where it came from
verse, we can describe them in or the processes that are currently at work forming and transforming
many ways. We could say “water
cycle” or more specifically that the place, as every place continuously changes. You should remind
“sunlight [a force] drives the wa- participants of these points since the PowerPoint presentation.
ter cycle which in turn carves our
river beds and caverns across a
landscape.” This is in effect turn- How Do I Do It?
ing a process topic (water cycle)
into a process theme
Facilitate 1. Hang the emerging themes in different parts of the room. Ask
statement.
participants to stand near the theme that most interests them.
Van Matre says that we identify 2. Explain that behind each emerging theme are universal processes
processes when “we trace the or forces at work that created this unique place. Look at the list of
energy, source the materials, fol-
low the connections, and analyze universal processes in the hand out and identify up to four universal
the remnants of all three, while processes, both natural and social, that created the reality described in
always seeking larger explana- the theme. We identify processes by tracing the movement of energy
tions... first look at the cosmo-
logical, then the geological, and material into cycles. Try to write a single sentence to describe
ecological, anthropological, and each process or force on scrap paper or a board. An incomplete
sociological processes in turn.” phrase will also do (“sedimentation from rivers”).
Interpretatively, processes give 3. Put the final idea neatly on a universal process card. Give 15
us much power when visitors can minutes for the task.
understand, then see, and then 4. Have each group present to the plenary. They should justify and
feel themselves within the pro-
cesses at work. It tells us about convince that they have identified a process (repeating cycle of steps)
us within the universe in motion. and receive feedback from other participants.
5. Make any changes or notes to the card to
specify the process.
6. Note that the small committee will review
the process later.

IV. Revealing the Site’s Essence
What Does It Mean?
Explain
The essence of a thing is its underlying nature, stripped of super-
ficial concerns or ornaments. For a natural or cultural site, it is the
element (often an outstanding feature) that most gives character
to the place, without which it would be an entirely different place.
Processes create places and over time gradually reveal their essence.
See the handout for examples. As a group we want to penetrate the
underlying reality to access and describe the essence. For us, essence
refers to a biophysical or tangible cultural aspect that visitors can
experience rather than a meaning (which is what a theme uncov-
ers). It is unique to the place not universal (like a process). It may
be the most outstanding aspect of its heritage or a combination. it
is something we can sense, perceive, and about which we have an
evaluative reaction.
How Do I Do It? Facilitate
1. Place all emerging themes and processes on the central wall along Simpler Sites Are Easier
with the superlative attribute cards.
2. Reunite all participants to a comfortable sitting location in view The simpler (homogeneous)
the site the easier usually to
of the wall. identify its essence. The more
3. Have everyone close their eyes. complex the site, the more dif-
4. Say: ficult because participants have
to visualize the interaction of
more processes and features. A
Close your eyes, imagine you are an eagle flying over looking at all the simpler site might focus on just
landscape patterns, the layers of rocks, rocks of nature, interaction one feature while a complex one
might combine 4 or even 5 that
of colors, the people and wildlife. Picture the processes that we just could be natural and cultural.
identified. See their flows of energy and material passing through,
under, and over the landscape. Now what is the single outstanding
feature or features in combination that most contribute to the char-
acter, personality, or essence of the place? Now open your eyes and
look up at all the cards on the wall.
5. Ask: What do you see? What are the most essential interactions?
Which movements are most important to that landscape, to that site?
6. When you have visual mental model of the landscape function (and
landscape could also be a cityscape, a churchscape, a cemetaryscape),
feel into it and choose a phrase that best captures its true nature.
7. Facilitate an integration of ideas.
8. End by writing down a phrase that captures the essence. Use
concrete verbs and nouns that help to paint a picture in the mind,
not adjectives (“pretty”), weak verbs (“is”), and nouns (“features”).

V. Writing the Interpretive Framework (small committee)
What Does It Mean?
Explain
You have just facilitated your group to the point of emerging themes,
universal processes and essence, where each aspect represents more
or less vague idea proposed through consensus by community partici-
pants. Your job now is to endow these emerging ideas with coherent
and provocative meaning by guiding the small committee to produce
an interpretive framework. This is no easy task and therefore there
are no simple steps to follow.
Review
Reminder of What an Interpretive Theme Should Do
An interpretive theme is one that provokes people to think. This
provocation originates in the theme’s level of interest, its ability to
provoke curiosity through revelation of meanings and associations
that the reader had not contemplated before. The theme represents
a perspective more than a fact (though they overlap). A perspective is
usually neither false or true, it is just one way of looking at something.
Using a Professional Writer Even if the reader disagrees with the perspective, that disagreement
You can add quality and cred- can often provoke significant thought.
ibility to your themes if you use
a professional writer. There are Thus interpreters do not teach but provoke thought. The
two alternatives. First, you ask more a person thinks about an interpreted object, the more connec-
a writer to review themes the tions he or she will make between it and their personal experience and
group wrote, but this is more
cosmetic as the writer would not understanding. With time those connections become stronger and
have the power to change mean- more numerous, effectively pulling the person and the object closer
ings. Second and preferible, you together, forging a more intimate relationship. If thoughts about the
involve a writer from the start in
the workshop and in the small object are largely positive, then resulting attitudes will be positive as
committee work. If the writer well as the new or strengthened relationship between subject and
is local and knows the heritage object. This deeper relationship predisposes a person then to support
very well, so much the better.
But writers by training identify the interpreted object, if given the opportunity. This is the goal of
stories, write clearly, and seek interpretation in heritage management to involve visitors in heritage
new perspectives and ways of conservation through deeper relationships.
expressign them.
Levels of Cognitive Development for the Small Committee

and for the Users
The small committee facilitator ideally is a mature, highly conscious,
The Universe in a Grain of Sand well read, articulate, and sharp thinker, able to conceive abstract
Even the smallest, least con- ideas, judge what most people would consider new, provocative, and
spicuous sites have their own
unique stories if someone looks
revealing, and have the wisdom to see how things interconnect in the
for them. universe. To the degree that other participants in the small committee
hold these qualities, so much the better.
Depending on the level of participants during the workshop,
emerging themes will be more or less descriptive versus revealing and
will be more or less local versus universal. In other words, emerging

themes could be very concrete and describe the local site or could
be more abstracted in identifying universal forces and processes
Interpretive
that combine to create the unique site. In any case the interpretive
framework always begins where the plenary workshop leaves off.
Site Framework
It is important that the framework demonstrate a clear transition
and development from the participants’ work up the framework.
Some users may only understand or appreciate local themes due to
concrete thinking, level of understanding, or intellectual curiosity
and acuity. Others may be more advanced in their mental complex-
ity and consciousness and appreciate more existential, non-dualistic Essence
and universal perspectives. Although we do not state in our public
presentation about interpretive frameworks, there is a seventh rea-
son to use interpretive frameworks: to offer a variety of themes that
resonate with different levels of cognitive development. One size
theme does not fit all audiences. And the best way we have to ensure
themes for different levels of thinking is a hierarchy that ranges from Universal Processes
descriptive to interpretive, from concrete to abstract, from local to
universal, from relatively obvious to relatively esoteric.
Similar thoughts could be directed at processes and the es-
sence. What the large group produces can usually be honed both in
idea and in writing to make the processes more explicit (rather than
one-word topics) and distill the essence still further. But don’t feel Interpretive Themes
obligated to edit these if your committee feels they are already in
good shape. If you can leave them in their original form, the plenary
may feel greater ownership for them.
How Do I Do It? Emerging Themes
Emerging to Interpretive Themes Facilitate

1. Before you rearrange the results hanging on the wall, enter them
into the computer in a way that most closely resembles the format Attribute Pairs & Clusters
on the wall. You should also photograph results to maintain the with New Relationships
original design. Then file the card groups in the order they appear
on the wall and save them for future reference. Recycle them after
Conversation 11.
2. Show the PowerPoint presentation that demonstrates what con- Superlative Attributes
stitutes a well written interpretive theme. Use this as a reference (usually based in heritage)
throughout this process. Steps in Developing the
3. You may also hand out a worksheet with qualities and steps to Site Interpretive Framework
write a well written interpretive theme.
4. Start with the emerging theme with the most cards associated with
it. You do this principally in case you run out of time and to dedicate
your best energy as this session can run up to four hours.
5. Review the associated element cards and how the emerging theme
expresses the emerging idea. Understand this idea fully and if there is

doubt, discuss until the committee reaches a consensus understand-
ing or decides to move on to the next one if consensus cannot be
reached within 20–30 minutes.
6. One person should try to write a first draft, which could be the
facilitator. It is much easier to work from a draft than from ideas
floating in the air. See example themes in the Appendix.
7. Write this theme that accurately represents the sense and include
the name of the site in it so that the audience can directly identify
the message as the one they created for the site. You might also
include one or more key words from the cards, the plenary discus-
sion, or the emerging theme itself so plenary participants can further
identify with it. The theme may be very concrete or could already
have universal quality (see example frameworks in the Appendix)
depending on the plenary’s work.
8. Repeat for all emerging themes (should be no more than 7).
From Single to Universal Integrated Themes

9. Themes may be combined into larger groupings of themes for
ease of use (such as similar biophysical or culture themes). See the
example from El Cocuy. This is not a necessary step, but one the
small committee can take if it feels appropriate. We ask ourselves
which insights can we mine and combine to a higher level. We do
NOT want simply to add two themes together so that they are the
sum of parts; we want a greater synergistic insight that incorporates
phenomena described in the themes.
10. We first take insights from any groupings or associations that
the plenary produced during the resolving portion of the emerging
themes workshop. These groupings may point to a new idea at the
next level. For Evora, the small committee actually came up with
the combination, not the plenary, but it works out the same way for
the interpretive framework. The plenary had generated four of five
emerging themes about different media through which Evora has
become famous. The small committee realized that these media are
forms of documenting human history and thus created the next
level of themes based on this idea.
Future Steps
We proceed on to Conversation 3: Site Almanac. This product
expands upon the elements produced here to make them a useful
reference for planning. In Conversation 5, we use the interpretive
framework to guide the development of each public use product.
These products will be added to the framework to illustrate the
themes, processes, and essence.

Evaluation Interpretive Planning Throughout
PUP
You will use the interpretive
framework in Conversation 3 to
1. Name two changes to the methods that would have produced structure the almanac; Conver-
better themes, processes, or essence. stion 5 to develop programs,
2. What other resource could have been used (person, book, or other products, and services; Con-
versation 7 to monitor visitor
source) to illustrate site significant and heritage elements? satisfaction and understanding
3. What are the two most important uses in a protected area for an of interpretation.
interpretive framework?
Post-Workshop Tasks
Post-Workshop Task 1: Describing and Illustrating

the Interpretive Framework
Once the initial draft framework structure has been presented and
modified by stakeholders, then you can describe and illustrate the
framework. Each theme, process, and essence should have a one-
paragraph description that presents the most important interpretive
and supporting evidence (see following examples), including facts,
stories, and statistics. Some of these data come from workshop
participants.
Once you have written descriptions, then you and stakeholders
should include stories to illustrate each aspect. Later in Conversation
3 we will add other heritage elements and in Conversation 5 you add
products.
In any event, you need to return these results to workshop
participants so that they can change wording, add elements, etc. In
short, so that they can strengthen their partial ownership of the
framework and its contents. You should do this as quick as possible,
within the following two days.
You can do it through a follow up meeting which is ideal or
through posting the results in a public location, both physical and
virtual so that people can comment and feed back. Essentially these
results should be returned within the workshop proceedings that
would include the History Timeline, which you should put in a table
and clean up wording and text when necessary.

1. Introduction to Handout Package
2. Superlative Attributes
3. Themes and Descriptions
4. Universal Natural and Social Processes
5. El Cocuy Interpretive Framework
6. Flint Hills Interpretive Framework
7. Examples of Emerging Themes Converted into
Interpretive Themes
8. Universalization of Interpretive Themes through the
Importation of New Theories
Additional Resources
♦♦ Interpretation: Make A Difference on Purpose by Sam Ham
explains the science of writing interpretive themes.
♦♦ Interpretive Design and the Dance of Experience by Steve
Van Matre explains a more holistic way of interpret-
ing sites including processes and essence.
♦♦ Technology of Participation, https://icausa.mem-
berclicks.net
Don’t Forget the Proceedings

• Include all main discussion points and significant
contributions (include name)
• Include all ideas that may be useful in the future
• Include all conversation products and drafts
• Include all intermediary contributions such as
cards on the wall
• Send to all participants (and other stakeholders)
the day after the workshop
• Allow them to review it for accuracy and return it
to you to update
• Allow them to add contributions, which can go as
a dated addendum
• Make proceedings available online and if appropri-
ate in a central location
• Goal: Show respect, demonstrate transparency,
capture contributions, promote co-creation and
ownership

Public Use Planning [Organization] [Date]
Conversation 2: Interpretive Framework

Focus Question: What are the most superlative attributes about our entire site that make
[name of site] stand out among other sites locally, nationally, and internationally?
• Understand what makes our heritage site • Discover [ ]’s deeper essence
significant among other areas • Get excited when emerging themes
• Generate interpretive aspects and and processes take form
capture in an interpretive framework

I. Introducing the Workshop
10 Welcome address Site Director
20 Self-introductions/warm up All
35 Presenting interpretive frameworks PowerPoint presentation
10 Address about site creation Site Director
15 Snack Coffee, healthy cookies
II. Defining Emerging Themes

150 Definition of Emerging Themes Break after themes
60 Lunch
III. Identifying Universal Processes
45 Identification of Universal Processes
IV. Revealing Site Essence

45 Revelation of Site Essence
Concluding Plenary Workshop

10 Creation of the small committee
10 Evaluation
10 Future Steps
Building the Interpretive Framework (post-workshop tasks)
200 Revision of themes, processes, essence Small committee
variable Write paragraph descriptions
This agenda can be found as an editable Microsoft Word document in the Appendix.

Volcanic activity is an attraction in many parts of the
world, especially when the activity is predictable and
regular. Unexpected and dramatic events, as well, can
produce an exciting interpretive opportunity. Such
events can produce a strong sense of place and stir
the imagination, such as volcanic eruptions, fires,
floods, and battles. When Mount Saint Helens blew its
top off in Washington State, USA in 1980, it motivated
the creation of the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic
Monument, an entire interpretive program and sig-
nificant infrastructure including three guest centers
in different locations. The forest regrowth, artifacts
left behind (such as crushed cars), and powerful story
have proven long-term attractions.
Volcanism can also be an outstanding feature of a site

as well as represent the essence of a place.
e
Outsid
1. Why are resource inventories very much insufficient Heritage pieces vs. Entire
in designing experience opportunities? Site
2. How does the interpretive framework give structure
to the Site Heritage Almanac?
Attractions vs. Other As-
3. Why does the almanac focus on more heritage ele-
ments than just attractions? pects of Heritage
4. What are the five criteria for rating an attraction?
What does each mean? Scientist vs. Market Per-
5. Though stand alone, why should we consider the spective
almanac a part of the public use plan?
Guest Experience Opportu-
nity vs. Visiting Attractions

Site Heritage Almanac 3-3
3 Site Heritage Almanac
Based on the interpretive framework, the Site Heritage Almanac
(SHA) provides all heritage-related information necessary for the
planning of guest experience opportunities.
Focal Question: Can we produce an almanac that contains all the heritage elements and interpretive
aspects of the place necessary to design enchanting guest experience opportunities?
Summary: The Site Heritage Almanac builds on the interpretive framework (C2) to provide all
useful information about a site’s heritage in order to plan guest experience opportunities via a
set of programs and products defined in Conversation 5.
Format: Public conversation, research, writing by core team and volunteers
Time: 1 complete day conversation + various days to research and write
Materials: Copies of the Guiding Statements handout (C2); projector; 12 sheets of butcher paper;
markers; one packet of E&I for every two participants
Participants (20-30): Site personnel, people who know the place’s heritage well, tour operators,
historians, both cultural and natural heritage experts
Deliverables: Site Heritage Almanac
This Conversation Contains:
I. What Is the Site Heritage Almanac

II. Locating Existing Maps, Photos, and Resource Inventories
III. Identifying Heritage Elements
IV. Describing Interpretive Aspects
V. Designing the Interpretive Heritage Map
VI. Organizing the Site Heritage Almanac
VII. Producing the Site Heritage Almanac
Future Steps
Evaluation
3-4 Site Heritage Almanac

I. What Is the Site Heritage Almanac
As described in Conversation 2, universal processes and forces
combine to create and continue to transform unique places. These
places in turn generate unique local products which we call “heri-
tage.” Heritage consists of attractions, outstanding features, intan-
gible expressions, and stories. A site can also be interpreted from
various perspectives (through interpretive themes) and ultimately
a site has an essence. This way both planners and guests can expe-
rience the entire site and not just small pieces of it. Much of this
basis now appears in the interpretive framework but only in skeletal
form. This Conversation puts flesh on heritage bones to fully des-
cribe a place’s character.
How Guests Come to Deeply Appreciate a Place

Interpretive Aspect Guest Action
Heritage Guests visit and interact with the place’s heritage
Themes Guests reflect on the place’s interpretive themes
Processes Guests understand how universal processes created and continue to transform
the place
Essence Guests live the place’s essence and bring something home to remember it
These are the mental activities that accompany any physical activities (hiking, biking, viewing, boating) to know a place.
The Site Heritage Almanac now takes the interpretive framework

(C2) and fills in missing information necessary for a site’s community
to plan guest experience opportunities with products and programs
(C5). It is a strategic document. We do not simply throw any kind
of resource inventory and map into it. We choose information for
its strategic value in contributing to the construction of experience
opportunities and its usefulness in later Conversations. The document
itself, when completed after Conversation 4 (when the experience
opportunity zone map is added), should be an attractive contribution
Earlier versions of this conversa-
not only to site planning but also to advertising by the site commu- tion focused only on attractions
nity, tourism guides, and even tourism ministries. It is an early visible rather than entire sites. The flaw
victory or product of the PUP Process. Once created, your planning in this thinking is that through a
limited number of shiny attractive
team should consider the almanac a stand-alone part of the public pieces, a guest can understand
use plan and thus updated with the same frequency. A site should and appreciate the entire site. This
never need another full investigation of its site heritage again. If a is almost never true, especially
for large sites. A guest needs to
heritage site cannot keep track of its heritage, then it suffers very experience all interpretive aspects
serious management problems. and heritage elements to fully un-
derstand a place. Without the help
of holistic interpretive design, it
could take a guest a very long time
or never to appreciate a place.

II. Locating Existing Maps, Photos, and Resource Inventories
How Do I Do It?
Explain
Before beginning the process of creating the SHA, your team should
collect necessary materials. These include the following:
Facilitate
1. Completed interpretive framework (C2)
2. Existing base map and layers including geographic, topographic, historic,
site, public use, floor plans of guest infrastructure like visitor centers and
trails. Generally we do not include specific resource-based maps such as
vegetation zones, soil types, population densities, etc. We only want maps
that contribute to the design of guest experience opportunities. Later in
C4 we will add the ROS Zone Map.
3. Photo archives, although you will need to do specific photo research later.
4. Resource inventories. Do not invest much energy to acquire these as we
will only place them in the appendix and will hardly use them.
5. Big Site Map created in C1. While you should have created this map and
possibly used it for C2, in C3 it becomes very useful. Make sure that basic
public use infrastructure and the most obvious heritage elements are already
marked on the map. Do not try to be exhaustive, that is the role of this
Conversation. You place some heritage elements only to get things started.
Photos are essential for illustrat-
ing the SHA such as these Cham
culture ruins at My Son Sanctuary
in Vietnam.

III. Identifying Heritage Elements
This public conversation brings together the heritage site community

to identify heritage elements, prioritize attractions, and describe them
for the SHA.
Pre-workshop Preparations
Do
Collected documents. On a table lay out the documents and maps
you collected in the previous section. They serve as reference for
the conversation. Choose where to lay the Big Site Map on the floor.
Print out heritage elements poster. Fill in the heritage elements
poster found in the Appendix, replacing generic examples with exam-
ples from the starter sheets below or other prominent examples. Print
and hang up as a reference for participants during the conversation.
Attraction Evaluation Table. Prepare the table in advance either
on butcher paper, overhead, or PowerPoint.
Butcher heritage element lists. Extract all the heritage elements
from the interpretive framework. Prepare one sheet of butcher pa-
per for each of the four heritage element types. Include 1–4 starter
examples on each. Examples are ideally from the interpretive frame-
work and should be specific and have associated geographic location
swhere applicable. Have additional sheets available, especially for the
attraction group. For attractions write the three kinds of attractions
in parentheses or include as starter examples: collection, preserva-
tion, and recognition.
Facilitator Orientation Sheets. Choose facilitators to facilitate
heritage element teams. Inform them of the following before the
conversation begins:
• How methodology will work, activity rules, duration for 4 rounds

• Facilitators should explain rules to the first round group only
• They must ensure that only the heritage element type assigned
to their group is identified by participants, not products, infra-
structure, tours, or other elements.
• If they have questions during the event to ask you, each other,
or a PUP technical assistant.
• They should write large and neatly on the butcher paper.
• They should know which stations are theirs.

A. Introduction
Warming Up
Facilitate
1. Introduce yourself or have the site director give the opening words.
2. Illustrate the opening metaphor and where you are in process.
3. Have participants stand in a circle. Have each say their name, or-
ganization, and position and then mention their favorite attraction
in the site. They cannot repeat attractions (thus it might be second
or third favorite). They should state what a guest likely feels when
they are in the presence of that attraction. If they need to state a
transportation mode or activity necessary to experience the attrac-
tion, that is fine. But do not let them describe an activity; they should
describe the experience and be brief.
4. Hand out Examples & Illustrations, Agenda, and Guiding State-
ments.
Review
1. Go over Guiding Statements and explain that everything we do
today MUST be guided by the purpose, policies, mandates, themes,
and heritage values. These are our prime directives, orders from the
top, the guiding principles in our effort today and tomorrow.
2. Review the agenda for Conversation 3.
Orient
In the public use planning process, we create experience opportunities
for guests. That is, we manage conditions that improve the chances
that guests have great experiences. But only a guest can create that
experience in his or her mind. And that kind of experience we want
our guests to enjoy involves deeply appreciating our place so that
they will fall in love with it and eventually become our allies. Hope-
fully they will contribute to its conservation. The SHA is a tool that
brings together all the interpretive information about a place, so
that we can plan the best possible experience opportunities. Later
in the process we design programs and products that allow guests
to encounter these opportunities.
The Almanac collects much more information than just at-
tractions. Just as we come to know a person we need to know more
than just the most outstanding and interesting facts about them —
those that they share with the world on Facebook — we also need
to know more than just attractions, or those elements that sites put
on their Facebook page. Our guests need to carry out four mental
activities in addition to any physical activity such as hiking in order
to deeply appreciate our unique place.
So in addition to the most dramatic attractions, we also
want them to experience other heritage aspects as well. They should
understand the universal processes that created this place, the vari-

ous perspectives of this place (through interpretive themes), and of
course live the place’s essence.
We still place extra emphasis on attractions as perhaps the
most important heritage element, and we carefully distinguish be-
tween attractions and other resources. We apply a tourism market
lens to resources so we can be sure that we are indeed identifying
attractions across three types: preservation, collection, and recogni-
tion. We review these types with the PowerPoint presentation.
These attractions help us to define site sectors (C4), public use
products (C5–6), the monitoring program (C7), and other manage-
ment decisions. These resources and their attractions are the reason
your site exists.
The resulting SHA is not only useful for PUP planning, but
for the private sector and tourism promotion authorities to market
this place in its full expression.
Show
The PowerPoint presentation on Conversation 3 (#7) explains dif-
ferent kinds of resources, attractions, and criteria for ranking them.
While the mixed World Heritage Site of Ohrid, Macedonia has scores of churches, an outstanding feature of the place,
the St. Jovan Kaneo stands above most as it overlooks Ohrid Lake, a true attraction.

B. Identifying Heritage Elements
Explain
You should clarify a couple of points.
1. We want resources that guests of all kinds find engaging and at-
tractive – students, communities, politicians – not just what tourists
want. Thus attractions must be attractive to all kinds of guests.
2. We do not identify ecotouristic attractions. An attraction cannot
be ecotouristic, only a product can. Thus, even though we promote
ecotourism, we do not call them “ecotouristic attractions.” At-
tractions can be used and abused by conventional and destructive
touristic activities or by friendly ecotouristic activities or both. So
the attraction’s status depends on how people use it.
How Do I Do It?
Facilitate
1. Indicate to facilitators to go to their stations, get the butcher paper
and markers ready, and explain the process to participants.
2. Mention to all the rules for writing heritage elements.
Rule 1: Be specific.
Rule 2: Be specific.
Rule 3: Any mention of an element should refer to a specific site,
if possible.
Round Time Rule 4: This is an almanac, not an inventory, thus do not list biologi-
1 15 minutes cal or cultural resources unless they are also outstanding features.
2 10 minutes
3 5 minutes 3. Form 4 teams, with a minimum of 3 people each. Have an even
4 5 minutes distribution of sector representation on each team: tour operators,
staff members, community members, etc. Also include culturally
minded folks on the intangible expression and literary people on
the stories groups. Call attention to heritage element examples on
the poster and in their packets.
4. Round 1 lasts 15 minutes including time for the facilitator to
explain how it works.
5. After the first round time concludes, all groups rotate to the next
1Round robin means the groups rotate through a circle of
the categories. Each group modifies the sheet of attractions station. Station facilitators do not move in this round robin format1.
and then after a given time continues to the next category. Facilitators present results to the incoming groups to ensure conti-
nuity from one round to the next. Round 2 lasts 10 minutes and the
new team adds new elements to the station’s list. No need to restate
the rules unless participants violate them.
6. Rounds 3 and 4 last 5 minutes each.
7. Original teams reunite with their lists. The Outstanding Features,
Stories, and Intangible Expressions groups send some two people
to the attractions group to represent their category. Also the attrac-
tions group has more work to do than the others.

8. Each interpretive aspect team answers the following questions
(also on the facilitator instructions):
Attractions: Make sure there are no more than 20 attractions on the

list. If there are more, then assign them to a secondary list. Make sure
attractions are specific, associated with a specific location or if they
are general to the site (such as birds or flowers found throughout the
site). If some attraction is general, maybe it really is an Outstanding
Feature. Look at the themes in the interpretive framework: does every
The story of Hurricane Mitch in
theme have at least one attraction associated with it? Honduras in 1998 is a defining
moment for the condition of nu-
Outstanding Features: Look at the attraction group’s list. Are there merous protected areas across
the country.
outstanding features that include most or all attractions? Are there
features for every universal process? Do they all have geographical
locations associated?
Stories: Are these major story lines? We don’t want myths and leg-
ends unless they truly illustrate a theme. Do all themes have major
stories associated with them? Can we write a paragraph summary
of each story? Can we give a thematic title to each? Can we name
a geographical location for each? Does the story have an author if
published or is it an historical anecdote?
Intangible Expression: What is the geographical location associated

with each expression? Do all processes and themes have associated
expressions? Which group or culture created the expression? Is it
still alive and accessible?
Work group in Komodo National
9. Each group presents its results to the plenary by hanging its Park identifies heritage elements.
butcher paper on the wall. See if any elements are miscategorized,
if they are specific enough, have specific associated locations, or if
any are missing.
Leave It Blank
When there are no specific attractions in a particular attraction category, participants tend to name resources in
more and more general terms. For example in a site that has forests but no particular attractions in those forests,
people will mention “forest” instead of a real attraction. In other cases they might insist on “mountains” or “rivers”
or “good food.” Sometimes it is better simply to leave the category blank rather than force things that will later have
to be deleted. In fact, once the identification process is over, there is no longer a need for the categories. They only
help us brainstorm and not miss attractions. Thus DISCARD categories when done with this section. We emphasize
this because participants in the past have remained too focused on categories, when they should focus on the at-
tractions instead.
How Does a Resource Suddenly Become Attractive?

Sometimes the attractiveness of a resource can only be seen through interpretation. Imagine a piece of rock. It is
an ordinary piece of granite. Upon expert examination, nonetheless, it could be a piece of granite that landed in a
meteorite from outer space millions of years ago. But it took a specialist or at least an interpreter to convert an
ordinary piece of granite (resource, not an attraction) into a unique and valuable geological attraction from outer
space. PowerPoint presentation #7 shows an example.

C. Rating the Attractions
What Does It Mean?

Explain
We prioritize only attractions among the heritage elements because
Vista Resistance they require the most development and likely are the most numerous.
How does the criterion of “Resis- Attractions also generate the greatest interest of any element type.
tance” apply to vistas? Clearly ev-
ery vista has threats, whether bad
weather, pollution, trees growing As mentioned above, what makes a resource an important attraction
up, development, etc. Resistance,
then, would measure how likely
is more than the “wow” effect it provokes. In fact, we employ five
it is that some force will damage criteria to rank them (as in presentation #7):
the quality of the view. The pic-
ture below shows the panorama
from a well known overlook in
♦♦ Attractiveness (does not include access, marketability,
Jeannette Kawas National Park, economics, only intrinsic values such as aesthetics,
Honduras. Agriculture is already spirituality, and interpretive potential)
beginning to damage the view.
As such the resistance of this
♦♦ Competition area (percentage of attraction kind
view would probably rank a 3 on within competition area found within site limits)
a scale of 5. ♦♦ Resistance to guest use
♦♦ Importance to purpose and interpretive framework
(Guiding Statements)
♦♦ Accessibility in time (how many weeks or months is
the resource present) and space (is it hard to access)
Facilitate
1. Split the entire group in half. Assign one group to determine
the scores for abundance and resistance. The other group will fill
out the other three criteria on copies of the Attractions Evaluation
Table on butcher paper. Fill in the blank table. Each group should
have at least five people, some of which know very well the attrac-
tions and can make especially informed decisions. You facilitate one
group and find another person to facilitate the other group, especia-
lly to keep track of time.
2. Groups review rank descriptions.
3. Rate first the top or best example for each criterion. This way
the group establishes the upper limit and compares all subsequent
attractions with that reference point. Otherwise everyone will have a
different concept of what a “5” is. There are also rank descriptions.
Consider the hummingbird in Pico Bonito’s example on 3-21 which
defines the rank of 4 for all subsequent attractions.
4. Reconvene entire group. Write data in the table and review. Try to
facilitate quickly any major score disagreements, especially ties.
5. Once there is score agreement, total them to prioritize attractions.
Later these same priorities will be used to determine the order of
product development based on attractions. So hold on to them.

6. Make sure the group accepts the ranking. If they do not agree, dis- Anchor Attraction
cuss, note reasons for any change, ensure consensus, change order. An anchor attraction is a re-
gional attraction with power. It
Remember the tool should not replace good judgment. If a conver-
draws people to a region, allow-
sation changes the priority through consensus, that is preferible to a ing those people to visit lesser
rank that few agree with. known attractions in that region.
Without the anchor attrac-
7. Have the group applaud for a job well done so far. tion, most or all of the people
from outside the region would
not visit lesser attractions.
Thus many tourist products
and attractions develop around
regional anchors. Examples
include Tikal in Guatemala, Bay
Islands and Copan in Honduras,
Bali in Indonesia, and Cancun in
Mexico. If you have an anchor
in your site, be sure to describe
this quality in the attraction
description.
Public use coordinator in Komodo National Park facilitates the attraction rat-
ing process.

D. Describing Heritage Elements
What Does It Mean?
Explain
The SHA is one of the most basic planning tools for the design of
heritage-based experience opportunities. We use it in Conversations
4 and 5. It is also a visible part of the PUP Process; people identify
with and draw pride from it (consider as well the zone map, logo,
cover, narrative “photograph” from the Second Review of Results).
How Do I Do It?
Facilitate
Participants help prepare the SHA’s heritage element descriptions,
realizing, of course, that your team will have to rewrite for consis-
tency and accuracy.
1. Direct people to the Heritage Element Description Sheet in the

packet (and Appendix) and the Pico Bonito example. Depending on
the number of participants, you could hand out 2 sheets per person.
2. Choose an exemplary attraction and fill out the form on butcher
paper in front of the whole group.
3. Distribute writing responsibilities this way:
a. Attractions: divide people in pairs and fill out for top 20

b. Outstanding features: team divides up number of features
among pairs to describe
c. Intangible expressions: If there are not too many, participants
can either divide in pairs, trios or work as the entire group. Need
to finish within allotted time.
d. Stories: Same as above.
4. Instruct people to fill out forms as COMPLETELY as possible.

If they write on computer, that would help greatly. In describing the
heritage element, be specific and more insightful than writing “beau-
tiful” or “awesome.” WHICH aspects are beautiful and awesome?
Everybody can define such words differently, so use concrete and
specific characteristics.
5. Each writing team should place the heritage element names on
the corresponding location on the Big Site Map, if they are sure.
Write names neatly which must correspond to names on the Heritage
Element Description Sheet.

Fields in the Heritage Element Description Sheet
Name (descriptive name of element):

Location (use reference marks, coordinates, zones, regional names):
Rank Score (from ranking earlier on, only for attractions):
Description (2+ paragraphs; may also include guest sensations and
feelings in presence of element; describe criteria for attractions: per-
centage inside the area of influence, accessibility in time and space,
attractiveness, resistance to guest impact):
Barriers (1+ paragraphs):
Current Guest Use (existing infrastructure, activities, intensity, types
of guests):
Most Applicable Site Themes (see Interpretive Framework; no more
than 50% of existing themes; in order of highest relevance):
Conservation Objective (see box below):
Ask
O: Look through the different heritage elements on the sheets.
R: Seeing all these elements organized in this fashion, how does that
make you feel? What’s your reaction looking over this?
I: How is this different from a normal inventory? What perspective
do you have now that you did not before seeing elements broken
down this way?
D: How do you think we might use this Almanac once finished?
Before leaving the workshop, type all the data from the Description
Sheets into your computer and all other information that resulted
from the workshop. It is best to do it at once before the information
gets lost. You will use it to create the proceedings.
Conservation Objective
If an element is already sufficiently conserved (many elements such as outstanding features often need no protec-
tion effort at all), you need only write to continue the current situation. Very often, nonetheless, site managers are
working to develop new forms of protection. To find out what the site might be working on, do not hesitate to ask
the site director. Some examples of SMART conservation objectives include:
♦♦ Reduce the number of houses along the Blue River that dump their solid wastes directly into the
water by X% by the end of 2017.
♦♦ Increase the number of Green Hawks to X mating pairs by the end of 2017.
♦♦ Stop 100% of teenagers from reaching the Great Rock by next June. This will eliminate graffitti
there.
♦♦ Cut down all the oak trees between the two marked trees by this summer to protect the moun-
tainview vista.
♦♦ Reduce erosion along the main walkway of the Great Temple to 3 mm/year by the end of 2017.
You probably will not be able to write specific numbers unless there are specialists already working on those par-
ticular problems. Also, you and the director will likely need to rewrite these objectives after the workshop since
general participants will not have an exact idea of conservation objectives. The Nature Conservancy specializes in
developing these objectives with its Conservation by Design Framework
(www.nature.org/science-in-action/conservation-by-design/index.htm).

Future Steps
The SHA will be edited for Conversation 4 and beyond. We will
use the SHA to define public use sectors. We will use it again in
Conversation 5 to define products an programs. The barriers will be
especially important in deciding how to approach their development.
Conversation 3: Site Heritage Almanac

Workshop to Identify Heritage Elements
Focus Question: Can we produce an almanac that contains all the heritage elements and
interpretive aspects of the site necessary to design enchanting guest experience
opportunities?
• Identify and describe the place’s heritage • Realize that heritage heavily
elements influences a public use program
• Integrate information about heritage and • Get excited about picking out
interpretation into the Site Heritage attractions from the many resources
Almanac of the site
A. Introduction
45 Introduction PowerPoint
B. Identifying Heritage Elements

45 Round Robin 4 groups
30 Presentations
C. Rating the Attractions

10 Instructions Only rate attractions, not
60 Rating 2 groups other heritage elements
40 Review of ratings
Describing the Heritage Elements

10 Instructions Contributions to early draft
60 Description of Attractions of the SHA. Volunteers
10 Evaluation & Future Steps nseeded to continue.

Attractions Exist on Multiple Scales Depending on Purpose and Audience
We often think of attractions as places we drive up or hike up and visit. But marketing folks and guests do not always
think of attractions this way. For example, within the World Heritage City of Évora, there are multiple attractions such
as the Roman Temple. Such an attraction might draw people to the city but more likely it is an attraction once people
decide to visit Évora. That is, when they are planning their trip to Portugal, they pick cities and parks to visit. In this
context the entire city is a destination or attraction. Before they decide on Portugal, nonetheless, the entire country
may be an attraction, one among several countries visited during a vacation. Sometimes countries join together to
promote regions of multiple countries such as the Caribbean or Europe while national marketing agencies promote
their entire country as a destination and then attractions within the country. So be aware that any attraction might
be nested within larger attractions and be broken down into smaller attractions (where is the bathroom associated
with the Roman Temple?).

• Include all conversation products and drafts
cards on the wall
to you to update
a dated addendum
ownership

IV. Describing Interpretive Aspects
What Do I Do?
Do
1.Your team should recruit volunteers from the earlier
workshop or elsewhere who can write quality descriptions.
The Big Five Lacks From your team and volunteers, identify an editor to ensure
quality and consistency across the document.
When planning or implementing it
is easy and convenient to blame 2. Edit and complete the heritage element descriptions.
the Big Five Lacks as the cause for
not doing something. The Big Five
3. With respect to barriers to attraction development: the
Lacks are lack of people, money, logic is that sites avoid simply naming lacks as barriers (see
information, time, and political
will. The real risk, however, is
box to left). To avoid lac problems, we did not consider
that when we blame an external administrative lacks as barriers. In cities, such as Evora,
source for not offering sufficient
resources (such as the govern- where attractions are already open for visitation, we may
ment agency for budget or local consider administrative barriers, such as conflicts between
politicians for political will), we
think that responsibility lies be- stakeholders or something else. Again, it is still advisable
yond our power and thus we can to limit to 2-3 barriers per attraction so that we do not
wash our hands of responsibility
and just give up. For this reason, micro-plan minor details such as poor signage or need for
we should always look deeper,
asking ourselves, “Why does this
repairs, unless repairs or lack of signage lead to security
lack occur?” If you answer with issues which can be major problems.
another lack, then you have to
ask yourself again until you reach
4. Write a narrative for how universal processes created the
a root problem. site and continue to transform it. This could be between
3-6 paragraphs or so. If you can include graphics to describe
universal processes, it will be even more powerful.
5. Each interpretive theme should have a 1-2 paragraph
description that provides supporting evidence and
explanation. The small committee for Conversation 2 might
be willing to take up this task if it has not already done so.
6. Write a one paragraph description of the site’s essence.
Use concrete verbs and nouns to describe the essence,
based on the phrase in the interpretive framework.
7. Identify photographs or drawings that characterize all
heritage elements, processes, themes, and essence. A
graphical representation will make the SHA more attractive.
8.You still do not have a SHA outline; that comes later.

V. Designing the Interpretive Heritage Map
What Do I Do?
Do
1. Although most heritage elements are on the Big Site
Map, you will want all these elements on a GIS layer map.
2. Identify who will create this map or at least add layers
to an existing base map.
3. In addition to heritage elements, you should add to the
map evidence of
i. Forces and processes that created and continue to

recreate the site
ii. Best location(s) to experience the essence
4. Your team should also discuss what is missing. Are there

themes, processes, or the essence identified in C2 and
described in C3 for which there are still no places or heritage
elements to best illustrate them? Make the list and describe
what you would want such a site or element to do. Perhaps
in the future your site you may discover just such a place
or you will need an interpretive solution to illustrate.
5. An additional layer of ROS zones comes in C5.
Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge
*
F S LEGEnD
F
C H A AMAFCA Salt Grass Meadow w/ Lowflow Channel

V B Barr Drain
P
Q C Barr Confluence & Wetland Diversion Structures
D AMAFCA Water Quality Pond
H
S E Refuge 2nd Street Site
A G
I
B
F AMAFCA Maintenance Access
R G Interpretive Trails
H Perimeter Trail Loop
e
n d
I Boardwalks
J Wildlife Refuge Access Bridge
r a
N K Campus Area-See Enlarged Plan

G
N
L Refuge Promenade
i o
M Wetlands (Deep)
G
This site plan from the Valle de

R
R N Wetlands (Shallow)
G
A
K O Golden Spiral Viewpoint
P
M
L
W
E
P
Q
Acequia
Lowland Mesa Habitat
Oro National Wildlife Refuge in
Arroyo Riparian Habitat
Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
M R
S Chihuahuan Desert Habitat
T Riparian Habitat
S I
O U U
V
Maintenance Access
Refuge Identification Signage
serves as a partial Interpretive
H
N
W Refuge Entry Sign Monument
Interpretive Station
Heritage Map in that it contains
attractions, outstanding features,
I H • May include viewing blind or
Connection to G
J
N shelter in select locations
Bosque Trail S
S Service Access
M
G I B
I
Q
Outdoor Amphitheater guest infrastructure, and to some
*
M
extend forces because humans

G AMAFCA Water Quality Structure
Rio Metro - Rail
Runner Express
t SW
G
are recreating the regional habitat
tree
A
M
2nd S
I
D types. There is no essence site or
*
D F
G
Proposed Overflow
Culverts
D
V
reference to interpretive themes
I D
T
H
B
directly on the map although
J
H
T
Salida Sandia SW
there is an interpretive framework
Connection to
Overall Concept Plan
that makes reference to different
F F S F
Bosque Trail S
0 100 200 400’
February, 2015
places on the map.

VI. Organizing the Site Almanac
How Do I Do It?
Do
1. Your team should discuss how the contents will be
presented in the SHA. How you organize and design will
depend in great measure on your creativity and how the
different elements fit together. Below you will find a generic
outline of how you might organize your SHA.
Cover (name of place, title “Site Heritage Almanac”,

perhaps essence statement or site mission, with graphics
of your choosing)
Introduction
Mission of site
Purpose of almanac
Relationship to the public use plan
How the almanac should be used
Basic theory of process-place-product
Processes and forces that created site and continue
to transform it
Site Essence
Interpretive framework
Interpretive theme descriptions
Heritage elements organized by themes or processes
Guest experience opportunities
ROS zone map (C4)
Interpretive Heritage Map
Current offerings map from C5
How well do current offerings match IHM?
In other words, are the heritage elements
and interpretive aspects cur rently
represented by offerings or how much
needs to be added?
Appendix for existing resource inventories (although
not really necessary)

VIII. Producing the Site Heritage Almanac
How Do I Do It?
Do
1. Once you have written the text, then you need to design
the graphical appearance and layout. Consider that an
effective SHA should reflect the site’s heritage. If a distant
location, then express adventure. If an ancient site, reflect
its age. If the site exists because of a particular species,
then highlight that species in photos, images, etc. The SHA
if attractive will be used by planners, promoters, and even
guests. Each audience might need a derivative version of
the SHA for their purposes. In other words, the SHA should
be both interpretive and reflect the kind of experience
opportunities present at the place.
2. The writing should be friendly but not dry and scientific,
the way most plans are written. Nor should it be marketing
text with lots of hyperbole, exaggeration, and selling points.
3. Your team should also strike a balance between the
sophistication of the layout and the document’s ability to
be updated. If your team and site readily uses programs
like Adobe InDesign or other page layout software, you could
use that. If not, use another program that your site already
knows how to use. It may be Microsoft Word or it may be
written as HTML web pages. It is important whichever
format that you use that it can be easily updated over time.
Otherwise the for mat will become a bar rier to
implementation. See Conversation 11 on the format of the
public use plan itself. Likely you will choose the same
program to design both.

Evaluation
This evaluation is for your core planning team rather than partici-
pants in the workshop.
1. Can you think of another way or criterion we could

have used to evaluate these heritage elements and
interpretive aspects? Which?
2. How can we improve the content of the SHA?
3. Are you proud of how it looks? If not, why?

1. Agenda Conversation 3
2. Introduction to Handout Package
3. Heritage Elements Poster
4. Attraction Categories
5. Example Heritage Element Starter Sheets
6. Criteria for Rating Attractions
7. Attraction Development Barriers
8. Heritage Element Description Sheet
9. Directories of Tourist Attractions from Tikal (Spa-
nish), Komodo (English), Ohrid (English)
♦♦ Interpretive Design and the Dance of Experience by Steve
Van Matre (2008)

While mapping in Module 4 requires a lot of
mental work, it is during this time that the public
use coordinator sees the most rapid growth in
the public use plan.
e
Outsid
1. How many zones are there in the standard
Recreation Opportunity Spectrum (ROS), which Use-based vs. experience
are they, and what are the three attributes used to opportunity zoning
distinguish among them?
2. Why is authenticity so important to a visitor
experience?
3. Why is the ROS meeting internal while the Lists of objectives vs.
attraction experience part public? sector-based site-wide
4. What is a sector and how is it different from a public use development
zone? strategy
5. We say that this module continues to define the
supply for the site. How is this so?
6. Why is the prioritization of the sectors considered
a site-wide public use strategy?
Last updated June 2012
Zone & Sector Mapping

4-3
4 Zone & Sector Mapping
1. Develop a system of zones based on visitor experience opportunities,
thus determining the site’s supply of such opportunities; 2. Develop a
set of sectors that together form the site-wide public use strategy
Focus Question: Can we accurately map both visitor experiences and public use management functions
to create a site-wide public use strategy?
Format: Steps I–III are work sessions (except for attraction authenticity zoning); Step IV is an open
meeting; Step V: closed meeting
Summary: Good public use manages not only resources but also visitor experiences. Every site can offer
a range of visitor experience opportunities, in other words, has a supply, determined by its physical,
social, and managerial nature. These experiences are managed based on corresponding landscape zones
and then broken down by experiences within attractions. The site also identifies a set of sectors, areas
with a common public use function. Their combination constitutes the site-wide public use strategy.
Time: Steps I–III (15 hours); Step IV (5 hours + 2 days to write the site-wide public use strategy); Step
V (4.5 hours + time mapmaker needs to make map) (see Master Calendar)
Materials: Steps I–III: big site map, physical, social, and management situation maps, cultural attraction
floor maps, butcher paper poster of ROS zones; Step IV: 20 cards for sector names, notebook; 3–4
letter-sized photocopies, colored pencils (wax or graphite), 5 blank transparencies; Step V: Detailed
landscape map of site
Participants: Steps I–III: technical team (2–6) while attraction zoning requires tour operators, tourism
experts, heritage interpreters; Steps IV: technical team, tour operators, community leaders, and others
who have interest in sector names and public use development strategy in site (5–15); Step V: technical
staff and mapmaker (2–7)
Products: Steps I–III: Zone name descriptions with management factors defined, zone map draft,
attraction zoning for each priority attraction; Step IV: Defined and prioritized sectors with site-wide public
use strategy; Step V: zone and sector maps, inventory of zone types, narrative of zones and sectors
This Module Contains: III. Defining Zone Management

Pre-Workshop Preparations Managing Landscape Zones
I. Introduction Managing Attraction Zones
II. Defining Zones IV. Developing Sectors and Site-wide Strategy
Choosing Zone Names Defining Sectors
Analyzing the Biophysical Landscape Attributes Prioritizing Sectors
Analyzing the Social Landscape Attribute Writing the Site-Wide Public Use Strategy
Analyzing Management Landscape Attribute V. Developing Zone and Sector Maps
Reconciling All Three Landscape Attributes Future Steps
Analyzing Attraction Attributes Examples & Illustrations
4-4 Zone & Sector Mapping

Pre-Workshop Preparations Why We Offer Experience Opportu-
nity and Not Just Experiences?
We map experience opportuni-
Prepare maps. The big site map should already contain the ties and not experiences because
attractions, infrastructure, and major contours. Review Module 1 for different visitors can have dif-
more information on how to make the big site map. If the map does ferent experiences given the
same set of conditions. Thus we
not contain these, then you should prepare a map that contains this manage for a set of conditions
information. If your site has population density data, then a social that create an opportunity to
map with this information would be useful. Most often, however, have a certain kind of experi-
ence defined by the zone, but
you will not have this information and will need to determine these not every visitor will have the
patterns based on interviews with site staff. Similarly if there are areas experience for which we plan
in the site that restrict visitation in time, place, or activity, a map of the area. As managers we can
only offer opportunities, while
these would be useful (most likely you will draw this). If you do not visitors create the experiences
have much information or restrictions, a simple list with a narrative inside their heads.
description of the areas where restrictions apply, will be sufficient.
You will also need floor maps for cultural attractions; these you can
draw by hand as it is not necessary to have detailed maps or to scale,
but simply show the visitable sections of each cultural attraction.
Find a mapmaker. Hopefully the site has access to a mapmaker

and you can convince him or her to help the PUP well before this
module. Ideally it is a person who has access to GIS site data and can
fairly precisely, with the administration’s help, draw zone boundaries
to produce a first draft. The appearance of the map is very important.
A colorful and attractive map is a very tangible product that can
motivate people to continue with the project.
Zone & Sector Mapping 4-5

I. Introduction
Warming Up
Facilitate
1. Since you probably have only your technical team, you do not need
much introduction. You might have the site director introduce the
task to lend more importance and urgency.
2. Pass out copies of the Planning Framework, Directory of Touristic
Attractions, Agenda, and Examples & Illustrations.
Show
Show first part of PowerPoint presentation #8a, (until STOP sign).
Review
1. Planning Framework. Review the Planning Framework. Remind
staff that everything done in this and all modules must be consistent
with the purpose, heritage values and messages, and policies that
regulate the site and its activities.
2. Review attractions. Choose one person to review quickly the
attractions as they appear on the map. For greater detail, direct staff
to the Directory of Touristic Attractions.
3. Review agenda for sections I–III of this module.
Introduce
Someone should describe the current zoning if there are participants
in attendance who are not intimately familiar with it already.
Managing Limitations on Zoning

Many times you will start the PUP with limitations on zoning. There are three possible scenarios: 1) You have unlimited
freedom to design zones throughout the site; 2) you have to work within previously established public use zones, or
there is a noted reluctance on the part of site authorities to modify existing zones; 3) you have been assigned pre-
existing zones and cannot modify their location or create new ones.
In scenario 1, you proceed with this module as written. In scenario 2, you can create sub-zones within the
previously established zones, based on the results of this module. If there is reluctance to do this or you encounter
scenario 3, you can still proceed with the inventory of experiences and you will not create zones based on those. This
inventory nevertheless will still be very useful in defining products. You may find that when you create regulations
in Module 8, you can create them based on the experiences established here, as if they were zones.
In all cases it is a useful exercise to do the analysis for the entire site (including buffer areas) and identify
the different experience opportunities. This way you have them for the future. If you find that desirable experiences
or a wide variety of possible experiences lie outside the zones you have already been allotted, then you have a strong
argument for site authorities to re-zone at some point in the future. Remember, you cannot develop all zones at one
time anyway. Start with those more politically accessible and over time, have future discussions to change zones.
Furthermore, you may have been assigned zone categories or can work with pre-existing zones such as “in-
tangible,” “primitive,” “nuclear,” “high/low intensity,” etc. You must ask if these are just zone names or if they offer
specific future management prescriptions. Very often zones are merely names with only general ideas about intensity
of use, leaving wide open an opportunity for you to elaborate on the zone descriptions and make them useful for your
public use program. If you have public use zones identified but not defined, you might simply define management
zones for those areas available for the public use program.

II. Defining Zones
How Do I Do It?
Choosing Zone Names Explain

WALROS offers intuitive names for ROS zones, but there is no
reason your site need limit itself. You might want to personalize or
sub-divide zones with sufficiently compelling reason. Try to stick
to the basic six, however, which cover the full range of natural
experiences as well as the five authenticity zones. See natural zone
descriptions (4-27).
Facilitate
1. Examine the zone names with the technical team. Decide if these
names work for you or if you want to change them.
Numerical Targets for PUP

PUP has prepared some numerical targets for the different products
of this module. They are designed to keep the exercise within
reasonable limits. We recommend that unless you have a strong reason
to deviate from these numbers, that you stick to them. As always,
in the future your site can modify the results. You do not need to
inform participants of these targets.
Rough Module 4 Targets

1–6 (up to 8) Landscape Zones
6–20 Sectors The director of Pico Bonito Na-
0–3 Attractions/Sector tional Park presents the zoning
as defined in the general manage-
2–5 Sectors/Sector Priority Level
ment plan.
Analyzing the Biophysical Landscape Settings Explain

You start by applying ROS biophysical landscape settings. Because it
is a relatively objective process, you can do this internally with your What If My Site Is a Historic City
team, before proceeding to the more subjective attraction-level zones. or Monument?
To describe naturalness of an outdoor experience opportunity in
If your site is a historic city or
terms of biophysical attributes, we examine remoteness, naturalness monument, you simply zone it
(evidence of humans), size of the area, and large permanent as urban and move on to the
structures such as roads, high-tension wires, groups of buildings, attraction-level zoning. In fact,
you could skip the landscape
and dams. The combination of these attributes determines which zoning entirely.
of the six landscape zones best represents the area in question. Do
not forget that we will also use a social and managerial setting to
determine the landscape zone.

Facilitate
1. Take the big map and consider first human evidence such
Zones, Zones, Everywhere
as buildings and roads, which are the easiest to map. Review
Multiple management tools use Description of Landscape Zones (4-27) that indicates human
the term “zone,” thus it is impor-
tant not to confuse zones from disturbance associated with each zone type. Also see a biophysical
different tools. For example, attributes from Pico Bonito’s map.
here we talk about experience 2. Start mapping communities and draw concentric circles around
zones which should not be con-
fused with zones of a biosphere those areas of greatest human disturbance. The circles would be 1–5
reserve (nuclear or core zone, km in distance depending on how quickly the disturbance recedes.
buffer zone). You may need You might do this on scrap paper or acetate overlays to experiment
to change the term “zone” or
“sector” to avoid confusion with with different lines and circles. These communities with numerous
other existing designations. services would classify as “Urban.” See a fictional example of this
kind of mapping (4-46).1
1This map is not currently viewable as different layers in
3. Map out areas that would be rural developed and rural natural.
on-screen PDF. You must see it printed out.
Note that each zone is actually a buffer for zones of increasing
naturalness. Buffers are usually at least 1 km wide. Maps tend to
Look Outside Your Borders take on the appearance of multiple concentric circles. For simplicity,
You should consider the experi- however, you might draw simple polygons in place of multiple
ence opportunity just outside
your site borders, whether in
concentric circles, if you like. See example of circles (4-43).
the buffer or not. Just as ecol- 4. Then examine remoteness which is determined as distance from
ogy does not respect political roads or waterways. If any area is easily reached in a short period
borders drawn on a map, nei-
ther do factors that influence
of time, it is urban, suburban, or rural developed. You can map
visitor experiences. Landscape rural natural by drawing 1-km buffers around roads usable by motor
changes such as human settle- vehicles. Semi-primitive areas surround rural natural areas; from the
ments or highways can change
the experience of adjacent lands
edge of rural natural areas, they extend outward to perhaps 8 km
just inside your site, so you need from the road. Thereafter the zone would be primitive, areas that
to consider what lies beyond require more than one day’s walk from rural natural areas.
your borders. Although a site
does not have the same jurisdic-
5. Last consider size. Size is a constraining attribute. According to
tion to manage land outside its Parks Canada, any area less than 5,000 hectares should NOT be
boundaries, a participatory and considered primitive. This cut-off point, however, is designed for
friendly site still influence its
neighbors.
North American primitive areas which are exceptionally large without
much human intervention. We assume that international tourists
visiting the tropics can still feel primitive in smaller areas because
♦♦ Tropical environments imply greater risk (less chance

of being rescued than in North America where sites
have better tracking and more resources to search
and rescue), a quality associated with primitive.
♦♦ Tropical environments, especially rainforests, can be
more difficult to penetrate and pass due to vegetation
density, heat, water, insects, and other characteristics
foreign to northern visitors.
1Landscape is a land and water surface across which ♦♦ Visitors understand there are more people, especially
elements (natural and manmade) are arranged. Elements
indigenous, who live in wild areas and rather than
include mountains, forests, roads, buildings, bodies of
water, etc. taking away from the primitive experience, must be

considered part of it. Where Visitors Are Not Allowed
To Go
As such, a tropical size cut-off might be 2,000 hectares, subject to Example 1: Virtually all the Ju-
mano Indian archaeological sites
people’s perception. Finally, 2,000 hectares should be as much as in Big Bend State Ranch Natural
possible in chunks rather than elongated shapes, such as branches Area, USA are closed to the
connected to larger pieces. This is because a person could be in a public, even though they were
determined to be one of the top
branch of a primitive area and be surrounded on three sides by human attractions for visitors.
activity, even though it measures several thousand hectares. That
might not be the experience site managers seek in primitive zones. Example 2: Santa Elena Canyon
in Big Bend National Park, USA is
6. By combining these attributes — naturalness, remoteness, and size closed for six weeks every spring
— you can map the entire surface area of the site into the six zones. for peregrine falcon nesting,
Do not forget to consider those areas outside the site and how they even though the canyon is the
second most important attrac-
affect zone designations. Also do not concern yourself with exact tion in the park.
boundaries at this time, that comes later. Last, your site may not have
all six zones and that is OK. The object now is to inventory how
much of each experience opportunity it can offer.
Analyzing the Social Landscape Setting Explain

The social attribute includes users and their behavior. This can
be measured by the number of encounters, modified by the size
of groups and their behaviors. A rowdy group of teens is more
disturbing than a small group of birders. Encounters generally apply
to unplanned contacts such as with other visitors, local residents,
and site staff. Unplanned encounters interrupt or distract from the
authentic natural feeling for many outdoor recreational visitors.
Facilitate
1. You may use the standards (4-29) as guides in Management Factors
by Zone.
2. Examine your human density data, whether it be on a map or by
assigning densities based on stakeholder interviews. Obviously in
the future, with new density data or different kinds of visitors, you
should re-examine zones.
3. Map the entire site based on the social setting with respect to the
six zones.
Analyzing the Management Landscape Setting Explain

Managerial setting includes movable structures, services offered such
as interpretation, and management rules and regulations that affect
the visitor experience. For example, sites often have pre-existing
zones and regulations that restrict visitor activity in time (day/
night, seasonality), space (here or there), or activity (only scientific
research or no off-road vehicles). Sites may restrict access because

areas are especially dangerous or fragile (see fictional example,
4-48). Restrictions might be informal, such as a sign warning against
danger. This is especially important in buffer zones outside regular
site boundaries when management type can change drastically.
If few or no visitors are allowed in an area, zones could be
marked as primitive or given another name; whatever the name, it is
important to mark these areas because they do affect the inventory
of available experience opportunities. Fewer rules are usually
characteristic of more natural areas or those that restrict behavior,
kinds of transportation, group size, etc. also influence the zone.
Facilitate
1. Review any pre-existing management restrictions in the site,
such as in core or nuclear zones, around private property, or zones
occupied by insurgents.
2. Map out these areas on a map.
Reconciling All Three Landscape Settings

Explain
You now have three different representations of landscape experience
opportunity availability, based on biophysical, social, and managerial
Applying ROS to Open Waters

For freshwater where visitors can see the shoreline all around them at all
times, you should use the zoning defined here. Another option is the US
Bureau of Reclamation’s Water and Land ROS system (WALROS), which spec-
ficially considers water body ROS zoning. You can find this in the Appendix
or www.usbr.gov/recreation/publications/WALROS_Handbook_2011.pdf.
In order that these new zones are useful for management, you must
establish management prescriptions to maintain the experience opportu-
nities. You can use the same criteria as appear in the table Management
Factors by Zone on 4-29. Ujung Kulon National Park created two marine
zones. See their example in the Appendix.
Colorado State University devel-

oped Spanish and Portuguese
(upcoming) versions of ROS. They
boasts attractive posters illus-
trating the different zones. The
posters can be found in the Ap-
pendix for this module or at http://
warnercnr.colostate.edu/cpamt-
technical-collaboration

Examples of Reconciling Settings
Landscape Description Determining Setting
In many areas, cow pastures and small patches of forest can Biophysical
cover the landscape for many square miles. Within that area,
however, the visitor may only have a rare encounter with a
farmer or lost soul.
In a site where Mayan temples are present within dense Social
primary forest, there is little disturbance but many people
move about under the forest canopy.
In core zones of many protected area systems, visitation is not Managerial
permitted. So despite the low human disturbance and human
presence, this area would not be an available zone in the
experience inventory.
settings. Since you only want one map, you need to reconcile the over-
lapping maps to arrive at just one zoning across the entire site. We do
this by considering the limiting attribute in any area (table below).
In a landscape that has been, and continues to be, modified Short Walk Through the Zones
A short narrative story of a trav-
by human activity, but is otherwise lightly used, the biophysical setting eler leaving the city and going to
will drive the final zone determination. In a landscape that is slightly the country side illustrates four
modified, but heavily used by people for recreation, the social setting of the six experience opportunity
zones. This story can be found
will be the determining point of view. In a national park, where the full at www.jonkohl.com/pup/mod4/
weight of legislation and policy favoring ecological integrity is applied, ros-story.pdf
the management setting may outweigh the other two settings.
When we determine which setting determines the zone, we
must go to the landscape zone descriptions (4-27). There you read
through the descriptions for each zone and choose the zone which
most closely matches.
Facilitate
1. For each landscape determine the driving setting, as in the examples
on the previous page. Go over the three maps and choose one zone
for every landscape of the site. Refer to rules on creating buffers (4-42)
around roads and managing transitions between zones (4-42).
2. Make sure the entire site has been landscape zoned.
Analyzing Attraction Attributes Explain

Now that you have zoned your entire site based on landscape
experience opportunities, now you can zone experience opportunities
for your specific attractions too small to be rated by landscape zoning.
Of course some attractions are landscapes, in which case, you can
use either or both methods described here.
The landscape system defines zones based geographically
dependent setting attributes (for example, remoteness), while
the attraction zoning bases experience opportunities on types
of authenticity that are scale-independent. See Description of

Authenticity Attraction Zones (4-31). For more on the theory of
authenticity, see the Background Reading 6 on interpretation.
Facilitate
1. Now we use priority attractions identified in Module 3 including
What about Cultural Land- intangible heritage attractions located at a particular site, such as a
scapes?
UNESCO classifies some World
ceremony or sporting event that takes place at a designated location.
Heritage sites as cultural land- Since by definition in Module 3, all attractions are associated with a
scapes due to their interrelated site, they can all be evaluated in the following manner.
matrix of natural landscape
features and human influence
2. Create a simple floor or area map for each attraction. You can even
(http://whc.unesco.org/en/cul- draw them by hand as neither scale nor precision is necessary for
turallandscape), such as the this activity, although the scale is always inferior to that of landscape
Cultural Landscape of Sintra
in Portugal or the Parthian
zone maps. These maps are useful when there are multiple experience
Fortresses of Nisa in Turkmeni- zones for a single attraction either because a monument has multiple
stan. These landscapes can zones in its interior (such as a fort) or because an outdoor attraction
be handled in the normal way
described here by first apply-
has various vantage points (from the road or a trail or an observation
ing landscape zones and then tower) with different levels of authenticity. Alternatively you could
zoning particular attractions capture zoning information with a narrative and photographic
therein. Where an attraction
might fall between the scales
description of the location, although both map and description is
of landscape and attractions, ideal, see PowerPoint presentation #8b for an example of a site.
there is no reason why you can- 3. Bring in other participants who can contribute to the discussion
not zone for both landscape and
attraction, such as a lake that is
of authenticity and visitor experiences of the cultural attractions.
both a landscape as well as an 4. Take the first attraction, natural or cultural, in any order. Identify
attraction. how it affects the surrounding landscape zone, if you have not already
done this in normal landscape zoning. Ask: does the authenticity
of the attraction influence the perception of the area immediately
surrounding it? It is possible that an attraction could influence the
surrounding zoning in ways that ROS would not detect. For example,
if a natural history interpreter works at a very old tree (attraction)
in a rural natural landscape zone, and shows visitors that in fact the
surrounding forest has been highly manipulated by farmers (e.g., top
predators eliminated, advanced secondary not primary growth, tree
composition selected by farmers three generations ago, soil poisoned
by an industrial accident, etc.), visitors may perceive the site as less
naturally authentic than landscape zoning rated it. In such a case, you
might override the landscape determination and change the zone to
rural developed (or create a sub-zone).
5. Then identify the attraction zone for the external appearance
of the attraction when first encountered by visitors, using the
Attraction Zone sheet (4-44). Refer to the example on 4-45. Visitors
will immediately judge authenticity with their first impression which
may go up or down once they enter the attraction. Some attractions
cannot be entered or can be seen entirely with the first glimpse such
as a tree, statue, small cemetery, or rock art engraving. In such cases,
the attraction will likely have only one experience opportunity zone.
Remember, this is still baseline.

6. Divide up the interior of the attraction as well as distinct vantage When a Distractor to Authenticity
points of the attraction according to their corresponding experience Can Also Improve Authenticity
opportunities. Consider areas normally off-limits to visitors, as
In rare occasions an object can
these could be VIP experience opportunities. Consider that from an be both a distractor and as-
overlook, many distractors might be imperceptible while up close set for authenticity. Consider
they may easily distract a visitor’s experience. These two vantages the plaque that every World
Heritage Site must locate that
may represent different experience zones. recognizes the UNESCO World
7. Draw these experience opportunities on the baseline attraction Heritage status. Without inter-
map. Note justification for each zone, especially authenticity pretation or reading the plaque,
it could reduce natural authen-
attributes, distractors, and management factors. ticity due to being made with a
8. In addition to attraction maps you will also write a narrative of material inconsistent with say
these experience opportunities, where they occur, and which feelings the stone wall to which it is af-
fixed. It might distract from the
should they provoke, so take sufficient notes of the conversation. illusion of a historical past where
9. Repeat this analysis for each attraction in the Directory of Touristic such a plaque has no place.
Attractions. On the other hand, if read, the
plaque actually increases influ-
10. Once all attractions have been zoned for their current experience ential authenticity because the
opportunities, that is, once you have completed the baseline World Heritage status indicates
experience opportunity inventory for the entire site, now you must a global objective, lends pres-
tige and credibility to the site’s
define both desired landscape and attraction zoning over the next 3 to mission. In all cases, managers
5 years. The gap between the baseline and desired future experience need to balance advantages
opportunities represents the work of the site management’s public use and disadvantages that the ob-
ject has on different genres of
program. Note that you can only start this strategic analysis, because authenticity. Managers should
you will still need to consider the site-wide public use strategy as well consider the kind of visitor who
as the proposed products in Modules 5 and 6 before concluding on perceives the object, the desired
experience opportunity, and the
which changes must be made. object’s placement when balanc-
ing out its overall effect.
Below, see image of a plaque

This tourist interacts with a real villager (not about World Heritage) on
at a recreated Mantenga Cultural Vil- the wall of Fort Jesus National
lage, designed for tourism, in Swaziland. Monument, Kenya.
How authentic is this?

III. Defining Zone Management
What Does It Mean?
Explain
Zones serve managers only insofar as they offer guidance in managing
the conditions of a site to reach defined management objectives. In
the case of experience opportunity zoning, zones must suggest how
managers can manipulate conditions that contribute to different
Do Not Consider Activities or
Services
visitor experiences. The landscape zoning, due to its emphasis on
During this module we are natural authenticity, happens to correlate very well with habitat
still not suggesting any kinds conservation, where more primitive zones must be more highly
of activities, services, and in-
frastructure (type of service)
conserved in order to offer more natural experiences. Landscape
in our zones. Those come in zoning as well because of its reliance on this form of authenticity
Module 5. allows more detailed, even quantitative controls of certain conditions,
making management strategies quite clear.
Attraction-level zoning, on the other hand, because it relies on
all five types of authenticity requires more subjective and participatory
judgments to decide how to balance authenticity and the myriad other
activities that take place around attractions. Nonetheless, PUP offers
detailed examples and categories from which managers can choose
their strategies to provide experience opportunities.
In both cases, managers must remember that zoning works
at its best when it looks toward future desired conditions, that is,
conditions that do not yet exist. This gap between the baseline and
future desired conditions is precisely the work that PUP needs to
do, whether by closing a road to move a landscape more toward
primitive conditions or increase interpretation to make an attraction
more referentially authentic.
Staff at Ujung Kulon National Park
draw landscape zones during a
workshop. See map on page 4-24.
See also their zone description Managing Landscape Zones
and management factors in the
Appendix.
How Do I Do It?
Explain
Each zone type implies different management considerations in
order to maintain or create conditions consistent with the experience
opportunity we look to create. In other words all attributes require
different management of certain factors. While this manual focuses
on terrestrial settings and WALROS on water near land, open sea
settings still require further innovation.
Faciitate
1. Refer to Management Factors by Zone (4-29) with the starting
set of landscape zones and management factors.
2. Explain that we are defining zones for present and future

conditions. We do not just want to affirm the status quo, but change Manage the Experience, Not
it for the better. What are some of things we can change? the Infrastructure
In the past, managers would
♦♦ Condition of the resource increase infrastructure, regula-
tions, and policies when demand
♦♦ Accommodation level for visitors (rustic or luxurious) for an attraction increased. Do-
♦♦ Accessibility ing this, however, altered the
♦♦ Security characteristics of the site and
changed the visitor experience.
♦♦ Number of visitors Now, we identify what the range
♦♦ Other kinds of management such as interpretation of experiences available in the
site is and manage each experi-
ence accordingly. This happens
3. Start with a standard set of landscape zones and descriptors and by way of a management zone.
modify according to individual needs. Zones can be defined by kinds The visitor center below was
and levels of created when demand increased.
But it is so big, it cannot even pay
for itself.
♦♦ Accessibility
♦♦ On-site Management
♦♦ Social Interaction
♦♦ Visitor Impacts on Resources
4. Study Management Factors by Zone (4-29).

a. Eliminate any zone types that do not exist in the site or
you do not want to exist in the future.
b. Add new zone types if necessary. You may also find the
need to add a particular zone that lies outside this spectrum due to
special management requirements or because its addition will make
this system compatible with a pre-existing zoning. Although we
recommend avoiding adding zones, consider examples (4-30).
c. Add any management factors that are especially relevant
for your site. You may want to add a factor for watercraft, air flight
routes, management of local people, management of a particular
endangered species, or other factors specific to your site’s reality.
5. If you add a specific zone type, choose factors from the list that
are relevant to the site (most do not need to be changed). Feel free to
make up other ones. You should definitely define factors for specially
designated zones within a site that may need their own management
zones, such as cultural villages, or indigenous concessions, or
zones under the management of some kind of project or another
government agency, etc. Ask yourself what are the particular
management challenges for your site and do existing factors address
those challenges? If not, you might need to add more factors.
6. After any new zones have been defined, have participants write
a few sentences for each. You should describe the vital quality or
conditions that mark that area as that zone, including, if necessary,
future conditions.
We want consensus on how they qualitatively differ from

each other. We are describing the “what” in terms of conditions,
not the “how.” “How” comes in the modules on monitoring and
regulations, although you may cite current activities as evidence of
particular conditions.
Managing Attraction Zones

Facilitate
1. For those areas where the attraction experience zones differ
between the present and future, you need to imcrease or sacrifice
authenticity. To do this, consider the five types of authenticity in the
Description of Authenticity Types and Management Factors (4-32).
You will also need to study the Strategies to Increase Authenticity
of Inauthenticity (4-50).
2. Write down in the attraction experience descriptions which
strategies should be taken to improve or sacrifice authenticity. Why
would you sacrifice authenticity? Often we need to build installations,
introduce new activities, or change the landscape which can diminish
authenticity. It is difficult to optimize both development and
authenticity at the same time and place. Consider the following list
of categories of conditions that can be managed for experience:
♦♦ Commercial activity (stores, restaurants, entrance

fees, tourist products)
♦♦ Interpretation (information services, communication
media, storytelling, virtual modes)
♦♦ Landscape design (infrastructure, nature manage-
ment)
♦♦ Visitor services (security, tourism, food, accommo-
dation, etc., visitor treatment by staff)
♦♦ Presentation of attractions (restoration, recreation,
conservation, preservation)
♦♦ Technologies (cross-cutting in all senses)
♦♦ History and culture of site (cross-cutting, reflected
in all aspects of design and offerings)
The Komodo public use coordina-

tor places sectors over the zone
map.

IV. Developing Sectors and Site-Wide Strategy
Defining Sectors
What Does It Mean?

Explain
In this section you will switch to a workshop format, given that defi-
ning and prioritizing sectors is not an objective process, but involves
the interests of stakeholders.
What is a sector? You learned previously that a zone is a
management area based on visitor experiences. It is a prescription
of how an area should be managed. A sector is an area that has a Sectors like Business Units
A sector is to public use as a
common public use function. For example a sector can be the gateway business unit is to the business.
to the site, a major access road, the area around a well known attrac- In businesses, there are dif-
tion, an area where the visitor services can be found, city plaza, etc. ferent divisions or functional
departments that make up a
They can be a small as a bathroom within a heritage house or large business. Similarly a public use
swaths of forest. Nevertheless the smaller they are, the less useful. program is made up of func-
We develop each sector as a unit. The order in which we develop tional units called sectors.
them constitutes the site-wide public use strategy, since we need a
The Answer May Not be “Yes” to
strategic reason for choosing one sector over another.
Public Use
There are other reasons to have sectors too. Imagine you Your job as public use coordina-
have 10,000 ha of rural natural zone split in two patches on opposite tor is not to spread public use
sides of the site. We might assign the two pieces of easy access two activities like a disease. It is your
job to say “no” to public use
individual names such as Sector Wigwam River and Sector Rocky activities in some places. Do not
Mountain to identify specifically which patch we are referring to. enter this step assuming that
Simply mentioning the zone type does not tell us necessarily where you must increase public use ac-
tivity throughout your site. You
in the site we want to go. will likely make costly mistakes
Not only does this allow making geographical references with this assumption.
easier, names also make the zone system much more colorful and
motivating than simply saying Primitive Zone 1, Primitive Zone 2,
and Primitive Zone 3. It is more fun to name each zone according
to whatever criterion the team chooses (although usually based on a
pre-existing geographical or resource names). Sometimes these names
will be used only internally, other times they may actually be the names
used with the public. Sometimes the names can be of great political
importance for stakeholders and for messages that site would like to
promote. See examples of different sectors (4-35).
How Do I Do It? Facilitate

1. Introduce yourself or have the site director give the opening words
to participants.
2. Illustrate the metaphor and your progress in the PUP process.
3. Explain the purpose of zones and sectors.

Sector Urgency vs. Priority 4. Present the zones developed so far and the corresponding map.
We usually assume that if a 5. Pass out the Examples & Illustrations and Directory of Touristic
sector is very important, it Attractions which will be used in the prioritization.
must be a high priority, but
this is not always the case. We 6. Choose sectors, following the fictitious example (4-49). Start by
determine priority in order to identifying the extreme zone types. Where are the primitive areas?
decide what to develop first. So Where are the urban areas? Draw circles around them. Use the list
we tend to develop the sectors
that most urgently need our of criteria for delimiting sectors (4-36).
attention first. But imagine in 7. Then identify strategic areas, delimited by zone type, whether
more mature sites, they may they be attractions found in the Directory of Touristic Attractions,
have gateways or service areas
or other very important sectors communities, or passes through mountains.
that are ALREADY developed. If 8. Then identify landscape features such as valleys, forests, rivers,
this is the case, they may be very areas under the influence of neighbors.
important but not urgent and
thus not priority. So if you do not 9. Make sure no sector has more than 3 attractions from the Directory.
propose any more development If it does, break it up. This will be important in Module 5.
in an important sector, make it 10. Aim for 10–15 sectors, but note that you should not have more
medium- or low-priority.
than 5 in the high-priority and 5 in the medium-priority groups, as
determined in the next section. Thus, it is not advisable to name every
small section in the site as a sector, you might combine small pieces
of different zone types, to avoid having too many sectors. Just realize
that you will name them but will not develop them in the PUP.
Remember one last thing, you can make the map very detailed
as with the example from Canada, but it is easier to manage larger,
rougher sectors and in the future as you work on specific areas, you
can make more detailed maps of those areas.
11. Name the sectors. Consider the political benefits of certain names,
also the importance of marketing, and pre-existing names. Show the
participants the fictitious sector map (4-49).
Sector cards have been placed on
12. Put sector names on cards and place them on the wall.
the base zone map (not the five-
year zone map which is finalized in
the First Review of Results)
Prioritizing Sectors
How Do I Do It?
You will need to break up the sectors into high-, medium-, and
Explain low-priority groups. This grouping will be used to determine when
different sectors and their corresponding products will be developed.
We develop product concepts in Module 5.
This is the part of the PUP process that can be least converted
into a formulaic, step-by-step recipe. A good discussion kept on track
by a strong facilitator will yield the best results.
1. Make refreshments available for this discussion.

Facilitate 2. Make sure everyone understands why we prioritize and that all
sectors will be ordered in three priority groups.
3. Reviewcstrategies for prioritizing sectors ( 4-36).

4. Break into groups of at least 4 people representing different
kinds of stakeholders.
5. Have each group choose the 5 highest priority sectors.
6. Tell participants that each sector should have a boundary and
a function in the public use system. The function is not based on
existing infrastructure (normally) since we determine infrastructure
needs in Module 5. The function could be to contribute a particular
habitat type, experience, or role in site. See examples (4-35).
7. Put them on cards on the map and make sure the strategic criteria
are valid and written clearly on the cards.
8. Count each card as 1 vote to determine the sector order.
9. Limit discussion on medium-priority and no discussion on low-
priority sectors (do not spend time ordering them). Identify 10-15,
five per priority group. Priority is based on overall site importance.
In Module 5 we use the attraction barriers to prioritize activities
to be developed in these areas. After the initial PUP, you create
business plans to see if the products can be developed with economic
feasibility.
10. Take extensive notes, considering plans, desires, and possible The public use coordinator uses
future conditions for each sector. Write who says what. How will the the soccer metaphor to explain
sector strategies to Module 4
site change sectors’ attributes? Following the status quo is usually not participants. For a full description
strategic. Your notes will be very useful in writing the site-wide public of the metaphor, see Background
use strategy below. See strategy examples (4-37; in the Appendix). Reading 7.
O: Read through the sectors and the primary consideration in placing

it in the prioritized list. Ask
R: How do you feel about this list? Which sectors’ priority do you
feel most strongly about, positively or negatively?
I: How well do strategies represented by this list reflect a vision of
where the site is going? Do we have some new understanding about
how the site can develop? What?
D: How will this list be useful to us in developing the site?
Writing the Site-Wide Public Use Strategy
1. Explain the next steps in the PUP process is for you to write up a
site-wide strategy based on this discussion and then distribute it for Explain
comment among participants here.
2. Thank the participants and close.
3. Take your notes from the previous section and write up a site-wide
public use strategy. Each sector should have a description (see example Do
on 4-39) and a SMARTI objective describing the high and medium
priority sectors’ principal contributions to the strategy.
4. Wait until maps are done before giving strategy to participants.

Site-Wide Public Use Strategy: Heart of Public Use Plan
Conventional plans usually just write lists of actions or strategies and mark their priority (hard, medium, low) without
looking at their interaction or their sequence. Such plans can hardly be considered strategic, more like wish lists.
Thus, the site-wide public use strategy which explains the precise relationships between sectors and how and when
they will be developed becomes the strategic heart of the entire public use plan. We use a narrative format because
it forces us to describe coherent relationships, then summarized in the chronology. There are several examples in
this manual (Tikal, Ujung Kulon, Komodo); spend the necessary time to do it well.
V. Developing Zone and Sector Maps

What Does It Mean?
Explain
Now with the reconciled data and sector names, you need to create
zone and sector maps with specific boundaries and the data you
Attractive Maps Win Smiles
You should not underestimate have generated. If you have exceptional mapping skills, you could
the importance of having an put both on the same map; but it would have to be legible.
attractive map. Visual images
motivate people and get them
excited about a new vision. So How Do I Do It?
look at an example map on page
4-29 and make yours look even
more professional! You will probably need a mapmaker, access to GIS is best; but if you
do not have these resources, you can always draw a map by hand (see
Côa Archeological Park by hand 4-51); see the fictitious examples
Do and that of Yoho National Park (4-43).
1. Use landscape boundaries to define zones and also sectors.

2. Add attractions and human evidence if not already on map.
3. Once you have mapped all zones and sectors, now calculate the
percentage of area for different kinds of zones (4-42). This essentially
is the inventory. GIS software can calculate these percentages for
you. You can also do it by hand by using a sheet of paper (perhaps
10 x 10 cm) and measuring how many squares each zone occupies.
Take this surface area and divide by the surface area of the site. Areas
that restrict visitors should be calculated as well.
4. If you use GIS, have layers for biophysical, social, managerial
settings as well as experience levels, a zone map, and sector map, all
in the same database. See Côa Archeological Park by GIS (4-52).
5. Distribute this document to participants to serve both as the
proceedings for the meeting and also to get their comments.
6. You may include the attraction experience map in the Directory
of Touristic Attractions as well as attraction zone descriptions.
This increases the likelihood that a tour operator does not propose
activities inconsistent with the desired experience. You may modify
the experiences again after products in Modules 5 and 6. Also you
Participants hard at work at Pico
may consider instead of an attraction map, using a photographic
Bonito National Park, developing description as, for example, PowerPoint presentation # 8b.
a new zone map. 7. Integrate those comments into the strategy. Move on to Mod 5.

Future Steps
Now that we have the supply and demand for visitor experiences,
we can develop strategic products in Module 5. We will then test the
concepts for these products with real visitors and service providers
in the area to see what they think.

♦ Diversity of Recreation Opportunities from Parks Canada.
♦ Description of Landscape Experience Opportunity Zones
♦ How Zones Were Determined
♦ Landscape Attributes Map of Pico Bonito
♦ Management Factors by Zone
♦ Other Possible Zones
♦ Description of Attraction Zones
♦ Description of Authenticity Types, Settings, and Distractors
♦ Strategies to Increase the Authenticity of Inauthenticity
♦ How the Sectors Were Defined
♦ Examples of Different Kinds of Sectors
♦ Criteria for Delimiting Sector Boundaries
♦ Strategies for Prioritizing Sectors
♦ Site-wide Public Use Strategy for Tikal National Park
♦ Example of a Sector Description
♦ Inventory of Zones Types for Crater Lagoon
♦ Determining Zone Buffers and Distances from Roads
♦ Zone Map for Yoho National Park
♦ Example of Attraction Zone Map
♦ Attraction Zone Sheet and an example
♦ Map overlays for Crater Lagoon World Heritage Site map
♦♦ Aukerman, Haas, and Associates, LLC. 2011. Water • Include all main discussion points and significant
and Land Recreation Opportunity Spectrum. User’s Hand- contributions (include name)
book, 2nd Edition. Bureau of Reclamation, US De- • Include all module products and drafts
partment of the Interior. www.usbr.gov/recreation/ • Include all intermediary contributions such as
cards on the wall
publications/WALROS_Handbook_2011.pdf • Send to all participants (and other stakeholders)
♦♦ Narrative illustration/short story of ROS zones • Allow them to review it for accuracy and return it
to you to update
♦♦ Sector Map, Ujung Kulon • Allow them to add contributions, which can go as
♦♦ Site-wide strategies for Komodo and Ujung Kulon a dated addendum
♦♦ Gilmore, James H. and B. Joseph Pine II. 2007. ate in a central location
Authenticity: What Consumers Really Want. Harvard capture contributions, promote co-creation and
Business School Press. ownership

This visitor tests the real fake wall. That is, the original designers of the Chalet
de Condessa in Sintra, Portugal, intentionally used a technique from the sur-
realist philosophy that imitated actual wood by painting its texture on cement.
Thus when managers restored the Chalet in 2011 (below), they used the same
deceptive technique, which although fake is extremely authentic of the original
building. Thus his experience of surreal authenticity proved a memorable and
satisfying experience.
Photo courtesy of Parques da

Sintra

Module 4: Zone & Sector Mapping

Focus Question: Can we accurately map both visitor experiences and public
use management functions to create a site-wide public use strategy?
• Define and develop management zones • Create the first draft vision of the
• Develop a site-wide public use strategy public use zone system
• Get excited about the logistics of
zone selection and interaction
• See the emergence of a site-wide
public use strategy
Introduction
15 Introduction
10 Review pre-existing products and agenda
10 Presentation: zoning and sectors PowerPoint #8
Defining Zones
5 Choosing zone names Technical team only
180 Analyzing the biophysical landscape setting
60 Analyzing the social landscape setting
30 Analyzing the managerial landscape setting
120 Reconciling all 3 kinds of landscape settings
20 Analyzing attraction attributes (per attraction) Depends on # of attractions
Defining Zone Management
10 Introduction Technical team only
20 Presentation
30 Managing landscape zones
30 Managing attraction zones (per attraction) Depends on # of attractions
Defining and Prioritizing Sectors
30 Introduction Public workshop
90 Defining sectors
180 Prioritizing sectors
15 Future Steps in PUP and Closing
2 days Writing a site-wide public use strategy Distribute to participants
Developing Zone and Sector Maps
120 Defining boundaries With mapmaker
30 Inventory of experiences Mapmaker works on his
120 Narrative description of zones and sectors own

4-23
Staff of Ujung Kulon National Park in Indonesia drew this zone map of their peninsular site during the Module 4 zoning
workshop. Note that they created two kinds of marine zones to accommodate the needs of their particular site.

4
Purposes: 1. Develop a set of zones based on visitor experiences, thus determining the site’s supply
of experiences; 2. Develop a set of sectors that together form the site-wide public use strategy
Focus Question: Can we accurately map both visitor experiences and public use management functions
to create a site-wide public use strategy?
Summary: Good public use manages not only resources but also visitor experiences. Every site can offer
a range of visitor experience opportunities, in other words, has a supply, determined by its physical,
social, and managerial nature. These experiences are managed based on corresponding zones. The site
also identifies a set of sectors, areas with a common public use function. Their combination constitutes
the site-wide public use strategy.
Products: Steps I–III: Zone name descriptions with management factors defined, zones map draft,
attraction zones; Step IV: Defined and prioritized sectors with site-wide strategy; Step V: Zone/
sector maps, inventory of zone types, narratives of zones and sectors
Introduction
A visitor experience can take place within a landscape and within a particular attraction, when different
from the landscape. The conditions for these feeling can be mapped onto a spectrum ranging from
walking in an urban downtown (not remote and not natural) to hiking in a distant wild land with no
evidence of humans for kilometers around (very remote, very natural, and very big). Also as a visitor
approaches and enters an attraction (when possible to enter), a visitor also creates an experience based
on how authentic the event feels to him or her. Managers can plan for certain kinds of visitor experience
opportunities. In this module, we map these experience opportunity zones and then define how to
manage them. Then we divide the site into sectors, areas with a common public use function, which
together form the site-wide public use strategy.

Diversity of Recreation Opportunities
A site needs to accommodate a

variety of different kinds of visitor
experiences.

Description of Landscape Experience Opportunity Zones
Urban Suburban Rural developed Rural natural Semi-primitive Primitive
A substantially urbanized Substantially modified Predominantly natural A predominantly natural A predominantly natural Essentially unmodified
environment charac- natural environment. appearing environments or natural appearing envi- or natural appearing envi- natural environment of
terizes the type, although Sights and sounds of hu- with moderate evidence ronment of moderate-to- ronment of moderate-to fairly large size (at least
the background may have mans are readily evident, of human sights and large size characterizes large size characterizes 2,000 ha block) charac-
natural appearing ele- and the interaction be- sounds characterize this the type. Concentration the type. Interaction be- terize the type. Inter-
ments. Vegetative cover tween users is often mod- type. Such evidence usu- of users is low (1–3 en- tween users is low (1 action between users is
is often exotic and mani- erate to high. A consid- ally harmonizes with the counters/day), but there group/2 days), but there very low (<1 group/2
cured. Sights and sounds erable number of facilities natural environment. is often evidence of other is some evidence of other days) and evidence of
of humans are every- are designed for use by a Motorized vehicles may users. The area is man- users. The area is man- other users is minimal.
where. Large number of large number of people be used to access site aged in such a way that aged in such a way that The area is managed to
users can be expected, (>30 people/day). Mod- facilities. These areas minimum on-site controls minimum on-site controls be essentially free from
both on-site and in erate densities exist far often serve as gateways to and restrictions may be and restrictions may be evidence of human re-
nearby areas. Facilities for from developed sites. more primitive zones. present, but are subtle. present, but are subtle. strictions and controls.
highly intensified motor Facilities for intensified There are 10–30 en- There may be dirt roads, These areas are a day’s These areas are more
use and parking are avail- motorized use and park- counters with other peo- power lines, or other hike (4–8 hours) from than a day’s walk from
able with forms of mass ing available but inter- ple/day. infrastructure to orient main roads. There is little the nearest access road
transit often available to spersed with natural vege- visitors. This area extends orienting infrastructure. (10+ hours). There is no
carry people throughout tation and soil cover. 3–4 hour hiking from infrastructure to orient
the site. Includes rural villages. nearest road or less time visitors.
but highly strenuous ter-
rain.
Human Infrastructure Associated with Each Zone Type

Public Use: Buildings, Public Use: Visitor centers,
Public Use: Small visitor Public Use: Trails, dirt Public Use: Hiking tracks, No visible human evi-
paved multi-lane roads, roads, parking lots reception areas, major roads, shelters, bridges, shelters, small bridges, dence, besides old and
visitor centers, parking Non Public Use: Paved two trails, camps, paved 1- overlooks, eco-lodges very small accommoda- overgrown trails; struc-
lots, many services lane roads, dams, power lane roads, eco-lodges Non Public Use: Rock tions tures as cultural attrac-
Non Public Use: Com- lines, pipes passing Non Public Use: Pas- walls, abandoned struc- Non Public Use: tions like ancient temples
munities and all associ- through natural areas; turelands, secondary for- tures, power lines; struc- Old, abandoned struc- or mines
ated infrastructure industrial monocultural ests, agroforestry, family tures as cultural attrac- tures; structures as cul-
agriculture where most of farms, orchards, multi- tions tural attractions like an-
natural landscape erased cropping agriculture, cient temples
power lines, no perma-
nent settlements
*Semi and primitive zones typically provoke greater sense of spirituality. The more remote and the more spiritual the experience, the greater the connection with na-
ture that visitors tend to feel.
Description of Zone Types
4-27
How the Zones Were Determined
Crater Lagoon World Heritage Site
Urban: There are three main urban zones. They include Bordertown in the southeast side of the site,
the town on the Southern River, and the series of communities on the northwest side of the site.
Suburban: This includes most of the land to the north of the main highway. These lands are under
heavy agriculture. These areas are outside of the site. There are no modified zones inside the site.
Rutal developed: There are large tracts of natural zone in the northwestern part of the site from the
communities down into the hills. There is more in the land between the two branches of the Y River
and more south of Bordertown.
Rural natural: These areas can be found along the Southern River where boat passage is easy up to
River City. Canoes can also go up the Y River to the confluence and beyond. The Main Road is high
access for four-wheel drive in the rainy season and most cars in the dry season.
Semi-primitive: Most of the site consists of difficult access. This includes most of the lowland
rainforest, even though quite a few hunters and slash and burners can be found there, distinguishing
it from wildness. The hills to the east of mountain chain is semi-primitive simply because of human
presence and the terrain can be crossed easily with horses. In the south, most points can be accessed
with a day’s walk.
Primitive: The two patches of primitive are remote, hard to get to and move in. A person can walk
several days without encountering other people.
Biophysical Settings Map

This map taken from Pico Bonito Na-
tional Park shows roads, buildings, and
biophysical attributes of the area.

Management Factor by Zone
Management Management
Category Factor Urban Suburban Rural Rural natural Semi- Primitive
developed primitive
Access Road surface Paved, multi-lane Paved, double Paved or dirt, Dirt, one lane to Hike 4–10 hrs Hike > 10 hrs
lane one lane a 4-hr hike out from nearest road from road
Transport Motorized, Motorized, Motorized, Motorized, Non-motorized, Pedestrian,
type public public private private private animal
On-site Information High: Specialized Moderate: Small Moderate: Signs, Moderate-Low: Low: Signs Nothing
Management availability personnel, visitor visitor reception, kiosks, guards signs
centers, signs, signs, guards
printed material
Infrastructure Concrete Moderate: Small Moderate-low: Low: Roads, Trails, gates, None or hidden
buildings, hotels, buildings, paved Roads, bridges, small parking signs, shelters, trail markers or
paved roads, roads, bridges, parking lots, eco- areas, gates, eco- eco-lodges rarely a bridge
Management Factors by Zone
bridges, parking parking lots, lodges, small lodges

lots rural village farm buildings
Basic services Information, Some: Some: Housing, Transport, signs, Transport, signs, None
food, housing, Information, transport, housing shelters
interpretation, food, housing, information
sales, transport transport
Social # Encounters Continuous >30 people/day 10–30 1–3 parties/day* 1 party/2 days < 1party/2 days
Interaction with visitors Discontinuous, people/day
brief
# Encounters Guaranteed: Highly likely: Likely: Guards, Unlikely Very unlikely Very unlikely
with staff and Guards, Guards, shepherds, farm

locals townspeople, maintenance, workers
salespeople, villagers, farm
administrators workers
Visitor Tolerance for High: great Moderate: Low: usually Low: evidence Very low None
Impact resource de- modification of natural system harmonizes with of other visitors
gradation & natural areas, air modified for environment
contamination and water infrastructure
*A “party” could pollution
be any number of Visitor Many: signs, Guards, signs, Patrols, signs, Patrols, signs, Signs None
people, but controls permanent guard post, gates gates natural gates of
encountered as a guards, police, wood or rocks
single group. barriers,
surveillance
Sound High: many Medium: cars, Low: cars Low: cars None None
people, cars radios
engines, radios
4-29
Other Possible Zones
Although most settings can be placed within the six zones provided
on page 4-25, it is possible, however, to create additional zones. It
is not recommended you create additional zones, unless you feel
the area truly cannot be managed with only the factors considered
earlier. Note that all these suggestions would no longer fit nicely into
a recreation experience spectrum. It is better to add management
factors than zones.
Restricted Zone. This might be the most common seventh zone.

It is any area where public use visitation is restricted or banned,
such as an area for research or due to dangerous conditions such as
disease or violence. Nonetheless, it still has experience opportunities
even if unexploited.
Indigenous Reserve. This zone contains indigenous populations

within the site which may or not be open to outside visitation.
The people are generally poor and the infrastructure minimal. If
politically feasible, such reserves can still be zoned with ROS.
Oil Production.This zones contains infrastructure for oil

production, paved roads, interspersed with natural forest. Due to
danger and contamination and bad publicity, only special visitors
are allowed in this area. In the 6-zone system, oil production could
be zoned as rural developed or else simply as a restricted part of
the site, outside of the experience inventory.
Commercial fishing. In this area, commercial fishing ships are

allowed to enter. Visitors also use this zone and thus this zone could
be zoned as rural developed.
Core or Primitive Zone. Core zones can often be zoned as

primitive.
Buffer Zone. Buffer zones could be zoned as any of the 6 ROS

zones.
Cultural Zone. Cultural zones in the current system can usually be

divided up among several zone types ranging from urban (where
the communities are) to rural.

Description of Attraction Authenticity Zones
Description of Attraction Zones

Opportunity Experience Opportunity Examples and Setting Attributes
Zone
Very high or Perceived as completely Sites may “prohibit” visitors such as in remote, active Buddhist
Maximal unmanaged for visitation, temples high in mountains; dangerous war zones; deserted
(Class 5) totally real, totally authentic. Pacific islands; operating refugee camps in Africa; inaccessible
Visitor lives the story fishing villages; “undiscovered” ruins; houses with real
immediately upon entering; paranormal manifestations; dangerous urban neighborhoods; a
they directly face history in the secret chamber, tomb, tunnel, or space within a church where
making, untamed forces of only few enter. ROS primitive zones such as interior Antarctica,
nature, or the supernatural or remote Yellowstone, Congo, or other perceived wild areas.
spiritual beyond their control. Where locals manage space for original intent (spiritual,
Heritage settings provoke commercial, community organizing, ecological) not for visitors.
powerful emotions of Popular references: Raiders of the Lost Ark tomb room; secret
excitement, awe, or fear. church spaces in Da Vinci Code; deep jungle in Joseph Conrad’s
Heart of Darkness
High (Class 4) Visitor completely and Well-preserved ghost town; a tower of a castle, a particular rock
immediately accepts engraving, graveyard, palace courtyard, inside an original house
authenticity, even though site in a historic district, highly preserved coral reef in which visitors
may be managed for visitation. temporarily feel immersed and surrounded by setting. May be
Few distractors interfere with managed by locals with some original intent but likely managed
visitor engagement of the by an agency for visitation and other objectives. Archeological
story, provoking intense ruins in relatively unvisited sector of Angkor Watt, uninhabited
feelings, though less powerful islands in Galapagos National Park, less visited stretch of the
than Class 5 due to Great Wall of China; Gettysburg Battlefield; some Venetian
management and visitor canals; Antigua, Guatemala; view from the top of Half Dome,
presence. Yosemite National Park
Medium Visitors accept authenticity Managed environments for visitors with varying degrees of
(Class 3) though not immediately, and distractors, usually for visitation such as paved surfaces, artificial
are willing to overlook lighting, entrance security, gift shops, cafés, and many visitors.
moderate distractors, often Pena Palace in Sintra; Embera Drua village in Chagras National
associated with visitation. Site Park, Panama; Iguazu Falls, Argentina; commonly visited church
still can provoke emotions but in historic center such as a cathedral in Cologne, Germany;
not likely intense excitement, smaller park with many trails and signs; immersive zoo or
fear, or awe. museum exhibits; climbing cables on Half Dome, Yosemite
National Park
Low (Class 2) Significant distractors hinder Highly managed, usually over-commercialized for tourism or
authenticity, making it difficult, suffers congestion by too many visitors or inappropriate
but not impossible for visitors behaviors by visitors or managers. Too many sights, smells, and
to accept authenticity and sounds of modern technology. Attractions may be roped off,
engage the story. The site may marketing may exaggerate attractions and experience;
provoke some favorable, mild Tombstone, Arizona; Komodo Island where dragons eat
emotions, but often leftovers from restaurant kitchen and visitors laugh and point at
punctuated by distractors and them; congested parking lot/service area in Yosemite Valley,
disappointments. Yosemite National Park; overcommercialized Stonehenge
Minimal or very Visitors reject authenticity and Extreme commercialization and tourism degradation. Get off the
low or do not engage in the story, bus and immediately attacked by local peddlers; markets that
inauthentic leave with negative cater to visitors where residents no longer go or have moved
(Class 1) impressions, frustrated. Regard away; hotels and restaurants line main streets and have little to do
site as a fake, sell-out, with heritage; southern beaches of Lonely Planet, Tasmania
deceiving, and disappointing, overrun by campers; Thailand islands gutted by tourism; parts of
but not principally because of Yucatán Mayan sites inundated by tourism scampering over
price or service quality, but ancient structures
rather their perception of its
inauthenticity.

Description of Authenticity Types and Management Factors
Description of Authenticity Types, Settings, and Distractors

Authenticity Authenticity Attributes
Type Inauthentic ÅÆAuthentic Settings & Indicators Distractor Examples
Artificial Natural Physical Setting Too many signs posted on
Natural • Remoteness landscape; manicured gardens or
Intervened Unintervened • Naturalness presence of exotic species;
that which exists • Size of natural space artificial materials to reproduce or
in natural state Near Remote restore monuments; too much
• Number/kind of
in or of the artificial lighting; use of
human elements in
earth, remaining Small patches Large tracts disposable packaging; selling
landscape
untouched by overpackaged junk food or junk
(development)
human hands; Many social No social plastic souvenirs; congestion;
encounters encounters • Species composition sounds of generators and music;
not artificial or
synthetic+ annoying, bright colors; sight and
Restored Unrestored Social Setting sound of vehicles near heritage
• Number of encounters areas; buildings that dominate
Unbiophilic Biophilic with other people landscape; metal railings; natural
• Behavior and quantity materials mistook for artificial
Refined Raw of visitors ones (mineral that appears
artificial); litter; domestic animals
Overbuilt Rustic Managerial Setting
• Materials used
• Managed vegetation
• Technologies
employed
• Interpretation that
demonstrates natural
authenticity
Imitation Original Physical Setting Clear signs of restoration such as
Original • Original designs and reinforcing beams, differently
Ruined Totally preserved* forms of tangible colored plaster, modern cement;
that which natural or cultural modern architectural elements
possesses Appears old heritage that clash with heritage; fake
originality in Appears new heritage such as recently crafted
design, being the First of kind Managerial Setting statues or life-size version of a
first of its kind, Numerous • Maintenance temple; souvenirs that everyone
never before • Reproduction else in the region sells; same kind
seen by human of local musicians found
• Restoration
eyes; not a copy throughout region; natural
• Conservation formations (i.e., geologic), species
or imitation
• Preservation or habitat type that appears in
• Interpretation that many places, widely distributed
demonstrates
originality
Disingenuous Genuine Physical Setting Exaggerated claims about heritage
Exceptional • Exceptional natural (“see jaguars,” “real waterfall
Low aesthetics High aesthetics and cultural designs experience”); ubiquitous shops
that which is and forms and salespeople, especially chains
done Low quality High quality or international brands
exceptionally workmanship workmanship Managerial Setting (McDonald’s); visitors rushed
well, executed • Interpretation to through a location or along a pre-
individually and Poor visitor Exceptional, highlight exceptional defined route, factory-line
extraordinarily treatment by caring treatment qualities fashion; staff ignoring visitor
by someone staff • Customer service troubles such as disorientation;
demonstrating signs with long lists of
• Marketing claims
human care; not Overcommer- Done prohibitions
about site

unfeelingly or cialized, money exceptionally for • Commercialization
disingenuously motivated own sake, inspired associated with site
performed • Commercial brands
allowed on site
Fake Real Managerial Setting Anachronisms such as presence
Referential • Interpretation to bring of modern technology, non-
Generic Vernacular past alive, to connect period uniforms or music;
that which refers people with heritage, laughable depictions of past
to some other Dull Provocative customs, heroes, people; souvenirs made from
context, drawing beliefs, etc. outside of region (American
inspiration from Disillusive Captivating • Historical accuracy of candle made in China); products
human history, building design, that do not relate to heritage and
and tapping into Incredible Credible uniforms worn, history of area (little plastic car
our shared reproduction in general toys in store of ancient Egyptian
memories and Dishonors past Honors past • Use of themes and site); trivialization of references to
longings; not motifs to give meaning something perceived as authentic;
derivative or Unevocative of Evocative of past interpretation that gives
• Tributes and
trivial past information rather than immerses
memorials
Immersive people in experience
Distant • Referential products opportunities
and souvenirs for
purchase
Insincere about Sincere about Managerial Setting Know-it-all guides who only
Influential helping others helping others • Interpretation to forge relate information and offer no
new meanings between new perspectives; statements that
that which exerts Insignificant Significant heritage and visitors visitors can help but no real
influence on benefits conservation and • Opportunities for connection to conservation or
other entities, community visitors to participate helping others such as local
calling human benefits in heritage communities; contradictions
beings to a conservation and local between statements made and
higher goal and Informational Meaningful, community support reputation of managers;
providing a interpretive • Sustainable design and appearance that manager uses
foretaste of a environmentally heritage simply to make money
better way; not Local value only Outstanding responsible (over charging, too much
inconsequential universal value^ management commerce, nickel and diming,
or without Profiteering selling out to donors, too much
• Associated
meaning Philanthropic corporate sponsorship); lack of
conservation and
No reflection of transparency about use of
development programs
human condition Connects to solicited donations; overly
universal human • Reputation of insistent that visitors contribute
Greenwash condition managers (credibility) or purchase; façade or insincere
conservation efforts
Real
environmental
action
Note: Types become more intangible from top to bottom (see applicable settings attributes)
+Definition according to Gilmore and Pine (2007)
*Reference to the World Heritage Convention’s definition of “integrity”
^Most significant heritage quality for the World Heritage Convention

How the Sectors Were Defined
Note the names below were chosen for convenience, not for political
or marketing purposes. Refer to map on page 4-27.
Wildland North: This is one of the two primitive sectors.

Wildland South: This is the other primitive sector.
Research or Restricted Sector: This sector sits alongside the
northeastern side of Wildland South. It was sectored as restricted
because the site is carrying out investigation on an endemic and
highly endangered hummingbird and does not want visitors to the
area.
Crater Lagoon: This is the site’s principal attraction. The site
has developed significant infrastructure around the lake, accessible
by the main road. From here hikers can hike into the Central
Mountains.
Site Entrance: In this border town, the site has set up one of its
two main visitor reception areas.
River City: The River City plays a key role as a staging ground to
the Overlook Mountains. It is only accessible by river.
Central Mountain: While not primitive, this semi-primitive sector
has a popular hiking passage leading from Crater Lake to Southern
River.
Eastern Hills: These hills buffer the mountain chain.
Southern Lowlands: This is a large expanse of lowland rainforest
between the Southern River and Wildland South as well as the
southern border of the site.
Overlook Mountains: This is the second most popular attraction
due to the stunning view over the Northern Lowlands and up into
the mountains. Tourism at this site alone supports much of River
City.
Northern Lowlands: This is the largest expanse of lowland
rainforest in the site. It is delimited by the Y River to the north,
the mountain chain to the west, the Southern River to the south,
and the site border to the east.
Y River: The river is accessible by boats up to the confluence
where it becomes too shallow to traverse in boat. The waters that
feed the river originate in Wildland North.
Northern Hills: This section of the site is clearly delimited by
Wildland North, the northern border, and the Main Road.
Corner Forest: This patch of secondary forest lies north of Y
River, east of Wildland North and enclosed by the northern and
western border of the site.

Main Road: This road connects Ciudad Grande with Crater Lake.
It is a dirt road, but used heavily by visitors. In the wet season, it is
best to use four-wheel drive.
Southern Corner: This is the most isolated part of the site, but
small and not hard to get to if someone wanted to.
Agricultural Zone: The northwestern corner of the site has
been heavily modified by peasants entering from the populated
communities to the north.
Table for Strategies for Prioritizing Sectors

Sector Model for the Project in Financing Other Easier Ones Visitor Access for Political Planning
Others Development Sectors First Orientation Others Problem Framework
1
Examples of Different Kinds of Sectors
♦♦ Area around a site entrance or gateway

♦♦ Area around visitor services (visitor center, restaurant,
parking lot)
♦♦ Area around well known attraction or attractions, especially
those referred to in the Planning Framework. It is possible Urban Sectors
that an attraction is larger than a sector such as with small We do want a sector for every ma-
monuments. jor service or area such as a mall,
police station, bus stop, city park,
♦♦ Area around major access route etc. That would produce way too
♦♦ Area of a block of forest, mountain range, canyon, body many sectors and lose value. But
of water one particularly famous mall or
one particular part of town that
♦♦ Area around a community encompasses a hub of services
♦♦ Area around development such as a dam and electricity particularly relevant to visitation
generating equipment would be sectors of interest. Pri-
oritization will obligate planners to
♦♦ In a city: a plaza or square, urban park, market zone, a street choose which sectors (of possibly
or district, mall, transportation terminal, stadium, red-light hundreds) are most important.
district, area around a monument or other attraction

4-35
Criteria for Delimiting Sector Boundaries
♦♦ Delimit along zone boundaries, but not making sectors too

small or too large
♦♦ Delimit by strategic areas for public use development
♦♦ Delimit along pre-existing identities of an area (ex: historical
center, holy ground, battlefield, or valley)
♦♦ Delimit along landscape features
♦♦ Delimit around 1-3 attractions
♦♦ Delimit around communities
♦♦ Delimit no more than 15 sectors
Strategies for Prioritizing Sectors
♦ Focus on one sector, making it a model for the rest; or focus

on one sector to absorb the visitation.
♦ One sector has a project already under development and
cannot wait.
♦ Work with one sector whose development or success will
permit a second one to begin functioning. For example, a
second sector requires more personnel, but until the first one
begins to generate revenue, this one cannot operate.
♦ Start with the easiest sectors and products with the highest
return on effort, to get some easy products up and running.
It is very motivating to start making money and see visitors
pass through gates that up until now have remained silent.
♦ Focus on the sector that serves as visitor orientation for the
rest of the site.
♦ One sector serves as access to others.
♦ One sector’s development could suppress a political problem,
holding back the rest.
♦ One sector serves the Planning Framework or protects aspects
mentioned therein (such as those for which the site earned
World Heritage designation) than others.

Site-Wide Public Use Strategy for Tikal National Park
The following proposal outlines a general public use strategy for Tikal National Park. For its preparation,
we used a site-wide analysis considering the interaction of the different sectors, different stakeholder
concerns, and the Planning Framework. This document, in general, does not cover details for each
particular sector, such information can be found in other sections of the Public Use Plan.
We begin with the following statements about different interests and assumptions involving public
use at Tikal.
♦ The Core Sector has the highest priority for the Technical Unit because of the high rate of
degradation of the archeological structures caused by visitation.
♦ The visitor services sector is without control of visitor services, presence of unauthorized
service providers, and the lack of a vision to guide the development of the sector.
♦ The UNESCO/UNEP/UNF/MICUDE/RARE project has determined that the fastest way
to improve public use in Tikal is to train site personnel in public use management. The best
way to provide this training is by way of a small area outside the influence of the Core Sector.
Later, those management skills will be applied to other sectors. This approach meets the first
goal of the Project, which is, to develop management capacity in the site.
♦ In general, Tikal would like to keep its current high level of conservation.
♦ The Park would like to discourage the development of new archeological sites in the site pe-
riphery. The policy proposed by the Park is that no sites should be developed without a plan
for guaranteeing self-sufficiency.
♦ The Park recognizes the need to consider visitor experiences in order to provide better service
and it must development appropriate criteria for public use. The visitor experience begins at
the park entrance, or better yet, with site promotions.
♦ The Park would like to develop a financial mechanism that would allow visitors to contribute
to site conservation and promote quality public use. A strategy of MICUDE is to use “tourism
as a source of sustainability for cultural development.”
♦ The Park anticipates greater integration with the Uaxactún, El Zotz, and Yaxchá (adjacent
protected areas) in terms of public use, because the private sector is already encouraging these
connections.
♦ IDAEH would like to retain control over the site’s development; therefore, any resulting system
must comply with the site’s highest authority.
♦ Finally, the message the site would like to present to visitors concerns the interaction of the
ecological and cultural components (see site messages). That connection was the reason why
UNESCO declared Tikal as a mixed World Heritage Site.
Sectors
A workshop was held to identify the site sectors. A sector is a geographical area managed as a single
unit in terms of its public use development. The following are the different sectors and their priority
level within the public use system.

High Priority Sectors
1) Core Zone
Even though it is referred to as “zone” this sector has the highest priority because of the deterioration
of the structures located at the center of the site. Tikal must apply immediate measures to conserve
its architectural integrity for the benefit of future generations.
2) Service Area
This sector deserves second place in terms of priority because of the large number of activities taking
place in it without any regulatory control. Tikal must visualize and redesign the sector in order to meet
its goals, not only those of service providers.
3) Model Zone
Since Tikal needs urgently to develop the capacity to manage public use, it is crucial to begin building
capacity it in this sector right away in order to extend it to other sectors. Additionally, thanks to the
United Nations, funding and plans to develop this sector are well underway.
4) Entrance
The Tikal experience begins at the entrance. An unfinished archway façade greets the visitors when
they come. The admissions system and other related services need to be improved to improve the
visitor experience.
5) Main Road
The visitor begins to enjoy the site while driving down the main road. The site must ensure that this
stretch of road fulfills visitor experience expectations, especially in terms of safety.
Medium Priority Sectors
6) Road to Uaxactún
Some foreign donors have expressed a desire to improve the road to Uaxactún. Thus the site needs to
assign this road at least a medium priority to assure that its development is not harmful to the site.
7) Central Sector
Once the Core Sector is under appropriate public use management, Tikal can extend regulations and
planning to other areas outside the Core Zone and begin to development the Central Sector. Currently
very few visitors take advantage of this sector, but it has potential to offer a more natural experience
than the Core Zone.

8) Pine Forest
Even though the Pine Forest is outside the site, IDAEH has taken the initiative to manage it because
no other agencies have claimed it. Because of its natural value (it is the only pine forest in the region)
as well as its historical value (the Mayas might have planted it), it deserves special treatment and could
become a tourist destination.
9) Jimbal
Even though this archeological site is located outside site limits, its protection is important because of
its archeological value, therefore the Site has intervened to manage it.
10) Anabella Trail
This trail is currently closed. Nevertheless, at least one tour operator takes visitors there, thereby linking
Tikal and Yaxchá. This trail has potential for other trekking products within the site.
A Narrative of the Site-Wide Public Use Strategy
Due to the large number of people that visit the Core Zone and the Service Area, the highest priority
is to manage this visitation. Once the system is established, the site will reorient its tourism services
around the main messages and visitor experience. Under these criteria, it could launch new products
consistent with the guidelines of conservation and visitor experience. Additionally, Tikal will establish
management systems that would assure the conservation of its natural and cultural resources, using
public use as a source of income and support. For this, the site will establish the means to obtain more
revenue and to keep control of those for use in conservation.
The first strategy, therefore, is to regulate the Core Zone and the Service Area based on expe-
rience and according to the limits of acceptable change. Simultaneously to the implementation of this
greater control, the site would develop the Model Zone in order to build management capacity (i.e.
visitation, public use funds, implementation of regulations, promotion of visitor’s experience, marketing,
and quality of service). After a period of time, if the Site has succeeded in establishing the necessary
mechanisms for a more agile form of management, the UNESCO/UNEP/UNF/MICUDE/RARE
project would consider the implementation of the same mechanisms in the Core Zone and Service
Area.
After the initial stabilization, the site will launch an effort to redesign the Service Area. This
would include a detailed plan for new services, improved landscaping, and other elements that pro-
mote site goals. The reorientation of the Service Area would require several years (especially due to
significant infrastructure modification), and it would have to run on its own calendar, supported by
improvements obtained in other sectors of high priority.
The site entrance is not currently under crisis, therefore, once a vision for the experience and
new needs for Tikal have been established, it would be much easier to redesign the entrance according
to that vision.

It is almost certain that no major changes would be implemented in the sectors of intermediate
priority during the next five years unless the initiative comes from the private sector, demanding the
Park’s intervention to regulate such activities.

Chronological Summary
Year 1 (2003?)
♦ Implement control over the Core Zone and Service Area (regulations, monitoring, and impact
mitigation)
♦ Implement the easiest elements in these sectors in order to promote visitor’s experience
♦ Open the Model Zone to the public and develop visitor management capacity in this area.
♦ Using the Model Zone as an example, IDAEH would develop mechanisms to raise funds and
to keep control of them to be used for the natural and cultural conservation of the Park.
Year 2 (2004?)
♦ Evaluate the success of management techniques and transfer acquired capacity to the Core
Zone and Service Area.
♦ Redesign in detail the service area (i.e. services, landscape architecture, architectonic style).
Year 3 (2005?)
♦ Begin rebuilding the new service area.
♦ Reorient the site according to the messages and visitor’s experience (i.e. promotions, educational
programs, placing new signs, staff training).
♦ Hire a public use coordinator (UNESCO project ends).
Year 4 (2006?)
♦ Improve the entrance
♦ Create a new calendar for public use
Year 5+ (2007+)
♦ Develop products in sectors with lower priority level (i.e. trails, areas in a natural state or areas
that promote solitude, links with other protected areas)

Example of a Sector Description
Crater Lagoon Sector

Area: 35 ha
Boundaries: W: Main Road, E: Central Mountains down to
lowlands, N: Northern Hills, S: Central Mountains
Attractions: Lagoon is its own attraction, view of lowlands
Human Disturbance: Area around the lagoon has been heavily
modified. There are bungalows, rustic restaurant, overlooks, parking
lots, and a small museum. There are several trailheads that lead from
this area.
Strategic Importance: The lagoon is the heart of the site and its
reason for creation. It sits at the center of the site, easily accessible
from the populated areas to the west and a key jumping off point
for excursions into the Central Mountains. The site considers its
installations as the headquarters for on-site activities.
SMARTI Objective: Move all 5 administrative offices to Crater
Lagoon within 4 years.
Inventory of Zones for Crater Lagoon World Heri-

tage Site
Urban: 0%
Suburban: 2%
Rural developed: 5%
Rural natural: 5%
Semi-primitive: 65%
Primitive: 20%
Restricted: 3%

4-41
6 = Urban 3= Rural natural
5= Suburban 2= Semi-primitive Road Buffer
4= Rural developed 1= Primitive
Zone of Road Zone of Area Difference Buffer Time Hiking

6 5 1 30 minutes
6 4 2 1 hour
6 3 3 2 hours
6 2 4 4 hours
6 1 Not possible Not possible
Assumption: As the contrast between the experiences of the road and surrounding area increases, the buffer distance
(measured in hiking hours) increases. When the difference between road and surrounding area is more than 1 zone, then
there are transition zones but these do not need to appear on the map. For example, a rural developed road passing
through an rural natural surrounding area represents a difference of two zones (5−3 = 2). Thus the buffer time is 1 hour.
As the person walks the one hour they pass through a natural zone transition — this zone does not need to appear on
the map. It can remain implicit.
If the Zone is Then the connection is

Urban To Suburban or Rural developed (but only when there is no transition such
as when a wetland or forest comes right up to the town edge)
Suburban To Rural developed
Rural developed A one-hour hike to reach Rural natural
Rural natural A four-hour hike to reach Semi-primitive Transitions between Zones
Semi-primitive A four-hour hike to reach Primitive

Note how zoning can be defined
along concentric circles. The word
“class” is equivalent to “zone.”
Yoho ROS

4-43
Attraction Zone Sheet
Name of Attraction (Mod 3):
Location (Mod 3): Interpretive Message, corresponding (Mod 2) Authenticity Types
Ranking (Mod 3): Natural, original,
exceptional,
Surrounding Landscape Zone
referential, influential
(Mod 4):
Basic Description (Mod 3)
Façade or Exterior Zone (first impression):

Authenticity General 1
Distractors
Specialized 2
Authenticity General
Qualities
Specialized
Current Higher Zone Level If (strategies to improve authenticity)

Zone 3 (1–5)
Interior Zone 1 (location):

Distractors
Specialized
Qualities
Specialized

Zone (1–5)
Interior Zone 2 (location):

Distractors
Specialized
Qualities
Specialized

Zone (1–5)
Add additional interior zones as necessary
1 Distractors that the “average” or “general” visitor would notice and that detract from perception of authenticity.
2 What a knowledgeable, studied visitor about the period and setting would notice, but a general visitor would not.
3 Zones can change cyclically depending on number of visitors, time of day, special events, etc., but never more than a half level.

Attraction Zone Sheet
Name of Attraction (Mod 3): Fort Jesus
Location (Mod 3): Mombasa Interpretive Message, corresponding (Mod 2) Authenticity Types
Ranking (Mod 3): Natural, original,
exceptional,
Surrounding Landscape Zones TBD
referential, influential
(Mod 4): urban in front,
suburban on other sides
Basic Description (Mod 3)
The Portuguese Vasco da Gama first came to Mombasa in 1498, but his relations with the townspeople deteriorated
rapidly. After just one week, the Portuguese thought it prudent to sail on to friendly Malindi where they established
their first East African base. But Mombasa’s natural harbour soon attracted foreign attention and a Turkish
expedition built a fort there in 1589. fearing for the security of their route back to Portugal, the Portuguese attacked
and took Mombasa in 1593, and began at once to build a large fort to guard the harbour entrance. The Portuguese
regarded themselves as the representatives of Christendom rather than of Portugal, and for this reason they sailed
under the flag of the Order of Christ. Jesus was therefore an obvious name for the new fort.
Its angular form was dictated by the rules of military defence and an Italian architect from Goa. The Fort now lies
tranquilly in the sun. But it was not always so. Fort Jesus has suffered a history of murder, siege, starvation,
bombardment and treachery that makes our modern world of hi-jacking and thuggery seem quite tame. And in
those pre-radio days, every sail that appeared on the horizon must have caused nerve-racking hours of anxiety to the
small colony, (probably never more than a hundred strong men) and separated from home by six months’ sailing.
Fort Jesus has preserved the same basic shape as when it was built nearly 400 years ago. Such long clear visions into
the past are rare today and if you leave Mombasa without visiting this major landmark in the history of East Africa,
you may find it a cause for regret. (Fort Jesus brochure)
Zone A: Façade (first impression): Seen from street

Authenticity General 1 Main electric cable running across front wall, bothersome tour guides, some parking in
Distractors front, Coca Cola kiosk sales, curio shop, metal railing, shiny white metal flag post, small graffiti,
parking lot signs in dry moat, resting bench, trash can,
Specialized 2There should be a bridge not a walkway that crosses the moat to enter (drawbridge has
been removed), cannon location in front walkway is decorative but incorrect
Authenticity General Striking high walls, dry moat, partially peeling paint, cannons aiming outward, overlook of
Qualities ocean, well maintained grounds, overall strong first impression
Specialized Outer wall across from the moat
Current Higher Zone Level If (strategies to improve authenticity) Fix distractions, especially redesign curio shop and
Zone 3 (1–5) kiosks to move them back and use a period-appropriate architecture, could be a 4, though it has an
3-3.5 awe-inspiring first impression due largely to the size, thickness, and height of walls.
Zone B (location): Dry moat outside perimeter from S. Felipe to S. Mateus
Authenticity General Trail where it is landscaped with ornamental plants, metal railing at entrance, buildings
Distractors looming up beyond exterior wall, other people walking through area, graffiti on walls, garbage in
certain parts
Specialized
Authenticity General Moat clearly illustrated/marked, cleared, high exterior wall, visitor is immersed between two
Qualities great walls on either side which makes main wall appear even higher. On ocean side, during low tide
one can walk around on beach and see natural coral rock outcroppings, unaffected by people,
natural vegetation
Specialized
1 Zone notice
Distractions that the “average” or “general” visitor would & Sector detract from perception of authenticity. 4-45
Mapping
and that
2 What a knowledgeable, studied visitor about the period and setting would notice, but a general visitor would not.
3 Zones can change cyclically depending on number of visitors, time of day, special events, etc., but never more than a half level.
Zone (1–5)
4
Zone C (location): Fort Courtyard
Authenticity General Museum and curator office clearly are from another age and architectural style, “do not walk
Distractors on grass” sign, railings and turnstile at entrance, cannons all lined up in wrong location, bathrooms,
strong wall lights at night, tram line, tile floor and metal railings in front of Omani house, high level
of social encounters especially due to the open space with multiple sight lines, gift shop, food shop
Specialized Removed Portuguese soldier paintings
Authenticity General View of surrounding walls, cistern, original plaque of British protectorate, skeleton
Qualities Specialized Drop toilet
Current Higher Zone Level If (strategies to improve authenticity) If could outfit the courtyard with objects that
Zone (1–5) would appear authentic to the moment, such as stacked cannon balls, other structures such as a
3 carpentry shop, hide museum façade perhaps with more vegetation, remove cannons to a more
realistic location, eliminate turnstile and railings to improve first impression of interior
Zone D (location): Interior Passages to Sea (Passage of the Arches; Passages of Steps)
Authenticity General Some trash, passageways blocked off by bars, rather than a gate to allow passage of people
Distractors and supplies; ammunition store room has a label and artificial lighting
Specialized
Authenticity General Visitor generally immersed by original rock construction, mildly dangerous as it has never
Qualities been softened for visitation, looks completely unrestored, and drops down to ocean level view,
feeling secluded from bustle or rest of fort
Specialized
Current Higher Zone Level If (strategies to improve authenticity) 4.2 If bars were replaced with a real gate that can
Zone (1–5) 4 remain locked but looks like a gate rather than a dead end
Zone E (location): Interior Walls and Watch Towers
Authenticity General Generator on wall in front of fort; modern flag posts, graffiti
Distractors Specialized bars for visitor security that cover cannon watches, no cannon balls, flags, soldiers or any
other items that would have otherwise been found
Authenticity General Generally intact walls and towers feel like they are from long ago with few distractions,
Qualities except when looking into Old Town or Courtyard that remind one of what period they are in. View
into the dry moat can be exceptional in certain parts enhancing the drop from the top of the wall.
Specialized Military toilets on walls
Current Higher Zone Level If (strategies to improve authenticity) Certainly improving the courtyard will improve the
Zone (1–5) 4 internal view from the walls and towers.
Interior Zone F (location): Interior entranceway (from ticket booth to emergence point in courtyard)
Authenticity General Ticket booth metal cage, artificial lighting, Fort Jesus sign, metal railing after ticket booth,
Distractors security guard is dressed as a modern-day policeman in blue
Specialized Original entrance with drawbridge gone
Authenticity General High level of immersion, high period-looking roof with wooden beams, darkness and
Qualities coolness as one passes through, huge wooden door with spikes,
Specialized No decorations of the period (if there were any)
Current Higher Zone Level If (strategies to improve authenticity) Goal is to use this space as a transitional space
Zone (1–5) between regular Mombasa world and the world of the Portuguese Fort some centuries past. Perhaps
4 put some weapons on wall or a flag of Order of Christ (or Omani flag), make sure that at no point
can visitor see both inside the fort and outside in order to complete the transition; keep as dark as
possible without becoming dangerous and using torches on the wall, powered by natural gas. Guard
should be dressed in period clothing with period-appropriate weapon (or imitation).
Add additional interior zones as necessary


Crater Lagoon ROS Zones
Crater Lagoon Sectors
Strategies to Increase Authenticity of Inauthenticity
Strategies to Increase Authenticity of Inauthenticity

Strategy Description
Embrace fakeness Celebrate your inauthenticity by boldly embracing fakeness. If you restore an aqueduct
by using new materials and best guesses of how it once was, interpret that explicitly to
the audience. Do not pass the restoration off as real and authentic. With such
transparency, the project becomes a genuine restoration rather than an attempted
deception or seeming stabilization. In the case of Montserrate in Sintra, Portugal, they
have a microclimate that allows tropical plant species to thrive where they might be able
to exist anywhere else in Europe. Since the plants are not native, they are naturally
inauthentic. Thus the property must tell people that the original property owner brought
them to the site intentionally as part of his vision of a global garden. Thus, then
interpretation compensates the fakeness of the plants by emphasizing their significant
exceptional and referential authenticity.
Create believable Mask inauthenticity by comprehensively creating an alternate but believable reality. Build
reality a traditional craft market, visitor center wax figure exhibition, or reconstructed temple in
the mold of the old that increases referential authenticity. Consider the 100% scale, life-
like, fake model of the real Mayan Rosalila temple in Copan Archeological Park,
Honduras. Colonial Williamsburg is an American colonial period town full of live
historical artisan-interpreters in accurately constructed period buildings. None of it is
original, but it has high natural (correct materials), exceptional (very skilled artisans, very
well reproduced buildings), referential (historically accurate and praises skills of old), and
influential authenticity (not only meaningful and educational, but also rescues otherwise
lost crafts and techniques). Create a historical fiction to improve the heritage story — a
valuable genre for books and movies — then do not call attention to its inauthentic
aspects.
Relentlessly pursue Transcend your inauthenticity by relentlessly pursuing real in all you do. Improve
the real authenticity on all fronts, by eliminating distractors, better interpretation, more accurate
landscape design, etc.
• Change names of offerings to match what you and heritage really are
• Align marketing to what visitors perceive.
• Modify venues, uniforms, infrastructure, etc. to better fit nature of heritage and
story.
• Ensure there is no disconnect between what you say about why you are
conserving and your real motivations.
• Never contradict the history or the values of your heritage.
• Eliminate any offerings (programs, tours, souvenirs) inconsistent with your
heritage.
• Your management agency’s values should come through loud and clear in
everything you do, in offerings, marketing, publications, staff behavior,
including the website.
• Finally make sure all aspects of physical offerings never detract from what they
really are (color, design, size, position, materials, etc.). Conduct a top-to-
bottom audit to discover all distractors that detract from what you want to
present and say.

Côa Archeological Park ROS Done by Hand

Côa Archeological Park ROS done with GIS
Recreation Opportunity
Spectrum (Côa Valley)
Urban
!
Suburban
Pocinho !
Rural Developed
!
!
Rural Natural
!
PAVC Limit
! Paved Roads
! Côa
! Abandoned Railway
!
Museum
!
! ! ! Côa Valley Rock Art sites
!
! !
! !
! !
! !
VILA NOVA !
!
!
!
DE FOZ CÔA !
!
!
!
!
Poio Orgal ! !
DOURO RIVER
!
Quarries! !
!
!
!
!
!
CÔA RIVER
Muxagata !
Castelo
! Melhor
! !
!
! !
!
Almendra
!
Chãs
Tomadias
!
!
Algodres
Santa
Comba
¸
!
Cidadelhe
!
Vale de
0 1 2 4 Kilometers Afonsinho

This tourist purchased a product that con-
sists of flying (activity) through a rainforest
(attraction) on ziplines (infrastructure).
Services include provision of equipment,
trained guides, great security, a bag lunch,
and an interpretive hike up to the site. In or-
der for products to be strategic, they must
be consistent with the management guide-
lines of the experience opportunity zone
and the strategic criteria of the sector.
e
Outsid
1. Which are the six components of a touristic product
and which two does this module focus on? Focus on infrastructure vs.
2. How is the selection of products strategic, rather than
focus on complete tourism
simply choosing products based on personal preference
and interest? products
3. How does the Mix Matrix work to prioritize activi-
ties?
4. How do attraction barriers play into the definition of Intuition-based vs.
the products? data-based visitor profiling
5. What is the function of a service? Is a visitor center an
attraction, a product, or a service? Why?
6. What is the message PUP is trying to deliver when iden-
tifying service provision agreements? In other words,
why do we choose who will provide different services
and products?
Public Use Products 5-3

5 Public Use Products
Create products (especially activities and services) that facilitate
visitors’experiencing attractions in ways consistent with the Planning
Framework, based on present and potential visitor demands.
Focus Question: What are the products most suited for our site’s strengths?
Summary: Based on the Planning Framework, experience opportunity zones (supply), public use sectors,
attraction barriers, and visitor profiles (demand), participants define activities and services for the site’s
attractions that promote its purpose and principal messages (Interpretive Framework). Then participants
determine the relations with the private sector needed to provide those products.
Format: Public workshop and one-person research (profiles); field trip (optional)
Time: Variable time for field trip; 2 days (15 hours) for workshop; 1–2 weeks for profiles; few days for
post-workshop tasks
Materials: Visitation data; butcher paper; tape/string to connect cards; cards of different colores: lands-
cape zones, high-priority sectors, attraction-experience zones, visitor profiles, quantity of such cards
depends on the number attractions found in high-priority sectors; activity cards (attractions multiplied
by 2 plus 10 extras); service cards (activity cards multiplied by 3); 5 arrangement cards, letter-sized;
markers; 1 sheet with the Activity Viability Matrix; 15 Product Description Sheets (need more than
are in the Examples & Illustrations); blank table for service provision agreements (acetate, butcher
paper, or projector)
Participants (12–20): Site authorities, tour operators, other business people, foreigners with international
travel experience, tourism expert; for profiles, just public use coordinator plus any recruited help
Deliverables: Present and future visitor profiles; descriptions of products for high-priority sectors; set
of possible service provision agreements
This Module Contains:

Pre-Workshop Preparations Evaluation
(optional field trip) Post-Workshop Task 1: Refining the System
I. Introduction Examples & Illustrations
II. Researching Present and Future Visitors Additional Resources
III. Defining Activities Agenda for Module 5
Brainstorming Activities
Prioritizing Activities
Finding the Right Mix
Describing Activities
Defining Solutions
IV. Identifying Services
V. Defining Service Provision Agreements
Future Steps
5-4 Public Use Products

Pre-Workshop Preparations PUP Is No Cake
Like everything in PUP, we pro-
vide steps and amounts for the
Optional Field Trip. You may elect to bring participants to a main different products, like a cooking
public use sector so that people have a visual impression of what recipe. But a strategic plan is
no cake; you must deviate and
they are talking about. It also builds a common understanding of change the methodology — the
the site. recipe — because you will find
that real life (especially during
planning) is chaotic and that
Existing Activities. Write out existing activities or activities already unexpected things happen all
under development on cards to be integrated into the process (these the time.
should be taken from the organizational self-analysis of public use
you did in Module 1). You may also need to collect ideas on activities,
services, and relationships from previous documents. You can insert
them either on cards that the group should consider as it brains-
torms, or even put them on the wall if you think they are ideas that
the whole group should consider. If the ideas refer to activities that
are medium or low priority, you can easily add it to the PUP just to
respect previous thinkers, and to ensure they get dealt with when
the site considers those activities in the future.
Mix Matrix. To prepare the Mix Matrix, start with the Komodo
example (5-25). You can leave the different kinds of generic visitor
segment categories, but should add more specific ones relevant to
your site. If there are major sources of visitors such as from nearby
sports fields, major conferences, scuba divers from a nearby island, or
others that could be added to the visitor profiles, you should prepare
that in advance. You might also specify kinds of specialized visitors
(climbers, rafters, birdwatcher, etc.), as much as possible.
Use the visitation data you generated earlier. Remember that
you are also looking for a proper future mix. Your site and available
experiences may be more apt for one kind of visitor than another,
so you could even put two lines for students if the purpose of the
site, messages, or resources indicate that students should play a ma-
jor role in the visitation. Since you will be putting activity cards up
on the wall in this workshop, you could use them for this exercise.
If you do this, you might write on a piece of masking tape to hold
the card’s place on the wall, or simply rewrite the activities on new
cards, since you are only shooting for 10 activities (average of 2 per
high priority sector to start). You could also do this on computer,
overhead, or butcher paper. A better idea is to use the floor or wall
with replaceable cards since it will be easier to add, rearrange, or
remove activities.
Map of Zones and Sectors. During the Mix Matrix exercise, you
will also need a map of zones and sectors. This could be on a pro-
jector or a physical map. It is probably easiest to use an overhead

transparency and then place little round dots (the paper dots that
come out of a hole punch, for instance) on the map, so the partici-
pants can see that activities are covering a variety of experiences.
Sector Descriptions. These should have been finished after Module

4 and will be ready to share now.
Place landscape zone, sector, profile, and attraction cards. On

a wall place cards in different colors so that activity and service cards
can be added later. This ‘‘fallen tree’’ will grow over time so everyone
can see it. Connect them with pieces of string and tape.
Product Description Sheets. You will need about 15 copies (in-

cluding 15 extras just in case).
Overall steps in Module 5

I. Introduction
Warming Up
Facilitate
1. Introduce yourself or have the director give the opening words.
2. Illustrate the opening metaphor and the site’s progress thus far.
3. Have participants stand in a circle. Each person says their name,
organization, and position, and then briefly describes their objective
for being here. He then explains an activity he has seen in some pro-
tected area that was inconsistent with the site’s purpose. If possible,
have them briefly act out the activity. Make it memorable!
4. Hand out the Examples & Illustrations. Distribute copies of the
Planning Framework and the background research on regional supply
and demand for site products (Module 1), the Directory of Touristic
Attractions (Module 3), sector and zone maps and Visitor Profiles
(Module 4), and the Agenda for Module 5.
Review
1. Go over the Planning Framework and explain that everything we
do today MUST be guided by the purpose, policies, World Heritage This collection of Module 5 cards
values, and site messages. These are the guiding principles of our will take on the image of the
effort today. ‘‘fallen tree’’ as more activities are
added per sector. You can see each
2. Choose another staff member to review principal attractions and card type labeled in Indonesian:
where they are on the map. Make sure participants use the Directory zones, sectors, attraction, activity,
of Touristic Attractions so they know how it works. and service.
3. Another person should review the sectors and zones. This is best
done with some kind of map.
4. Go over the agenda for Module 5.
Orient
Your first objective is to locate the participants once again in the PUP
Progression using the first slide of any PowerPoint presentation, ex-
plaining the deliverables to date and intended results of this module.
If you have not inserted your site’s visitation statistics in the profiles,
then present those statistics in the format you have chosen.
Explain
Then briefly re-enforce the theory behind this module. We start
with the basic premise that people want positive, memorable expe-
riences based on protected heritage resources. We manage people’s
opportunities, so that they have positive experiences and support
our objectives. We try to avoid bad experiences which might damage
our objectives in conservation, education, public relations, etc.
To promote positive experiences based on resources, we have
crafted zones to manage our resources. To achieve the experiences,
people engage in activities and enjoy services designed to promote
the activities (collectively called products along with attractions,

Be Ready for Regulations access, marketing, and trained personnel). In this module, we de-
Be ready for regulation sugges- fine the products provided through the public use program and in
tions that come up. You can use cooperation with the private sector.
those in Module 8. You need to
be taking a lot of notes, as many As Veverka1 says, we are aiming for the product of the
new ideas appear throughout product. Just like when we are selling drills (the product), we are
the workshop. Some of these really selling holes (product of the product); when we are selling
can be saved for the First Re-
view of Results, although you cosmetics (the product), we are really selling self-esteem (product
should not slow down those of the product); when we are selling nature trails (the product), we
sessions with too many new are really selling memorable experiences with protected resources
ideas.
1There are several references by John Veverka on experi-
(product of the product). In recreation science, this is also called
ence planning found in the bibliography. See an article by benefits-based management, where the benefit is the product of
him in the Appendix.
the product. See Chapter 6 for more information.
Since this is a strategic plan, we do a lot of choosing, prioriti-
zing, and justifying. Over time as we develop high priority attractions,
Profiles You May Not Want the site can repeat this exercise with medium priority attractions and
During this Module 5, besides
identifying markets you would
sectors (which, consequently, would become high priority sectors
like to receive in the future, you and attractions).
should also identify those you The most important criteria to make decisions comes from
would like to avoid. Those might
include sexual tourism, trophy
the Terms of Reference (Module 1) for site decisions. Since strat-
hunting, adolescent groupies, egy means choosing the best path to our objectives in light of a
or others that might not fit your changing and dynamic environment, we must ALWAYS keep the
site’s mission.
objectives, the environment, and the path in mind. See Chapter 7
for more information on strategic planning.
Show
Show PowerPoint presentation #2, “Public Use Strategy.” Show only

the part about experiences.
What’s in a Tourism Product?

Different products of different
industries have different com-
ponents. In tourism, a product
is made up of, at least
1. An attraction
2. Access to the attraction
3. An activity to experience the
attraction
4. Services to support the ac-
tivity
5. Trained personnel to offer the
services
Promotions so that the mar-
ket can become aware of the
product

II. Researching Present and Future Visitors
What Does It Mean?
Explain
As discussed in Chapter 8, visitor profiles are a very important input
to designing public use products, for promotions, for determining
how to develop different sectors, and what kinds of interpretive
materials to produce. In this section we build our visitor profiles.
Show
Since you will likely be leading this task yourself, you should start by
viewing PowerPoint presentation #9.
How Do I Do It?
Do
1. Define the boundaries of your visitor area. For World Heritage
Sites, they should be looking nationally; municipal sites will profile
visitors only in their immediate area. Consider the area of influence
defined for Criterion 1 for evaluating attractions in Module 3,
“Percentage of Attractions Inside the Site’s Zone of Influence Trapped in Behavior Patterns
(Abundance).” A basic assumption of the field of
2. Identify your sources of information. Consider the following: market research is that visitors
break up into distinct groups
with similar characteristics.
Government: Ministry of Tourism Statistics Department People do not arrive randomly
Private Sector: Tour operators, chamber of commerce, tourism from all over the world, with
all different ages, income lev-
committees, tourism associations, non-profits that promote tourism els, interests, and travel group
development sizes. Most everyone falls into a
Academic: Market, tourism, and visitor studies; tourism departments predictable pattern. The better
you understand these groups
at universities and patterns, the better you can
Site staff: Site staff including people who work directly with visitors exploit them in designing and
on a daily basis selling your products. Perhaps
the most important factor for
Site assessments: Any kind of studies done on site distinguishing among visitor
groups are the benefits and ex-
PUP does not assume that you will collect primary data yourself (by periences that each one seeks.
doing formal surveys). You are encouraged to use your intuition as Two tourists may do the exact
a starting point and even walk around your site for a few days to same activity but for very dif-
observe the patterns; BUT, remember, that visitor profiles change ferent benefits and experiences.
One group might go hiking to
with the seasons and intuition can ONLY be a starting point. discover a single bird species to
add to their list while another
3. Break down the area’s visitation by groups that look for different might go in order to strengthen
family bonds. These would be
benefits. The benefit groups include the following (which are based two totally different products.
on significant research; see Chapter 6 for descriptions):
♦♦ Escapism (may include solitude)

♦♦ Adventure and challenge

♦♦ Exploration and learning
♦♦ Company (being with friends and family)
♦♦ Nature and culture appreciation
♦♦ Fitness and health
4. Then describe those groups’ demographics and spending

patterns as per examples (5-25).
5. Then describe those groups’ psychographics. What are the values
and motivations they have for their visits? What kind of visitor
experience do they look for (consider the six classes in the zoning
system from earlier in this module)? What do you know about their
needs, desires, and expectations?
6. Choose one future profile. Normally this is a group that visits your
site’s area of influence but does not visit your site, or if they do it
Hierarchy of Recreational Demand is far fewer than you would like. This will be a profile that you will
The hierarchy illustrates how target and try to attract to your site. One reason you might choose
visitors demand different things to target a group is to get more visitors in an ROS zone class that
from their recreation. Some de- may be under-visited. Perhaps 80% of your site is semi-primitive
mands though require greater
self-awareness than others. The but almost no one visits those areas  that would be a sign that you
most obvious demand is an activ- have experience supply without demand (of course, that few people
ity (“I want to go hiking.” “I want visit is important for the experience). See if there is such a demand
to dine at an Italian restaurant.”).
Deeper down, visitors also seek anywhere in your area of influence and bring them to your site.
certain settings (“I want to hike 7. Fill out the profile tables (5-25). Make them as neat and clear as
in a primary forest where there possible, that way they will be more useful during Module 5.
are few people.” “I want a res-
taurant in the old Italian section 8. Include any groups that have been left out that would want
of the city where I can hear real different benefits. While local farmers might be very different
Italian spoken by real Italians.”). demographically from upscale city folks, they may not look for
Deeper still they seek specific
experiences (“I want to feel different benefits (such as spending time with family), nothing more
solitude in an authentic forest than a walk through the site. Though upscale city people can spend
like the pioneers did 200 years more money so you want to make sure they encounter opportunities
ago.” “I want to feel like I am
back in Sicily with the sights and to spend it. Aim for 4 current and 1 future profile.
sounds of Italy.”) Though they 9. Identify the visitor numbers that arrive at the site and the region.
rarely articulate in these terms, You will need numbers for these groups in order to create visitation
visitors also seek benefits from
their experiences (“I want to objectives in Module 10. Again remember that a profile’s population
know myself better in primitive usually varies with season.
conditions. I can overcome the 10. Place the visitor profile information on sheets of butcher paper
challenge to be a better person.”
“I want my family to know what and have them available on the wall for the next section.
it was like for our grandparents
back in Italy.”) Managers can of-
fer opportunities for visitors to
fulfill their demands at all these
levels, but first, managers must
know their visitors well enough
to offer them.
Driver, B.L. and Brown, P.J. 1978. The opportunity spectrum concept and
behavior information in outdoor recreation resource supply inventories: A
rationale. In: Lund, H.G., LaBau, V.J., Ffolliott, P.F. and Robinson, David W.
(eds.) Integrated inventories of renewable natural resources: Proceedings
of the workshop. Ft. Collins, CO, USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mt. Forest and
Range Exp. Station. Gen. Tech. Report RM-55: 24–31.

III. Defining Activities
What Does It Mean?
Explain
From Module 4, we have established the five high priority sectors.
Each sector normally has one or more ranked attractions. In this
module, we use those attractions to develop activities. We do this Don’t Always Consider Profit
The site is often competing with
through a five-step process. other sites to sell its products.
This is a business venture, but
a. Brainstorming activities do note that not all activities
and packages are for profit.
b. Prioritizing activities Consider education programs.
c. Looking for the right mix of activities Nonetheless, until the site is
d. Defining solutions based on the barriers making significantly more than
it is spending, it should try to
e. Describing the final activities achieve a financial break-even
point on such programs.
Show
Show PowerPoint presentation #9a, continue to the first STOP.
How Do I Do It?
Brainstorming Activities
Explain
For each attraction, you will determine the most appropriate ac-
tivity considering the zone types (both landscape and attraction)
and site-wide public use strategy. If the attraction already has an
existing activity, then that activity must be considered in the exercise
as well. Existing activities begin with step 7 on the following page.
In short, focus on what the people do, not what they do it with or
on, if possible. Infrastructure will be considered in the next section
on services. See a list of activities (5-28). All activities are tied to an
attraction, even if it is found outside the sector where the activity
takes place.
Review
Point to the visitor profiles on the wall. It is important that the par-
ticipants always take into consideration for WHOM any activity has
been designed. This is a first step in thinking like a business.
Facilitate
1. Divide the number of people in the group by the number of
high-priority sectors to get “sector teams.” If there are not enough
people, combine sectors with one attraction with others with one
or two attractions (check the sector map from Module 4 if you are
unsure which attractions are in each sector). Preferably there should
be at least three people per team.

2. Pass out the cards you already have of existing site activities to
Activities and Sub-Activities
Principal activities are needed the corresponding sector team.
to experience an attraction. For 3. Each team should elect a facilitator.
example, hiking, museum talk, 4. Each sector will have no more than three attractions. Each person
boating, interpreted walk, etc.
Each principal activity is com- should brainstorm five activities per attraction. There is a list of
posed of smaller sub-activities activities (5-28).
such as eating lunch, taking a 5. After the individual brainstorm, participants should discard two,
break, stopping off at the mar-
ket to buy a souvenir, small side leaving three activities per attraction. This forces participants to
hikes to an overlook, etc. You weed out weaker choices (using a ToP technique).
can take a boat ride which is 6. The facilitator should convene the sector team. Attraction by attrac-
really part of a larger activity
of a guided tour, which might tion, every person should read their three activities and put them on
include a boat trip, a walk, and butcher paper. If there are three people per team, each attraction will
a van trip to get to the site. You have a minimum of nine activities (including possible repetitions).
will have to decide whether an
activity is a sub-activity or the 7. As a team, then, choose two possible activities per attraction. (If
principal activity, since we only there is an overwhelming desire to include three because the attrac-
deal with principal activities in tion is so versatile, you may do so.)
this module.
8. Judge them by the following criteria.
Activities without Boundaries
All activities are tied to some
attraction, somewhere, even ♦♦ Are they consistent with zoning management factors
if not in the sector where the (landscape and attraction) and strategic value and
activity is carried out. Some objectives of the sector? (both from Module 4)
activities can be carried out
through several sectors (hiking, ♦♦ Do they support the Interpretive Framework by be-
for example, can cross sectors), ing appropriate for least one site message?
like birdwatching, that can be
done in any part of the site. But
even if birdwatchers eat at a res- If an activity does not fulfill both criteria it must be reformulated or
taurant in a sector with no birds, discarded. If discarded, test the next highest choice. If it is an existing
the activity is tied to an avian activity that fails the criteria test, then put a big red “X” through the
attraction in some sector(s).
card and submit it to step 9.
What Do I Do If There Are No
Activities in the Sector? 9. For each activity, determine
Sectors can be chosen for rea-
sons other than the presence of
activities. If a sector does not ♦♦ One or two appropriate visitor profiles (at least one
have an activity, skip the sector has to be a profile currently visiting the site).
in this section (II). You will deal
with the services in the sector ♦♦ How many days, weeks, or months of the year can
in the following section. the activity be carried out. For example, a certain
migratory species can only be observed during a few
months, or a certain trail can only be walked during
the dry season, etc.
10. Put each activity on an Activity Card (5-28), and time frame in
the lower left corner. Write the profile in the lower left corner and
sector and attraction in the lower right corner. Fill up the rest of the
card with the activity in big, legible, dark letters. There should be no
more than 30 activities (5 sectors x 3 attractions x 2 activities).

Another Way to Look at Products
IMPORTANT: If you came up with an existing activity that does In interpretive planning, public
not meet the basic pre-requisites, you should have a brief discussion use programs and products are
defined as the combination or
with participants. Tell them that the activity does not fulfill the most nexus of four variables: Man-
basic needs of the new strategic program and thus it would not be agement objective, interpre-
a strategic choice to continue the activity. There will almost surely tive framework (messages and
stories), audience, and medium
be someone’s interest at stake. Allow yourself five minutes to see (that is, activities and services
if you can gain a consensus on discontinuing the activity. If not, that define the visitor’s mode of
write down the complicating issue, and later schedule a discussion interaction). To see a table that
combines all of these, see Quinta
with the stakeholder and site administration to see if you can find Mazatlan’s interpretive plan in
some alternative. Perhaps the activity can be moved to a different the Appendix.
location, or a similar activity can be found; in short, there should
be negotiation.
Prioritizing Activities
Explain
Now the group must limit the activities to work on them in more
depth. Since as many as 30 principal activities is too many, we pass
them through a process of prioritization.
Consider the following questions and try to eliminate acti-
vities until you get 6–10 (as always this number is negotiable and it
does not matter if there are ties). Note that these principal activities
will later be converted into principal site products. You or a delegate
should have been writing the activities down on the Activity Viabi-
lity Matrix (5-32) on paper, overhead, or some other medium. You
should lead a ranking session. Limit discussion to short comments
that bear directly on the grades. See example (5-33). Have the site River rafting is usually a priority
director or knowledgeable person lead this prioritization with ques- activity in places where it is pos-
sible.
tions below.
Ask
1. What is the barrier score found in the Directory of Touristic At-
tractions?
2. How much of a priority is the attraction? (As a percentage of all
attractions, taken from the ranking in Module 3)
3. How attractive is the activity to potential visitor profiles com- Ranking an Activity Without an
pared to others in the list? Is it something they will enjoy? Attraction
4. Would these activities compete directly with already existing In the case of activities that are
similar activities outside the site? not associated with any single
attraction, like ones that can be
5. Is the activity feasible in terms of cost, potential impacts, or carried out throughout the site
other issues not reflected in the barriers? such as bird watching, the bar-
rier should be ranked and the
attraction, prioritized. We can
simply rank the attraction using
a similar one as an example or
give it a “3” so the activity can
participate in the priorization.

Finding the Right Mix
Explain
Once we know the relative priority of the different activities, we
can choose activities that we want to develop in greater depth in
Activities and Infrastructure the short- and medium-term. Over time, ideally, the site will be able
Keep activities separate from to develop additional activities in a similar fashion. The following
infrastructure in this exercise,
but keep in mind that many ac- exercise looks for holes in your proposed menu of activities. It is a
tivities require certain kinds of quality control measure. By examining the results of the table (see
infrastructure and equipment. Komodo example on 5-25), we can look for holes in experience
Examples of the difference in-
clude: a waterborne lake tour offerings, time of year offerings, and visitor profile offers. Consider
(activity) rather than a motor- these factors:
boat tour (infrastructure, since
you could also go in kayaks or
canoes); a guided tour rather 1. Covering a variety of profiles: While your goal cannot be to
than a trail or an exhibition. But have something for everyone, you should have something for the
the separation will not always be major profiles that currently visit the site, plus for major profiles that
possible: a horse ride requires
a horse, hang-gliding requires a could visit. Do not assign too many activities to the same profiles.
hang glider. Typically sites want to serve as many profiles as possible.
2. Covering a variety of activities (and experiences): You should

not repeat similar activities in a site, or risk their competing against
each other. You also want to make sure there are a variety of ex-
perience opportunities to attract more people. Some very similar
activities, however, can serve different experiences, especially the
most common of all: hiking/walking on trails.
3. Covering the entire year: Some sites were created to protect a

certain seasonal phenomenon, such as the monarch migration in
the Monarch Butterfly Reserve in Mexico. But it is very difficult to
manage a site that has only a very seasonal offering for a variety of
reasons. Thus another criterion for getting the right mix is to have
offerings for the major profiles year round.
Facilitate
1. Choose the top 10 highest scoring activities. Start with number
1 and place it in the Mix Matrix. Place a letter representing a visitor
profile in the months when the activity can be carried out.
2. As you continue placing numbers, facilitate a discussion about
the right mix, trying to accommodate the three different variables.
Keep asking and taking notes:
Does this activity expand our coverage of visitors, experiences, or

times of the year, or does it repeat what we already offer?
3. Feel free to replace one or more of the 10 top scorers with num-
bers 11, 12, 13 if they are more appropriate. You might find that
one activity low on the list suddenly becomes very important for

accommodating a certain profile or time of year. In such a case, of
course, you should consider why it has a low score and if that reason
will inhibit its development.
4. As you put the activities up, it is a good idea to put some kind of
mark on the zone map, whether it be a dot on a simple paper map or
a circular piece of paper on an overhead projector that can be easily
Birdwatching can happen in sev-
moved about a detailed map. This way people can see the variety of eral sectors of the site, even if
experience opportunities. the attraction (the birds) can be
5. When you finally have 10 that make the best mix, applaud. found in only one sector. How can
this happen?
6. Explain that this is an idealized mix. It does not represent the cu-
rrent mix of either profiles or activities. It is a vision of the future.
By using this process, we know that all activities are consistent with
the Planning Framework, the site’s zone management, and site-wide
public use sector strategy.
Describing Activities
To plan activities, we need information about the activity.

Facilitate
1. Have the teams fill out the rest of the Product Description Sheet
(5-26).
2. You should explain the financial and strategic objectives. There
are three general financial strategies (5-37).
Defining Solutions
Explain
Even though these 10 activities made it to this point, it does not
mean they do not still have significant challenges to face. A principal
one is the development barriers identified in Module 3. While the
barriers’ difficulty was reflected in the ranking, whether or not the
barriers have adequate solutions or alternatives and how much those
cost, is the next step.
Most barriers can be overcome, reduced, or substituted in
some way. Consider the examples (5-39).
In summary, to overcome a problem, while it may imply costs,
means that you can fulfill your vision of developing the attraction. A
reduction means you need to compromise or make a sacrifice with
respect to your vision. Substitution means that you cannot beat the
barrier, so you retreat and come up with a new strategy, which may
be significantly inferior or alternative to your original vision.
Show
The PowerPoint presentation (#9a) shows some kinds of barriers
and solutions.

Facilitate
1. Now have the group break up according to the top 10 activities,
choosing the ones they either have a particularly good solution for
or at least know well (the attraction site). You may have to move
people around to make sure all activities are covered.
2. They should discuss the best solutions, whether overcoming,
reducing, or substituting the barriers. Encourage them to consult
Where’s the Money?
While these descriptions help with other people, addressing other barriers if they have useful
to launch products, it is impos- information.
sible to know definitively if they 3. The participants should determine if there is no way to overcome,
are economically feasible and
profitable until the organization reduce, or substitute adequately. If not, the activity should be taken
or an ally does a business plan. off the list, as it should if the solution is more than two years away
A preliminary business plan for or prohibitively expensive. If they do not recommend their activity
each product is done as part
of Module 10, but a detailed for being taken off the list (be sure to warn them against promoting
business plan for each product personal interests), then continue to Section III (Identifying Ser-
comes when the site is ready to vices). One person should be in charge of filling out the solution
actually develop it.
part of the Product Description Sheet. They need to write one to
two paragraphs about a SPECIFIC solution, describing what the
PDS Finished After Module 10
Do note that while you are pro-
inputs and estimated costs would be, and how long it would take
ducing important first drafts of to complete. After they are done writing up the section, have them
the product description sheets, make the duration 50% longer to be conservative (people tend to
they will not be complete until
after you have done the financial
underestimate how long a solution takes). If someone really opposes
aspects in Module 10. You might doing so, let them make an argument to keep the term as written.
find that you need to modify the Sometimes there are objective criteria for determining duration, such
design of the product because
it is not financially feasible or
as a vote on a specific date or some other particular event. See the
the initial design does not earn example of the Product Description Sheet (5-33).
enough money or some similar
reason.
Sometimes the in-

frastructure is in-
consistent with the
plan and we must
decide what to do
with it. This can
be a difficult task
for any site, test-
ing its belief in the
need for strategic
change. For exam-
ple, this historical
wall which runs
through a modern
police station at
the World Heritage
Historic Centre of
Guimarães, Portu-
gal challenges how
to manage both the
wall and modern
buildings.

IV. Identifying Services
What Does It Mean?
Explain
Every activity requires some services. There are some basics such
as transportation, accommodation, guides, food, trails, information,
restrooms, etc. The degree of luxury depends on experience and
values as a sustainable tourism product. A service for one can be an
activity for another. Day care is an activity for kids but a service for
parents. A restaurant can be a service when it supports a site trip, or
it can be a principal activity and attraction all by itself.
Show
The PowerPoint presentation (#9b) illustrates kinds of infrastructure and
other services. Participants should think of activities while watching.
How Do I Do It?
Facilitate
1. Convene the same activity teams to work with services.
2. Review suggestions for determining services (5-36) before starting.
Slow Down!
3. Have them think about their activities as they see the slide show on You must consider if it is neces-
services (and infrastructure) and refer to the service list (5-35). sary or not to tell the partici-
4. Now have each group write 1–4 services for each activity. Each pants to make the time estimates
50% longer. Another option is to
service should clearly support the activity, financial objective, ex- do it afterwards. You might want
perience, and visitor profile. Each group should fill out a Product to do this to avoid controversy
Description Sheet section for services. during the workshop.
5. When the teams have decided on services, they can write them
on cards and associate them with the activities (again putting the
sector/attraction/activity in the card corner). The pattern of cards
on the wall is always changing.
6. Each team presents results to the rest of the group for comment.
Emphasize that they should be looking to ensure that services do
not contradict zone management.
7. As with activities, sites offer some services for all sectors, so these Activities That Stand on Services’
cards should be placed on another area of the wall. Shoulders
8. Now the hard part — if we have existing infrastructure that is All activities that occur in a site
inconsistent with the strategy, you must take note. It is hard to dispose need services, whether these
are free or paid. Sometimes the
of existing infrastructure, but strategic planning is done specifically most basic service is access,
to reorient the site. If this does not cause major trouble, you can ask but there are generally other
what to do with this infrastructure. However, you might convene services that require payment.
If a fee is charged, someone is
another meeting, more private, to discuss this matter. selling a service. This is why the
9. Clarify, organize, group, and eliminate card repetitions. Ask where activities are not mentioned in
services are, where they should be, and where they are missing? this analysis, because activities
always stand on the shoulders
10. Write services on corresponding Product Description Sheets. of services. Even the opportunity
11. Take a picture or copy relationships of sector-attractions-activi- to participate in an activity is a
ties-services to computer. service provided by someone.

V. Defining Service Provision Agreements

What Does It Mean?
Explain
The private sector does some things better than the public sector.
It is also a stakeholder in the management of a site as much as the
government. The public sector can more effectively manage a pro-
tected area if it shares responsibility with the private sector. There
are a number of different agreements which the private and public
sectors can forge to manage a site. The question is how to build these
agreements in your site. That is the purpose of this section of the
module, to determine who provides the activities and services (the
products). See some possible roles between the private sector and
site management (5-44).
Show
The PowerPoint presentation (#9a) introduces different kinds of
service provision agreements public and private sectors can engage
in, some of the tools, and some examples. Go until you reach the
STOP sign.
How Do I Do It?
Explain
Now we have lists of activities and services to develop and manage,
and we have tried to eliminate redundancies and overcapacities. The
next step is to determine how some of these needs will be satisfied.
We want to minimize how much the site itself needs to fundraise.
Fundraising requires a lot of time and skill, often for limited resour-
ces, lots of reporting and influence by donors. It is often better to
enter into agreements with other entities, quicker and leaner.
Facilitate
1. During the presentation portion of this section, someone should
replace the generic service categories that appear in the example
Table of Service Provision Agreements (5-42) with real services
identified in the previous section of this workshop.
2. Make sure everyone has the Examples & Illustrations page open
with the information and examples of agreements (5-41).
3. Write sectors and candidate service providers in table cells. Stake-
holders may nominate themselves. If there are no nominations for
a particular cell, only the site will do it.
4. Ask if there are other services that may have been overlooked.

Future Steps
You will take Module 6 to the field to validate and refine some of
these product proposals, by holding focus groups with tourists and
an evaluation workshop in key local communities. There may be some
modifications to the current results, and hopefully support.
Evaluation Ask
1. Do you feel your desires and expectations in terms of activities
and services were met? If not, what was missed?
2. Did the logic behind the module make sense to you? (zones →
sectors → activities → services) How could it have been made
clearer?
3. Were there steps or aspects of this module you considered unne-
cessary? If so, which ones, and why?

• Include all module products and drafts
cards on the wall
The president of Pico Bonito National Park discusses possible col- to you to update
laboration with a family that owns property on the site border. • Allow them to add contributions, which can go as
a dated addendum
ownership

Post-Workshop Task 1: Refining the System
Do
1. Convene a small team that is composed of the site director and
other people whose opinion you value highly.
2. Review services. Do you see services that could be combined or
shared in some fashion? That is, you might have food services pro-
posed in different sectors which could be combined into just one.
3. Are there other basic services that might have been missed?
Consider especially bathrooms, directional and regulatory signage,
roads, electricity, potable water, security posts, a visitor center. Go
sector by sector and ask yourselves if these basic needs were properly
addressed, and if not, which should be added and which should be
combined with other sectors. Write up the descriptions. If services
are combined, you should mention them on every related activity,
but you may simply write on all the sheets “refer to X Product Des-
cription Sheet for bathroom services.”
4. Often times it is a delicate situation, especially in large groups, to
discuss the appropriateness of the current location of existing facili-
ties and infrastructure. Look over existing facilities and infrastructure
and determine if they are compatible in the sectors they are now
found. Maybe those facilities need to be modified: pave over trails,
repaint a wall a local color, eliminate exotic plantings, eliminate an
unnecessary tour, open up or close an access way, etc. You should
go infrastructure by infrastructure and make these decisions. Write
down the changes on the corresponding Product Description Sheet.
Let us never forget we are devel-
You should review even the infrastructure found in medium and
oping these products for the visi-
tors, not for a plan, a site, and not low priority sectors. All infrastructure should uphold the desired
to satisfy personal preferences of experience, including site office space and garages, anything with
stakeholders.
which visitors may encounter.

♦ Interest and Accommodation Levels for Site Visitors
♦ Visitor Profile Data Table
♦ Example Visitor Profiles of Ecotourists, Backpackers in
Pico Bonito, general visitors at Tikal National Park, student
visitors from nearby cities
♦ Visitor Data from Honduras
♦♦ Mix Matrix blank form and Komodo example
♦♦ Product Description Sheet and example
♦♦ List of Activities
♦♦ Activity Card Example
♦♦ Pre-requisites for Activities
♦♦ List of services and infrastructure
♦♦ Suggestions for Determining Services
♦♦ Activity Viability Matrix, Scales, and Example
♦♦ Guide for the Activity Viability Scores
♦♦ Definition of Service Provision Agreements between the
Public and Private Sectors
♦♦ Table of Service Provision Agreements, Crater Lagoon
example
♦♦ Factors that Influence the Successful Mix of Activities in
a Site
♦♦ 3 Financial Objectives
♦♦ Lists of typical public private roles in protected area man-
agement
♦♦ Examples of Barriers, Overcome, Reduce, Substitute

♦♦ Summary of Product Description Sheets, Ujung Kulon
♦♦ Service provision agreements, Komodo, Ujung Kulon
♦♦ Mix matrices for Hoi An, Komodo, Ujung Kulon


Focus Question: What are the products most suited for our site’s public use
strategies?
• Research visitor profiles • Get excited as site products are
• Generate activities and services developed
• Identify agreements with private sector • Bring logical order to the site
Introduction
30 Introduction
30 Review of former results
15 PUP Progression
15 Public use program strategy PowerPoint #2
presentation
Defining Activities
10 Introduction
120 Brainstorming Activities
70 Prioritizing Activities
60 Finding the Right Mix
45 Describing Activities
60 Defining Solutions PowerPoint #9a
End of day 1
Identifying Services
30 Introduction Day 2: PowerPoint #9a
120 Identifying services
Defining Service Provision Agreements

30 Introduction PowerPoint #9a
180 Choosing possible service Discussion
providers from private sector
Future Steps and Evaluation

10 Future Steps
10 Evaluation
2-3 hours Post-Workshop Task:
Refining the System
Researching Present and Future Visitors
1–2 weeks Research visitor profiles Research

5
Public Use Products
Purpose: Create products (specifically activities and services) that facilitate visitors’ experiencing site
resources in as many ways as are consistent with the Planning Framework and site strategies.
Focus Question: What are the products most suited for our site’s strengths?
Summary: Based on the Planning Framework, management experience zones (supply), public use
sectors, attraction barriers, and visitor profiles (demand), participants define activities and services for
the site’s attractions that promote its purpose and principal messages (Interpretive Framework). Then
participants determine the relations with the private sector needed to provide those products.
Deliverables: Present and future visitor profiles; descriptions of products for the high priority
sectors; sets of service provision agreements
Introduction
To support the experiences defined in Module 4, a site needs activities and services. The purpose
of this module is to define activities and services generated from an understanding of visitors, the
Planning Framework, and the visitor experiences we have earlier identified based on the protected
resources of the site.
What Is in a Tourism Product?

Different products of different industries
have different components. For tourism, a
product consists of
1. Attraction
2. Access to the attraction
3. Activity to experience the attraction
4. Services to support the activity
5. Trained personnel to offer services
6. Promotions so that the market is aware
of the product
Examples & Illustrations 5-23

Interest and Accommodation Levels for Site Visitors
Category Description
Level of Interest
Casual Interest in visiting natural or cultural areas (as part of a trip dominated by other motives) with evi-
dent attractions such as spectacular vistas, architecture, battle fields, animals, waterfalls, lakes,
beaches); they have modest demands for interpretive guides and interpretation; they desire com-
fortable infrastructure and easy access; they have a high tolerance for other tourists and a certain
degree of development.
General Interest in the most evident aspects of nature and culture, for example, an impressive landscape
and animals easily observed, but also in interpretation; they have medium demands for interpretive
guides; they desire basic infrastructure and a relatively easy access; they have a greater tolerance to
other tourists and more modified natural systems.
Deep Interest in how ecosystems function and in enjoying nature in a pristine state (these people usually
have high environmental awareness), also how a particular culture lived and interacted with other
cultures and nature (already have experience with the culture); high demands for interpretive guides
and interpretation; they desire little infrastructure and avoid big groups of tourists
Specialized Interest in specific topics and activities (bird watching, butterfly trapping, temple visiting, particular
sports such as rafting, hiking, or caving); high demand for specialized guides; very accepting of
physical exertion and long travel periods to reach the best attractions of the kind.
Student Their goal is learning, though not always voluntary. They can be groups or individuals. Although
each student can have whichever level of interest, when they travel in groups, their activities and
participation are standardized (most or all of the group does the same thing). There are different
levels of tolerance to physical exertion. Normally they travel for short times and have high needs
for infrastructure that can accommodate big groups.
Special This group comes not for recreation, but work. They include reporters, photographers, missionar-
Mission ies, volunteers, donors, political figures, etc. Normally they require special treatment by park staff
and often good infrastructure. They often come in small groups that consist of their colleagues,
other members of their organization and social station.
Level of Accommodation
Backpacker They have little need for comfort and high adaptability to local conditions; they use public trans-
portation, local guides, local eateries, and rustic accommodations (and occasionally camping areas);
they travel independently spending little, but usually buying local products and services, rather than
imported goods.
Flexible They prefer a medium to high level of comfort (hotels, personal transportation or rented car), but
have a relatively high level of adaptability to local conditions when it involves being able to live
extraordinary experiences (for example visiting protected areas or indigenous cultures); they travel
independently or in small organized groups; their expenses are medium.
Exclusive They demand a high level of comfort (luxurious eco-lodges, plane transportation), and exclusive
services of high quality (food, guides); they show certain flexibility and willingness to exert them-
selves physically during excursions of no more than a day, but expect to return to high quality
housing and services; they travel in small organized groups, often organized by tour operators; they
spend a lot and often prefer imported products.
Accommodated These are tourists of casual interest; they require a very high level of comfort and are usually in-
flexible in adapting to local conditions or making a physical effort; they typically stay at tourism
centers on the coast (or cruise ships), making excursions of a day to natural and cultural attractions.
Includes business travelers who stay at luxurious hotels in cities. They often move in big organized
groups, spend a lot, and prefer imported products.
The interest and accommodation level are only part of a profile. But by understanding how people fall into different
interest and accommodation levels, we can infer a lot about what they want and need in their experience.

Blank Pro-
file Tables
Blank Profile Table
Profile Name: Benefit:

Spending Demographics
Income Level: Education: Age:
Accommodation level: Route to arrive at park or Travel Patterns:
Food:
Services:
Transportation: Group Size, Composition, Nationality:
Total:
Length of Stay, FIT/Tour: Sources of Travel Information:
Psychographics
Interest Level: Principal Site Attractions:
Activities or Services Desired/Needed: Values, Motives, Desired Experience:
Special Needs/Considerations:
Visitation Numbers in Park/Area:
Profile Name: Benefit:

Income Level: Education: Age:
Accommodation level: Route to arrive at park or Travel Patterns:
Food:
Services:
Total:
Psychographics
Activities or Services Desired/Needed: Values, Motives, Desired Experience:

Example Visitor Profiles
The International Ecotourism Society offers us this general profile of the ecotourism, around the
world. As you can see, many of the fields above are not included because they can vary from place
to place.
Profile Name: Ecotourist Benefit: Nature appreciation, learning

Income Level: Education: 82% uni- Age: 35–54
versity graduate
Accommodation level: backpacker ($?) Route to arrive at park or Travel Patterns:
Food: Variable, most ecotourists from North America,
Services: Australia, Europe
Total: Pairs: 60%, Family: 15%, Alone: 13%
50% of trips are 8–14 days
Psychographics
Activities or Services Desired/Needed: Values, Motives, Desired Experience Zone:
1. Hikes 1. Protected areas
2. Observation of wild animals 2. Be in a wild environment
3. Aquatic activities 3. See wild animals
4. Multiple activities 4. Learn about other cultures
5-26 Examples & Illustrations

The examples below are hypothetical and should not be used to prepare real visitor profiles.
Profile Name: Backpackers at Pico Bonito Benefit: Escapist, explore

Income Level: Usually under $40,000/year Education: 82% uni- Age: 20−40
versity graduate
Accommodation level: Hotels under $25/night Route to arrive at park or Travel Patterns:
Food: Eat locally $10/day 50% come from Bay Islands, 25% come from Copan, 10%
Services: $10/day are heading to La Mosquitia. The anchor sites are Copan
and the Bay Islands where they can see a famous Mayan
Transportation: public $5/day site and then go diving. Some people also pass through La
Total: $25-50/day/person Ceiba to go to Río Plátano. Usually passers-through do
not come for Pico Bonito. Couple trips in La Ceiba and
Cuero y Salado, which often compete. Europeans often
Many Europeans are willing to volunteer to enhance their pass through on longer trips of several months; they have
experience and reduce costs. more time.
Group Size, Composition, Nationality: Mostly
in pairs, singly or small groups, 45% North Americans and
50% Europeans, especially Germans
Most are FITs, stay is 1−2 nights in La Ceiba; see Guidebooks, word of mouth, Internet
above for some Europeans
Psychographics
Interest Level: General Principal Site Attractions: Río Zacate
Activities or Services Desired/Needed: 80% Values, Motives, Desired Experience Zone:
hiking, though 20% white-water rafting. Few need guides, Value being alone, short half-day, not very wild, zones
all maps. Transportation would help considerably since frontcountry natural mostly; want to see waterfall, relax
they don’t rent cars. They need to be given a reason to
spend time here. They do not arrive knowledgeable about
the site and need to be educated without guides, prefer
maps and written guides. They expect short trips and low
costs.
Special Needs/Considerations: Orientation, ease of payment for entrance, better signs
Visitation Numbers in Park/Area: Estimate of 3000/year in park, 10,000 in La Ceiba
Pico Bonito Backpack-

er Profile

Profile Name: General Family Visitors from outside of Benefit: Company, culture
Peten to Tikal National Park appreciation
Income Level: Q15,000/month for household Education: 40% college Age: highly variable, usu-
leader (usually male) graduate, 50% high school ally mixed in inter-
generational family visits
Accommodation level: Hotels less than $25/night Route to arrive at park or Travel Patterns:
Food: $5-10/person/day Drive from Guatemala City to Flores.
Services: $5/person/day
Transportation: personal car or charter bus Group Size, Composition, Nationality: Usu-
Total: $30/person/day ally family group 2−6 people, mixed ages and
They especially like to buy souvenirs because of the pow-
abilities, mostly Guatemalan (90%)
erful symbolic value of Tikal
Length of Stay, FIT/Tour: weekend in Peten, few Sources of Travel Information: General
hours in park and 1 other site in Peten, families come by knowledge, word of mouth
themselves, students and social groups charter buses, but
do not usually use tour operators. Especially numerous on
holidays such as Easter Holy Week.
Psychographics
Interest Level: Casual to general Principal Site Attractions: Tikal and other sites
Activities or Services Desired/Needed: Pic- Values, Motives, Desired Experience Zone:
nic, walking, socializing Chance to socialize, weekend escape, Frontcountry service,
modified, and 20% natural; feel obligated to see Guate-
mala’s greatest heritage symbol
Special Needs/Considerations: Do not ask for interpretation or guidance, sometimes complain
about park entrance fee; if additional inexpensive options were offered, they might take them, such
as organized tours within the park, special events
Visitation Numbers in Park/Area: 70,000/year to park, 100,000 to Petén
Profile Name: Secondary students from nearby Benefit: learning, company

General
city Tikal Visitors Profile
Income Level: N/A Education: Grades 6- Age: Ages 12-18
12
Accommodation level: n/a Route to arrive at park or Travel Patterns:
Food: $2/student School charters bus that parents pay to bring
Services: $0.50/student kids on one-day field trip. City is only 45 min-
Transportation: school bus, paid by parents utes from park entrance
Total: $2−3 Group Size, Composition, Nationality:
School groups of 25–40 or individually or pairs
for research projects
Length of Stay, FIT/Tour: several hours, or- Sources of Travel Information:
ganized by school, come in chartered bus Teachers, word of mouth
Psychographics
Interest Level: casual, general or specialized if Principal Site Attractions: usually the top 2
they have a particular assignment to do most known and accessible in park
Activities or Services Desired/Needed: Values, Motives, Desired Experience Zone:
Interpreted hike, camping (5%), picnic, general Often go for an assignment, more often just as a break.
play around river Teachers have few expectations, want to keep children
under control and not go to any backcountry. 85% of
Students at a park near a major city profile visits stay in Frontcountry modified and service. Older
students may camp in Frontcountry natural
Special Needs/Considerations: Need significant interpretation to gain a level of appreciation and rise up over
the socializing that goes on during field trips. Classroom space and organized lesson plans would be greatly appreciated;
teachers
5-28 generally do not have a plan for students.Examples & Illustrations
Visitation Numbers in Park/Area: 15,000 year; 102,000 in the city
Tourism Data from Honduras Visitor Data from Hon-
duras
Age All North American Central American European
25–54 79.5
33–44 29.3 27.1 35.6 22.6
25–35 17.8 32.8 37
High season and by air
Education All North American Central American European

University Graduate 48.1 38.4 55.8 19.2
Masters, post-grad. 30.8 32.8 28.9 30.8
Executives or Specialists
All North American Central American European
35.6 26.6 47.4 27.4
Earnings All North Americans Central Americans

Greater than $70,000 17.3 25.4 6.7
$30–40,000 14.1 12.4 17.3
Travel Alone
All North American Central American European
69.2 61.4 83.2 61
Motive for Visiting All North American Central American European

Business 51.4 18 65 33.8
Recommendation 21.2 20.2 14.1 31.4
Magazine 2.6 1.5 0.5 6.5
Tour Operator 0.8 0.7 0 2.5
Principal Attraction All North American Central American European

Nature and 47.8 18.7 40 56.2
Adventure
Beaches 27 22.7 30.6 34.2
Archeology 19.9 18.2 20 24.9
Diving 17.7 17.3 9.1 32.5
Colonial City 7.3 10.8 5.4 4.5
These data are out of date, nevertheless, serve as an example of format.

Month
5-30
Attraction Activity Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May Jun. Jul. Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec.
1

10
Visitor Profiles: A, B, C, D, E...

Mix Matrix
Mix Matrix: Proposed Activities in Komodo National Park, Indonesia
No. Attractions Activities Month/Visitors Categories

Jan Feb March April May June July Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
1 Komodo Dragon Komodo Watching at Loh Liang ABCF ABCF ABCF ABCF ABCF ABCF ABCF ABCF ABCF ABCF ABCF ABCF
2 Komodo Dragon, Gosong Bird Reseach and Training at Loh Liang B B B B B B B B B B B B
3 Gosong Bird Bird Watching at Loh Liang AB AB AB AB AB AB AB AB AB AB AB AB
4 Komodo Dragon Komodo Watching at Loh Buaya ABCF ABCF ABCF ABCF ABCF ABCF ABCF ABCF ABCF ABCF ABCF ABCF
5 Savannah & sea panorama Hiking at Loh Buaya AF AF AF AF AF AF AF AF AF AF AF AF
6 Komodo Dragon, savannah Reseach and Training at Loh Buaya B B B B B B B B B B B B
7 Coral reef Snorkeling at Pink Beach AD AD AD AD AD AD AD AD AD AD AD AD
8 Coral reef Diving at Pink Beach D D D D D D D D D D D D
9 Coral reef + white tip shark Diving at Batu Bolong-Tatawa D D D D D D D D D D
10 Coral reef Snorkeling at Batu Bolong-Tatawa AD AD AD AD AD AD AD AD AD AD
11 Pink Sand Beach Windsurfing at Pink Beach E E E E E E E E E E E E
12 Sacred Knife, statue artist Village Visit in Komodo Village ABCF ABCF ABCF ABCF ABCF ABCF ABCF ABCF ABCF ABCF ABCF ABCF
13 Balok Stone Village Visit in Rinca Village ABCF ABCF ABCF ABCF ABCF ABCF ABCF ABCF ABCF ABCF ABCF ABCF
Visitor Profiles
A = Foreign Visitor - General
B = Researcher
C = Foreign Visitor - Film Maker/Photographer
D = Foreign Visitor - Underwater Activities Specialist
E = Foreign Visitor - Adventurer/Wind Surfer
F = Domestic Visitor - Middle/Upper Budget

National Park, Indonesia
5-31
Mix Matrix: Proposed Activities in Komodo
Product description sheet blank
Product Name
Principal Activity (-ies) Attraction(s) Sector(s) Zone(s) Landscape Duration
Attraction
Interpretive message
Visitor Segment or Profile
Demographics (education, age, nationality, origin, route, info sources)
Psychographics (values, desired experiences and benefits, expectations)
Spending Patterns (how much spends, on what, how fast)
Objectives (financial, strategic) Product Description (itinerary, experience opportunities, activities, and services)
1.
2.
3.
Barriers (no resource deficiencies) Solutions
1. 1.
2. 2.
3. 3.
Description of Services (only high priority services) Service Providers/Agreement

1. 1.
2. 2.
3. 3.
4. 4.
Needs (Training, Equipment, Management Capacities, operating systems, policies)
Sheet Authors: Date:

Product description sheet example
Product Name Overlook Mountain Tour

Principal Activities Attraction(s) Sector(s) Zone(s) Landscape rural Duration
Hike or drive Overlook Mountain Overlook Mountain natural 1 day
Attraction Level 4
Interpretive message Mountains have always inspired people to connect spiritually as much to the sky as to the land.
Visitor Segment or Profile: Organized groups (min 4)
Demographics (education, age, nationality, origin, route, info sources)
They come from the capital city, largely groups of friends, age 25-45, middle class, university education
Psychographics (values, desired experiences and benefits, expectations)
Visitors want to spend time together, see part of landscape they do not normally see; want some exercise but not too much to
interrupt spending time together
Spending Patterns (how much spends, on what, how fast)
They typically spend less than $30/day, mostly on food
Objectives (financial, Product Description (itinerary, experience opportunities, activities, and services)
strategic) Most people consider that the product begins outside the site; operators take visitors up
1. Profit. This area is one of the river, to Ciudad del Río. There they have lunch and shift transportation modes:
the most visited and some ride horses and others, four-wheel drive vehicles. In any case, they arrive in
productive. Its income several spots where they can continue by foot or by car, depending on the profile.
supports most of the There are several lookouts from where the valley and the rainforests to the north can
residents of Ciudad del be observed without signs of human activity. Visitors normally stay a couple of hours
Río. before turning back to Ciudad del Río. On the way back, operators often stop at an old
2. Within one year 100% of explorer cemetery (experience zone: 4) which has not been restored or altered except
groups will arrive with for a relatively new encircling stone fence. There are more than 12 operators that work
reservations. this way, within an acceptable quality range. They compete based on price and quality.
3. 3% of profits from these The site charges an entrance fee in Ciudad del Río, although there are independent
operators will be returned operators that skip the entrance booth. This problem would be solved with a system of
to the Eagle Nesting reservations and permits; guards would request entrance permits for groups that do not
Project on the mountain. have a reservation.
Barriers (no resource Solutions
deficiencies) 1. Barrier #1: Create a large mountain access, through which physically fit visitors could
1.The road is quite narrow, arrive at the place, avoiding major encounters and improving the visit. Who pays the
which forces almost all 5.0% tax?
visitors to have encounters 2. Implement a system to coordinate the passage of groups to diminish contacts and
with their peers. improve the experience. Cheaper than option 1, but harder to coordinate due to the
number of independent operators, some of which are not certified.
Description of Services (only high priority services) Service Providers/Agreement
1. Boats: There are 2 cooperatives that control this service. Medium quality.
2. One-day packages. They vary in quality and price to satisfy the wide 1. Rural water tourism cooperative, rent
range of desires that this attraction can attract. 2. Local and national tourism operators,
3. Site security is available in different spots throughout the trip, from license
Ciudad del Río to the overlook. 3. The site, supported by the police
4. Reservationist to coordinate visits of different groups. Not yet working, 4. Tourism Association or the site
but its function would be to reduce encounters between groups to improve charges the users
quality. It would also serve as surveillance to know who and when visitors
have arrived at the Mountain.
Needs (Training, Equipment, Management Capacities, operating systems, policies)
Park has no experience running a reservation system. Need some cold weather search and rescue for when storms trap
people on top. Need several guards specialized in search and rescue. Small newsletter to keep operators informed of
events.
Sheet Authors: José Calderón, Luis Guerra, Lidia Rojas Date: 23 February 2014
Defining Activities
Activities
Guided and unguided hikes, seasonal interpretive programs, swim-
ming, kayaking, rafting, birding, sun and surf, dancing, archaeolo-
gical site studies, guided and unguided visits to museums or trails,
cycling, mountain climbing, cliff diving, spelunking, deep-sea diving,
snorkeling, sports fishing and hunting, photography, butterfly co-
llecting, plants identification, picnics, horseback riding, climbing,
canoe or kayak sailing, parachuting, hang gliding, star gazing, cam-
ping, football (and other sports), barbequeing, programs for school
children, reading, sleeping, treasure hunting, dining, running, track
and field, singing, video and mechanical games, painting, sculpting,
shooting, archery, skiing, motorcross, autocross, meditation, aerobics,
slide shows, handicrafts, theater and other live arts, exhibits, rafting,
festivals and other celebrations (weddings, birthdays, parties) and
EVEN flying to outerspace and sexual tourism
Pre-Requisites for Activities
♦♦ Meets the management objectives of the zone and

strategic value of the sector
♦♦ Fulfill the purpose and at least one site message
Activity cards should look like this:
Activity
Activity Card
Profile and
months of year
Rafting
Foreign rafters/8 Cangrejal/Cascade
Sector and
attraction

Identifying Services
All infrastructure in protected areas supports the provision of some

services. For recreational attractions, the infrastructure could be the
attraction itself, such as a restaurant or roller coaster.
Orientation and Access

Services: Parking, orientation information, easy access bathrooms or
entrances for people with special needs and senior citizens
Infrastructure: Parking lots, information center, kiosks, signals, roads,

trails, gates, walkers, bridges, wheelchair ramps, elevators
Recreational
Services: Loan (and rental) of equipment (binoculars, rainwear, bug
repellent, guides), vehicle rental (boats, cars, canoes, horses), product
sales (handicrafts, souvenirs, hats, T-shirts), sale of picnic food, trans-
portation to the site, family pictures with the cascade as backdrop,
face-painting, site decoration, entertainment (dancing, singing, bar,
theater, videos, etc.)
Infrastructure: gardens and statues, trails, docks, piers, stores, visitor

centers, restaurants, signs, stable, warehouses, motocross or airplane
strips, garages
Investigative
Services: Rental of forest-measuring equipment, lodging, computer
centers, electronic communications equipment, library, laboratory
use, research zone maps, special permits to use areas where visitors
are not admitted, sale of equipment (vinyl tape for marking plants,
pencils, notebooks)
Infrastructure: library building, computer room, cabins, equipment

warehouse, trails, bridges, signs, camps with working areas
Interpretative/Educational
Services: Training, bulletins, space for parties, conferences and events,
interpretative media in several languages, programs for school chil-
dren, after-school activities, vacation activities, rental or loan of
equipment such as binoculars, room for events
Infrastructure: trails, interpretation center, animal facilities, overlooks,

observation towers, exhibits, arboretums, signs, sample orchards,

butterfly reserve, bird feeders, amphiteatre, outdoor classroom,
projection room, computer room, museum, warehouse, conference
room, overhangs, hanging bridges, overlooks, whiteboard to write
rare animal sightings, blinds for birdwatching
Restorative and Support

Services: Telephone, e-mail, sale of drinking water, food, lodging,
equipment repair, transport, film developing, carwashes, child care,
temporary storage for coats and backpacks
Infrastructure: Restaurants, bed & breakfast, camps, cabins, camping

areas, refuges, public telephones, convenient transportation (small
train, wheelbarrow for kids, van, elephant), restrooms, parking,
benches, tables, trashcans, ATMs, Internet café
Security
Services: Surveillance, notices, search and rescue, first aid, guides,
This gentleman is selling food, a
restorative service. signs in dangerous areas
Infrastructure: posts, gates, signs, banisters, illumination, radio system,

flat and hard surface trails with ramps, medical clinic
Administrative/General
Services: Admission to protected area, dangerous wildlife control
(Africanized bees, poisonous plants, bears with rabies), cordial and
friendly personnel that welcome visitors and invite them to return,
membership, photocopying services, facilities and special privileges
for members, visitor control systems
Infrastructure: offices, warehouse, garage
Suggestions for Determining Services

1. Do not think about who delivers the service. That comes later in
this module.
2. List only those services that the visitor needs once they get to
the site. Participants do not have to include airfare. You may or may
not include transportation to the site, depending on how you would
expect the visitors to arrive, unless your site really will contribute
that service (some sites do have buses).
3. Remember that there is a point where additional services will not
add value, as they dilute the experience and drive up costs (especia-
lly infrastructure). Try to anticipate visitor expectations and needs
without wanting to include everything. Consider the messages for
each associated site and how each might be interpreted. BE SPE-

CIFIC in your recommendations.
4. Services cannot be inconsistent with zone management specifica-
tions or the strategic objective of the sector.
5. Some services are charged for, and others are part of the price
of admission. Many services come with an entrance fee (protection,
emergency response, signage, management, publicity, etc.)
6. Be specific. Do not say housing when you could say dormitory or
campground. Do not put restaurant without saying whether it is five-
star or just a hot dog stand. Do not say just visitor center; you need
to mention its level of quality, comfort, and scale (how many people
will it accommodate, how big will it be, how much will it do).
7. Choose only the principal services. Remember that in the future,
each project will be designed in great detail, so few obvious sub-
services, such as garbage collection for a restaurant, will likely be
considered. Thus, you can choose only four services per activity,
though there may indeed be more.
Scale for Viability Matrix
Question 1 2 3 4 5
Score
5 1º fifth Very attractive None Very feasible
Take from the
Directory of
4 2º fifth Attractive Little Feasible

Attractions
Touristic
3 3º fifth Moderate Moderate Moderate

2 4º fifth Not attractive Significant Minimal
1 5º fifth Boring Intense Impossible
This table is used to rate the viability of activities.
Questions to Help Assign Scores

1. What is the barrier score found in the Directory of Touristic Attractions?
2. How much of a priority is the attraction? (taken from ranking in Module 3)
3. How attractive is the activity to potential visitor profiles? Is it something they will like to do?
4. Would these activities compete directly with already existing similar activities outside the site?
5. Is the activity feasible in terms of cost, potential impacts, or other issues not reflected in the ba-
rriers?

Activity 1. Attraction 2. Priority of 3. Activity 4. Competition 5. Feasibility Total Rank
Barriers Attraction Attractiveness
5-38
Viability Matrix blank
Activity 1. Barriers 2. Priority 3. Attractiveness 4. Competition 5. Feasibility Total Rank
Env. Education 3 2.5 3 3 3 14.5 1
Chats AMARAS,
Central Sector
Camping Area 3 2.5 3 3 3 14.5 1
Zacate Sector
Chats and 2.5 2.5 3 3 3 14 3
scientific essays
Camp. CURLA
River 2 3 3 3 3 14 3
interpretation,
Camp. CURLA
Bathing facilities, 2 2 3 2 3 12 5
Cangrejal Sector
Hikes to Hornito 2 2 3 2 3 12 5
Hill, Pico Bonito
Visit to El Bejuco, 1 2 3 2 3 11 7
Cangrejal Sector

Bathing Facilities, 2 2 2 2 3 11 7
Camp. CURLA
Rafting, Cangrejal 1 3 3 3 3 13 9
Sector
Zacate River trail 2 2 3 2 3 12 10
table on page 5-29. See the following page for discussion of the different viability scores.
Reptile hike, 1 3 2 3 1 10 11
Cangrejal Sector
Exploration hike 1 2 3 1.5 2 9.5 12
Pico Bonito Sector
This example has been modified for this module. Note that the scores come from five-point scales shown in a
5-39
Guide for Activity Viability Scores
Please see the following examples of scoring.
1. Barrier scores come from the Directory of Touristic Attractions

2. Priority scores come from the Directory of Touristic Attractions
3. Attractiveness: A very attractive activity is one that is enjoyed by the
masses of people all over the world. An attractive activity is carried
out in very large numbers almost everywhere. A moderately attractive
activity is a large industry but not practiced by people everywhere.
A less attractive activity is an even more specialized industry often
requiring special equipment or skills. A rarely attractive activity is a
highly specialized, niche activity.
4. Competition: a site can attract international, regional, national,
sub-national, or local visitors. Considering your site’s level, would
the activity cause any competition with other providers? Then, at
your level, if nobody else is offering the same activity, there is no
competition. Competition is scant if the providers are a handful. If it
is not hard to find another provider at your level, competition is
moderate. If the visitors have a hard time choosing between providers,
competition is significant. If the competitors directly attack their peers,
continuously advertise their services, or use aggressive sales tactics,
competition is intense.
5. Feasibility: activities are very feasible when there are no barriers, all
elements are easily obtainable and the activity will earn a lot of money.
It is feasible when there is one or more light barriers, all elements
Activity attractiveness (based on are obtainable and the activity will meet its financial objective. It
numbers of participants worldwide) is moderate when there are one or more serious barriers, when one
is relative among major groups. or two elements are hard to come by or are expensive and a few
Within them, relative attractiveness
of activities can be assumed con- earnings are expected. Mínimum refers to an activity that faces one or
stant. Thus to facilitate the Activity more serious barriers, whose necessary elements cannot be obtained
Viability Matrix, PUP offers scores and some earnings are expected. It is not feasible or impossible when a
for site activities. Use the following
when a site’s audience is at least barrier cannot be overcome, when one of the important elements is
50% international. If less than unattainable, and the activity will not render any financial benefit.
50% international, use domestic
preferences instead. This is not
scientific, so modify it to suit your
site’s needs.
Activity attractiveness scores
Descriptor Score Typical Visitor Activities
Very 5 Guided and unguided hikes, picnic, trail walks, soccer (and other field games)
Attractive 4 Swimming, sun and surf, canoeing, windshield touring
Moderately 3 Snorkeling, bird watching, camping, skiing, photography, cycling
Less 2 SCUBA, rafting, kayaking, sport fishing/hunting, horseback riding, mountain-
eering, specialized archeological study such as cathedrals or totem polls
Rarely 1 Cliff diving, spelunking, rock climbing, sailing, parachuting, motor cross

Service Provision Agreements
Concessions: The site can grant a third party a concession for the
distribution, sale, or development of a product or service. Com-
mon examples include the sale of food, lodging, transportation,
and stores. The site charges a seasonal concession fee and regulates
the activity, essentially establishing a regulated monopoly to assure
quality service and fair prices. It requests proposals from candidate
providers and selects the best.
Agreements (memorandum of understanding): These are more
formal legally bound relations between the signers. Agreements
regulate the exchange of resources and outline the responsibilities
and products that should result from the relationship. Usually they
are implemented when the government is involved. Tourism agree-
ments cover several projects for the development or management
of certain areas.
Ecoalliances: These are less formal than MOU and are established
for friendly and voluntary collaboration between site and private
sector. Typically, an ecoalliance does not grant operation rights, but
implies the sharing of responsibilities and exchanges. The terms of
reference are non-compulsory. Ecoalliances can establish coopera-
tive systems for sharing nature guides, private sector donations to
the site (entrance fees, marketing, guide management, publications,
product manufacturing such as souvenirs and apparel, training,
management of infrastructure, etc.). The only limit is the creativity
of the participants. At present, Pico Bonito National Park and the
Lodge at Pico Bonito have the first ecoalliance of its kind in Hon-
duras. Sometimes ecoalliances are used to experience new forms of
control or operation before they become formal regulations.
Permits & Licenses: Sites can grant licenses or permits to a ser-
vice provider to work under established conditions in the area of
influence. The difference between these and concessions is that there
are several competitors playing under the same rules established by
the license. There can be several tourism operators with licenses to
operate in a site. The site, again, charges for the licenses, which have
to be re-newed periodically. Permits and licenses may be associated
with certification. Certifications do not grant a right to operate, only
verify that the provider complies with requirements to operate at a
certain level. The tourism industry often certifies guides, hotels, and
other environmental practices. The permit relationship is standard
and does not demand an MOU.
Contract: The site can hire a consultant, although this is an expen-
sive option. It assumes the site has enough funds to contract specialized
personnel.

Crater Lagoon Service Provision Agreements
Services Park Only Concession Agreements Eco Alliance Permits & Contract Private Sector
5-42
Licenses Only
Orientation Parking Ciudad Grande River City
& Access Information Ciudad Grande, Overlook Mtn.
Infrastructure Ciudad Grande, visitor center Government
(VC) maintains road /
Overlook Mtn.
Other Park maps (VC)
Recreational Sales Souvenirs/ Ciudad
Grande
Tour packages Tour operators
Infrastructure Around Lagoon
Other Rest rooms VC, Ciudad
Grande
Restorative Food Ciudad Grande/VC Lagoon
& Support Lodging Hotels/Lagoon Hotels/River City
Transportation Cooperative in Overlook Mtn.,
main entrance Lagoon;
boaters/south
river
Infrastructure Botanical Garden/VC/C
Service Provision Agree-
Grand.
Other Phones/VC/Ciudad Grande
Interpretative- Guiding & Student programs in Ciudad VC/River City w/ Guide
Educational programs Grande, VC university licenses
Training

Spaces Room in Ciudad Grande, VC
Infrastructure Overlooks in Overlook Mtn.
Other Exhibit/Lagoon
Administra- Access Trail in Central Mountain
tive-General Maintenance
Species control X, whole park Research w/ Ocean
University
Marketing Tourist
Guide
Security Surveillance X River City,
local
company
Search & rescue X Army/mountains
Medical Clinic In River City, Lagoon
Fill in the cells with the area, specific service, and candidate
Factors that Influence a Successful Mix of Activities at a Site
1. Covering a variety of visitors: The site cannot have something
for everyone, but should offer something for the major visitors that
visit the site, plus for major profiles that could visit the site. Do not
assign too many activities to the same profiles. Typically site purposes
implicitly agree that a protected area should serve as many different
profiles of society as possible.
2. Covering a variety of activities (and experiences): Do not repeat
similar activities in a site much or risk their competing against each
other. Make sure there are a variety of experience opportunities to
attract more people. Some very similar activities, however, can serve
different experiences, especially the most common of all: hiking/
walking on trails. There are hard, paved trails around medieval cast-
les and light trails in primitive areas. While these activities might be
similar, the experiences are nearly opposites.
3. Covering the entire year: Some sites were created to protect a
certain seasonal phenomena, such as the Monarch Butterfly Reserve
in Mexico. But it is very difficult to manage a site that has only a very
seasonal offering, for a variety of reasons. Thus another criterion for
getting the right mix is to have offerings for the major visitor profiles
year-round.arrier: Illegal squatters have invaded an important
zone to be developed.
Three Financial Objectives

Profitability: The activity should generate a profit, thus raising
money for the site and conservation. To do this, the activity often
$
targets higher end and international tourists, but can also target
higher-volume casual visitors.
Break even: The activity is designed to accommodate a certain vi-
sitor that can pay, but often not too much. The activity or service is
envisioned as a public service, made available to the widest audience.
The site accepts that small entrance fees are sufficient to cover costs,
and there is no intention to make money on the product. A picnic
area for casual visitors is an example.
Subsidized: There may be activities that cannot cover costs through
user fees. Some educational activities are offered at low or no cost
to schools or poor visitors. The site is willing to take a loss on the
activity, understanding that it is subsidized through some other
source of funding.

Defining Service Provision Agreements
Sector Role in the Management of a Site
Role of the Site Management in the Site’s Tourism
1. Environmental protection
2. Infrastructure (roads, airports, railways, electric power,
sanitation)
3. Safety and law enforcement
4. Impact monitoring and mitigation; quality evaluation
5. Access development
6. Information (interpretation, visitor centers)
7. Conflict resolution
Role of the Private Sector in the Site’s Tourism
1. Lodging and food

2. Transportation (buses, cars, airplanes)
3. Information (guides, marketing)
4. Communications (films, books, videos)
5. Site promotion and marketing
6. Products for clients (apparel, souvenirs, equipment)
7. Personal services (entertainment)
Sometimes visitors and locals pro-

vide services in both directions.

Overcoming Barriers
Most barriers to the development of attractions can be overcome,
reduced, or substituted (in order of preference). When there are no
alternatives or the alternatives are not feasible or cost prohibitive,
the attraction cannot be developed at that time. Note: the barriers
do not have to be classified per these 3 strategies, which we cite only
to help you identify the different options.
Example: Barrier: A river runs through a proposed trail path
Overcome: Build a bridge as a viable solution.

Reduced: Open the trail only during the dry season.
Substituted: Reroute the trail away from the river.
Example: Barrier: Illegal squatters have invaded an important

sector to be developed.
Overcome: Those squatters can be removed.

Reduced: Reduce the area where the development was going to
occur to accommodate the squatters.
Substituted: Move the development elsewhere.
Example: Barrier: Volcanically active area around an important

geological resource can threaten human safety.
Overcome: Build a trench to catch lava flow or place a protective

roof against falling ash.
Reduced: Move the visitors to a safe distance away from the acti-
vity.
Substituted: Locate a less active area for development.

A public use coordinator interviews a foreign tourist about a tour his site offers. Coordinators can use a combination
of focus groups and personal interviews to learn about what visitors expect, desire, and need.
e
Outsid
1. Why do we bring the results of Module 5 to the strategic Participation: bringing
public use communities? few community leaders
2. Why don’t we bring the results to many communities, to meetings vs. bringing
not just 2–3?
meetings to communities
Wider Review of Product Proposals 6-3

6 Wider Review of Product Proposals
Consult with two large and important stakeholder groups who
did not participate in the workshops about the following topics:
strategic public use communities, integrating some of their wis-
hes into the plan, and visitors, to measure their receptiveness to
proposed activities and services.
Fous Question: What can these stakeholder groups contribute to the vision so far?
Summary: During small workshops, there is little opportunity for participation from more
than a very few representatives of communities and visitor profiles. Thus the facilitator takes
the results to date to strategic communities, to see what kinds of activities and services they
would like to offer consistent with the strategic criteria. Similarly, the facilitator takes the re-
sults to two principal visitor profiles and sees if they can improve what has been offered.
Format: Community workshops and focus groups
Time: 4 hours per community workshop; 1-2 hours for a focus group discussion with visitors
plus preparation time of perhaps 2 days depending on how many events there are
Materials: Presentation materials, notebook, Product Description Sheets from Module 5;
cards for method (the quantity will depend on the number of workshops you hold); prize
for tourists who participate in focus groups
Participants: Key planners, plus strategic community members (numbers depend on how
many people answer the call for participants), principal visitor profile representatives
Deliverables: Modified or new Product Description Sheets

Pre-Workshop Preparations III. Checking with the Experts (Visitors)
I. Introduction Choosing Visitor Profiles to Interview
II. Integrating Community Involvement Preparing the Focus Group Session
Identifying Strategic Communities Facilitating the Focus Groups
Recruiting Participation Integrating Results into the Vision
Preparing the Presentations Future Steps
Making the Presentations Evaluation
Integrating Their Suggestions Examples & Illustrations
Doing It Again Additional Resources
6-4 Wider Review of Product Proposals

Products. You must have all deliverables done through Module 5
before proceeding to this module.
Invitations. You will need to invite people to a particular location

Recruiting Help
on a particular date in order to have the discussion. This invitation If there are other staff or people
may take several forms depending on the local situation. It could be experienced in community orga-
a poster, announcements by radio, door-to-door, announcements at nizing, you should try to recruit
their help unless you have that
town meetings, etc. The timing of the meeting will also depend on experience yourself. Though an-
local conditions. other person always helps.
An ecotourism promoter works with Garifuna women on the

Honduran Caribbean coast.

I. Introduction
Warming Up
There is no warming up for the planners, but you will need to do

proper introductions and an opening exercise with the participants
in your focus groups. You may use a technique found in one of the
previous modules or from the list of warm-ups in the Appendix.
Orient
This orientation is designed principally for the public use coordi-
nator rather than other workshop participants. In Module 6 we are
targeting the numerically largest stakeholder groups and the ones that
have least participated in the process up until now: strategic local
communities and visitors. No doubt you have had some community
members and even some visitors participating in the PUP process so
far. While their perspective is valuable, it is questionable how well one
person can represent large groups of opinions. Community leaders
tend to be older males, who have above-average resources and their
own political agendas. They cannot possibly represent many sectors
of even a small community that includes women, people of all ages,
people of different wealth and status levels, and people who live in
geographically different terrains, and sources of income, some of
which have important proximity to site resources.
So here we get out of the planning room, and for a week or
so, bring the PUP on the road to consult these people. Our goal is to
integrate some new elements into our vision that are both strategic
and consistent with our sectors and management zones, as well as
to involve communities in the site’s public use development.
These meetings might not render immediate, real results, but
they are not at all the final chance to consult communities.
Which activities and services do the community members
offer today? Consider these:
Activities: Guided tours (walking or horseback riding), swimming

holes, cultural presentations, sharing skills, medicinal plant collecting,
fishing, boating, others
Services: Guiding, transportation, housing, handicrafts, food pre-
paration, equipment renting and repair, porters, cleaning, security,
others

II. Integrating Community Involvement
What Does It Mean?

Explain
You want to help communities identify activities and services that are
within their reach to offer. In most cases, they may need technical and
financial assistance to reach an acceptable level of quality. Thus many
forms of community involvement require a significant investment
by the site. In return, sites typically hope to achieve a higher level of
community support, and perhaps, to stem degradation of resources in
that region. It is a difficult process, yet there are many organizations
dedicated to help sites in this way.
This does not mean that you should sacrifice your strategic
development just to accommodate or appease communities. If you
choose the communities strategically and if you are creative, most
likely you can find community roles that are consistent with your
site development. Nevertheless, the degree to which you integrate
stakeholder suggestions determines how involved or participatory
this process is. You can hear the communities’ thoughts as just one
more input that you may not include (in which case community has
little power in the process) or you commit yourself to including an-
ything that does not contradict existing strategic criteria (community
has a little more power).
How Do I Do It?
Identifying Strategic Communities

Do
You should have already identified strategic communities in Module
1 when you negotiated the Terms of Reference. There is a chance,
however, that you have identified other communities or taken one
or more of the initial three communities off the list because of
what you learned in the first five modules. You may want to reflect
once more on what might make a community strategic for public
use purposes.
1. Consider this list of possible criteria that might make a community

strategic for public use development.
Strategic Concerns in Selecting Communities
♦♦ Proximity to a high-priority sector/attraction or 1A visitor flow refers to a road or some other way through
primary visitor flows1 ; secondarily they may have which visitors pass.
proximity to medium-priority sectors and attractions

Techniques for Recruiting and secondary visitor flows.
in Communities ♦♦ Community already has a history of offering public
♦♦ Posters in key community use services
areas
♦♦ Announcements on radio ♦♦ Community is the source of significant destruction
♦♦ Announcements at public and has been identified as a site requiring immediate
meetings, assemblies, and community development intervention. Note: this is
church congregations
♦♦ Door to door invitations really a protection criterion rather than a public use
♦♦ Newspaper announce- one; it may not be a community either located near
ments or interested in public use services.
♦♦ Promotional inserts in
electricity bills ♦♦ Community has shown significant initiative already
♦♦ Hand out invitations to in service provision. Again, this criterion should
school children to bring be combined with another criterion for it to be a
home
♦♦ Announcements at meet- priority.
ings of associations, guilds, ♦♦ Often you are handed communities that are priorities
or local government for the organization for political reasons, favoritism,
♦♦ Loud speakers or mega-
phone in the street, often funding from donors, or other reasons that perhaps
from a vehicle have nothing to do with public use.
2. If possible, try to choose communities with proximity to resour-

ces or visitor flows or have a history of service provision. The other

three criteria are less strategic for public use, even though they mig-
ht be highly important for site protection or political support.
Recruiting Participation
Do
1. Identify to what extent the site has technical personnel in the
community, and what other organizations work there that might help.
Perhaps you know someone in the community who can help with the
recruitment. The problem with selecting community leaders, unless
they use a very open public announcement, is that they may have a
biased selection of who should go to the meeting.
2. Devise a method of recruiting people that considers women,
different ages, wealth and status levels, and geographical locations
within the community. You should try to identify key players within
the community such as those who have offered services before,
and also those with geographical proximity to important resources.
Other NGOs working there may know families who are exceptionally
responsible and are looking to offer tourist services.
3. Try to choose a day that does not interfere with the regular work
cycles of the community, and a time that is widely acceptable to most
people. Sometimes you can time your meeting with another meeting
already scheduled in the community.
4. In many communities, you do not need to advertise more than a
few days in advance.
5. You should plan a little food (buying it locally) and check to see

if the location has electricity or not. This will influence your options
for presentation methods.
Preparing the Presentations

Do
1. Consider some aspects that are appropriate for a community
presentation:
♦♦ Simple
♦♦ Visual
♦♦ Short
♦♦ Does not present much theory
♦♦ Requires little or no reading for participants
(depends on the community education level)
2. Choose your technology:
♦♦ If you have electricity, you could use PowerPoint on

an LCD projector, a slide projector, or an overhead
projector combined with maps and butcher paper.
♦♦ If you do not have electricity, you can use a combi-
nation of maps, theatre, butcher paper (as posters),
and handouts.
3. Choose your content:
♦♦ Brief introduction that talks about the purpose of the

planning and site visit. Explain the idea of attractions,
site purposes, site messages (or at least the topic of
each), high priority sectors, activities, and services
that visitors use. Every activity and service must fulfill
the two basic pre-requisites of site purpose/message
and zone management/sector strategy.
♦♦ If you use PowerPoint on an overhead projector, you
can show images of the attractions, activities, ser-
vices, and visitors. These can be lifted from the PUP
PowerPoint presentations.
♦♦ If you do not have electricity, you could still show
some of these images as handouts.
♦♦ A big map (the bigger the better) that is clear, simple,
and uncluttered is best. You might use the big map
from Module 1 if it is portable. On this map, you
can show the community, major attractions and
zones/sectors with any other outstanding landscape
features. Try to be more pictorial than verbal (this

depends on whether the community is more urban,
with lots of people who can read, or is a rural com-
1Communities located near site entrances or along roads munity where they might not). You can tell most of
associated with sites either outside or inside
your story on a map (check in advance the commu-
nity members’ capacity to read the map).
♦♦ Consider the kind of community you are in, to deter-
mine the breadth of presentation. For our purposes
here, there are two kinds of communities that deter-
mine how many sectors you are considering:
● Communities identified with particular attractions

or sect
● Communities that can be associated with no at-
tractions in particular (gateway communities1 , for
instance, or politically chosen communities) and thus
could work in a variety of sectors
♦♦ Recruit help. If you had a member of this commu-

nity in any module, they should help or do as much
of the presentation as you feel comfortable giving
to them. They often can present things in words
local people understand, and are likely to be more
A public use coordinator trusted. You may also look for site staff or technical
facilitates a group workshop staff that work in the community to help make your
with members of the com- presentation accessible. You should practice in front
munity . of such people who can offer suggestions on how to
make it more presentable for the audience.

Making the Presentations
Do
1. Your presentation should be about 30–45 minutes. Encourage
questions throughout. In fact, it is wise to stop every few minutes
and ask questions to check for understanding since many people do
not ask if they do not understand. You should establish openness
about taking questions. Also note that some people will defer to
their husbands, leaders, or people with stronger personalities. You
will need to look for confused faces and directly solicit questions
from them, to get around these social blocks.
2. After your presentation, you should do a group ORID. Remember
you are trying to move the whole group to a deeper understanding,
and you may need to ask quite a few questions at each level, soliciting
comments from different sectors of your audience.

Ask
O: Which attractions are closest to this community? What are the pro-
posed activities and services? What are the reasons these sectors are
high priority? (You want everyone sees the same set of elements.)
R: Do you like this arrangement? How does it make you feel? Suspi-
cious? Motivated? Interested? Frustrated? (You are trying to feel for
how the group as a whole is feeling toward this vision.)
I: Which activities and services have people offered in your com-
munity? Who in this community has the ability to offer any of the
activities and services suggested here? What other activities and
services could be offered by people in the community (with names
or in general) and how do they fit into the vision? What else would
you like to offer visitors?
D: What kinds of training, inputs, or help would community mem-
bers (again, specific members or in general) need to be able to offer
these services? Who in the community already has experience that
could help us? What kinds of investment and contributions could
different elements of the community offer to set up these services?
(Here we are looking for resources and commitments that might
come out of the community.)
Facilitate
1. As people come up with ideas, you should be writing them down
on butcher paper or a chalkboard. Ideas include possible services,
activities, people, and organizations that can help, as well as particular
contributions, needs, etc.
2. Now you should do a ToP Workshop Method exercise. There are
some ideas already up on the board to help people, and they have
had an introduction. The focus question is: “What are the activities
and services for Sector X that this community could most effectively
deliver?”
3. Use standard Workshop Method methodology considering the
following:
♦♦ You may need to use pictures as well as words for

the cards. You will need assistants to help people put
up pictures and words.
♦♦ You are aiming to facilitate with 45 cards.
♦♦ You want to get to 5 to 7 general groups of ser-
vices/activities.
Explain
4. Some results will be the same activities and services already pro-
posed. Of the new ones, you will need to go over them one by one 1a. Are they consistent with the management factors of the
in the full group, and test them to see if they meet the two basic zone and strategic value of the sector? (both from from
Module 4)
pre-requisites from Module 5.1 If they do not, can they be modified b. Do they support the Planning Framework and at least
to meet those pre-requisites? Or should you discard them? one site message?

5. Once you have filtered them this way, then the group can vote on
their preferred ones. You could put the group titles on the floor and
give everyone a small piece of paper representing their vote. You can
ask them to vote based on the question, “Which activity or service
would be the most beneficial for the community?”
6. Thank them very much for their participation and tell them that
their recommendations will be integrated into the PUP. Anyone who
leaves his or her name will be invited to the public presentation.
Integrating their Comments

Do
While you will never use all of the suggestions, you should make
a genuine effort to include some items from their list. Remember
you do not want this exercise to be merely an excuse to say you had
“community participation.” The revision team will of course revise
the format, timing, and make other modifications as the PUP evolves
(in the Second Review of Results workshop).
1. You should modify the corresponding Product Description Sheets,
noting any new activities (requiring a new sheet), services, suggested
community contributions, or other key ideas.
2. The actual results of the workshop should be kept on file as you
may need to refer to them later. It is probably not necessary to include
the results in the PUP, as it is not a document with proceedings from
each module, but contains only the pieces that contribute to the final
vision, in order to keep the document as brief as possible.
Doing It Again
Do
You may have to do this workshop several times depending on the
number of communities you chose. In some cases different work-
shops might affect the same sectors. When results overlap, do make
a note of that, as it is a source of strong justification to say that two
communities asked for the same activity or service. If you have plans
to do this exercise more than once, you might start in the community
you perceive as least strategic, so that you can apply the experience
gained to the following communities.

III. Checking With The Experts (Visitors)
What Does It Mean? Explain
One important source of information should come from the visitors
themselves. You will carry out 1–3 focus groups with different visitor
profiles, to get their feedback on public use product proposals. In
this case you are evaluating the vision proposed rather than soliciting
new ideas, although new ideas may result.
How Do I Do It?
Choosing Visitor Profiles to Interview

Do
1. Identify the three most important visitor profiles for the site (from
your research in Module 4), and determine if you have access to them
to form focus groups (some may be out of season). It will probably
be some combination of international tourists, local visitors, and one
group that is more specific in its interests (depending on the activities
and experience opportunities you are pursuing).
2. If they are international tourists, you should plan to recruit them
when their numbers are high. If they are schools or local people,
you can recruit them in other appropriate ways.
3. Refer to focus group instructions in the Appendix. Divers have very specific needs
and wishes regarding the public
use products they purchase.
Preparing the Focus Group Sessions
Do
1. You will need to prepare a presentation with greater detail than the
one described above for communities. You should still use a variety of
media, but now most likely you have a more sophisticated audience,
which permits you to go into more theory. The presentation can be
somewhat longer, but should still be no longer than an hour.
2. You need to have a series of questions ready. Refer to the list of
questions (6-15).
3. If you need a translator, you must plan carefully. You will need to
recruit someone you can trust who has some tourism vocabulary. If
you can manage a simultaneous translation, that would be best (but
it is more expensive and much harder to find someone who has the
skill and equipment to do that). In all cases, you may need to work
side by side with a bilingual person in the discussion.
4. You should give a reward to tourists who participate, such as a
T-shirt, free trip, or other token of your gratitude.

Facilitating the Focus Groups
Consult the section found in the Appendix to facilitate a focus

group.
Integrating Results into the Vision

Do
1. You should modify the corresponding Product Description Sheets,
noting any new activities (requiring a new sheet), services, community
suggestions, or other key ideas.
2. The actual results of the workshop should be kept on file, as you
may need to refer to them later. It is probably not necessary to include
the results in the PUP, as it is not a document with proceedings from
each module, but contains only the pieces that contribute to the final
vision, in order to keep the document as brief as possible.
Future Steps
Now that you have integrated observations of communities and
visitors into your Product Description Sheets, the next step will be
to convene a review committee to check the quality of the results
to date. After this review committee, then you will continue with
Module 7, on setting up the basics of a monitoring plan.
Evaluation
For the evaluation of this module, refer to the module question-
naire that you will fill out and return to PUP with updated Product
Description Sheets.

contributions (include name) • List of questions for focus groups
cards on the wall
to you to update
a dated addendum
♦♦ “Conducting Focus Group Meetings” by RARE.
ownership

Wider Review of Product Proposals
6
Purpose: Consult with two large and important stakeholder groups who did not participate in the
workshops about the following topics: strategic public use communities, integration of some
of their wishes into the plan, and visitor profiles, to measure their receptiveness to proposed
activities and services.
Focus Question: What can these stakeholder groups contribute to the vision so far?
Summary: During small workshops, there is little opportunity for participation from more than a
very few representatives of communities and visitor profiles. Thus the facilitator takes the results
to date to the strategic public use communities, to see what kinds of activities and services they
would like to offer that are consistent with the strategic criteria. Similarly, the facilitator takes the
results to two principal visitor profiles and sees if they can improve what has been offered.
Deliverables: Modified or new Product Description Sheets
Introduction
In this module we try to give more voice to communities than they might have had otherwise only in
the workshops.
Focus Group Questions for Visitors

♦♦ Considering this kind of attraction, are these appropriate activities?
♦♦ What kinds of services do you see as necessary for this activity?
♦♦ What kinds of elements would make the experience even better for this activity?
♦♦ Would you like to take part in this kind of activity? What kinds of foreign tourists
would like it?
♦♦ What is the right kind of experience for this attraction?

♦♦ How will this visitor center really enhance the ex-
perience?
♦♦ What kind of food do visitors want when they visit
national sites?
♦♦ How important is the service in this case?
♦♦ How can we make this better?
♦♦ Would a visitor be willing to pay more for this
service? What would it have to offer for them to
willingly pay more?
♦♦ How much would you pay for this activity?
♦♦ How long would it take to do this activity?
♦♦ How would you rate this activity compared to others
you have seen offered elsewhere?

The First Review of Results allows you to evaluate the quality of the products up to this point.
e
Outsid
1. Why do we write a first draft of the PUP table of
contents now? Strategic use of small
2. Why do we do this review in a small group rather than groups vs. large groups
a large group?
3. Why do we search for difficult or overlooked issues?
Quality control vs. focus on
finishing
First Review of Results FR-3

FRR First Review of Results
Review results to eliminate inconsistencies, improve wording, fill
holes, and discuss pending issues from Modules 2–6.
Focus Question: Can we significantly improve the quality of the products with a small, focused
review committee?
Summary: The facilitator gathers a small group of critical people from inside and outside
the process, to review the results to date and improve them. They try to achieve consistency,
clear logic, and strategic, specific results.
Format: Small meeting
Time: Minimum of 4 hours
Materials: Copies of all the results to date, materials representing the “PUP journey,” food
and drink
Participants (4-5): Public use coordinator, site director, people with strong critical thinking
skills, people who understand the material but have not participated in the process yet
Deliverables: Revised products from modules 2–6, first draft of PUP Table of Contents
This Workshop Contains:
I. Introduction
II. Writing the First Table of Contents for PUP
III. Reviewing the Results of Modules 2-6
IV. Dealing with Difficult Issues
Next Steps
Post-Workshop Task 1: Writing Up Results
Post-Workshop Task 2: Getting Any Necessary Approvals
FR-4 First Review of Results

Personal review. You should review all materials to date and create
a list of questions about inconsistencies, poor wording, controversies,
topics that need further development, or anything else that might
require further discussion. From your notes, you should have a list
of topics that arise during each module that may not necessarily have
been dealt with in the module. The better your preparation for this
event, the more productive it will be.
Location. Choose a comfortable, informal location where a small

group can work for several hours.
Participant Selection. In this group you are looking for producers,

Beware of Your Own Bias
not politicians. Try to avoid as much as possible inviting people who Because you, the public use co-
will be there only to represent an organization or certain perspective. ordinator, led the production of
This is a purely technical review of material; you can get politicians’ results, no doubt you are biased,
which might be an obstacle to
input once the review team has finished its work. With the site di- your ability to objectively notice
rector and public use coordinator present, in most scenarios, that problems, criticize, and improve
is enough decision-making power to make most necessary changes, the results. This is why it is so
important to recruit people who
except for some of the biggest. It is also useful to find one critical have not participated in the
outsider who understands the field to get a fresh view. This person process to help you review the
may uncover things that the participants have taken for granted. Feel products.
free to use the participant recruitment letter (FR-20).

I. Introduction
Warming Up
There is no need for a warm up for this activity, unless there is an

outsider that people do not know. In this case, everyone should in-
troduce him or herself and explain why he or she were selected for
this review. After passing out food and beverage, you can proceed
directly to the introduction.
Orient
1. Group Power. Large committees and groups, such as those in
the main modules of PUP, are designed to carve out general lines
of action. They are not good for writing, casting details, or even
discussing complex issues. Time is short during those modules, and
detailed work requires small group work. Thus this review constitutes
one of the quality control mechanisms in the PUP process, refining
the products that come out of group work.
2. Expectations. The people chosen for this review group come
based on two criteria. First, the people are sharp, highly critical, and
unafraid to find weakness, ambiguity, and contradiction in any aspect
of the results, and point it out. That is what is expected; we do not
want anyone who simply says “yes” to what has already been pro-
duced. The other criterion is that people represent a certain degree
of decision-making force, such as the PUC and site director. With
both present, most changes need no further review.
3. Contradicts Participatory Process? Some people have asked if this
kind of meeting, where the work of many can be changed by few,
is a contradiction of the supposedly participatory process of PUP.
It is a good question, and there are good answers. First, this is not a
secret, closed-door meeting, because the review sessions are a formal
part of the PUP process, and are budgeted and clearly announced
in the PUP schedule. PUP is filled with small group work throug-
hout. The philosophy emphasizes the importance of maintaining a
balance between large and small group work; both kinds of groups
offer complementary services to benefit the whole (see Chapter 5 as
well as in the invitation letter [FR-20]). People buy into a project not
when they have had their say about every aspect of the work, but
rather when their opinions have been integrated into the issues of
greatest importance to them. Thus it is not necessary that everyone
be involved in all changes. We only have to make sure that if we make
a change that seriously affects someone’s interest, that person should
be consulted after the workshop.

4. Unproductive results. It is also important to realize that this review
group serves to reverse or correct unproductive results that can come
out of large groups. One must consider group psychology. Sometimes
a powerful voice or a sub-group of people can alter the flow of what
would otherwise be logical decision-making. An emotional event or
topical news item can influence group thinking on any particular
day. The facilitator could accidentally say something or have a point
misunderstood that could have people misinterpret or get angry. In
short, despite a facilitator’s best efforts, emotion in the moment (this
is not the same as emotion that derives from someone’s deep interest)
can dominate over reason, leading to less than strategic decisions.
Things come up that the facilitator or other people know cannot
possibly make it to the public presentation of PUP because they are
too unreasonable. This committee helps to make sure that reason
and real interests have the final word. Also, at times, the facilitator
cannot finish all the tasks, or a hot point may come up that cannot
be reasonably discussed in the full group. The review session can be
the apt place to deal with these as well.

II. Writing the First PUP Table of Contents
What Does It Mean?
Explain
It is wise at this time to start thinking what the the PUP document
should look like. Since you have done the strategic planning modules
already, several aspects should have surfaced that will be useful as
Capturing Site Personality a basis for your PUP’s structure and themes. For example, you can
It is important that you capture
and interpret some of the site’s
start thinking how to present key elements of your site, such as vi-
spirit and personality in the docu- sion, objectives, interpretive framework, attractions, sectors, or main
ment itself. Be interpretative and products. These need extra treatment and can be considered the
creative with your graphics and
text, at the same time trying to
backbone of the PUP.
keep the text concise. Refer to PUP is like a brick house in which each module represents
your Interpretive Framework for one brick. Now you need to decide how to lay them together, as well
elements of your site’s essence.
as any additional bricks you will need. You will need to write different
parts around the bricks, like the mortar that glues bricks together.
This requires both creativity and a careful eye to the principle of
keeping the PUP document as lean and readable as possible. If we
want staff and others to actually read and use the PUP, we do not
want to overload and make it less accessible, as many traditional
planning processes do.1
Each PUP will require different parts, depending on the
needs of your site. For example:
1For further differences between PUP and traditional
planning, see Chapter 1. ♦♦ Some sites might need greater in-depth analyses
2Venn diagrams most commonly take the form of differ-
of the different actors using Venn diagrams2 or a
ently sized overlapping circles that illustrate different kinds
of power relationships between people and organizations. taxonomy of organizations.
♦♦ Some sites that are very strong on certain cultural
objects or Egyptian pyramids might need photos
and diagrams and additional information about
those resources.
♦♦ A public use program based around one intercon-
nected trail system may need a detailed trail map. A
site based on one particular species of bird or black
rhino might need a great deal of information about
the biology of that animal.
♦♦ A site that is dysfunctional because the site guards
are also guides will need a special section arguing for
a change in design of employee functions.
♦♦ A site that wants to invest heavily in Internet market-
ing may have a CD or a web site affiliated with the
PUP to illustrate some of what is needed.
♦♦ A site that is more advanced in interpretation or
marketing may decide to dig much deeper and create
outlines for interpretative programs.

Brainstorm of PUP Contents (no particular order and beyond main module products)
♦♦ Introduction
♦♦ Letter from the president of the board or director of the site (or any related officer)
♦♦ Letter from high site system official or politician
♦♦ Description of the initial conditions of public use (taken from site assessment report)
♦♦ Brief site history1
♦♦ Doubts and challenges2
♦♦ Brief description of site management
♦♦ Summary of general management plan
♦♦ Summaries from relevant legal documents
♦♦ Glossary
♦♦ Regional public use context
♦♦ Conservation projects that PUP has elected to support (from Terms of Reference)
♦♦ What ecoalliances are and which ones will the site pursue
♦♦ Process for developing PUP
♦♦ Definition and examples of visitor experiences
♦♦ Description of how this plan will be used and updated
♦♦ Importance of the vision for public use
♦♦ Any (SMARTI) objectives of public use written during different modules3
♦♦ Areas for further development, holes in PUP
♦♦ Diagram and discussion about PUP theory, possibly based on the experience planning Pow-
erPoint show. This helps to justify the underlying logic of PUP.
♦♦ Values of the institution
♦♦ Description of public use organizational chart
♦♦ Description of interrelations between public use and other programs at the site
♦♦ Description of site infrastructure (might be in public use initial conditions above)
♦♦ Challenges of particular threats or developments already underway at site or in the region
♦♦ Maps for each zone and each sector (see examples in Pico Bonito PUP in Appendix)
♦♦ Financing possibilities
♦♦ Bibliography
♦♦ Present and future audience profiles
♦♦ Relevant decrees
♦♦ Brief biography of important historical or present actors in public use
♦♦ Participants of the modules and document reviewers
♦♦ Acknowledgements
♦♦ Different kinds of maps and site imagery
♦♦ Drawings or diagrams of any aspect of PUP
♦♦ Information on related organization such as government oversight agencies or boards
♦♦ Appendices
♦♦ Notes
♦♦ List of tour operators, trails, and other service providers and stakeholders in the site.
1If the site history is especially relevant to the interpretation, otherwise it must just take up space.
2 Better to publicly recognize unresolved issues, doubts, cynicisms, than hide them; it uses transparency and honesty to create trust
3PUP suggests the writing of SMARTI objectives throughout the process such as Mod 1, 3, 4, 5, and 10.

♦♦ A site that is more advanced in administration might
need a more detailed financial plan.
♦♦ A site that is trying to get funding from a major do-
nor might need to adapt some of the PUP format
to the needs of the donor.
♦♦ A site whose neighbors have more developed public
use might want to do a comparative analysis.
♦♦ A site where there are a lot of relevant laws might
want to copy large sections of crucial laws.
Explain
1An ecoalliance is a friendly, voluntary agreement between
Your task is to foresee these needs and create time and space in
a site and private sector to manage some aspects of public the process to make sure they get produced. Pico Bonito created a
use. See Module 5 and the Appendix for more information
on ecoalliances
historic ecoalliance that appears in its PUP1 . However, you must
resist including items that are not directly useful to managing public
use. There is little need to include biological inventories, lots of
satellite photos, and all kinds of other maps that you might find in
a general management plan. The PUP is for site managers, not the
entire world, so you probably do not need to give a full description
of the organization that manages the protected area.
What is important to remember is that there is no simple
formula or template to follow -- you have to think it through.
How Do I Do It?
Facilitate
1. Tell participants that we are looking for key elements to shape
our PUP document and to guide us.
2. Do a brainstorm for the draft index using the preceding list which
includes many potential PUP document elements (in addition to
module deliverables). Choose ones that best suit your site.
3. You can then come up with a draft table of contents. You can
always add later, but it is more difficult to take away. See Pico Bonito’s
table of contents (FR-22).
4. Explain that the table of contents will during the next modules.

III. Reviewing the Results for Modules 2–6
What Does It Mean?
Explain
This review, then, covers all the results to date, but places special
emphasis on areas that the facilitator has identified prior to the ses-
sion.
How Do I Do It?
Facilitate
1. Divide the group in two.
2. Tell the first group to review the fundamental modules 2-4 and
the other group to review the product design modules 5-6. The first
group should finish the five-year zone map started in Mod 4.
3. Go through every module and read the results. There is a series of
questions and hypothetical scenarios (FR-15) you can use to guide
the analysis. From the start establish a culture of openness, so that
participants feel free to critique what has been done.
4. Make sure that someone in each group is taking notes, which will
represent the reason for carrying out this workshop. These notes must
be readable and should be given to you at the end of the session.
IV. Dealing with Difficult Issues
Public use coordinator from Tikal leading a small group session.

What Does It Mean?
Explain There are almost always issues that are difficult to discuss because
of their complexity or political sensitivity. Usually those issues are
obvious during the modules, and you should have taken note of
them. Now is the time for opening up discussion if necessary, you
might need to schedule additional time for discussing a particularly
important or contentious issue.
You will also find that there are some issues that simply got
overlooked in the process, some of which important and others not.
A list of possible issues follows. Be careful in selecting what you
should spend time discussing. For every additional topic you choose,
there are costs in time, research, and the complexity of the PUP. The
more complex the PUP is, the more difficult it will be for the site
to implement. So do not just say, “We should discuss the possibility
of having a volunteer program because it sounds like a good thing
to have.” There must be clear and compelling justification for each
program. You are the one who will suffer if PUP is too big.
Last, try to budget a certain amount of time for these dis-
cussions, so the session length does not get out of hand.
How Do I Do It?
1. Explain the hot issue discussion phase of the review and read
through your list.
2. Ask the group if they have other issues, or if they think any of
those presented here should not be discussed.
3. Are there any points that are so big that they should be assigned
their own discussion groups after this session?
4. Discuss points and try to get to resolution as quickly as possible.
Control people who like long speeches. Hopefully if the session
members were chosen carefully, there will be fewer people like
that, since critical and efficient thinkers can usually say what they
want without wasting so many words.
Issues That Can Get Overlooked

a. Environmental education versus interpretation programs.
Often people get these two functions mixed up. One is to build an
environmentally and civilly active citizenry, and the other is to pro-
mote certain messages and actions among a non-captive audience.
The latter usually refers to site visitors.
b. Extension programs to schools.

Such programming can be either educational or interpretive, depen-

ding on the objectives.
c. Remote visitor experiences to the site via the Internet.

Many people could be involved in site programming without ever
leaving their homes. Will any kind of Internet programming be
offered for these people?
d. Volunteer program.
What are the benefits? Managing volunteers is costly and requires
a lot of experience. Volunteers can be difficult to get in developing
countries, but if a program is successfully managed, can yield great
increases in labor for a protected area.
e. Integration of PUP with other site programs, sharing resources and personnel.
How will PUP staff interact and share responsibility with the ma-
intenance department or security personnel? Will the PUC share
secretaries and computers with the regular administration? What
about the car?
f. Visitor research in PUP.

Sites often think about biological research as an essential part of
their investigative needs, but often research on their visitors and
their behavior can bring much greater dividends. There is an entire
field now in the United States on visitor and leisure research in zoos,
museums, sites, and other public spaces.
g. Fundraising.
Where will the money come for the proposed projects? It is dangerous
to assume it will simply come from somewhere. While money will
be discussed in Module 10, you can minimize problems by thinking
through funding proposals up front.
h. Additional capacities needed by organization.

To put the PUP into action will require additional capacities. What
are those capacities? What do you and the organization need to learn
to do? If you do not learn certain skills, those parts of the PUP that
require those skills will not be done. It requires a certain degree of
institutional maturity even to recognize these needs.
i. Know EIA process.

If you want to build things, you should know your country’s laws and
procedures for environmental impact assessment. See a document
on EIA in the Module 7 Appendix.

Future Steps
Creating a monitoring plan in Module 7 follows this step. After the
review session, it should be very clear what needs to be monitored at
this point. The results of this session will be available before then.

You should write up two things.
1. A proceedings of all the modifications in one document so that

everyone can easily see all the changes that came out of this review
session.
2. An update of the results of the modules with the above modifi-
cations. You should also create new files of each module deliverable,
and keep the pre-review session deliverables just in case someone
later challenges the changes.

While most changes will need no more than the director’s agree-
ment, there might be some changes that should be consulted with
relevant stakeholders, and others that might require approval from
other people. You should acquire any approvals necessary as soon
as possible so that the process can move forward.

♦♦ Evaluation questions for each module
♦♦ Sample comments that session members might make
for each module
contributions (include name) ♦♦ Letter of introduction to the staff
• Include all module products and drafts ♦♦ Table of Contents of Pico Bonito PUP
cards on the wall
to you to update
a dated addendum
ownership

First Review of Results
Purpose: Review results to eliminate inconsistencies, improve wording, fill holes, and discuss pen-
ding issues from Modules 2–6.
Focus Question: Can we significantly improve the quality of the products with a small, focused
review committee?
Summary: The facilitator gathers a small group of critical people from inside and outside the pro-
cess to review the results to date and improve them. They try to achieve consistency, clear logic, and
strategic and specific results.
Deliverables: Revised products from modules 2–6, first draft of PUP table of contents
Introduction
This review is a quality control check on the products through have been developed for the first mo-
dules of PUP.

♦♦ Are messages specific to the site or are they too general?
♦♦ Did any important messages get left out?
♦♦ Can messages be combined or rewritten, given that fewer messages are normally bet-
ter?
♦♦ Is there a high level of consistency between the purpose and heritage values/mes-
sages?
♦♦ Can the wording of messages be improved?
♦♦ Is there any ambiguity in messages?
♦♦ Are the most important aspects of the site’s history fairly represented by one of the
messages (or should they be)?
♦♦ Do the messages talk about the site, rather than a particular project or organization?
♦♦ Will they truly be used to base an interpretation or education program? If not, why?
♦♦ Does the interpretive framework, if one, truly capture the spirit of place of your
site?
Sample Comments on Messages

The site is promoting agroforestry as a form of halting the agricultural frontier to protect the site, but
there is no message that represents this key idea. Should there be?
Examples & Illustrations FR-15

This message tells us nothing about why the biodiversity is outstan-
ding. It just says “outstanding.” Why is it? To tell us that it is a source
of research and recreation is to say nothing. My garden could qualify
by this measure, as well as most sites in the world. What aspects of
biodiversity or the ecosystems or habitats make us unique among
sites in this country?
What is the point of this message? If the natural conditions are so

important, that should be the subject of the message. The manage-
ment organization is not the principal thing we want to tell people
about, the site is the point. Let’s suppress our egos here. There are
other aspects of management that are crucial, such as security, but
the purpose of this site is not to teach people how to manage sites
or about security, it is here to develop appreciation and support for
its resources.
This message tells us this culture is “important,” but in reality does

not tell us anything about the culture. What is important to one
person may be defined entirely differently to another. We need to
pick out the most important ideas related to culture and put those
in the message.
Module 3: Directory of Touristic Attractions

♦♦ Were any attractions left out?
♦♦ Were any attractions defined too narrowly or too
broadly?
♦♦ Were any attractions misjudged?
♦♦ Were some barriers to attractions left out? Are they
realistic barriers?
♦♦ Do you feel the results of prioritizing attractions
fairly reflects the reality of the site?
♦♦ Are there photos for every attraction? Does the for-
mat of the directory motivate people to read it?
Sample Comments on the Directory

One attraction is the entire forest, but we really need to be more
specific since this kind of forest exists in several other sites. What is
key here is how close this forest is in its splendor to an urban area.
And there is one section of the forest in particular that overlooks
the urban area; that is where the visitors want to go.
Because everyone in the site loves that rock formation so much,

no one wanted to admit that the mosquitoes there are death to any
tourist, and operators don’t want to go there. That is a true barrier
that was not included in the analysis.
FR-16 Examples & Illustrations

The purpose of this site is to protect this highly biodiverse vertical
stratification, yet the participants identified the incredibly interes-
ting history of the barn and the murder of a past president there as
one of the principal attractions for the site. While the barn is very
interesting, it cannot be a priority for this site in terms of develop-
ment. We need to find the discipline to lower the importance of this
attraction, which is not the same as ignoring it. Probably with some
good interpretation we can link it to the site purpose.
There is new research coming out that we did not know about when
we did the analysis. It shows that this mine has amber deposits that
may be some of the oldest in the world. That will make it more
attractive once we interpret it.
Module 4: Zones, Sectors & Visitors
♦♦ Have the 6 management zones been accurately de-

scribed?
♦♦ Was each sector given a name considering politics
and management?
♦♦ Are these data neatly mapped or is more work
necessary here? Has the five-year zone map been
finished?
♦♦ Were the sectors prioritized per actual strategic cri-
teria or just for personal interests?
♦♦ Should the priority be increased or diminished of
each sector?
♦♦ Did the description of the sector capture the essence
of the name and its strategic role in the site?
♦♦ Do the descriptions of visitor profiles have enough
data? Do they explain visitor behavior in our site or
are they just general notions?
♦♦ Does the profile selection represent the future or
just the present situation? Did we miss any visitor
profiles?
Sample Comments on Zones, Sectors & Visitors

The north sector of the site is invaded by agricultural workers. So
that sector has been granted a high priority because the agricultural
association has been lobbying for the the site to build a road so they
can better transport their product. So this sector was priorized for
personal interest reasons and not based on strategic criteria for public
use. Therefore, the site should lower the priority of the sector and
look for other ways of managing the stakeholders’ interest.
Examples & Illustrations FR-

This zone currently has a small restaurant in it with a parking lot.
Yet the zone prescribes an experience of backcountry easy access.
If visitors come in on horses and then find a parking lot, that will
ruin the feeling of remoteness. The zone then does not adequately
describe the kind of infrastructure that should be found here. We
should rewrite it to reflect that it is without paved roads or lots; then
when we discuss regulations in Module 8, we can figure out how to
deal with the owner of the restaurant.
We basically only have profiles of existing visitors to the site. We

don’t have anything for the kinds of visitors we would like to see
in the future. Considering that we have such great bird diversity, we
really should try to tap the birding groups market. Thus we need to
start by adding this profile to our list.
♦♦ Do the activities selected truly support the strategic

criteria for the sectors in which they are found?
♦♦ Do the services support the activities?
♦♦ Has there been any mix-up between attractions and
activities or services (especially infrastructure)?
♦♦ Is each activity linked to site messages?
♦♦ Are the services consistent with the management
prescription of each zone?
♦♦ Should there be any modification to the priorities
set for the different activities?
♦♦ Do the solutions for overcoming activity barriers
directly address the barriers?
♦♦ Have any new barriers appeared that were not con-
sidered before?
♦♦ Is the right mix of activities promoted?
♦♦ Do they avoid internal competition?
♦♦ Do they compete well with other sites?
♦♦ Do they satisfy the needs of all visitor profiles?
♦♦ Is there sufficient discussion of future visitor profiles
that currently do not visit?
♦♦ Are amount and type of agreements realistic?
♦♦ Were real candidates proposed or just generic ar-
rangements?
Sample Comments on Public Use Products

Usually when rafters finish up their trip, they want to go to the ba-
throom, but right now they have to walk nearly a mile before getting

to the visitor center. Thus either we let them use the trees, which
isn’t fair for women or that pleasant to watch for foreign tourists, or
we put the service of latrines near the put-in spot or the lunch spot
or the pull-out point. In which site can we most take advantage of
local people to manage the service? Aesthetically which site makes
the most sense?
Right now we have two trails visiting waterfalls that are very similar.
This will cause competition among the two sites, and if the choice
is left to the visitors, they’ll probably choose this one because it is
closer. To avoid that competition, we should focus on the first one
and not begin development on the second one until we reach satu-
ration levels for the first waterfall.
If we are trying to promote the experience of visitors feeling like

they were in the Mayan world of 1,000 years ago, then we will have
to do something about building with zinc roofs, which clearly detract
from the feeling. We also don’t want to have cars pulling up to drop
food off for the restaurant. We need to write the zone better to avoid
this kind of infrastructure and then write up specific guidelines in
Module 8 regulations to make sure the visitors get the experience
we are planning on here.
While this trail that crosses over the river is fun to run across, I can’t
figure out which site message it really supports. I wonder then if this
trail really supports our strategy of promoting understanding about
the volcanic nature of this site. Consider it will require significant
investment to fix up, maybe we should recommend that the trail be
closed, unless you can think of a way it ties into our plans.
Module 6: Public Consultation
♦♦ Have the results from the communities been ad-

equately integrated or considered in the design?
♦♦ Were any of the results ignored?
♦♦ Do the suggestions of the community conform to
the strategy of experience opportunities?
♦♦ Are there ample opportunities for economic develop-
ment for communities, or are other strategies outside
of public use more appropriate?
♦♦ If that is the case, where will it be stated in the plan,
and why was the community selected as being of
strategic touristic importance?
Examples & Illustrations FR-

Sample Comments on Public Consultation
The community wants to build bungalows for the tourists here, but
because the excursions are only a half-day, tour operator driven tours,
it is not likely any tourists will stay. Thus either we need to devise
an itinerary with operators so that visitors can stay here at night, or
we need to go back and explain to the community that there will be
no overnighting tourists.
The community did not like the idea of using powerful motorboats
because that makes their kayaks unnecessary. Maybe we could con-
sider a closer put-in point on the other side of the lagoon to achieve
the more serene experience that the community wants. The kayaks
will not be useful for the dolphin watching because of the speed and
distance of the dolphins, but there are other possibilities we should
explore to accommodate the resource they already have.
When one person recommended having a presentation where the

community kills the pig in front of the tourists and then cooks it for
them, it was ignored. While this might not work for many foreigners
because of their disconnect between their food and how it is killed, it
might work very well with national tourists who are more agrarian in
background and more comfortable with seeing farm animals slaug-
htered. They might like the personal service that community offers
especially if you tie, through interpretation, that activity with the old
tradition of sacrificing the animal to bless the meal.
When the idea of building a large visitor center was brought up, the
focus group tourists present seemed less than enthusiastic. They said
it was a nice idea, but they were more interested in the attraction,
adequate services such as rest rooms, and fewer encounters with other
tourists. Upon hearing these opinions, the site had to re-evaluate the
importance of the infrastructure.

Public Use Memorandum
TO: Site Team
FROM: Public Use Coordinator
SUB: First Review of Results. Where are we now?
We have finished the heart of the process (Modules 4-6), but we still have a lot to do. Our next step
will be to review what we have accomplished so far. We are still climbing the public use mountain. We
made preparations and mapped the route. We encountered a problem with the terms of reference, as if
a downfall had temporarily closed out our trail, but we overcame the dilemma and continued climbing.
We have climbed more than half the way but, because nobody had ever climbed this mountain before,
it is still too early to know for sure. After camping out this week, we need a review meeting with just
a small group of critical reviewers. Most of the participants have been involved in the process, but we
also want some fresh ideas to maintain a clear perspective from outside the process.
You might ask, why is it necessary to use a small group of reviewers? We have to realize that
the purpose of a large planning group is to produce many ideas from several points of view, to allow
the participation of several interested persons, and to obtain consensus of the direction the process is
taking. Committees almost never write documents. Although large committees are strong, it is necessary
for a small group to look for weaknesses therein.
A large committee does not:
1. Maintain quality and consistency, because it has to focus on the large range of opinions, the big
ideas.
2. Fill in voids. Many times the committee strives to produce the first generation of information, wasting
energy and time and leaving voids, redundancies and, purposeless notions.
3. Write accurately, clearly, and briefly. Committees produce many ideas and words that later have to
be edited and digested by small groups.
4. Maintain objectivity. Many times a committee can be stuck on one idea, event, or the words of an
elocuent or rude individual which would not be supported by the participants. A focused, small group
can assure a higher level of objectivity.
A small group must integrate the ideas and spirit of the committee while defining and r
efining the material so it results in a more complete, objective, and professional document reflecting
several voices.
Therefore, the staff must review the products while writing comments and changes. Your opi-
nions should be delivered to me no later than Friday at 12:00 p.m. if you want them to be considered
by the review committee. I will inform you of all changes and reviews they make, so you will have
another chance to speak up. This way, our process will truly be complete.
Thank you very much for your attention and collaboration.

Table of Contents for the Public Use Plan of Pico Bonito National Park
Topic Preface to the Public Use Plan Where1
Cover art by Lilian Yacub Cover

1. Letter from the President: Ricardo Steiner Body
2. Letter from [an important politician or official] Body
3. Table of contents Body
4. Executive summary and vision (English version) Body
5. Executive summary and vision (Spanish version) Body
Introduction to the Public Use Plan
1. Background of the strategic public use plan Body

2. Participants in the process of developing PUP Body
3. Objectives of PUP Body
4. Justification of PUP Body
5. Role of Pico Bonito National Park in the development of tourism Body
Management of Pico Bonito National Park
1. Legal basis Body

2. Principal interpretative messages Body
3. Pico Bonito Foundation: manager of public use at Pico Bonito Body

Past and Current History of Pico Bonito National Park
1. Site history Body

2. Importance of the site in regional and national context Body
3. Importance of surrounding communities Body

Site Resources
1. Description of natural resources Body

2. Directory of touristic attractions Body
1In the document binder.

Public Use Zoning and Sectors
1. Introduction Body
2. Strategic site zoning Body
3. Public use zoning map Back cover
High Priority Sectors

1. Zacate River Sector Body
2. CURLA Camp Sector Body
3. Cangrejal River Sector Body
Medium Priority Sectors
1. Central Sector Body

2. Remote Sectors Body
3. San Francisco Sector Body
Low Priority Sectors
1. Tierra Fría Sector Body

2. Tolupanes Sector Body
3. Cuero y Salado Sector Body
4. La Colorada Sector Body
Administration of the Public Use Program
1. Program elements Body

2. Monitoring plan Body
3. Financial plan Back pocket
4. Calendar of activities Back pocket

Appendices
1. Bibliography Body
2. Ecoalliance with Pico Bonito Lodge Front pocket
3. Public Use Regulations Front pocket
4. Tour operators that work in the site Body
5. Taxonomy of tourists Body
6. Taxonomy of trails in the site Body
7. Proposed touristic packages Body

A good monitoring system responds to a change in conditions before they degrade beyond the limits of acceptable
change. This keystone is eroding from the arch of an old fortress doorway in Portobello, Panama.
e
Outsid
1. Why does PUP try to minimize the number of indicators
and sectors covered by the monitoring system? Carrying capacity vs. Limits
2. What are the focus points where we apply limits of of Acceptable Change
acceptable change?
3. What is the difference between administrative and phy- Including all indicators pos-
sical control strategies?
sible vs. just those indica-
tors needed
Monitoring 7-3
7 Monitoring
Establish the basis of a monitoring program for public use.
Focus Question: What are the few most important indicators and limits of acceptable change
necessary to start the monitoring program for the public use program?
Summary: The monitoring plan will outline indicators of conditions of high-priority activities
and services, how they will be measured, by whom, with what frequency, where, and what the
possible control strategies are.
Format: Public Meeting
Time: 7 hours + optional field trip the next day
Materials: Monitoring sheets, map of public use sectors, Product Description Sheets
Participants (9-15): Administration, field staff, at least one foreigner and tour operator to mea-
sure quality and represent private sector in monitoring obligations, someone with experience in
monitoring social impacts.
Deliverable: Monitoring Plan

I. Introduction
II. Establishing Indicators and Limits of Acceptable Change
III. Choosing Methods
IV. Establishing the Who, When, Where
V. Choosing Control Strategies
Next Steps
Evaluation
Post-Workshop Task 1: Revising Results
Module 7 Agenda
7-4 Monitoring
Monitoring Tables. Based on the blank template (7-26), prepare a
table for each priority activity and associated services, and fill in the
sector. When services are shared by different activities, group the
service with the activity with which it is either physically or geogra-
phically most associated and then make a note on the other sheets
where to refer for the associated services.
Review. You should read Chapter 8 of RARE’s trails manual, Trails

that Make Conservation and Sense, found in the Appendix, and Chapter
5 of Measures of Success, where available, and Chapter 7 on monito-
ring. When to do a Field Trip
By offering a field trip after the
Product Description Sheets. By the beginning of this module, workshop, instead of before, the
participants will arrive having al-
there should be revised descriptions of all products being offered ready concentrated on the topic,
in the site. These should be as complete as possible to give the most thereby taking much greater
accurate picture of what needs to be monitored. Several copies advantage of the trip. If they go
before, it may be more recreation
should be ready for the workshop. If it is possible to distribute this than utility.
to participants before the workshop, it will save time and increase
efficiency. You should try to add to these descriptions, the zone and
sector descriptions, plus any other information that might be available
on the site.
Sector Zone Activity Service Impact Indicator
Example. During this workshop you will give an example for parti-
cipants on how to go through the steps to develop one particular ac-
tivity-services combination. Choose a simple one, and come up with
all answers in advance, such as the indicators (7-19). Double-check
your results with someone; send an e-mail to PUP if necessary.
Monitoring 7-5
I. Introduction
Warming Up
Facilitate
1. Introduce yourself or have the site director give opening words.
2. Illustrate the opening metaphor and your progress so far.
3. Have participants stand in a circle. Have each person say their
name, organization, and position; then each should draw on a piece
of paper the control strategy in a site that they found most annoying.
Have the group guess what the picture is. You can use the list for
examples of control strategies (7-24).
4. Hand out the examples & illustrations. Distribute copies of the
Directory of Touristic Attractions and Planning Framework.
Review
1. Explain briefly the Planning Framework. Chances are, most ever-
yone will already have participated in a module and will be familiar
with many of the results.
2. Choose another staff member to review the principal attractions
in the Directory and find them on the map.
3. Someone should review the sectors and zones of Module 4.
4. In reviewing results of Modules 5 and 6, the person in charge
should spend extra time with high-priority sectors, activities, and
services, since these will be built into the monitoring plan.
Orient
Your first objective is to locate the participants once again in the
PUP progression; the end is in sight, because we only have the ope-
rational Modules 7–11 ahead of us. A graphic as always is found at
the beginning of this module’s PowerPoint presentation (#10).
Facilitate
Introduce with an ORID on monitoring.
Ask
O: What kinds of monitoring does the site do now (even very infor-
mal techniques)? What kinds of monitoring have you seen in other
sites? Can you give examples?
R: When you think of doing a monitoring program, how does it
make you feel? Is it intimidating? Exciting? Depressing? Exhausting?
Pointless? Frustrating?
I: What is the importance of monitoring? What are the costs? What
are the benefits? When is the expense worth it and when not? Why
do organizations have such a difficult time in monitoring? What are
the obstacles in this case?
D: How should we start our program here? What kinds of tasks do
you think we can do now without further training?
Explain
7-6 Monitoring
♦♦ Our objective is to begin with a plan that will later
grow into a program. What is the difference between
the two? Our plan consists of little more than a table
of information on a piece of paper, while a program
consists of a budget, operating procedures, people,
field trips, data collection and analysis, time, tools,
information management, reporting, meetings, learn-
ing, and we hope control actions.
♦♦ Monitoring and evaluation are rarely undertaken be-
cause of the costs and perceived benefits. It requires
a certain level of organizational maturity to be able
to carry out a monitoring program. Organizations
that do not monitor and use their programs to make
changes may see the quality of their infrastructure,
natural resources, and experiences all degrade. It is
impossible to protect a site if you do not keep track
of what is going on inside it.
♦♦ To start you should only develop the minimum neces-
Site monitoring uses a variety of
sary, just for high priority sectors. If that goes well, measurement tools. In Sintra Cul-
then later you can expand the monitoring program. tural Landscape in Portugal, this
♦♦ Keep in mind that we are developing a monitoring security officer scans the barcode
on entering tickets in order to
system only for public use activities. It is not a biologi- monitor visitation patterns.
cal monitoring program or any that measures major
trends in the site. This monitoring system is very site-
and activity-specific. Thus the scale is normally small.
For example, to measure an entire bird population, a
biologist would use very different methods than to
measure the presence of birds around a trail.
Any discussion on public use monitoring must begin with carrying

capacity. Who can define carrying capacity for us? How is it used in
a site? Does anyone know how to calculate it? Does anyone know
anyone who has calculated it? What criteria do you use?
Show
You should then give PowerPoint presentation (#10) on carrying capa-
city, and compare to the methodology used by the US Forest Service
and PUP. It will also answer some of these questions.
Monitoring Human Impacts

For biologists, this may be something new. We are directly monitoring
human impacts and human activity, not the predictable behavior of
wildlife. Humans have free will, and one person can behave very
differently from another person; likewise, one person can cause a
great deal of damage to a resource, while another may be very careful
and leave little trace of their passage.
Monitoring 7-7
II. Establishing Indicators and Limits of Acceptable Change
What Does It Mean?
Explain
A major obstacle to good monitoring is choosing poor indicators
that are hard to measure because they are vague or expensive. We
want to choose indicators for which data can be relatively easy to
collect. There are several good qualities for good indicators, as well
as numerous examples of them (7-17).
Ask
Are there any indicators that the organization is monitoring now?
What are the costs and difficulties in using each indicator?
How Do I Do It?

Using the Monitoring Table
Explain
1. Have the group look at the example table (7-19).
2. From Module 5, we have some 10 products.
3. Review them by having participants read brief descriptions aloud.
They can also refer to the table you prepared before the workshop.
Give Me Space, Man
Let’s consider a very important 4. Break the group up into teams of three. You should decide these
example in social monitoring: beforehand, combining people with site knowledge and people who
crowding. Biologists know that
when crowding happens in wild- will be able to do this exercise, based on their skill sets.
life populations, there are many 5. You should also assign the activities to the group based on par-
negative effects. What are they?
Crowding leads to competition,
ticipants’ interest and experience. Groups may trade members if
violence, cessation of repro- someone wants to do one activity in particular.
duction, stress, reduction in 6. Show your example.
health, disease, dispersal. Why is
crowding an important issue for 7. Then instruct each team to study the sector more closely, reading
public use? What happens when the sector description, objective, desired experience, reviewing the
crowding occurs with humans on
a trail, in a visitor center, or at a map, and using any other information you can provide.
restaurant, etc.? 8. Ask the teams to identify up to three indicators for each activity-
services combination. They should refer to the qualities of a good
♦♦ The value of the experi-
ence decreases indicator and example indicators (7-17). You should emphasize that
♦♦ People stay for less the idea is to anticipate the biggest visitor impacts on the environ-
time
♦♦ It damages word-of- ment or each other, and choose an indicator for that impact. They
mouth promotions can always add more later if these three are adequately described.
♦♦ You can lose a segment
of the audience
9. Give them 15 minutes for each indicator while you circulate and
♦♦ There is even a chance answer questions. Try to find a good example as soon as you can,
for aggressive behavior
and interrupt the group to show it to them. This is instructive for
the group, and good for the self-confidence of the group that pro-
duced it.
7-8 Monitoring
10. Now take your example and define a limit of acceptable change
(LAC). Refer to the presentation to emphasize how a LAC is chosen.
This concept refers to the maximum amount of damage we find
acceptable but will not go beyond. Emphasize that this is just a first
guess, and all LACs will undoubtedly be modified once trial and error
begins in the field and baselines are measured.
11. Show a couple of good examples to the group that you find as
you circulate.
12. When time is up, have each group present two indicators they
are least sure of and get group feedback.
13. Take a break, and then move onto the next part.
Circulation Assistance
While circulating, you can ask these
questions:
♦♦ Is this the most likely worri-

some or damaging impact?
♦♦ Is this the best indicator for
that impact?
♦♦ Is the indicator measurable,
precise, and relevant?
Monitoring 7-9
III. Choosing Methods
What Does It Mean?
Explain
Once you have chosen an indicator, you must choose a method
for collecting the data. Very often the technique will be simple and
straightforward. But any technology will not do. In fact, many will
not work in a given situation for one reason or another, so it is worth
thinking carefully. For example, the use of electronic survelliance
equipment such as cameras and microphones may be hard to maintain
in the tropics and in places without technicians skilled in repairing
these items. See examples of collection methods (7-23).
Ask
What are the technologies being used now in this site or others to
collect data on indicators? What are some of the difficulties that can
arise from a poorly chosen method?
Now we will choose our methods and decide on necessary tasks.
How Do I Do It?
Facilitate
1. Have people read the qualities of a good method (7-23).
2. Ask the group what collection method would meet the qualities of
a good method for your example. Help them along if necessary.
3. Have the same groups take each indicator and discuss appropriate
methods.
4. You should circulate the room, looking for a good example.
5. When time is up, have each team read the two methods to the full
group that were the most difficult to elaborate. Encourage everyone
to comment.
6. Explain that now we will determine logistics of collecting data.
Sector Duplication
It is important to coordinate data collection throughout the sectors and
sometimes even throughout zones. First, the fewer techniques the site uses
to monitor, the easier this task will be, because it implies less training and
equipment. Second, the site can coordinate data collection to minimize field
trips. Third, the site can assign data collection in a more efficient manner to
people in the field when they know what, where, and when the data will be
collected. So, when selecting indicators, methods, and other logistic factors,
we must consider the rest of the system at the same time. This is why it is
important to fill out the table we drafted when we began.
7-10 Monitoring
IV. Establishing the Who, When, Where
What Does It Mean?
Explain
Next we need to know who will collect the data, how frequently it
will be collected, and specifically where it will be collected. While
the “where” might seem obvious, such as the trail, the restaurant,
etc., you should specify where along the trail, or what part of the
restaurant or picnic area, etc.
How Do I Do It?
Facilitate
1. Continue with your example.
2. Have same groups now fill out the “who,” “when,” “where.”
3. Circulate as before, but this time you do not need to point out
examples unless you see a remarkably good one.
4. Have each group present any questions or issues to the group
for discussion.
5. Explain that after the break, you will continue on to the most fun
part of this module.
Techniques to Implement Monitoring

♦♦ One way to implement monitoring is to
look for external concessionaires whose
licences or permits depend on their
production of monitoring data. For ex-
ample, a concessionaire’s contract might
require that the restaurant monitor and
manage their garbage, or that they
monitor the quality of the river water
flowing beside its restrooms.
♦♦ Two very common techniques to mea-
sure quality and physical impacts are
surveys and pictures.
Cultural tourist guide in Ohrid, Macedonia inspects

a monument. Guides can be an effective medium for
regular monitoring if they are taught what to look
for and how to report their observations.
Monitoring 7-11
V. Choosing Control Strategies
What Does It Mean?
Explain
There are many control strategies or mitigation techniques a site
manager can use once a resource condition approaches or exceeds
its limit of acceptable change. While managers most commonly think
about restricting access to the site, effectively implementing a carrying
capacity number, simple restriction is only one of many techniques.
In fact, there are many different ways managers can restrict people.
Consider both administrative and physical ways of managing people,
and thus managing the resource we want to protect.
How Do I Do It?
Facilitate
1. Go over the Qualities of a Good Control Strategy, and examples
of visitor control techniques (7-24). Ask group for local examples.
2. Now tell them that each indicator is soon to exceed the LAC
or is already beyond. We need to take action. For each impact (as
measured by an indicator), choose two or three actions. One should
be administrative, and one should be physical. Note that this is not a
prescription, only a suggestion for your managers later on; for now,
we want to start thinking in terms of all the control possibilities.
Clearly, the actual situation will help determine the action to take
Circulation Assistance when the real moment comes. The objective is always to intervene
While circulating, you can ask as little as possible to get the condition below the LAC. Go over the
these questions:
list of different kinds of impacts (7-18).
♦♦ Is this the most cost- 3. Ask the group about the costs of using more forceful measures.
effective and feasible (For example, building things can be expensive or time-consuming.
intervention?
♦♦ Will this intervention You can bother visitors or even hurt the site reputation depending
really remedy the prob- on how it is managed. Also, to implement new systems and re-train
lem? people can be both costly and annoying.)
♦♦ Who is it going to annoy
4. Circulate and look for good examples to show the group.
or make mad?
7-12 Monitoring
Future Steps
The next day, there will be a field trip to a couple of sites that either
have an activity already going on or have one that is proposed. The
former is preferable. Those who attend the field trip will compare the
results of the workshop today with what they propose after viewing
the site, talking with staff, or even visitors. The objective of the field
trip is not only to improve workshop results, but get critical people
into the field and begin to get hands-on experience designing the
monitoring system. You will have to judge whether the potential
results of setting up this field trip are worth the effort, especially if
the workshop site is far away from the actual site.
The next workshop, Module 8, involves creating regulations.
That module follows next because some of the LAC and remedial
strategies may inspire and require some regulations for these sites.
Evaluation
1. How could we have produced better results?
2. Could we improve the Monitoring Table format?
3. Is the amount of information in this basic plan sufficient for
the moment, or should there be more before the program is actually
designed?
4. (For those on field trip): In what ways did this field trip con-
tribute to this module? How could it be improved? Should it have
come before the module instead of after?
Post-Workshop Task 1: Revising Results

No doubt, there will be data that upon further consultation, you will
want to modify or improve. You should also collate all monitoring
tables into one document and write up a narrative description of Don’t Forget the Proceedings
each one, see the examples (7-25). This will constitute the monitoring contributions (include name)
plan. Do not simply leave it in tabular form, as it will be insufficient • Include all ideas that may be useful in the future
explanation for those who did not participate in the workshop. • Include all intermediary contributions such as
cards on the wall
Examples & Illustrations • Allow them to review it for accuracy and return it
to you to update
a dated addendum
♦ Qualities of a good indicator • Make proceedings available online and if appropri-
♦ Types of impacts • Goal: Show respect, demonstrate transparency,
♦ Examples of indicators and monitoring tables ownership
Monitoring 7-13
Environmental Impact Assessment ♦ Sheet of blank monitoring tables
(EIA) and PUP ♦ Qualities of appropriate collection methods
EIA is a planning tool used to ♦ Some collection methods
forecast, measure, and prevent
environmental and social prob- ♦ Guidelines for where to monitor
lems which may result from a ♦ Qualities of good control strategy
proposed development. Once ♦ Visitor Control Strategies
impacts are known then plan-
ners propose and implement ac- ♦ Examples of LAC Narratives
tions to reduce negative effects.
The underlying strategy of EIA is
therefore to prevent impacts by
addressing problems proactively
rather than reactively.
EIA is also a good way of track-
ing changes to the environment ♦ “Estableciendo y Monitoreando los Límites” (chapter 8 of
as a result of development. An the RARE trails manual in Spanish)
important component of EIA is ♦ VERP Handbook (contains section on Limits of Acceptable
the environmental management
plan which addresses impacts by Change, US National Park Service) www.planning.nps.gov/
mitigating them and monitor- document/verphandbook.pdf
ing the effectiveness of such ♦ Monitoring tables, Ujung Kulon, Hoi An
actions. EIA is underpinned by
eight principles as seen in the
graphic to the right.
In the PUP process, you would
conduct EIAs at the same time
that you are working on the
business plans for public use
products. While PUP proposes
product concepts, the actual
detailed business and feasibil-
ity studies come during PUP
implementation after the initial
planning process. But it is impor-
tant to know that EIAs are part
of the public use development
process and that you should
keep in mind always that no
project proposed in the PUP is
final, despite any consensus,
until after the detailed business
plan and environmental impact
assessment have been done.
For more information on EIA
see the document in the Ap-
pendix and also visit a UN site
on the topic, found at www.
unescap.org/drpad/vc/orienta-
tion/M8_1.htm.
7-14 Monitoring
Module 7: Monitoring
Focus Question: What are the few most important indicators

and limits of acceptable change necessary to start the
monitoring program?
¾ Identify indicators, LAC and management ¾ Realize that monitoring is highly

strategies important for the success of the public
use plan
Introduction
30 Orientation
What is monitoring? PowerPoint #10
45 Carrying capacity and limits of acceptable
change
Establishing Indicators and Limits of Acceptable Change
30 Introduction
80 Developing indicators
40 Establishing limits
Snack
Choosing Data Collection Methods
15 Introduction
50 Methods selection
Defining Who, Where and When
10 Introduction
30 Defining Who, Where and When
Snack
Selecting Mitigation Strategies
20 Introduction
45 Strategy selection
Evaluation and Future Steps
10 Evaluation
15 Future Steps Possible field trip
5 Closing
Monitoring 7-15
The policemen of Florencia Ecological Park in Antigua, Guatemala, were partici-
pating in a PUP workshop when they had to leave to intercept two motocross
enthusiasts. Motocross was banned in the site in the early 1980s. The monitoring
of motorbike activity is relatively easy here.
7-16 Monitoring
Monitoring
7
Purpose: Establish the basis of a monitoring program for public use.
Focus Question: What are the few most important indicators and limits of acceptable change ne-
cessary to start the monitoring program?
Summary: The monitoring plan will outline indicators of conditions of high-priority activities and
services, how they will be measured, by whom, with what frequency, where, and what the possible
control strategies are.
Deliverable: Monitoring Plan
Introduction
Site management’s principal responsibility is to protect resources. Their principal task, then, must be to
monitor resources to make sure they do not degrade more than is acceptable. While all managers use
their intuition, that is insufficient for many of the resources at hand. For this reason, this module helps
the site to develop a monitoring plan for the activities and services proposed in earlier modules.
Establishing Indicators and Limits of Acceptable Change

Qualities of a Good Indicator
Measurable Able to be recorded and analyzed in quantitative terms. Also
field personnel can measure, using basic equipment and simple
sampling techniques.
Precise Defined the same way by all people; sufficiently specific to
avoid ambiguity
Relevant The indicator must reflect the conditions of the concern being
studied. Does not measure trail erosion or precipitation if what
we are after is impact on butterflies.
Qualities of a good indicator
Examples of Indicator Qualities
Non-Measurable: Number of butterflies killed by visitors
Measurable: Number of butterfly sightings by visitors
Not Precise: Number of songbird nests along the trail
Precise: Number of Turdus grayii nests along the trail
Not Relevant: Degree of erosion (to monitor butterflies)
Relevant: Number of butterflies at a butterfly feeder

Types of Impacts on Resources
Physical: Erosion or compacted soil, loss of vegetation (extraction

or stomping), water pollution, noise contamination, migration of
wildlife or their life cycles interrupted (reproduction, nesting, night
hunting, spawning, etc.), disease, vandalism, solid waste deposits,
etc.
Social (cultural): Loss of customs, radical changes in apparel

or behavior, loss or disrespect for native languages (for example,
writing signs just in English in Spanish-speaking countries), invasion
of privacy, disrespect for customs or beliefs, high cost of living,
delinquency, prostitution, alcoholism and drugs, migration of locals,
commercialization of events and cultural rites, depression, loss of
self-esteem, crushing of worldview
Social Impacts On Other Visitors: Number of daily encounters

with other visitors; visitor’s perception of environmental impact;
reports about unacceptable behavior of other tourists; visitor
complaints; perception of service quality, etc. When the visitor
density increases in one place, it reduces the value of the experience,
the visitors remain less time, and the subsequent word-of-mouth is
not favorable

Trails
Impact Indicator LAC How When Who Where Strategies
Visitor Encounters Not more than 1 Visitor survey All the time (all Park guards In toll Create longer
distress, with other encounter per hike visitors) or guides booth intervals between
reduced visitors (depends on groups, make the
attendance management zone) trail one-way
Animals Wildlife Not more than Count # sightings of Monthly Guides and On the trail Reduce size of
fleeing trail presence on 10% decrease or each type of wildlife visitors group, restrict
trail 30% increase in animal feeding;
amount above grow plants that
baseline will feed the
Trails
animals
Soil erosion, Puddles on trail Not more than 1 Count puddles in the After it has Park guard Evaluation Close trail the next
trail surface puddle per 100 m 100 m evaluation zone, rained zone day; open alternate
damage in evaluation zone which is a low and flat route; build steps
area or culverts
Vegetation Width of trail Not more than 1.5 Pictures and tap March, June, Guide Transects Close trail
trampling, m wide throughout measurements September selected temporarily, place
recession the trail because of rustic steps
from trail frailty and
use
Vegetation Multiple trails No unintended, Simple observation and Continuously Guides All along Block entrances,
damage and made by visitor-made trails find out why the the route find alternate

soil erosion persons people are walking off routes, improve the
walking off the path. trail
path
Vegetation Width of trail Should be at least 1 Tape measurements Bimonthly Guard Frequently Cut vegetation
overgrowth between m wide and pictures visited back
vegetation transects
Litter on Presence of No litter along trail Simple observation Continuously Guards and Entire trail Clean up, locate
trail litter guides trash cans, restrict
trash materials
from trail
All LACs in these examples are arbitrary and must be determined for every specific case.
7-19
7-20
Biophysical Effects of Visitation
Visitor Coliform in Not more than X Contract university Monthly during Consultant Spot on Repair septic tank;
sickness, river close to bacteria por mL professor or consultant high season, might train riverside move latrines
water the site to measure bacteria once every 3 park’s public closest to farther from water;
impotability months rest of use latrine purchase more
year coordinator efficient latrines;
or biologist reduce visitation
Visibility, Murky water Visible depth Black-white disc to Rainy season Park Where Plant grass on
die-off of measure murkiness biologist visitors stay eroded areas;
light- or sensitive reduce mud
dependent aquatic
vegetation vegetation
Visitor Studies
Visitors do Change in Statistical Test Minimum Educator Study room Modify lesson,
not achieve knowledge or difference between study sample request help from
learning attitudes pre/post tests for each lesson, other educators
objectives program
Visitors do Knowledge 50% understand Survey 3 months Public use Outside Review exhibit
not the relevant coordinator exhibit hall content and

understand process after the or educator presentation for
exhibit exposure quality; improve
Visitor Visitor 80% of visitors are Survey a visitor sample Year-round Guard Visitor Improve services
satisfaction satisfaction satisfied with center according to results
low with services services
Visitors do Stay time of 50% of visitors Count seconds they When visitation Educator 2 or 3 Increase
not visitors at remain at least 20 remain is high spots in attractiveness of
understand exhibit seonds per panel exhibit exhibit, reduce
exhibit visitor flow
Visitors Visitor More kudos than Suggestion box Monthly Public use Suggestion Varies depending
dissatisfied satisfaction complaints by coordinator box on comments
factor of 2
Safety and Orientation
Visitors lost Lost visitors 90% of visitors Survey 3 months Public use At park Modify or move
on way to (but eventually arrive without coordinator entrance directional signage
park arrive) getting lost or web site
Person Time to take 1.5 hours Measure time in Twice annually Safety Anywhere More practice or
worsens en person to surprise drills to rescue coordinator in the park change system to
route to hospital from victim and bring to fix problems
hospital time emergency hospital
call is received
Damaged Amount of Not more than 1 Report from guard Monthly Supervisor Area of Immediately repair,
infrastructur vandalism incident/month interest increase security,
e (graffiti) alter environment
to discourage
Visitor Accidents/year <1 accident/year Reports from operators All accident Public use In the Better regulation of
injuries and tourists reports coordinator office equipment and
practices; more
education; reduce

accident sources
Robbed Number of <1 attempted # incidents divided by Reports of Guard to Bathing Increase security;
visitors at attempted robbery/1000 # visitors attempts, safety grounds change layout of
bathing robberies visitors calculated coordinator area that promotes
grounds quarterly attempts
7-21
7-22
Visitor Centers and Developed Areas
Litter 20 gallon 2 bags/day Collect bags and count Daily Maintenance Picnic areas Signs/education;
garbage bags them personnel more garbage cans;
collected/day restrictions
Visitor Decibels # decibels heard Decibel meter or listen When there are Park guard Area being Place signs; more
dissatis- from 100 m at 100 m visitors present considered guard intervention;
faction sound barriers
Congestion # cars/day <X cars/day Inspection Continually on Parking lot Parking lot Do not admit more
weekends guard until spaces
available; alternate
transportation
Public Use Management
Guide Compliance Guide complies Report from guide and Randomly Public use Office Train or reprimand
violations with rules with 100% of rules from tourists; random selected coordinator guide; better
during a program direct observations programs education materials
Entrance fee Delivery of <$10 Compare cash to Daily Accountant Office Train or reprimand
loss entrance fees missing/month tickets sold ticket seller
Visitor Application of 90% of rules Direct observation of When potential Public use Whenever Train or reprimand
violations regulations by applied at given park staff combined problem coordinator necessary staff; improve

park staff time with visitor surveys detected education
Qualities of appropriate collec-
Qualities of Appropriate Collection Methods

Feasible Field staff can measure it with simple equipment and methods
Cost effective Minimal investment necessary to achieve results
Accurate and reliable Minimal error in collection and repeatable results
Appropriate Appropriate in given context, culturally suitable
Examples of Good Qualities for Collection Methods

Not feasible: Motion-detecting photography of visitor encounters on
trail
Feasible: Self-reported visitor encounters on trail
Not cost effective: Map coordinates of deer sightings along trail in GIS
per month
Cost effective: Guide hand-mapped deer sightings along trail per mon-
th
Inaccurate: Use of hand-widths to measure width of a trail
Accurate: Use of a tape measure
Inappropriate: Using young children to collect trash on trails
Appropriate: Using adults trained in hygiene to collect trash on trails
Some Collection Methods

Interviews, surveys, estimates based on costs and revenues, transects
and plots, tape measure to monitor growth and recession, periodic
community maps, GIS, photo-plots, weighing trash, review records
of others, track frequency of delinquency, purchases, or any other
behaviors, direct observation of behavior.
Guidelines for Where to Monitor
1. Monitor where conditions are at or in violation of LAC

standards.
2. Monitor where conditions are changing rapidly.
3. Monitor where specific and important values are threatened by
visitation.
4. Monitor where the effects of management action are unknown.

Qualities of a good control strategy
Qualities of a Good Control Strategy

Feasible Strategy can be feasibly implemented by the park
Cost effective Minimal investment necessary to achieve results
Effective Achieves objective of reducing condition below LAC
Minimally annoying Annoys the fewest number of people possible
Not feasible: Using guard dogs to keep people out of a restricted

area
Feasible: Using a natural barrier to restrict passage
Not cost effective: Electronic motion detectors and alarms to warn
people
Cost effective: Signs with periodic patrols
Annoying: Prohibiting the entrance of children
Not annoying: Establishing special children hours
Annoying: Raising entrance fees to restrict visitation
Not annoying: Using a rationing system
Visitor control strate-
Visitor Control Strategies
Administrative Strategies* Physical Strategies
Administrative strategies refer mainly to the Physical control strategies focus on the use of
form, the type, and the sites where the touristic physical structures to control visitor activities
activities are carried out. To decide whether or and impacts. When considering the
not to permit the development of any given implementation of physical strategies, it is
activity that requires the implementation of important to make sure that functional,
these measures, the park staff’s actual capacity esthetic, and landscape aspects correspond to
to apply the strategies must be evaluated. If the the area. As in the case of administrative
capacity is not suitable, the development of the strategies, it is important to postpone activity
activity should be postponed until the park development until the required elements are
acquires the elements it lacks. established or built.
Change visiting hours (day or hours) Build barriers, sewers, banisters,
Implement time intervals walkways, trail surfaces, enlarge ways
Have guides or guards manage groups (“hardening of the site”)
Charge entrance or special fees Signage (educational or directional)
Rule behavior and implement fines Equipment restrictions
Close sites temporarily Change navigation routes
Limit speed and amount of persons Relocate or place more tables, benches, etc.
Restrict use and movement in certain zones Change two-way roads to one-way
Ration use with permits or other techniques
Open other attractions to reduce visitation
Increase/reduce marketing of an attraction
*Sometimes actions are classified as indirect (on the environment used by the visitor) and
direct (on the visitors themselves)

Examples of LAC Narratives
Songbird 1. Songbird < 10% decrease in # Count # of sightings of Monthly Guides and On the Reduce size of
decline presence on trail particular songbird each type of songbird and guards trail group;
identifications record in a register Train guides to
above baseline enforce noise limits
Injured visitors 2. Accidents/year < 5 accidents/year Reports from staff, operators, All reports of Public use In the Better regulation of
and tourists operators and coordinator office equipment and
tourists practices;
more education;
reduce
6
accident sources
Entrance fee 3. Delivery of <$10missing/month per Compare cash with Daily Accountant Office Train/reprimand
loss entrance fees ticket seller; not more tickets sold person
than 1 month in a row in charge
Narratives should answer AT LEAST:

1. Why this indicator was chosen as important, such as the history of the conditions leading to concern?
2. Why each of the choices for LAC/How/When/Who/Where/Strategies were chosen?
3. Any definitions of indicators that are not easily inferred from the table (see example #2).
Narrative Example #1
Before the trail was open to the public, students and park staff noticed a great variety of songbirds. They reported that a person in the morning could stand in just one place and identify
up to 15 species of birds, without moving! Now that the trail has been opened to the public, staff fears that the birds will be scared away from the trail due to too much tourist
disturbance. To monitor this situation, the park will have interpretive guides and guards do songbird counts at different intervals throughout the month at the same time, place, and
duration. If songbird numbers decline, the park feels the best remedy is to reduce the group size that passes through. This should reduce the noise level which is perhaps the

determining factor in scaring away the birds. The guides will also be instructed more strictly in controlling noise.
While accidents involving visitors can happen anywhere, the park suffers more accidents near the rock outcrops. People like to climb this area but loose rocks often result in visitors
falling. An accident is defined as injury requiring a trip to a medical facility or accidental (non-intentional) property damage exceeding $50. Small cuts and bruises that can be handled by
on-scene first aid do not qualify as accidents. Since operators are required to report accidents as well as all park staff, most accidents should are recorded by the park. The public use
coordinator’s job is to identify trends or risks that can lead to accidents. When two or more accidents happen in the same fashion, the coordinator is required to analyze them to see if
there is a consistent source of risk that can be mitigated through regulation, education, physical modification, or other means.
Periodically the park finds that small amounts of money are missing from entrance fees collected. In the past these differences were small and not discovered for months. Too long the
administration thought, to investigate and take corrective action against ticket sellers. Also it was not always certain from which ticket sellers the losses occurred. In an effort to
eliminate losses, the park will more closely monitor these public use funds. The accountant’s job is to compare all ticket sales against money delivered for deposit by each ticket seller.
Each seller is permitted a loss of no more than $10 a month and if they lose more than that or lose any amount more than 1 month in a row, that will trigger an investigation. Any loss is
reported to public use coordinator immediately. After the investigation the coordinator has the option of simply requiring that the ticket seller pay the difference or show them how to
be more careful (with advice from the accountant), thereafter the public use coordinator can punish the ticket sellers.
7-25
Sector: Product:
7-26
Sector: Product:

Sector: Product:
indicators
Blank table of
While visitors do not al-
ways respect regulations,
site managers have many
strategies for controlling
visitor behavior.
e
Outsid
1. Which sectors are developed for regulations?
2. Why does this module develop a protocol for modifying Lists of regulations vs.
regulations? regulation logistics and
3. What are regulation logistics and why are they impor- development
tant?
Regulations and Controls 8-3

8 Regulations and Controls
Produce a basic set of sector-based regulations with established
logistics necessary to implement them. Create a clear mechanism
for adding and updating regulations.
Focus Question: What is the minimum number of regulations necessary to launch a public use
program considered fair by stakeholders that also protects the resources?
Summary: The participants will look for the minimum number of regulations necessary to
start the program. Regulations will work to protect the natural and cutlural resource as well
as the visitor experience. To make all these regulations operational, there will be a system for
updating the regulations, as well as logistics to put them into place.
Format: Public workshop
Time: 6.5 hours
Materials: 10 sheets of butcher paper and tape to hang them up, starter questions for each
sector, examples of regulations from other sites in the country; 20 cards for new regulation
creation steps
Participants (12-18): Site managers, private sector service providers, local politicians, other
stakeholders such as landholders or communities, directors from other sites with experience
in regulations, relevant enforcement agencies (site service, tourism ministry, legal office of
ministry of environment or natural resources, national police)
Deliverables: Body of regulations, logistics for implementing them, public use requirements

Post-Workshop Task 2: Writing Up Regulations
Pre-Workshop Preparations Post-Workshop Task 3: Developing Licensing and
I. Introduction Other Requirements
II. Presenting Regulations and Logistics Post-Workshop Task 4: Doing an External Review
III. Determining Regulations of Regulations
IV. Developing a Protocol for Adding and Post-Workshop Task 5: Determining General
Updating Regulations Building Design Guidelines (Optional)
Next Steps & Evaluation Examples & Illustrations
Post-Workshop Task 1: Developing Regu- Additional Resources
lation Logistics Agenda for Module 8
8-4 Regulations and Controls

Pre-Workshop Preparations Working in Multi-Jurisdictional Sites
For multi-jurisdictional sites such
Ideas Before Module. Insist that everyone attending this module as a historic city center where a
municipality, church, private mu-
comes with their five most important public use regulation issues. seum, foundation, federal agency,
etc. control different aspects of
Regulation Systems and Laws. You should briefly investigate public use, you need to approach
Module 8 in a different way. You
other sites’ regulations and also laws that are relevant to the ma- still should have the site divided
nagement of protected areas in your country. The more you know by sectors even if controlled by
about existing laws, especially about fines, sanctions, jurisdictions, different entities. As such you
would still list regulations by
and licensing, the better. Also, is there an existing procedure for sector, but in this case, you may
implementing new regulations in the site, or is there one from the not derive them in a participa-
site agency that supervises public sites? tory fashion unless those entities
agree to such an approach. If
they do not, then, your discussion
Starter List. For each of the high-priority sectors that will be might focus on how to make regu-
regulated, you should create a sheet that the moderator of the co- lations more consistent across
sectors. For instance, try to make
rresponding work group can use to guide the discussion. The list opening/closing hours as similar
should contain the description of the sector or sectors, any suggested as possible for the visitors. Or
regulations you have from your notes (especially review Modules 4 you might integrate regulations
such as having one entrance fee
and 7 for ideas), your own opinion or that of the director, and any that allows entrance to multiple
other legal or regulatory issue that might pertain to that particular sites, again, improving the visitor
sector. Attached to the back of the starter list (8-19) should be the experience. If stakeholders do
achieve consensus on some regu-
moderator guidelines found below. lations, those become general site
regulations while the rest remain
Table Tents and Moderators. You should break up the high- sector-specific regulations.
priority sectors and existing activities into four or five work groups
Specific attractions should still
for this module. Each group will have a moderator who will lead the define logistics necessary to
discussion. You should pick these people in advance. They should implement new regulations and
be people who are knowledgeable about regulations, are responsible, a protocol for adding new regula-
tions would be most useful for the
and are capable of leading a group. You should prepare in advance group of management entities.
some table markers with the names of the sectors and the moderator. The protocol would establish a
You should lay out the work group spaces before the module starts. consensus forum by which all
participating entities could work
You can use table tents made of cardboard that when bent, stands together to create regulations
up on its own (see photo next page). and policies across the entire site.
Moderator Starter Sheet: Sector X Note that the PUP process might
have already done this, making
perhaps this step either unnec-
Sector Description (Mod 4): essary or focused specifically on
steps to approve regulations.
Suggested Regulations (Mod 4–7): In cases where regulations of dif-

ferent agencies are so different
(for example, those of the Ministry
of Health and Defense) or you
Other Issues: cannot achieve consensus, then
this module might only document
all the public use regulations in
one easily accessible format.
Moderator Guidelines:

I. Introduction
Warming Up
Facilitate
2. Illustrate opening metaphor and your progress so far.
3. Have participants stand in a circle. Pass around some toy handcuffs
or another regulation-related object you consider more appropriate.
As each person receives it, they should state who they are, where they
are from, and the most important regulation on their list of five.
4. Hand out Examples & Illustrations as well as copies of the Directory
of Touristic Attractions.
Review
do today MUST be guided by the purpose, policies, mandates, heritage
values, and messages. These are guiding principles in our effort.
and where they are on the map (very quickly).
3. Another person should review zones and sectors. This is best done
with some kind of map.
4. Go over the results of Module 7.
Orient
Your first objective is to locate the participants once again in the
PUP progression. The diagram for this is found at the beginning
of PowerPoint presentation #11. Emphasize that you now only have
three modules to go.
Present
1. The director should talk about the importance of this workshop
to the functioning of the site. He or she might also mention that this
is the first discussion of its kind with all these participants in (the
Regulation Approval country, the region, the site).
Note that while the approval 2. Note the objective of minimizing the quantity of regulations to start
process for the PUP has been
outlined in the TOR, some kinds out the process. The more regulations there are, the more difficult
of regulations may still need they will be to manage. One regulation that we will develop is HOW
approval at higher levels of gov- to modify future regulations. Another technique we will use in the
ernment. Be sure to understand
which these might be so that you next module is to stagger their implementation. Not all regulations
can begin the correct procedures will be enacted at the same time. Some may take a couple of years,
as soon as possible. Consult with because the sectors and activities they are designed to regulate might
your site director.
not open or start until then.

II. Presenting Regulations and Logistics
What Does It Mean?
Show
Use the PowerPoint presentation #11 to discuss some theory of re-
gulations and logistics.
Explain
Call together the moderators and give them a brief orientation on
their role before beginning the workshop. Pass out their guidelines
The Last Word
and starter sheets (8-19) and review them. You can do this during This is a participatory workshop,
a break. especially in the exchange of
ideas. Ultimately, however, the
decision to include or not a
Guidelines for Moderators regulation is the site’s, not the
1. Put aside or give to the site-wide group any regulations that are users’. The site (and the agen-
system-wide and not particular to your sector. cies above it) has the last word
on any debates that break out
2. Cross out anything on the list that is not related to public use. during this module.
3. Cross out anything on the list that is not immediately applicable.
Avoid regulations for unusual circumstances.
4. Cross out anything on the list that is redundant or contradictory.
5. Cross out anything on the list that is impossible to enforce.
6. Cross out any general regulation.
7. Hold aside regulatory issues that are disputed and unresolved.
8. Do not permit development of logistics, implementation, penal-
ties, or other details for regulations. That will come later. (However,
note good ideas.)
9. If the site needs more information to write a rule, just place an
X next to the quantitative aspect of the regulation.
10. Consider the zone management description in defining regula- A representative of the Honduran
Tourism Ministry moderates a ses-
tions. sion about general regulations in
11. Mark with an asterisk (*) any internal rule that might regulate site Pico Bonito National Park.
operation. These regulations will not be shown to the public because
they are for internal use only.
A table tent can be as simple as a

The Honduran National piece of paper folded in half and
Police participated in this stood on a table. Write down the
module with Pico Bonito. sector name and moderator.

III. Determining Regulations
What Does It Mean?
Explain
The best regulation is one not needed. If a site can control people’s
behavior through interpretation, such as signage and physical design
(barriers, keeping walls clean to dissuade graffiti, well-marked trails,
Do Not Over-regulate etc.), that is always better than imposing a regulation. Nevertheless,
By having too many regulations there is need to regulate in a site; that is the theme of this module.
not only does it increase your
costs and training time, but
reduces visitor satisfaction be- How Do I Do It?
cause visitors do not like to see
long lists of regulations. Perhaps You will have two kinds of groups working simultaneously.
even more damaging, more regu-
lations can increase the number
of conflicts between site visitors ♦♦ Site-wide regulations. Ideally, this group will be
and stakeholders. We only want facilitated by the site director, and will be composed
regulations that we absolutely
need and whose purpose we of government officials like police, site service, or
cannot meet with education or tourism ministry (who specialize in laws), and maybe
physical or administrative tech- another director to share his or her experiences. This
niques to control behavior.
group will work from an example or two of previous
site-wide regulations (such as those of Pico Bonito),
deciding which ones apply, which ones do not.
♦♦ Sector-based regulations. Specially selected moder-
ators will guide these groups (see preparations above)
of people who know and have interests in particular
sectors, as well as staff who know the site well. They
will determine regulations for specific management
sectors; the participants will rotate between sector
groups while the moderator stays with one sector.
Fa
1. You should already have the tables set up with table tents indi-
cating sectors and moderators.
Visitor control can be subtly 2. Ask each participant to choose a table that most interests them.
achieved with signs or with the Try to have at least three people per table.
simple presence of guards.
3. The moderators lead a discussion
of regulations necessary for the sectors
assigned to them. They should be writing
the results down in their notes. Each re-
gulation should be no more than 10 words
long (unless a list is necessary to describe
a regulation such as “Only the following
kinds of cars are permitted in the parking
lot: a, b, c…”). They should go over types
of regulations (8-18), and look over Pico
Bonito’s regulations (8-21). This step

should last 45–90 minutes. Judging the Calendar
4. After round one, the groups change to another station, but the As facilitator of this module, you
moderator stays. This way, they do not start over, and the moderator will have to judge the productiv-
ity of the groups to determine
can integrate new lessons, at the same time applying quality con- how much time to allot per
trol. round. It will vary with the com-
5. During round two, the moderator presents what the first group plexity of the discussion. Do re-
mind everyone that there will be
produced. The second group critiques and modifies as necessary. The more opportunity to investigate
moderator tries to keep the list short. At the end of the round (which some regulatory issues in the
should last 30–60 minutes), the moderator has someone write the full group. The objective is not to
produce the final answer in these
proposed regulations up on a big piece of butcher paper (no more groups. It is only part of a pro-
than 10 regulations per sheet; big letters, neat, no more than 10 words cess; in this case, to collect ideas
per regulation). Have the moderator ask participants to name each from different stakeholders.
regulation and say when it should take effect: immediately, when
Regulating the Sectors
the activity is marketed, after a certain amount of warning time, or Besides the regulations that con-
concurrent with some other notable event. trol the products of each sector,
6. When all the sheets are up, you facilitate a presentation and sub- each management zone implies
regulations for its particular
sequent discussion on each sector, starting with the site-wide rules. physical and social attributes.
You also apply the moderator’s guidelines. We must remember that one or
7. After the sectors have been discussed, ask for unresolved issues more areas can share the same
type of zone. For this reason, all
(some of these will have been resolved during the presentations), the areas within the same zone
and facilitate a discussion on them. You can write them on a separate should have the same regula-
piece of paper. tions for their physical and social
attributes.
8. Identify which regulations need greater in-depth development or
further approval and by whom (consult the TOR when necessary),
and mark them with a star. For these you will be recruiting help to
define them, as indicated in Tasks 1–3 below.
9. Inform the group that these regulations will go through an ex-
ternal review process, and then the director will send a draft to the
participants for final comments.
Proposed Regulation When Regulation Enters into Force

New entrance fee When new ticket system is ready
Ban on using car horns in site Immediately
Mandatory recycling by vendors When recycling bins are placed
Licenses for guides When licensing system approved by board

and logistics finished
Fine for graffiti One month after education campaign begins
New color design for signs After concluding fundraising to repaint signs

IV. Developing a Protocol for Adding and Updating Regulations
What Does It Mean?
Explain
The key to good regulation management is to be able to update and
modify regulations with relative ease. The management must know
the steps that should be executed fairly. One indication of a matu-
ring organization is its capacity to stick to standard procedures and
not arbitrarily suspend rules. If a government did that, it would be
oppressive; if a site did that, it would be poor management.
How Do I Do It?
Facilitate
1. Divide the group into two teams.
2. Assign the two best moderators to manage them. Refer to Pico
Bonito’s protocol (8-27) as a reference on one way to update a re-
gulation.
3. Have each team define steps to create a new regulation or modify
an old one; the moderator should write each step on a card.
4. The moderator then writes a description of the step on the back
of the card; on the front, he writes down a responsible person or
institution, and how much time is needed to carry out the step.
5. The two teams join together; the first posts its steps.
6. Then take one card at a time from the second team and put each
next to the first team’s sequenced cards. When steps repeat, discard
repeated cards. When they overlap, choose the better, integrating the
two suggestions.
7. You should come away with a
consensus series of steps that then
becomes a regulation in itself.
This dog sign encourages dog

owners to keep their dogs off of
flower beds in Vienna Historic
Center, Austria.

Future Steps
Describe the follow-up tasks and ask some specific people (especially
moderators or anyone else who has made a useful contribution) to
help you in writing them up as directed below. Let them know that
there is an external review; hopefully, the director will return written-
up regulations for today’s participants to review. Module 9 schedules
the implementation of these different rules.
Evaluation
1. Do you feel we wasted time creating things that already existed,
or did we use the previous examples well? Explain with concrete
examples. Doese the use of those examples in any way limit our
discussion?
2. Can you make a specific recommendation to improve the metho-
dology?
Post-Workshop Task 1: Creating Regulation Logistics

Explain
Even though the regulations may have been decided upon, how
they should be implemented is yet uncertain. Before a regulation
can be publicized and implemented, there are questions about the
regulation’s logistics that must be answered.
You should go through each regulation and answer the rele-
vant questions below, including the classification of each regulation
as internal (regulating site’s behavior) or external (public and com-
mercial behavior).
Do
1. Penalties (fines, expulsion, prosecution by police under existing
laws, call parents, suspend rights of return for students or a school,
letter of protest to municipality)
2. Jurisdictions for the application of different kinds of regulations
(military for some, though not typically public use; site guard, guides,
even tour operators)
3. Appeal process (who does it, who has final say?)
4. Diffusion of information about regulations (education of users,
information requirements for every visitor encounter). Who needs to
know what and when? (Tourists do not need to receive a book of 200
regulations; posting a lot of regulations is ugly.) Includes translation
needs as well; you will usually need an information or media specialist

when possible. Are regulations written in positive language, rather
than the negative “Do not” “not permitted” “prohibited”?
5. What are the inputs (signs, approvals, videos, equipment, hando-
uts)?
6. Are any inspections needed? Surveillance equipment? Patrols?
7. What exceptions to the rules might exist? Can the regulation be
overruled, annulled, or suspended under certain conditions?
8. Are there any related procedures that staff must follow in the
implementation of regulations?
9. Are there any other people who need to approve the regulation?
Post-Workshop Task 2: Writing Up Regulations

When writing up regulations, there are different ways to organize
them: by site, by activity, by visitor type. The different kinds of re-
gulations will depend on the site, so the organization will vary. You
will have to decide what seems the neatest and most logical way for
each site. You will also have general policies, perhaps a section on
ethical guidelines, and perhaps national laws or other legal documents
that influence site policy. You do not have to follow the format of
other sites or previous examples, however. You should discuss this
with the site director.
Post-Workshop Task 3: Defining Licensing and Other

Requirements
Various issues and topics will require further work, such as deciding
on requirements for tour operators, nature guide licenses, certifi-
cations, or special permissions (such as those for sport hunting or
fishing). While these requirements do not have to be complete for
the PUP, you should assign them as soon as possible to be done by
one or more stakeholders. Do not attempt to do this yourself during
planning. You do not have enough time. Sometimes you might need
special regulations that can be technical and may require further
consultation. This might involve the use of technical equipment,
experts, or further research on how nature is being disrupted before
you can regulate an activity.
Post-Workshop Task 4: Doing an External Review of Regulations

Part of creating regulations is iden-
tifying the necessary logistics and The director should take the lead on any formal procedures needed
equipment needed to accompany
for approval by municipalities, ministries, police, international bodies,
them. For example, fire extinguish-
ers might make a regulation on fire etc. This should be started immediately. You should also remember
prevention operational. that because regulations often go to the heart of public use, the suc-

cess of PUP might depend on how the regulations are developed and
how effectively they are presented. More than other parts of the PUP,
the regulations should have the good will of those involved. Thus
the regulations should be distributed to key stakeholders as soon as
possible. Regulations are one of the most likely components of the
PUP that could slow down its approval.
Post-Workshop Task 5: Determining General Building Design

Guidelines (Optional)
Explain
An important element in the regulations of any site is the guidelines
for modifying and creating new buildings and related infrastructure.
According to the World Heritage Centre, one of the biggest problems
today at World Heritage Sites is the construction of inappropriate
tourist infrastructure such as hotels. If sites possess well justified
guidelines for building, they can better control developments in and
around their properties.
Whether modifying or restoring an ancient temple or crea-
ting a new visitor center, the protected area should have guidelines
to regulate the design, scale, and other aspects of this work. In this
module, you can create guidelines or principles that can later be
transformed into detailed architectural and design regulations for
construction and modification.
Do
1. Compile as many of the materials listed below as possible into
information packets.
2. Distribute them to participants two days before the workshop.
Include a letter emphasizing that their reading these materials in
advance will save significant time during the workshop.
Facilitate
1. Recruit 6–8 people from inside and outside the site to participate
in this mini-workshop. Two to three people compose the Culture
and Tourism Group: from the Ministry of Tourism (someone who
understands markets and visitors), Ministry of Culture (anthropo-
logist or cultural material specialist), and an interpreter or educator.
For the Construction Group, they may come from the Ministry of
Public Works (engineer or architect specializing in monuments and
protected areas), a landscape architecture firm, or an architect from
the Ministries of Tourism or Culture. You should also include 1–2
other site staff. Certainly, it is better if you can recruit people who
have already participated in the PUP process.
2. Introduce the group to PUP (if they are not already familiar),
which modules have already been carried out, and what the role of
this post-workshop task is. You also review the zone and sector maps,
explaining these two concepts.

3. The groups review background materials (if they have not already
done so) that support the guidelines appropriate for your site:
♦♦ World Heritage nomination

♦♦ Planning Framework (includes World Heritage crite-
ria applicable to your site)
♦♦ Photo or walking tour of existing facilities
♦♦ Management Plan guidelines (if any)
♦♦ Module 4 experience opportunity zones
♦♦ Module 5 products and visitor profiles
♦♦ Module 8 regulations and this Post-Workshop Task
♦♦ IUCN Guidelines for Environmentally and Culturally
Sensitive Facilities (8-29)
♦♦ Any other documents or studies that relate to ar-
chitecture, building, or similar materials in the site.
Do not include general documentation (such as on
sustainable design, green architecture, or cultural
heritage), only materials specific either to the site or
to the system for which it is a component.
♦♦ The article on the 10 myths of interpretive infrastruc-
ture development in the Appendix for Module 5.
4. Split the group in half. Put the culture and tourism people in one
group and the architectural and construction people in the other. Each
group answers the corresponding questions with 2–3 paragraphs:
Culture-Tourism Group
a. What are the main visitor experiences available and proposed in
the site? (Consider the zones, interpretative messages, visitor profiles,
and proposed products)
b. What is the sense of place? How should people feel? What his-
torical or natural moments or phenomena should they try to relive
and understand? What makes this site unique among all other sites
in the world?
c. What is the architectural style particular to the cultural heritage
(if there is cultural heritage)? How could the messages and World
Heritage criteria (and other elements from the Planning Framework)
best be illustrated by building design and landscape features?
Construction Group
a. What is the most appropriate scale for constructions in this protec-
ted area or different sectors in the protected area? (Consider vegeta-
tion density and height, topography, number and types of visitors)
b. What are the most appropriate local, vernacular materials and
designs in the region?

c. How could the messages and World Heritage criteria (or other
major elements from the Planning Framework) best be illustrated
by the building design and landscape features?
5. Reconvene the groups.

6. Have each group present its results.
7. As a group answer the following:
a. What are the good and bad examples of building design, conside-
ring the above, currently in the protected area (if any)?
b. Can you summarize all that has been said in five general guidelines
that both groups share so far? (Do this verbally, but take notes.)
c. Describe how those principles or guidelines vary geographically
throughout the site. That is, across different zones and sectors, how
do guidelines change in priority or importance?
d. What kinds of green architecture, energy efficiency, and renewable
energy practices are appropriate for the styles proposed?
8. Break up into pairs and assign each pair one or more of the
guidelines to write up as a paragraph. They may include specifics in
these guidelines.
9. Then rotate the paragraphs among the pairs. Each new pair should
write down their comments on an accompanying comment sheet.
10. At the end take the paragraphs and edit them into guidelines.
Share with site and PUP technical staff.
11. When satisfied, include them in the Regulations for Module 8.

♦ Example of cover sheet
♦ Categories of regulations
♦ Principles used by the United States National Park Service
♦ Pico Bonito’s body of regulations
♦ Pico Bonito’s protocol for updating regulations Don’t Forget the Proceedings
♦♦ IUCN Guidelines for Environmentally and Culturally Sensi- • Include all main discussion points and significant
tive Facilities • Include all ideas that may be useful in the future
cards on the wall
Additional Reading
to you to update
♦ “Manual de procedimientos para la preparación de directri- a dated addendum
ces para el manejo de usuarios en un área protegida.” Ana • Make proceedings available online and if appropri-
Báez. PROARCAS. 1999. (How to create rules for a site, • Goal: Show respect, demonstrate transparency,
Spanish) ownership

Module 8: Regulations
Focus Question: What is the minimum number of regulations

necessary to launch a program considered fair by stakeholders that
also protects the resources?
y Develop first set of regulations y Achieve consensus about regulations to

y Create a protocol to update and add new be implemented
regulations y Get excited because we have finally
developed regulations
Presenting Regulations and Logistics
40 Presentation PowerPoint #11
Determining Regulations
180 Determining regulations
Developing a Protocol for Adding and Updating Regulations
60 Defining update steps
Future Steps and Evaluation

15 Future Steps
Evaluation
The sign above says, “Prohibited: Street Vendors. 1,000 Q Fine. Municipality of Coban, Guatemala.” While regulations
may not be the first choice to manage visitors, without enforcement, they are of little use.

8
Regulations and Controls
Purpose: Produce a basic set of sector-based regulations, with the established logistics neces-
sary to implement them. Create a clear mechanism for adding and updating regulations.
Focus Question: What is the minimum number of regulations necessary to launch a public
use program considered fair by stakeholders that also protects the resources?
Summary: The participants will look for the minimum number of regulations necessary to
start the program. To make all these regulations operational, there will be a system for up-
dating the regulations, as well as logistics to put them into place.
Deliverables: Body of regulations, logistics for implementing them, public use requirements
for certifications and other guidelines
Introduction
Regulations is a critical module, fortunately one that is based on some good precedents, starting with
Pico Bonito. Many sites feel nervous about developing regulations, because the issue is so important
and has legal implications. Having a structured discussion such as this one may help them move be-
yond this fear.

Determining Regulations
Categories of Regulations
♦ Calendar and schedule of site, sectors, and activities
♦ What does management do when there is overcrowding
♦ Group management (registry, payments, size)
♦ Necessary information to share with visitors (rules, messages)
♦ Resource protection (touching, collecting)
♦ Fire use (type of fuel, camp fires, stoves, use of firewood)
♦ Requirements for commercial users (access, concessions,
licenses, certifications)
♦ Necessary equipment for activities in the sector
♦ Use of alcohol and drugs
♦ Search and rescue, first aid, evacuation (who is in charge)
♦ Sports hunting and fishing
♦ Entrance fees and other charges and protocol to collect them
♦ Conservation contribution (donations, conservation fund, etc.)
♦ Building materials and environmental practices
♦ Protocol to introduce new activities in the site
♦ Coordination of policies with other protected areas
(Advantages?)
♦ Restricted access (control points, outside trails and designated
roads, camping areas, ecological recuperation, special care areas)
♦ Management and treatment of solid and liquid waste
♦ Behavior on trails, use of vehicles, boats, horses, etc.
♦ Protection of flora and fauna, especially endangered species
♦ Adequate distance to observe and photograph wild species
♦ Feeding and petting wild animals
♦ Pet control
♦ Water source preservation
♦ Noise contamination by visitors (temporary and longer stays)
♦ Visual impact of constant encounters with other visitors
♦ Extraction of plants, insects, rocks, coral, etc.
♦ Purchase or extraction of natural souvenirs
♦ Compliance with international conservation treaties and laws
♦ Local customs and traditions
♦ Permits for photography
♦ Type of language
♦ Personal appearance (apparel)
♦ Invasion of local communities’ privacy
♦ Use of high-technology equipment
♦ Handicrafts sale
♦ Tips and benefits

Start-Up Sheet for Moderator: Cheje Sector
Description of Area (Topography, existing and proposed infrastructure, activities and services,
experience)
Cheje is the first sector upon entering the site. It allows motorized vehicles and high-density recreation.
It receives the largest percentage of people with cars, radios, dogs, etc. Here we find the highest human
density and lowest privacy while visitors play, barbecue, swim in pools, and drink beer. It has paved
roads, green areas with dispersed trees, and several trash cans. There are speed bumps; people usually
park their cars on the grass. This is the area where all recreational gatherings are held; food is sold
here; balls, covered barbecue pits, and horses are rented. Even though the visitors can breathe better
air and see more trees than in the city, there is also a lot of human development and activity, at least
on weekends. The infrastructure is hardened to resist visitor impact (paved roads, more security, more
signs, evident physical barriers, etc.). Near the Chara Sector boundary there is a horse trail.
Suggested Regulations (existing and mentioned in former modules)

Adequate behavior (must be defined), cars parked in non-grass lots (more control over cars while they
are in parking lots to maximize space), maximum speed 5 km/h, stereo volume within 10 m, take care
of gardens, alcohol sales forbidden, dogs with leashes, extinguish barbecue fire, rotate green areas to
preserve grass
Other
Forfeiture of arms and alcoholic beverages when adequate behavior is not observed after just 1 warning;
call police when park officers are not respected
Guides for the Moderator

1. Set aside or distribute the general system regulations that are not area-specific. Pico Bonito regula-
tions can be found below.
2. Erase from the list any issue that does not relate to public use.
3. Eliminate from the list anything that cannot be implemented immediately. Skip regulations for spe-
cial cases.
4. Eliminate from the list everything that is redundant.
5. Erase from the list everything that is impossible to accomplish.
6. Set aside any regulating issues that have been disputed or that have not been resolved.
7. Do not develop logistics, sanctions, or other details for the regulations. This will come later. (Howe-
ver, note any good ideas.)
8. If the site needs more information to write a rule, draw an X by the quantitative aspect of the re-
gulation.
9. When defining regulations take into consideration the management zone type.
10. Mark with an asterisk (*) any internal rule that regulates site operation. These regulations will not
be brought to public attention because they are exclusively for the site administration.

Policy Statements
You may choose to add some general policy statements that later can
be translated into specific regulations. Here are a few examples from
the United States National Park Service and a tour operator.
The US National Park Service Policy Statement

Any restriction to recreational public use will be limited to the
minimum necessary to protect park resources and values to promote
the visitor’s safety and entertainment. The limits established by the
Service are based, whenever possible, on scientific research and other
available data. However, the use or activity could be restricted to or
altogether prohibited when, per the park director’s judgment, the
frequency, continuation, or expansion would result in prejudice of
the values or purposes for which the park was created, or when it
significantly interferes with other visitor’s enjoyment of the park's
resources and values, or if they are inconsistent with its creation
decree.
And this one regarding commercial services

The Service will permit commercial services as long as these do
not have any adverse effect on the purposes or values of the park,
that they provide recreational opportunities to the visitors, contri-
bute to the visitor’s enjoyment of the park resources, and support
management objectives. Commercial services will operate only by
concession or authorized commercial use and are subject to com-
petent laws and regulations.
Policy Statement by North by North-East Tours,

Thailand
We endeavour to partner with companies that treat both travelers
and local communities in an appropriate positive manner. Most of
our partners share our commitment to making a difference to the
environment and the community.
North by North-East encourages all clients to act responsibly
while traveling. Our Arrival Packs for clients provide information
on culture as well as environmental issues. These guidelines provi-
de simple tips helping our clients best adjust to the local culture &
environment while helping to minimize impact on them.
Both the North by North-East statement and the list above come from “Managing
Tourism Development at World Heritage Sites, Protected Areas and National
Parks,” prepared for UNESCO/UNEP/Rare Center/UNF Project, Feb. 2003.

January 2001
Pico Bonito National Park Regulations
Objectives of Pico Bonito National Park Regulations
To improve the quality of visitor experiences at Pico Bonito National Park (the Park), regulating and
enabling better management and protecting visitor infrastructure and natural, cultural, and landscape
resources of the area.
(*)Indicates an internal regulation exclusive of the Park Authority.
1.0 Administration
1.1 At present, the Park Authority is under the responsibility of Pico Bonito National Park Foundation
(FUPNAPIB).
1.2 The Park Authority establishes visitation limits of acceptable change for all Park infrastructure.
1.3 All established schedules for each public use area will be respected.
1.4 Activities that have not been registered and approved by the Public Use Strategic Plan are not per-
mitted.
1.5 *Pecuniary sanctions are applied by both the Park Authority and the corresponding municipali-
ties.
1.6 *All Park regulations that appear in public media (e.g. signs and brochures) must be written in clear
and positive terms so the park and its regulations appear in the most positive light.
1.7 Declaration of Park Responsibility in the Event of Delinquency and Accidents

The Park Authority will take all measures within its possibilities to minimize delinquency and accidental
consequences to the visitors, by means of maintaining the physical plant in good condition, notifying
the visitors, either by writing or orally, of the magnitude of risks that might be caused by infrastructure
or access control and to avoid negligence of officials, which might increase risks unnecessarily. When
these prerequisites are enforced, the Park Authority is not liable for any responsibility involving effects
of delinquency or accident that might result from reasons beyond the control of the Park Authority.
In the case of adventure sports such as hikes to remote areas, which by nature imply exceptional risks,
the Park Authority reserves the right to demand a responsibility waiver from the visitor.
1.8 *To add or modify the regulations, the Park Authority must follow these steps (see table in p.
114):
a. Write up a proposal
b. Inform of the proposal to all stakeholders, including service providers, members of COLAP, IHT,
DAPVS and individuals
c. No later than 14 days after the proposal is published, convene a public meeting to discuss the pro-
f. Add the new rule or modification to the Public Use Plan

2.0 Visitor Management
2.1 Every visitor must make an entry in the registry book and must pay a Park entrance fee.
2.2 To enter and exit the Park, visitors must use the gates in the designated public use areas.
2.3 Entrance to areas that are not of public use is forbidden, except when the Park Authority grants
special permits in writing.
2.4 If the environment is degraded or flora and fauna are in any way harmed, the licenses of tourism
operators or independent guides will be immediately revoked, without prejudice to violator sanctions
(Article 73, Environmental Law Regulation).
2.5 Only designated trails will be used. It is forbidden to wander off and disobey signs and signals in
the Park.
2.6 Persons who threaten order or good behavior will be banned from the Park.
2.7 Camping and bonfires are only permitted in the areas specified for such use by the Park Autho-
rity.
2.8 Bathing will only be permitted in areas specified for such use by the Park Authority.
2.9 Visitors must deposit solid garbage in the containers placed in public use areas. If there are no
containers, visitors must take their garbage with them when they leave the Park.
2.10 Park Authority will carry out all actions necessary to install selective collection means for solid
waste in public use areas. The pilot study will be done in AMARAS.
2.11 No pets are allowed.
2.12 Feeding Park animals is strictly forbidden.
2.13 Use of audio equipment such as stereos, megaphones, televisions, telephones, cellular telephones,
or any other is strictly forbidden in all trails, cascades, or AMARAS area. In any other public use area,
they may be used as long as the volume cannot be heard at a distance of 5 meters.
2.14 Smoking is forbidden in all public use areas of the Park.
2.15 The use of any stimulant or depressive drug in the Park is strictly forbidden, except alcoholic
beverages, which are permitted only in picnic areas.
2.16 Extraction and mistreatment of plants and animals and their subproducts, as well as rock extrac-
tion and any other natural material is prohibited.
2.17 Firearms, knives, weapons, or any explosives (including firecrackers) are absolutely forbidden in
the park.
2.18 All persons practicing any kind of water or adventure sport must use their own security equipment
when the Park Authority does not provide it.
2.19 Hunting and fishing are strictly forbidden without permission from COHDEFOR-DAPVS (Ar-
ticles 6-8, Manual of Technical-Administrative Rules for Management and Use)
2.20 Every person that enters the area must be informed of the regulations.
2.21 No personal hygiene products are permitted in bathing areas (i.e. soap).
3.0 Use of Facilities and Infrastructure
3.1 Misuse, harm, or vandalic acts against Park infrastructure is forbidden.

3.2 Placement of signs, advertisements, or any event or activity inside the Park is not permitted except

when the Park Authority has granted special permits in writing.
3.3 The Park Authority may close facilities for special events without prior notice.
3.4 *All signs inside the Park must bear designated colors per international rules . Different designs are
permitted for signs placed outside the Park.
4.0 *Funds Management
4.1 Funds obtained from visitor entrance fees will be use to improve and maintain the public use system
and conservation, per the financial objectives of each area.
4.2 Every donation must be recorded by the Park Authority, except tips given to nature guides.
4.3 Entrance fees may be levied, except on Saturday, Sunday and holidays, if written notice is sent five
days in advance to the Park Authority, for:
a. Persons or groups, when the objectives of their visit are educational, training, research, or support
to the Park.
b. Special national and international missions.
5.0 Vehicles Inside the Park
5.1 Circulation and parking of motorized vehicles are forbidden in areas not authorized for such pur-
poses.
5.2 Helicopter landing is forbidden, except in natural emergencies, for evacuation during natural disasters
or to collect vicitims in remote areas, for research or if the Park Authority has granted permission.
5.3 Honking car horns inside the Park is strictly forbidden, except in emergencies.
6.0 Guides and Service Providers
6.1 No peddling is allowed in the Park, except if authorized by the Park Authority.
6.2 Guides, tour operators, and group organizers are responsible before the Park Authority of the
behavior of the visitors and their compliance with these regulations.
6.3 All tour operators wishing to work in the Park must have a license issued by the Park Authority.
These are the requisites for the annual license:
a. Be registered in the National Tourism Registry of the Honduran Tourism Institute

b. Be a member of the Pico Bonito National Park Foundation
c. Own a municipal operation permit
d. Sign a commitment with all corresponding regulations of the Park
e. Sign waiver of responsibility (for operations in Remote Zones)
f. Pay Lp. 1,000, annual cost of the license

6.4 Every guide willing to work in the Park, independently or as a tour operator, must obtain an annual
operation license from the Park Authority. Requisites for this license are
a. Be registered in the National Tourism Registry of the Honduran Tourism Institute

b. Pass a Park exam which will confirm that the guide understands the regulations, behavior codes, and
basic information about what needs to be practiced during hikes and activities.
c. Must demonstrate proficiency in first aid, guiding, and special know-how for certain activites (such
as rescue and NOLS regulations in Remote Zones)
d. Pay Lp. 1,000, the annual cost of the license for foreigners and Lp. 300 for nationals
6.5 The Park Authority may grant a concession to a third party to administer guide proficiency tests.
6.6 Guides may not practice any activities in zones that are not included in the license issued by the
Park Authority (Remote Zones, AMARAS).
6.7 All guides that escort visitors during commercial or official activities organized by the Park Authority
(inside or outside Park limits) must carry the following:
a. Official Park ID securely pinned to shirt

b. Park brochures or other promotional materials
c. First aid kit approved by the Park Authority
d. Park map
e. Watch
f. Bird guide
g. Copy of Park regulations
h. Communications equipment (telephone, radio)
7.0 Río Zacate Sector
No specific regulations for this area for now.
8.0 CURLA Camp Sector
No specific regulations for this area for now.
9.0 Cangrejal River Sector
9.1 Only operators designated and trained by the Park Authority can operate the basket lift for El
Bejuco Trail.
9.2 The El Bejuco Trail basket can hold no more than X persons each way. Any person exceeding this
limit must wait for the next basket trip.
9.3 All tour operators that offer rafting or kayaking must comply with these rules:
a. All visitors must purchase an entrance ticket included in the tour package or separately

b. All visitors must provide the data requested in the registration book
c. All visitors must inform the Park Authority of any accidents which might have resulted in injury of
a visitor
d. All visitors must wear a life jacket and helmet while in the raft or boat
9.4 No overnight trips are permitted.
10. Remote Zones Sector
10.1 All tour operators or independent guides wishing to visit Remote Zones must make reservations
with the Park Authority one week in advance.
10.2 Guides must report the conditions of the trail to the Park Authority. Guides must also report
sightings of fauna and exceptional phenomena and discoveries.
10.3 All visiting groups must hire 2 guides to help out during emergency situations and accidents.
10.4 Maximum number of visitors per group, per hike, is 6.
10.5 To allow for natural recuperation, no more than 3 hikes per month are permitted.
10.6 All guides must enforce the NOLS regulations adapted for the Park.
11. Central Sector
AMARAS Animal Rescue Center
11.1 Operation hours: 8 am to 5 pm every day of the week.

11.2 The AMARAS director has the right to close the center without prior notice to the public when
he deems necessary.
11.3 Silence is mandatory in all areas of the center.
11.4 It is forbidden to approach the enclosures or to touch, play with or feed the animals.
11.5 Children 12 years of age and under must be accompanied by an adult (maximum 10 children per
adult).
11.6 All visitors must be escorted by an educator or guide authorized by the Park Authority. Maximum
10 persons per educator or guide.
11.7 Photography is permitted only from the distance approved by center staff. Flashes are prohibited
when taking pictures of animals, unless special permission has been granted by the person in charge.
11.8 The following must be observed:
a. Never obtain an animal for public exhibition

b. Never jeopardize the health or safety of an animal for human use or exhibition
c. Never offer medical treatment to pets
d. An animal will leave AMARAS only to be liberated or because of death.

d. An animal will leave AMARAS only through liberation or death.
12. San Francisco Sector
There are no specific regulations for this area .
13. Site Charges
Article 18 of the Regulations of the National System of Protected Areas of Honduras (SINAPH)
To carry out its mission, SINAPH will use these financial means...
B. At the site level ...
ii For entrance fees to protected areas
13.1 Daily General Entrance Fees
a. Entrance, foreign visitor $6

b. Entrance, adult national (18-59) 30 Lp
c. Entrance, youngsters (2-17) and senior citizens (60+) 20 lp
d. Overnight stay $4/night (plus daily entrance)
e. Site guide 150 lp/5 hours (up to 10 persons)
f. Entrance fee grants permission to enter any public use area on the day stamped (Site Authority can
restrict entrance to some areas, like Remote Zones)
13.2 Licenses
a. Annual tour operators license 1,000 Lp

b. National guide license 100 Lp, foreign 300 Lp
13.3 Zacate River Sector
a. Trail: Included with site entrance; when there is a visitation increase, a special fee will be charged
b. Food shack concession: start off with 600 Lp/month, annual contract
c. Siteing 10 lp/vehicle.
13.4 Cangrejal River Sector
• Rafting & kayaking: The operator can sell tickets for general entrance to site (preferred) or a subsidized
ticket ($3 for foreigners or 15 Lp for nationals), which only allows rafting.

• Los Lobos Bathing Site: XX Lp/person y XX% for the Site
• El Bejuco Trail: $X & XX% of benefits remain in Los Lobos, the rest goes to the Site
13.5 AMARAS
a. Visitors pay general entrance fees

b. *Handicrafts sale: AMARAS keeps X%
13.6 Remote Sectors
a. General entrance fees apply (entrance and overnight)
Developing a Protocol for Updating and Adding Regulations

Pico Bonito’s Regulations (section 1.8)
1.2 *To add or modify the regulations, the Site Authority must follow these steps:
a. Write up a proposal
b. Inform all stakeholders of the proposal, including service providers, members of COLAP, IHT,
DAPVS and individuals
c. No later than 14 days after the proposal is published, convene a public meeting to discuss the pro-
posal
d. Review the proposal per the results of the public meeting, if deemed necessary
e. The Board of Directors must approve the proposal no later than two weeks after the public mee-
ting
f. Add the new rule or modification to the Public Use Plan
*Indicates an internal rule

Pico Bonito’s Steps for Updating Regulations (see section 1.8 of
regulations)1
Step Description Responsible Party Time Needed

1 Write up proposal Public Use Coordinator Unlimited

2 Inform relevant stakeholders of the Public Use Coordinator 1 month for
proposal, including service providers, stakeholders
members of COLAP, IHT, DAPVS, to respond
and individuals
No later than 14 days after the proposal
3 is published in letter or newspaper, con- 2 weeks from the
Director
vene a public meeting to discuss it formal issuance of
the proposal
4 Review the proposal per the results of Director and Public Use 1 week after the
the public meeting, if deemed neces-
Coordinator public hearing
sary
The Board of Directors must approve
5 Board of Directors 2 weeks from
the proposal no later than two weeks
public hearing
after the public meeting

Add the new rule or modification to the
6 Director Immediately
Public Use Plan
upon approval
Modified
1

IUCN Guidelines for
IUCN Guidelines Environmentally and
for Environmentally CulturallySensitive
and Culturally SensitiveFacilities
Facilities
Aspect Guidelines
Environmental Impact • Consider whether or not a statutory or informal environmental assessment is required, including
Assessments ecological, social, cultural, and economic evaluation.
• Develop a mitigation plan, where required.
Landscaping and Site • Develop a context plan – examining the entire surrounding area and community, including
Design valued views and resources.
• Develop a management plan for the site, including the relationship with the
surrounding/adjacent protected area, addressing zoning and access.
• Develop a site plan, focusing on detailed design. This should minimize site disturbance, physical
intrusion and intervention.
• Tree management considers tree retention, relocation or replacement.
• Plant vegetation to supply a more natural environment that provides habitat for birds, mammals
and other wildlife.
• Use indigenous species for landscaping.
• Consider cultural aspects of site.
• Ensure linkages are considered (for land use, human circulation, nearby trails, other facilities,
outpost camps, etc.).
Built Facilities • Height and mass should be in scale with existing vegetation and topography.
• Design guidelines should recognize the history of place, cultural characteristics and indigenous or
vernacular design features, colors, etc.
• Facilities should be constructed for energy efficiency, using renewable energy wherever possible.
Resource • Design and operate services so as to minimize use and production of water, energy, waste,
Conservation and sewage, effluent, noise, light and any other emissions.
Consumption • Encourage the use of renewable sources of energy.
• Consider a permaculture approach (which mimics the interconnectedness and diversity of flora
and fauna in natural systems) to turn waste into resources and problems into opportunities.
Materials • Materials should be indigenous, appropriate to the area, and involve low maintenance.
• Materials used in construction should be “sourced” to ensure that they come from sustainable
production systems, or should be recycled where appropriate.
• Ensure that all materials brought onto the site for construction are used – apply a “no waste”
condition to contractors.
New and Low Impact • Use new technologies in construction and operations where appropriate, practical, cost effective,
Technologies and where there are no perverse effects elsewhere (e.g. “smart” room controls and sensors, low
heat transfer glazing assemblies, free cooling/heating, energy from solar/wind/micro-hydro,
power controls for energy savings, re-use of produced heat, etc.).
• Use new technologies, which are more effective in stand-alone equipment and vehicles, as well as
in facilities.
Services • Develop and implement service standards to meet the needs of all stakeholders – visitors,
agencies, private sector, staff.
Quality Control • If guidelines and conditions of operation of the protected area agency are clear, reporting or
decisions should be simple and clear.
• Baseline information should be maintained (ideally from pre-construction) so as to assess what, if
any, impacts may occur as a result of construction and operations. These may be very simple
observations, or quite complex.
• Set conditions of operation and timelines such that the developer/concessionaire can afford to
invest in quality and visitor satisfaction, as well as obtain a reasonable return on the investment.
• Initiate regular meetings with managers and facility operators to help resolve problems or issues.
Green Practices • Develop green purchase policies.
• Use biodegradable cleaning products.
• Use alternatives to watering, such as mulching, alternate mowing and composting.
• Develop an integrated pest management plan.
• Use bulk or re-usable storage containers.
• Keep all systems and equipment well maintained, since all systems degrade in efficiency over
time.
• Encourage staff vehicle pooling for staff transport to site.
• Ensure marketing materials are environmentally sensitive, and use electronic communications.
Programming • Reward staff for creativity and monitoring.

• Involve visitors in developing ongoing improvements.
• Manage human use – a human use strategy (see above) assists this.
• Consider partnerships with others (e.g. other public agencies) to assist in programming.
• Develop high staff to client ratios.
• Build monitoring into program activities.
Relationship with the • Consult with the local community before development or significant changes in activities.
Local Community • Donate surplus or left over goods to local charities or causes (e.g. soaps, bed linens, amenities,
foods).
• Maximize employment opportunities with the local community.
• Buy goods and services locally, and encourage “green” products and services, where none are
available.
• Assist local organizations, provide discounted services, or donate a percentage of fees or profits
to a worthy local cause.
• Encourage visitors to spend more time locally.
• Offer work experience or training options locally.
Table taken from IUCN’s Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas (Eagles, et al. 2002).
The need for regulations is obvious in this site where visitors willfully put themselves in great danger.

The PUP calendar may be the largest one the site has ever made. Many master planning processes claim to be strategic,
but without a careful distribution of the most important resource — time — a plan cannot be strategic.
e
Outsid
Lists of activities by program
1. How is the transition between strategic and ope-
vs. integration of activities
rational planning reflected in the Calendar of Ac-
tivities? into one timeline
2. Why does PUP construct a plan to implement the
plan? What is it composed of ? Expiration date-based plan-
3. What is the difference between time and experience ning vs. continuous planning
and why is it important to this module?
Separation of long-term
vision and annual plans vs.
integration of short- and long-
term planning
Calendar of Activities 9-3

9 Calendar of Activities
Design a calendar for implementing the proposals over a five-year
revolving period; design a plan to use the PUP and implement it.
Focus Question: To achieve the vision of public use, what do we have to do and when?
Summary: A strategic calendar will make implementation more effective by controlling the number
and timing of activities taken on at any given moment. The implementing agency will also agree
on a set of techniques to increase the chances of successfully implementing the plan.
Format: Private or public workshop
Time: 6 hours
Materials: 15 sector cards (depending on how many sectors were created in Module 4), 24 month
and 5 year time cards, 8 evaluation cards, at least 12 development cards, 100 step cards, materials
to present results to date. Each kind of card should have different color.
Participants (10-12): Management staff, board of directors, advisors to the organization
Deliverable: Calendar (work plan) for revolving five-year period, PUP implementation plan

I. Introduction
II. Building the Calendar
III. Constructing a Plan to Implement the PUP
Next Steps
Evaluation
Post-Workshop Task 1: Putting It in the Computer
Post-Workshop Task 2: Choosing Techniques for Implementation
Module 9 Agenda
9-4 Calendar of Activities

Pre-Workshop Preparations Beware of the Span!
PUP recommends the develop-
ment of a revolving 5-year plan.
Update all previous deliverables. Review all regulations and previo- Sometimes sites only plan for
us results before this workshop so that the calendar will incorporate one to three years because their
any changes. From this point on, any changes in activities or services site is constantly changing due
to political instability, financial
will have to be reflected in the calendar as well. problems, and other complica-
Cards. There are many cards that need to be cut out and prepared tions. However, the last 2 years
for this module. in the PUP calendar are only to
envision the medium-term vi-
sion. They are not operational
and can be changed easily. In no
case, however, should you plan
for less than three years, which
would not be strategic.
Time passes at different speeds: quickly and operationally as in a clock and slowly and strategically as with cultural
heritage such as this government building in the Vienna’s historic center.

I. Introduction
Warming Up
Facilitate
2. Illustrate the opening metaphor and your progress so far.
3. Have participants stand in a circle. Each person has one sentence
to answer the question: Why are strategic plans so often not imple-
mented? (If you feel they often are in your country, have each person
mention one obstacle to such plans being implemented.)
4. Hand out materials from Examples & Illustrations and explain
that each work group will have one packet. Distribute three copies
of the Directory of Touristic Attractions.
Review
do today MUST be guided by the purpose, policies, heritage values,
and messages of significance. These are the guiding principles in
our effort today.
and where they are on the map (very quickly).
3. Another person should review Modules 4–8.
Orient
Your first objective is to locate participants once again in the PUP
progression. Now that you only have three modules to go, you are
getting ever closer to implementation. Note that despite your pro-
gress, without a calendar (implementation plan), the PUP will never
be more than a shelf decoration. There is no PowerPoint presentation
for this module, so you can use a previous presentation for the pro-
gression slide, or another way to represent your progress.
Explain
Despite the thoroughness of what we have produced so far, without
an implementation plan for either a virtual or hard-copy plan, the
PUP or any plan has little value. To help the management agency
put the implementation plan into practice, we must decide on se-
veral techniques to help them use this tool. Remember that no one
automatically has the skill to use a tool, just like they might need to
learn how to use a hammer. This is where the PUP stops being a
strategic plan and starts being an operational one.
What makes a plan strategic? A strategic plan chooses effi-
cient and equitable means to achieve a well-defined end. It des-
cribes the destination and the best way we might get there. We
say “might” because strategic plans lay out a possible future, but
cannot predict it. When planners encounter limited resources, and

they always do, they must make choices. The calendar is built upon
the priorities generated in previous modules, and crafts them into
a five-year strategic plan. Doing everything is impossible, trying to
do everything is easy, failing to do everything is easiest. Strategic
implementation requires organization, discipline, and patience. A
strategic plan requires that the site director be able to say “no” to
offers of funds and projects that do not have a high strategic value
in site development. Of course a PUP can be updated at any time,
but if distractions overtake the director, the site will never reach its
vision.
While there is a clear distinction between strategic plans and
operational plans (see Background Reading 7), PUP crosses the di-
vide that often exists between planning and doing. In the terms of
reference, you should have already figured out how to include this
calendar in the annual operating plan, which is another very impor-
tant step in leading PUP to implementation.
Aside from the operating plan, you should consider any
other cycles in which the organization participates when determining
the calendar. You need to know the financial cycles (when budgets
are planned and approved) and reporting cycles (quarterly reports, Peace through power has been
periodical evaluations, staff retreats, etc.). A variety of steps in PUP a long-term strategy throughout
history such as with this cannon
could benefit or suffer substantially depending on how well they at the World Heritage Wartburg
correspond to these cycles. Castle in Germany.

II. Building the Calendar
What Does It Mean?
Explain
PUP combines operational with visionary planning. That is, we can-
not predict far into the future with hope of precision. Since we
want to be loose on means (see Background Reading 7) and not
limit our flexibility, the time and actions we specify become increa-
singly more general over time. While the first three years of our
plan are strategic and operational, the last two years are visionary
and strategic (see table below).
The time intervals shown on the
You do not need to say the following, but be ready to use this
month time cards become broader information. We will schedule by sector and activity priority. After
for each succeeding year, corre- the highest priority sectors and activities, then the steps will become
sponding to our decreasing ability
to predict the course of activities
less and less specific. Remember, you had already priorized sectors
in the future. by strategic criteria in Module 4.
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5

12 6 semi-quarters: 3 trimesters: 2 semesters: 1 year:
months Jan-Feb, Jan-Apr, May-Aug, Jan-Jun, Jan-Dec
Mar-Apr, etc. Sep-Dec. Jul-Dec
How Do I Do It?
Setting Up the Time Scale

Do
Using a big wall and referring to the diagram on the next page, you
need to put up cards as follows:
Facilitate
1. Both month and year time cards should have their own colors (see
table above for time interval over five years).
Program 2. Put the names of each sector on a sector card, and put them aside.
Development Each high-priority sector goes above the year card for the first year
Sector Cards Time Cards Cards of its implementation (i.e., “2004”). You will schedule all high-priority
sectors and some medium-priority sectors. You may not need to put
Step low-priority sectors in the calendar, depending on the workload for
Cards the first five years.
3. Evaluation cards should be placed at 1 month, 3 months, 6 months,
and 9 months in year one. These are the general program evaluations.
This is when the calendar will be updated (more evaluation in the first
year when the PUP is starting up). Evaluation cards can be placed
Evaluation every 4 months for the remaining years.
The wall will look something like
Cards this when you’re done with this 4. Program development cards. There are a number of activities that do
module. not relate specifically to a public use product or sector. They are

Sector Sector Sector Sector Sector
Gateway Services Highland Lowland Reno
2+13
Step Card Card Placement on Wall
1 Time years c
Time Months Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec Jan-Feb, Mar-Apr, May-Jun, Jul-Aug, Sep-Oct, Nov-Dec Jan-Apr Jan-Jun Jul-Dec Year-round
3 Evaluation
E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E
4 Program
Development
9 Steps
This diagram illustrates how cards

program-wide activities, such as the hiring of a staff person or the
would look on the wall. The sector
implementation of a new ticketing system. These have their own cards are placed over the year
color. If you know of some development already scheduled, put it in which activities are scheduled
to begin. Year cards are placed
on the wall under the corresponding month and year. Otherwise, across the top with month cards
you will use these later. below those. Evaluation cards,
program development, and step
cards are placed under the cor-
NOTES: responding months and years.
♦♦ All the steps in the following section can also be Note that steps 9 and 13 in the
above diagram refer to the step
found on 9-17, so that participants can keep track sequence in the Facilitate section
of everything that they must do. below, while steps 1-4 refer to the
♦♦ There is a needs assessment for public use in Module Do section above.
10. In that moment you will determine (or continue
to do so) the equipment, staff, training, and systems
necessary to run a public use program. These will be
included in this calendar in Module 10.
Facilitate
1. Set the context. Let the group know the purpose of the module,
the revolving time length (5 years), and how the workshop will work.
Then review the cards that have already been put up on the wall.
It is not necessary to post every activity or step. As the team gets
closer to implementation of a new task, it will break it down into
more detail.
2. Break up into sector teams. Each team should have two or three
people. You should have one team for each high priority sector, one
or two teams for all medium priority sectors, and one team for all
low priority sectors.
3. Within each team, describe the current reality for each sector.
What are the principal dangers and weaknesses that we must over-
come? What strengths do we have to overcome them? What are the
principal benefits that this sector will contribute to the whole site?
Consider the barriers to developing attractions in the Directory of
Touristic Attractions.
4. Each team should write up five principal steps for each visitor pro-

Possible Milestones duct (taken from Module 5) in the high-priority sectors, three steps
♦ Beginning something new for medium-priority sectors, and one for the low-priority sectors;
♦ Hiring an important person in addition to the five principal steps, each service of the product
♦ Receiving financing
♦ Starting construction receives 1–3 cards (none for low-priority sectors). They can use the
♦ Passing a difficult policy list of different program development steps (9-21). See example of
♦ Signing a contract, eco-allian- a step card, front and back (9-18).
ce, or some other arrangement
5. Each sector team determines some victories or milestones for each
Go Slow sector (examples at left). Based on the results from the Site-wide
One of the most important func- Sector Strategy (Module 4) and products from Module 5, each team
tions of a calendar is to pace the
implementation. INVARIABLY,
should imagine what the sector will look like in three to five years.
the team puts too much empha- They should then use this information to determine the milestones.
sis on the first year because they They should try to identify some small ones at first, and then bigger
are very excited to get going. But
this is also when their capacity ones throughout the time allotted.
to implement is the lowest. It is 6. After evaluating the steps, put them on steps cards.
important to start slowly, and 7. Each team should estimate the entire development time for the
not have too much to do at any
one moment. Besides public use, product on the back of the first step card (be conservative, referring
there is also the rest of the site to the table with estimated project durations [9-21]); they should
functions to manage. then estimate time for each individual step card. The length of time
When You Need a Specialist
depends heavily on the experience level of the organization.
For certain activities, you will 8. Based on personnel needs (from Product Description Sheets) and
need professional help. Land- service provision agreements, write on the back of the card who will
scape planning, locating build-
ings, building design (interior
be responsible for carrying out the step. Refer to the list of possible
and exterior), some interpreta- responsible parties (9-22).
tion, special studies, EIA, etc. are 9. The sector 1 team chooses the easiest product or one that is already
all work that should be done by
a professional. These tasks need
in development to present to the plenary.
to be identified and planned for. 10. Standing in front of the plenary, each sector team (start with 1)
You must also set aside time presents the step cards and their time estimates; the full group can
since consultants are not always
available when you want them.
offer modifications. Once times are agreed, place step cards on the
wall under the corresponding time cards. Some suggestions:
♦♦ Step cards corresponding to the same product should

be placed on the wall in a horizontal line.
♦♦ Steps that are carried out all the time (monitoring,
periodical training, printing of newsletters) do not
need many repeated cards that will only clutter the
wall. Place just 1 step card at the start.
11. Once all sector 1 step cards are posted, the group can order
them chronologically or simultaneously when responsible parties
are different.
12. Once sector 1 is complete, move on to sector 2, and so on, down
the timeline. Try to break up sectors over five years, given that you
will likely always underestimate time needed. The lowest priority
sectors should be in years 4–5, with the medium sectors in years 2-4,
and highest sectors in years 1–3. You might find, however, that the

low-priority sectors will not be addressed even in the first five years.
Be careful of trying to do too much too soon.
13. Place sector cards over corresponding years, as it becomes appa-
rent which sectors are under development in which years.
14. Of the step cards, mark any that are really program development
cards for later use. For example a step card might call for hiring a
secretary, but this secretary would be for the site-wide system, not
just that one product or sector.
15. Divide participants into the following 5 new teams (disband sector
teams). Place management people into team 5; put business people
in team 2. Everyone should refer to Modules 5–8 as they produce
more program development cards.
Team 1: Regulations (review, implementation) and monitoring (re-

view, implementation)
Team 2: Studies (business plans, feasibility studies, environmental
impact studies, setting up a monitoring program), legal proces-
ses (permits, legal documents, agreements, alliances, contracts, pa- Pico Bonito National Park’s direc-
perwork) tor places step cards.
Team 3: Personnel (hiring, reviewing, fundraising) and infrastruc- Not Possible!
You should constantly be asking:
ture (construction) can you really do all this in one
Team 4: Equipment (acquisition, training, maintenance) month (or trimester, etc.)? Who
Team 5: Organizational capacities (funding, training, evaluation, will do it?
set up accounting, security, and maintenance systems) Priority Products in Medium- and
Low-Priority Sectors
Each group should make step cards using significant tasks (i.e., hiring, There will be other high-priority
training, etc.) to promote these areas. There should be no more than products in medium- or even
low-priority sectors. These are
two cards per task, and three for big infrastructure developments (but usually pre-existing products
be flexible if they argue for more). Each team should recommend (prior to PUP planning) that take
where cards go on the timeline. They will be placed team-by-team so place in sectors determined to
be medium- or low-priority in
the full group can see them. You will facilitate contradictions, putting Module 5. Since they cannot
too many steps in a short time, and others. A committee will look at simply be ignored, they must be
the timeline later on. assigned some priority. You will
add these after the high-priority
16. Ask if there are other steps that we might have forgotten. sectors are finished.
17. Reflection:
Ask
O: Quickly review the cards.
R: Where do you sense we had a breakthrough? What are you most
looking forward to?
I: What will be the significance of accomplishing these actions? What
patterns do you see? What are some challenges in implementing this
plan?
D: How will we use this calendar? (This will help transition to the
next section.)

Operation Cangrejal, Build It! Solitude in the Mountains, To the Peak!
18. Create a catchy campaign title for the accomplishment of high

priority sectors. This will be used to motivate the team and promote
the development of these sectors.
19. Choose one launch activity to symbolize the initiation of the
campaign, and mark it on a step card.
20. Every six months, choose a milestone activity/step identified
earlier that when accomplished will be celebrated with a public pre-
sentation and press release (and maybe a few drinks). We use these
mini-accomplishments to measure progress and give ourselves a pat
on the back.
Implementing Regulations
Often there are many different stages to imple-
menting regulations. For example, there has to
be several months to a year of warning to tour
operators of changes in entrance fees, so they
can reflect them in their prices (these are usu-
ally determined at the beginning of the year and
then marketed to their clients). Some regulations
do not enter into force until a particular activity
or sector has been officially opened. Thus PUP
emphasizes that different regulations go into
effect over time, rather than trying to perfect all
the regulations at one time.

III. Constructing a Plan to Implement the PUP
What Does It Mean?
Explain
The last question of the ORID was meant to introduce the major
effort we will now undertake. If the organization is only just begin-
ning its strategic plan, chances are it will need a lot of help imple-
menting it. It is risky to assume that just because the organization
has a PUP with a calendar and descriptions of activities, that it can
implement it. See article on PUP and Pico Bonito in the Appendix
for examples.
One of the key features of the PUP process that distinguishes
it from other planning methodologies is the strong emphasis it places
on helping the organization to implement. PUP builds in obligatory
techniques to help implementation along. PUP helps organizations
develop their capacity to learn and as learning capacity increases,
capacity to implement increases. See Background Reading 9 for more
explanation.
How Do I Do It? Ask
O: What kinds of barriers to implementation have you seen or fore-

see? Can you name problems that this organization has confronted
in the past in implementing its plans?
R: How does it make you feel when you invest time and money in a
plan that is later not used? What would you like to see with respect
to plan implementation?
I: What are some obstacles to implementation? What are some
solutions?
D: What can we do now to avoid those pitfalls? Explain
We have put together a list of actions (9-23) to help the lead agency
implement the calendar. The group should review this list and decide
which of these are feasible for the current situation. It may also add
new ones. Facilitate
1. Review the list. Eliminate those items that are not relevant to the
situation.
2. Ask the team for other ideas that they may have seen.
3. Note that one of the toughest new skills is to say “no” to initiatives,
invitations, and offers that have little strategic value. If an organization
does not learn to say NO to non-strategic distractions, then a plan
will never become strategic for the organization.

Future Steps
The staff will now translate the calendar into specific tasks. In Mo-
dule 10, it will build a three-year financial plan out of it, identifying
costs and expenses, and seeing how much money will pass through
the organization. It is often an objective to break even after three
years, though this is not feasible for many parks. To do that may
require altering the calendar of activities. Once the organization
becomes more skilled at strategic planning, this updating will happen
automatically.
Evaluation
1. Did the process cover everything that needed to be scheduled?
If not, what did it miss?
2. How could the process be made clearer? Please refer to a specific
step in the process.
3. If the calendar does not seem realistic in some way, where are the
pitfalls? How do you propose to fix them? Please do not just make
general comments.
Post-Workshop Task 1: Putting It Into the Computer

You will want to place the results of all these steps in an Excel file.
You may need to do some rewriting, adjusting, modifying, etc., to
ensure greater consistency and clarity. Fill out the information com-
pletely, as is requested in the PUP template.
Post-Workshop Task 2: Choosing Techniques

for Implementation
Write up the techniques for implementing the PUP, and make sure
to integrate their use into the calendar, when appropriate. Note very
clearly who is responsible for each task.

♦ Steps to Build the Calendar
♦ Possible Steps to Develop Projects
♦ Time to Develop Projects
♦ Responsible Parties
♦ Techniques for Developing Discipline to Implement a
Plan
♦ Pico Bonito’s Implementation Plan

cards on the wall
to you to update
a dated addendum
ownership


Focus Question:
To achieve the vision of public use, what do we have to do and when?
• Formally put dates to the public use • Get excited because PUP is
program development becoming real with its
• Develop a plan of techniques to make implementation plan
sure that the PUP is implemented
Introduction
30 Self-presentation
30 Review or results
Building the Calendar

90 Context, milestones, present reality, reflection
90 Generation and steps
30 Reflection, slogan, launch, achievements
Constructing a Plan to Implement the PUP

20 Barriers to implementation
20 Developing list of techniques
Evaluating and Getting to Know Future Steps

15 Evaluation

9
Calendar of Activities
Purpose: Design a calendar for implementing the proposals over a five-year period; design a plan
for using the PUP and implementing it.
Focus Question: To achieve the vision of public use, what do we have to do and when?
Summary: A strategic calendar will make implementation more effective by controlling the number
and timing of activities taken on at any given moment. The implementing agency will also agree
on a set of techniques to increase the chances of successfully implementing the plan.
Deliverable: Calendar (work plan) for five years, PUP implementation plan
Introduction
Despite the thoroughness of what we have produced so far, without an implementation plan, the PUP
has little value as it will end up on a shelf. To help the management agency put the implementation plan
into practice, we must decide on several techniques to help them use this tool. Remember that no one
automatically has the skill to use a tool. The staff needs to learn how to use the PUP, just like they might
need to learn to use a hammer. This is where the PUP stops being a strategic plan and starts becoming
an operational one.
Building the Calendar
1. Both month and year time cards should have their own colors (see table above for time interval over
five years).
2. Put the names of each sector on a sector card, and put them aside. Each high-priority sector goes above
the year card for the first year of its implementation (i.e., “2004”). You will schedule all high-priority
sectors and some medium-priority sectors. You may not need to put low-priority sectors in the calendar,
depending on the workload for the first five years.
3. Evaluation cards should be placed at 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 9 months in year one. These
are the general program evaluations. This is when the calendar will be updated (more evaluation in
the first year when the PUP is starting up). Evaluation cards can be placed every 4 months for the
remaining years.
4. Program development cards. There are a number of activities that do not relate specifically to a public

use product or sector. They are program-wide activities, such as the
hiring of a staff person or the implementation of a new ticketing
system. These have their own color. If you know of some develop-
ment already scheduled, put it on the wall under the corresponding
month and year. Otherwise, you will use these later.
NOTE: There is a needs assessment for public use in Module

10. In that moment you will determine (or continue to do so) the
equipment, staff, training, and systems necessary to run a public use
Front of First Step Card program. These will be included in this calendar in Module 10.
3-5 Words 1. Set the context. Let the group know the purpose of the module,
Readable the time length (5 years), and how the workshop will work. Then
Large Type review the cards that have already been put up on the wall. It is not
Product Time necessary to post every activity or step. As the team gets closer to im-
plementation of a new task, it will break it down into more detail.
2. Break up into sector teams. Each team should have two or three
Back
people. You should have one team for each high priority sector, one
or two teams for all medium priority sectors, and one team for all
Full Time low priority sectors.
3. Within each team, describe the current reality for each sector.
Person Responsible What are the principal dangers and weaknesses that we must over-
come? What strengths do we have to overcome them? What are the
principal benefits that this sector will contribute to the whole site?
Consider the barriers to developing attractions in the Directory of
Touristic Attractions.
4. Each team should write up five principal steps for each visitor pro-
duct (taken from Module 5) in the high-priority sectors, three steps
for medium-priority sectors, and one for the low-priority sectors;
in addition to the five principal steps, each service of the product
receives 1–3 cards (none for low-priority sectors). They can use the
list of different program development steps (9-21). See example of
a step card, front and back (9-18).
5. Each sector team determines some victories or milestones for each
sector (examples at left). Based on the results from the Site-wide
Sector Strategy (Module 4) and products from Module 5, each team
should imagine what the sector will look like in three to five years.
They should then use this information to determine the milestones.
They should try to identify some small ones at first, and then bigger
ones throughout the time allotted.
6. After evaluating the steps, put them on steps cards.
7. Each team should estimate the entire development time for the
product on the back of the first step card (be conservative, referring
to the table with estimated project durations [9-21]); they should

then estimate time for each individual step card. The length of time Possible Milestones
depends heavily on the experience level of the organization. ♦ Beginning something new
8. Based on personnel needs (from Product Description Sheets) and ♦ Hiring an important person
♦ Receiving financing
service provision agreements, write on the back of the card who will ♦ Starting construction
be responsible for carrying out the step. Refer to the list of possible ♦ Passing a difficult policy
responsible parties (9-22). ♦ Signing a contract, eco-allian-
ce, or some other arrangement
9. The sector 1 team chooses the easiest product or one that is already
in development to present to the plenary. Go Slow
10. Standing in front of the plenary, each sector team (start with 1) One of the most important func-
tions of a calendar is to pace the
presents the step cards and their time estimates; the full group can implementation. INVARIABLY,
offer modifications. Once times are agreed, place step cards on the the team puts too much empha-
wall under the corresponding time cards. Some suggestions: sis on the first year because they
are very excited to get going. But
this is also when their capacity
♦♦ Step cards corresponding to the same product should to implement is the lowest. It is
be placed on the wall in a horizontal line. important to start slowly, and
not have too much to do at any
♦♦ Steps that are carried out all the time (monitoring, one moment. Besides public use,
periodical training, printing of newsletters) do not there is also the rest of the site
need many repeated cards that will only clutter the functions to manage.
wall. Place just 1 step card at the start.
When You Need a Specialist
For certain activities, you will
11. Once all sector 1 step cards are posted, the group can order need professional help. Land-
them chronologically or simultaneously when responsible parties scape planning, locating build-
ings, building design (interior
are different. and exterior), some interpreta-
12. Once sector 1 is complete, move on to sector 2, and so on, down tion, special studies, EIA, etc. are
the timeline. Try to break up sectors over five years, given that you all work that should be done by
a professional. These tasks need
will likely always underestimate time needed. The lowest priority to be identified and planned for.
sectors should be in years 4–5, with the medium sectors in years 2-4, You must also set aside time
and highest sectors in years 1–3. You might find, however, that the since consultants are not always
available when you want them.
low-priority sectors will not be addressed even in the first five years.
Be careful of trying to do too much too soon.
13. Place sector cards over corresponding years, as it becomes appa-
rent which sectors are under development in which years.
14. Of the step cards, mark any that are really program development
cards for later use. For example a step card might call for hiring a
secretary, but this secretary would be for the site-wide system, not
just that one product or sector.
15. Divide participants into the following 5 new teams (disband sector
teams). Place management people into team 5; put business people
in team 2. Everyone should refer to Modules 5–8 as they produce
more program development cards.
Team 1: Regulations (review, implementation) and monitoring (re-

view, implementation)
Team 2: Studies (business plans, feasibility studies, environmental

impact studies, setting up a monitoring program), legal proces-
ses (permits, legal documents, agreements, alliances, contracts, pa-
perwork)
Team 3: Personnel (hiring, reviewing, fundraising) and infrastruc-
ture (construction)
Team 4: Equipment (acquisition, training, maintenance)
Team 5: Organizational capacities (funding, training, evaluation,
set up accounting, security, and maintenance systems)
Each group should make step cards using significant tasks (i.e., hiring,
training, etc.) to promote these areas. There should be no more than
two cards per task, and three for big infrastructure developments (but
be flexible if they argue for more). Each team should recommend
where cards go on the timeline. They will be placed team-by-team
so the full group can see them. You will facilitate contradictions,
putting too many steps in a short time, and others. A committee will
look at the timeline later on.
16. Ask if there are other steps that we might have forgotten.
17. Reflection:
O: Quickly review the cards.
R: Where do you sense we had a breakthrough? What are you most
looking forward to?
I: What will be the significance of accomplishing these actions?
What patterns do you see? What are some challenges in implemen-
ting this plan?
D: How will we use this calendar? (This will help transition to the
next section.)
18. Create a catchy campaign title for the accomplishment of high

priority sectors. This will be used to motivate the team and promote
the development of these sectors.
Operation Cangrejal, Build It! Solitude in the Mountains, To the Peak!
19. Choose one launch activity to symbolize the initiation of the

campaign, and mark it on a step card.
20. Every six months, choose a milestone activity/step identified
earlier that when accomplished will be celebrated with a public pre-
sentation and press release (and maybe a few drinks). We use these
mini-accomplishments to measure progress and give ourselves a pat
on the back.

Possible Steps to Developing Projects
♦ Create a business plan to establish feasibility and benefits
♦ Establish all necessary agreements
♦ Solve ownership problems and other legal matters
♦ Publishing of materials and regulations
♦ Detailed planning of products (blueprints, budgets, square
area in meters, paint colors, salaries, monitoring plan, opera-
tion hours, approval, etc.)
♦ Fundraising (proposals)
♦ Evaluation
♦ Ecoalliances
♦ Studies
♦ Development of rules (workshop)
♦ Hiring of specialists (architects, engineers, educators, lawyers,
artists)
♦ Hiring of permanent staff
♦ Necessary training
♦ Approvals of plans, rules, etc. by the powers that be
♦ Other important meetings and workshops
Difference between Time and Experience

Simply having carried out an activity (such as marketing) does not
imply that an organization is experienced in that activity. Experien-
ce implies continuous learning and improvement. It is possible to
have done an activity for several years and never have improved,
specialized, systematized or evaluated the experience. This is more *Sometimes inexperienced orga-
nizations invest very little time in
common than many people like to admit. PUP offers the following orienting their new employees.
Time to Develop Projects
Experience Level High Medium Low
Activity

Develop a RARE-sponsored trail 8-10 months 10-14 months 12-16 months
Design an interpreted hike 1 week 2-3 weeks 3-5 weeks
Build medium visitor center 1-2 years 2-3 years 2-4 years
Construct a multi-site tourist itinerary 1-3 weeks 2-5 weeks 3-6 weeks
Develop a business plan 1 week 2-3 weeks 4-8 weeks
Orient new personnel* 1 month 1 week 2–3 days
Implement a business plan 1 week 2-3 weeks 3-4 weeks
Write and sign agreement, ecoalliance 2 weeks 1 month 2 months
Develop proposal 1-2 weeks 2-4 weeks 4-6 weeks
Raise funds for medium project (trail, informa- 4–6 months 6–12 months 6–16 months
tion booth, car)

rough time periods to help you estimate how much time to assign
to different projects.
Low: Does not have the capacity or has developed it to a minimum

degree and with little success (time, no experience) during any given
time (may be quite long).
Medium: Has the capacity because has received extensive training,
but does not work at the level of an advanced organization or enter-
prise in the private sector. The capacity is more or less the same as
other peer organizations in the country. Typically, has been working
for less than 5 years. There can be one person with the capacity.
However, there are other organizations of the same kind that have
succeeded in the field.
High: The capacity is highly developed, probably has a specialist in
the area with 1-2 persons that might replace the specialist if neces-
sary. Is using best practices that have not yet been used in most peer
organizations in the country. Works at the level of an established
enterprise or other mature organization. Generally has been deve-
loping the capacity at least 5 years. People regard the organization
as a model or an excellent example.
Responsible Parties
These can take on some responsibilities for the implementation of
the public use program. You can include more people if necessary.
♦ Public Use Coordinator

♦ Core planning team
♦ Work with other peer NGOs
♦ Friends or volunteers of the organization
♦ Site Director
♦ Consultant or Contractor
♦ Visitor Center Manager
♦ Other staff members (manager, accountant, nature guide,
research program)
♦ Chair of Public Use Oversight Committee
♦ Board of Directors
♦ Private Sector (tour operators)
♦ Officials in state agencies
♦ Local government officials

♦ PUP technical support staff
Constructing a Plan to Implement PUP
Techniques for Developing Discipline to Implement

a Plan
1. Convene a PUP oversight committee (4 people) whose only
responsibility is to assure that the implementation plan is actually
implemented. You need to choose people that will commit to review
the PUP, not uninterested people assigned to represent organiza-
tions. It is important that at least two of them are from outside of
the organization and one of them is a major tour operator of the
region. You have to define their responsibilities and powers (terms
of reference: who, when to meet, they report to whom, disciplinary
actions, etc.). Recommendation: the coordinator must not work for
the organization.
2. Integrate proposed actions into the annual operational plan as
soon as possible.
3. Place this year’s calendar and milestones on a corkboard or large
sheets so the staff can see them well and monitor progress. Must be
updated on a weekly basis.
4. Hold a weekly meeting to discuss PUP.
5. The public use coordinator must write a monthly report to PUP.
The technique, in this case, would be to share all or part of the re-
port with others who do not work for the organization. The report
will state all goals for the ensuing month and all achievements and
problems encountered during the past month.
6. Weekly communication with PUP staff.
7. Legal or moral contracts with the team itself or with other people
or organizations to achieve implementation. Under few circumstan-
ces should PUP matters be superseded by other emergency issues
that might arise, or the coordinator be burdened with other tasks,
or meetings or monthly reports be discontinued, or the calendar not
updated every week, etc.
8. Define a group of consulting advisors who will be responsible for
helping out with certain aspects of implementation. This group is
different from the committee, who is responsible for surveying the
implementation. PUP could be a part of the committee.
9. Create a ledger of successes and failures. Each time we succeed or
fail, we must write a paragraph about lessons learned. This technique
is used by organizations who want to learn from experience.
10. Convene meetings every 3 months to update the PUP. PUP will
be stored in a 3-ring binder and written in MS Word for easy upda-
ting. Instead of using one sequence of page numbers throughout,
use section pagess and dates for easy updating.
11. Negotiate exact dates for meetings during the first 3 months.
12. Release monthly versions of PUP Version 1.0, then 1.1, etc.
Calendar of Activities
Calendar of Activities 2001
Activity March April May June July Agust Sep Oct Nov Dec Respons. Notes
Begins in Jan, with
Review AMARAS collection 2 month Ricardo holidays
Review of regulations with
stakeholders
Terms of reference
Make official in
Location of Visitor Center cont. Nelson Ulloa January
Define ownership: Lobos, Procurer, Begins in Jan, with

Zacate, Cangrejal 1 month Gerardo interviews
La Ceiba,
PUP Presentation 2 days Adonis Tegucigalpa
Gerardo, Initiates with

Implement ecoalliance Michael meeting facilitated
w/Lodge 2 months Wendling by RARE
Gerardo,
Develop Honduras Tips Patricia With participation
magazine ecoalliance 1 month Amador of DAPVS
Continue development of Los
Hornitos project 2 months Salaverri In progress
Gerardo,
Make brochure 1 month Marti
Buy environmental education funds are in F.
equipment 1 month Gerardo VIDA
for RARE; students
Zacate trail proposal 3 months Gerardo to do
Contract Public Use Gerardo,

Coordinator 2 months Nelson Ulloa With DAVPS funds
Obtain computer 2 months Gerardo for PUC
Depends on
Public Use Presentation to communication
CURLA authorities 1 day Gerardo w/UNAH
Develop and sign agreement Antonio
with Ecotropic & L M Rico,
Ecoaventuras 1 month Gerardo
Develop designs for Ecotropic
Camp 4 months Anonio Rico
Patricia,
Implement Honduras Tips Adonis,
ecoalliance 2 months Salaverri
Salaverri &
Prepare Hornitos routes 6 days German small team
CV Zacate operative system Adonis,
proposal Salaverri
Standard Agreement parking, Gerardo,

sign and exhibition of organic Gerente
pineapple fields 5 months General
Procure funds and
instructors/Wilderness First
Response and Rescue 2 months Salaverri help from Jim Dion
Gerardo, RARE
EVALUATION 6 months 3 wk PUC collaboration
Develop tickets 1 day PUC, Lodge For whole park
Opening of Remote
Zone/Hornitos 1 wk PUC Kick off
Voluntary
AMARAS funds procurement 1 month director AMARAS
Contract person in charge of Voluntary
activities 3 months director for AMARAS
For example
PUC, rescue remote
Develop Air Forces agreement 1 month Salaverri zone
PUC,
Develop licenses for guides Salaverri
PUC,
Develop tour operator licenses Salaverri
Activity March April May June July Agust Sep Oct Nov Dec Respons. Notes
To see the full calendar of activities of Pico Bonito, see the Appendix. This is a shortened version.

Activity Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Respons. Notes
PUC,
Quote Zacate Plaza 1 month 2 months DAPVS
Visit to picnic areas:

Herradura, Playa
Venado & Los Lobos 1 day PUC
Voluntary
Contract educator 2 months educator AMARAS
Build Ecotropic camp Antonio Rico
AMARAS handicrafts
business plan
Develop emergency
plans for all zones 4 months PUC
Develop rules for

Zacate camping area 1 week PUC
Develop proposal for PUC,
El Bejuco trail 2 months students
Develop budget
proposal Cangrejal
Zone 2 weeks PUC
Contract reservation
clerk 2 weeks PUC w/hotel
Consultant,
Build Zacate Plaza, DAPVS,
CURLA Camp 5 months Gerardo
Build Zacate Forest

camping area 3 weeks PUC
EVALUATION 1 day 1 day 1 day 1 day PUC
Touristic
Design Cangrejal geography,
picnic areas 4 days students CURLA
Develop budget
proposal for Cangreja PUC,
picnic area 1 day students
Develop Education
Plan and materials 3 weeks Educator
Person in
Contract guard 1 month charge AMARAS
Build Cangrejal picnic
area 2 months PUC
Build 3 murals
(marketing) for El Honduras place in airports
Bejuco 1 month Tips and harbors
Develop concession
and rules for Zacate
food stand 1 month PUC
Build and design

AMARAS Education
Center and move of Voluntary
quarantine 5 months educator
Activity Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Respons. Notes

Activity Jan-Feb Mar-Apr May-Jun Jul-Aug Sep-Oct Nov-Dec Respons. Notes
Contract Master C. CURLA
Naturalist 2 months PUC, admin. (frozen)
Develop & sign

agreement with San PUC,
Francisco group 3 months President
Develop San
Francisco business PUC,
plan 3 months President
EVALUATION 1 day every 3 months PUC
Develop proposal for
El Bejuco trail Phase Los Lobos,
II 1 month PUC
Market AMARAS & Person in charge

Inauguration of of activities;
Education Center 1 month Honduras Tips
Develop San
Francisco business PUC,
plan 2 months President
Develop support
proposal for San
Francisco group 3 months PUC
Improve interpretation
of San Francisco PUC,
route 2 months consultant
Design San
Francisco PUC,
infrastructure 2 weeks consultant
Contract coord.
Assistant Zacate 1 month PUC with coord. Zone
Develop socio-
environmental impact PUC,
mitigation plan 1 month consultant San Francisco
EVALUATION 1 day PUC
Contract guide & C. CURLA
guard 1 month Naturalist frozen action
Zacate,
Train local guides 2 months Naturalist Cangrejal, SF
Contract guard & Person in

gatekeeper for land 2 weeks charge AMARAS
Build El Bejuco trail Los Lobos,
Phase II 2 months PUC
INFOP,
Train San Francisco PUC, Ecotourism
community 12 months cont. President career
EVALUATION 1 day PUC
Plan Tolupanes Zone 3 weeks PUC
Plan Tierra Fria Zone 3 weeks PUC
Inauguration of El Los Lobos,

Bejuco trail Phase II 1 day PUC
Activity Jan-Feb Mar-Apr May-Jun Jul-Aug Sep-Oct Nov-Dec Respons. Notes

Activity Jan-Mar Apr-Jun Jul-Sep Oct-Dec Respons. Notes
Inauguration of San
Francisco PUC,
homestays 1 day President
Protection
Contract guard 2 weeks Coord. C. CURLA
Protection
Train guard 1 month Coord. C. CURLA
PUC, park
Obtain car 1 month director
Activity Jan-Mar Apr-Jun Jul-Sep Oct-Dec Respons. Notes

Activity Respons. Notes
Inaguration of new
stand PUC
Open new sector Director
Implement
computerized ticketing
system PUC Raise funds
It is not hard to schedule an appointment with the Komodo Dragon; they are on the island all year.

One result of Pico Bonito’s public use planning process was the establishment of a formal site entrance fee system
based on a simple tier system: nationals and internationals. Here is entrance ticket #2 for Hondurans.
e
Outsid
1. What are three considerations in designing a site’s fee
structure? Wish lists vs.
2. What is the difference between a public use dream and business planning
a public use vision?
3. What is the main purpose of doing a financial plan? Centrally planned finances
What risk do we run by not having reasonable financial vs. site-based financial
estimates?
4. Why do we use break-even points?
planning
5. How does the financial plan tie conservation to the
financial performance of the public use program? Non-profit perspective vs.
6. What does the site have to do with these results in terms business perspective
of accounting to make them useful?
Financial Plan 10-3

10 Financial Plan
Define a financial plan for three years, estimating income, costs,
and break-even points for services, and conservation contributions
of the entire program.
Focus Question: Can we produce budgetary data of sufficient quality to help us distinguish
between a PUP dream and a PUP vision?
Summary: A small financial team will determine program needs, fees, and finances for all planned
services in the upcoming three years. By calculating these numbers and doing a break-even
analysis for each service, the site will know where the cost and profit centers are (in terms of
sectors) and which services are most appropriate to the site-wide public use strategy. The data
will also help in estimating visitation, investment, and where costs might be cut. To accomplish
this requires some cost research and estimates based on similar enterprises in other sites. The
accuracy of these estimates will increases with time and experience.
Format: Private work sessions with independent research
Time: 3−4 weeks
Materials: Excel spreadsheets, Access database, and telephone access
Participants (4-5): PUC, site director, site administrator and accountant, private sector person
with experience in product financing and planning, another person with experience and interest
in financial planning
Deliverables: Financial plan, contributions register

Pre-Workshop Preparations Post-Workshop Task 2: Update Calendar of
I. Introduction Activities
II. Defining Needs Next Steps
III. Establishing Site Fees Evaluation
IV. Setting Objectives Examples & Illustrations
V. Determining Costs and Income by Sector Additional Resources
VI. Calculating Break-Even Points of Services
VII. Analyzing Site Finances
Post-Workshop Task 1: Adapting the Accounting
System
10-4 Financial Plan

Establishing the Team. You need to recruit a financial planning
team as per the components mentioned in the introductory letter
(10-40). With this letter you can prepare team members for the three
weeks or so of work ahead.
Financial Management in a Multi-Jurisdictional Site
If various independent organizations share management for your site, such as a historic city center, you cannot
simply follow this module as if it were a site with just one management agency. You must first step back and ask
yourself and your stakeholders, what is a financial plan for? Ideally, you already asked this during Module 1 and
included the answer in your TOR, but if you have postponed the decision, this is the last moment to ask. There are
various alternatives to use this module in such a case. Consider:
• Module 10 could be to define products and finances only for one particular entity, likely the one with which
you work.
• It could integrate various services within your one institution, such as a municipality that has budgets and
personnel in various departments that affect visitor services: trash collection, road signage, security, facilities
management, education and tourism, etc. It might be that these departments have not previously collaborated
on a financial level.
• It might be to define the finances for one particular project or consortium shared among various stakeholders
such as a conservation fund or tourism service.
• It might even be just to transparently track finances of various participating institutions, where each attraction
could be considered a separate sector, for purposes of accounting.
There is always money

flowing in public use
management, the trick
is to decide which flows
you want to capture and
manage.
In the case of Évora, a

historic World Heritage
city in Portugal, over
a dozen stakeholders
manage aspects of pub-
lic use in the city and the
city had to decide how
to use this module while
suffering a national fi-
nancial crisis.
Financial Plan 10-5

I. Introduction
Warming Up
The previous nine modules should have warmed you up for this
module. It is the last planning module and the one that brings all
the others together financially. This process will take place in your
office, in front of a computer, and probably on the phone as you
call around for cost estimates. You will have several people to help
you in addition to PUP technical assistance, and you can work at
your own pace. You should get a pitcher of water or juice, but be
sure to keep it away from the computer!
Making Tough Financial Choices

Knowing how much you have influences choices and can make the difference between success and failure. Some-
times without making the right investments, operational costs can be much higher than if the initial investment
were made at the start. Consider the following examples and decide what other ways might the sites have handled
their financial situation.
Big Bend National Park Road Repair

In 1992, a huge flood passed through the Santa Elena Canyon in Big Bend National Park in the US that wiped out the
rafting take-out area and a large piece of the access road at the end of the canyon. A parking lot and campground
flowed into the Gulf of Mexico. The flooding caused a lot of other infrastructure damage as well throughout the site.
Thus spending priorities shifted and the site waited until 1997 when the next round of road funding came through
to repair the flood damage.
In the meantime the rafting guides had to
carry rafts and gear 500 meters, often times through
knee-deep mud, uphill, in 40 C, after having rowed 30
km and run class 4 rapids all day. It was very difficult on
the guests, even though they only watched the guides.
After four years of this, the take out was so
eroded that the site could not repair and had to construct
a new one. This cost at least four times what repairing
the original damage would have been. Also if they had
just graveled and graded the dirt roads left after the
floods, they would have avoided the problems of ruining
the take-out area.
Colorado Arkansas River Headwaters Commission

Pine Creek has the largest class 5 plus white waters in
a state park in the country, with access along a state
highway. This was very serious rafting. (Jim Dion, ex-guide, says he used to stay up half the night visualizing the
dangerous run.) To control access, the commission licenses guides and issues permits. The criteria are so strict that
only top experts can pass the test. So some guides pirate access. Some 12 people drown every summer, including a
couple of professionals. So in 1994 the Commission asked the state to build a 4-meter high chain link fence topped
with barbed wire along the 13 km of river highway access to control access to the most dangerous part of the river.
The state approved only enough money for a 2-meter fence and no barbed wire. They built the fence anyway. Un-
fortunately the fence was low enough that a 15-year old could jump it. Thus, they still had more than a dozen deaths
per year and the fence was very ugly. The state will not allocate more money because they think they already built
a fence and now have “proof” that fences do not work.
10-6 Financial Plan

What Does It Mean?
Explain
A plan cannot be strategic without budgetary considerations. It also
cannot be operational without a clear understanding of financial
numbers. If the plan does not address money and resources, it is
merely a concept paper or vision document. Part of being strategic
means making choices among different options given limited time,
funds, and resources. There are two principal functions of this
plan.
♦♦ Having a financial plan makes a project much more

attractive to donors and other supporters, because it
indicates that the planners have thought through fi-
nances and probably have a more realistic vision than
someone who has not considered the numbers.
♦♦ It is very easy to want 10 nature guides but have
money for only two. Where does that money come
from and how do we know if we will have it? The fi-
nancial plan helps us to identify where we lack money
(shortfall), how much, and when. In other words it
allows us to have a vision of public use in 3−5 years,
but not a dream that has little basis in reality.
In many ways PUP is not a financial plan for the entire site,
but a business plan for public use-related activities. In a sense the
public use program operates as a business within the site. Just like a
busienss plan, PUP explains the market (profiles), the products, the
justification, the plans for growth, and the finances. It even calculates
break-even points for the services telling us when, and if, services will
make money. Clearly as you approach the time to plan out a particular
service you will need to break down costs and projected income in
more detail that we can do here, nevertheless the estimates that you
produce now will go a long way in planning the financial future of
the public use program.
Difficult Decisions
Some of the toughest decisions you will have to make in PUP will
be during this workshop. You will have to decide what fees to create,
how much to charge, and what financial decisions will be necessary.
For many people, especially those who listen only to money, all our
planning comes down to the financial plan, to explain in real financial
terms what you have been planning for the past many months.
Need for Program-Specific Accounting

Many sites do as little accounting as possible. When they bring in
Financial Plan 10-7
money they deposit it all in the same account. Because they do
not divide their site up into programs it is difficult to know if
protection is spending more than conservation. They cannot
determine the efficiency of administration and they do not
distribute the costs of a secretary between different programs.
This lack of accounting makes it very difficult to run an
efficient site and makes it impossible to manage a business
where we want to see where the money is flowing and when.
In order to do this module and to manage public use at
all, the site must be willing (if necessary) to update its accounting.
While it can do so for the entire site, it must start with public use.
The public use program should be considered a distinct center,
unit, or business within the overall site, just like a company has
independent accounting for its marketing division. Each division
has a budget, manages its costs and income, and identifies all
the money that flows in from the main company and flows out.
Doing this allows you to track the flow of contributions
from visitors to specific conservation programs. It allows you to
determine the profitability of different sectors and which ones
are cost centers and which ones are profit centers (those that
spend a lot of money and those that generate a lot of money for
the system). This helps us identify cost drivers (budget items
that cost the site a lot of money) and inefficiencies. It allows us
to predict how much money we will have and how much money
we will need. It allows us to establish spending objectives such
as 10% of public use net profits goes to protection and another
10% goes to conservation programs. We can only do that
with program-specific accounting. Of course this accounting
does not limit how the money is spent, the site could transfer
100% of profits to decorating the main office (but at least with
good accounting we know where the money is going, making
it more transparent). It also does not mean that you have to
handle money personally. Rather the site financial officer can
still handle all the money (make deposits and withdrawals from
the bank, disburse money to the different programs, collect all
receipts), but you will manage public use financial information.
And that is what you need to make financial decisions and run
your program.
What We Know So Far in PUP

We have product proposals (services and activities) from Module
5. These are based on messages (Module 2), attractions (Module
3), sector strategies (Module 4), and visitor profiles (Module
4). We also know regulations, both management prescriptions
from Module 4 and all other kinds of regulations from Module
10-8 Financial Plan

8. We know when we will carry out the development of all these
elements from Module 9. Now all we need to know are the specific
needs or inputs of the public use program (material, equipment,
personnel, etc.), what are the fees, how many visitors will come and
should there be, and finally how will the money flow. This module
will answer those questions.
Who These Financial Accounts Include

Although you identified all products for the site, even those that will
be provided completely by the private sector, in this financial plan,
we will not include all those products. This financial plan will include
the flow of resources through the site management body itself. Thus
all money and volunteer contributions that go through your hands
will be included. It also includes all organizations that spend money
on public use projects. That is if a non-profit organization pays the
salary of a site guard working in public use that is included (under
“Restricted Grants”), but the profits of an independent guide do
not. If the World Bank finances the development of public use
infrastructure, that is included, but if a private lodge is built just
outside of the site, that does not.
This plan will not include money flowing through other
site programs, such as non-public use administration, conservation
projects, site protection, etc. unless money is transferred from public
use to those programs. Deciding where one program ends and one
begins is part of your challenge in this module (for example, what
percentage of the secretary’s time is spent on supporting public use)
and key to good financial management.
Improving over Time

You will be dissatisfied with your estimates. You will feel uncomfortable
that the costs and visitor estimations do not represent real life well
enough. You may even feel decisions are too arbitrary. It is normal
to feel this way for people doing this kind of planning the first time.
To a certain degree, if you feel uncomfortable, then you should do
more research to get better estimates. But no matter how experienced
you are, there will always be some uncertainty and inaccuracies. Some
of that will improve as you become more experienced with financial
planning. Some of that will improve as the site begins to do these
things and learns how costs and income relate to real life. We have
no choice but to base our assumptions on similar services in similar
sites in similar situations and generally on the private sector (in the
nearest town or city). There is no practical way around this, except
either to spend months on research or not do it at all. Rest assured,
though, that the accuracy and your comfort level will improve over
time, as long as you continually update the numbers as you learn.
Financial Plan 10-9

What Does It Mean to Implement PUP Financially?
Often times we hear site managers say that that cannot implement a plan because they lack funds. But what are
they really saying? Consider this graphic that includes several kinds of funding requirements. Of course plans often
contain expensive new projects or capital investments (the red line) and usually contemplate increasing the staff
(the blue line), but perhaps the basic operation of PUP which involves the on-going conversation and learning as-
sociated with public use management and the consequent and continuous updating of the plan requires far less.
Much of the cost is time and not money where the financial costs include office supplies and communication with
PUP technical assistants at the PUP Consortium. It requires more still the discipline to keep the conversation going,
having regular meetings, constantly evaluating, and updating the plan.
On top of that there may be multiple planned projects for which funding may still not exist. But not acquir-
ing sufficient funding for those projects should not be an excuse for stopping the on-going operation of PUP. As you
will see in this module, in general, it is unwise to plan for programs and infrastructure for which your site has little
chance of acquiring funding. This is why we do a financial planning module so that your expectations are realistic.
Now you also know what it means financially to implement PUP. Lack of money is almost never an excuse.
10-10 Financial Plan

II. Defining Needs
What Does It Mean?
Explain
The public use program needs many inputs to function. It needs
equipment such as computers, vehicles, radios, and office supplies.
It also needs people such as secretaries, guides, guards, ticket sellers,
cleaning people, and managers like you.
Some of these needs you can identify simply by reading
the Product Description Sheets, especially when stakeholders have
decided in Module 5 that the site will be the service provider in
question. By reading the sheets, you can readily identify infrastructure,
personnel, and some equipment needs (when sheet authors were
specific enough or when you added them during the First Review
of Results).
Other inputs will not be so easy to identify and will require
experience and careful thought. You have to step back and envision your
program. Does it really need a printer or GPS or an electric generator
or a high-definition television? But all these needs should be identified
now so that you can make more realistic estimates of your costs,
especially your large startup costs or investments. You can be more
general about operating costs, that is, you do not need to identify pencils,
paper, printer ink, etc. You can just say “office supplies.”
It is important to realize how these needs will be met. In
many cases you will share them with the existing site. Public use
might use the site truck 10% of its operating time and thus would
pay 10% of the truck’s costs. This is called cost distribution
and may be new to the site. Cost distribution is standard practice
throughout the accounting world. This may be a challenge at
first because the site has never thought about which programs
use which resources in which proportions. Also even if public
use is now prepared to pay its share, other programs may not.
That is a price that public use will have to pay and over time,
hopefully, other programs will come on board as well. Other costs
commonly distributed include secretaries (time and salary), office
space (electricity, rent, water, insurance, etc.), and equipment costs
(cars, computers, electric generators, audio-visual equipment, etc.).
Also remember that you can outsource or borrow things from
organizations outside the site. Maybe you can borrow a car from the
government or rent one from the private sector instead of having
one yourself. Maybe the private sector should build the restaurant as
part of a concession rather than the site itself. The site can also get
donations. Sites routinely receive used computers, books, binoculars,
photographs, and other items from tourists and organizations in
Financial Plan 10-11

other countries.
But the most important thing is to be as realistic as possible.
It is important to have vision, but it should not be a dream. Someone
needs to pay for everything. And the more you want, the more
difficult it will be for the site to pay. In the end we will create a
sector-by-sector description of the needs for the entire program
and we can see which sectors are also the most resource-hungry.
How Do I Do It?
Do
1. Go sector by sector and service by service 1. Identify all
transportation equipment and special equipment like radios,
GPS, cell phones, computer equipment, first aid kits, audio-visual
1Remember that the provision of products can also be equipment, weapons, other electronic equipment, etc. By accounting
considered a service such as a tour operator who provides
tourism products.
convention you do not need to mention general furniture, tools, or
Also do not forget to review the needs already listed on office equipment less than a hundred dollars. You will need these
the Product Description Sheets from Module 5.
to identify startup costs but do NOT want to include recurring
equipment costs like maintenance or office paper. Note when
equipment can be shared between sectors and throughout the site.
For example, you can use a GPS anywhere. You can centralize
computing facilities. Write all these needs down in the needs table
(10-41).
2. Note when you will need the materials or personnel and who will
supply it. It may be borrowed, purchased, rented, or donated.
3. Now go through all activities and services and identify personnel
needs. Name the trainings they may require. To provide that training
do you need a consultant, can a government agency do it, or do you
design it yourself ? How much will it cost?
4. Consider which systems might be needed to run the public
use program. Your objective in this moment is to identify which
particular capacities the site needs to operate the products discussed
in this module. Examples include a new accounting system,
vehicle repair system, ticketing system, marketing system, visitor
information, reservations, or other administrative functions.
5. Consider the needs for the entire program, as well as by sector.
6. Remember that you will have to cost out all these needs and
identify sources for them. So choose only what your program truly
needs.

III. Establishing Site Fees
What Does It Mean?
Explain
A principal purpose of public use is to raise money for conservation
and other site activities. A principal funding source is site fees. Since
most protected areas in the world receive insufficient funds from
the central government (and some sites such as those in Honduras
receive almost none), fees can be the most important source of
income. Ironically many sites do not charge fees or charge only
nominal fees, effectively giving away their products or subsidizing
vacations of foreigners. In 1995, only 32 of 78 biosphere reserves
charged an entrance fee.
While some site services are free or paid through public
taxes such as general protection, site administration, non-personal
interpretation (signage), orientation, and security, most other
services such as general entrance (access), food, lodging, personal
interpretation, and opportunities to sell products in a site usually
imply fees. There are a variety of fees that a site can charge and this
module attempts to deal with them. We start by examining ways to
calculate entrance fees, then we look at concessions, and finally other
fees. Since most sites including those in the United States are under-
funded, often drastically so, PUP assumes that its collaborators will
want entrance fees. Nonetheless PUP offers some arguments for and
against entrance fees (10-46) as well as a list of services normally
offered by the site and privately.
Why Sites Undercharge
Sometimes sites by law cannot charge, or fees must be approved

by national legislation. Many sites have to send all income to the
central government which neutralizes a site’s incentive to collect fees.
Some sites are afraid of the politics of making a decision in face of
stakeholder opposition. Other sites do not understand the concept
of scarcity rent.1 They may say that they do not offer quality or
any services and thus should not charge much of an entry fee. In 1Scarcity rent refers to the capacity of a site to charge
fact, fee amounts are not based just on services or operational costs. more for the opportunity to experience a scarce or rare
attraction. This is possible because visitors are often willing
Fees are also based on scarcity of the attraction. When sites have to pay substantially more for rare and unusual experiences.
unique attractions, they can manage them as monopolies and charge
much higher entrance fees. For example, Monteverde Cloud Forest
Reserve in Costa Rica which has a high-quality cloud forest charges
$23 (this is a private site). The Galapagos National Park charges $100
for foreign tourists (and still way too many visitors arrive according
to a UNESCO study in 2007) and Parc National de Volcans in
Uganda charges $500 in order that foreign visitors can see gorillas.
Types of Site Fees
Fee type Description
Entrance fee Allows access to points beyond the entry way.
User or program fees Fees for services within the site; e.g., parking, camping, lodging, visitor centers, cable
(sometimes called “admission car, mechanical rides, or zoo within the site. Also for participating in educational or
fees”) interpretive programs or trips, workshops, classes, etc.
Concession fees Charges or revenue sharing paid by concessionaires that provide services to site
visitors usually on a longer term basis.
Royalties and sales revenue Monies from sales of souvenirs, handicrafts, firewood, photocopies, food, or related
services. Royalties sometimes derive from the use of park name/logo.
Licenses and permits For private firms or individuals to operate on site property for a limited time only
(requiring renewal); e.g., tour operators, guides, hunters, and other users.
Taxes Such as hotel room taxes, airport taxes, and vehicle taxes, sometimes charged by
sites, usually by government.
Leases and rental fees Charges for renting or leasing property or equipment such as meeting space, tables,
chairs, binoculars, bicycles, paddle boats, etc.
Voluntary donations Includes cash, 'in-kind' gifts, labor and pro bono services provided to site (legal,
artistic, tradesman, writing, etc.); often through 'friends of the site groups.
But if a site never makes the effort to determine what

it should charge, it will never charge a reasonable amount.
What Does It Mean?

Explain
There are no magic formulas that a site can use to avoid having
Qualities of Effective Pricing
to make difficult or subjective decisions. A site must consider the
Systems
♦♦ The pricing system should options, its needs and management objectives. Last, it must consider
indicate who is paying for what resources it has in choosing a method to calculate fees.
which services and facilities. A site must decide a) its objectives for charging an entrance
♦♦ Equitable fees reflect the
ability to pay, and fees fee, b) its method for calculating the amount(s), and c) what pricing
should be in proportion to scheme or strategy to use.
the benefits received by
users. Thus the system has
variable fees for different Objectives for Entrance Fees
kinds of users (foreigners
versus residents).
♦♦ Managers must weigh ex- Consider the following objectives for using entrance fees.
pected site revenues against
the costs of fee collection a. Give Value.
and administration.
♦♦ Site managers can change A fee can simply give value to the visit (which can improve visitor
fees through local approval behavior and appreciation). They are often small or nominal fees.
mechanisms rather than
legislative channels.
♦♦ Site can retain income from b. Offset Costs/Cost Recovery.
fees or a large portion. Fees are collected to cover specific public use-related costs such as
♦♦ There is some mechanism buildings and maintenance of facilities or environmental damages
for revenue sharing with
local communities. caused by tourism. The site must decide what costs need to be
♦♦ Portion of the fees goes covered in order to calculate the fee.
to conservation efforts in
the site. c. Visitor Management.
Sites implement fees to reduce or redistribute visitor numbers or
reduce unwanted behavior, such as congestion, user conflict, or
environmental damage. To determine this fee usually requires trial

and error to see how visitor numbers respond to different fee levels.
d. Profit Generation.
Profits can be used to fund things beyond basic operation. They may
be for non-public use activities, although conservation usually wins
the greatest acceptance by visitors. The amounts needed should be
calculated in advance of deciding the fees. Sometimes profits are for
a variety of other entities in national and local government.
e. Foreign Income. This site has two categories of

Rarely, sites or governments use the generation of foreign income tiers, one for members and one
(hard currency) as a justification for fee decisions. Maximizing income for non-members.
from foreign visitors, requires a regional economic strategy since
Galapagos Tiered Pricing
visitors usually use local currency to pay the site (after purchasing it Galapagos uses tiered pricing.
at a bank or airport). ♦♦ Foreign tourist (non resi-
dent of Ecuador) over 12
f. Development of Local Businesses. years of age $100
♦♦ Foreign tourist under 12
To develop local businesses, sites try to maximize visitation  years $50
potential clients for local businesses  and thus could choose a low ♦♦ Foreign tourist of member
fee so as not to hurt visitation. country of Mercosur or
Andean Community of Na-
tions $50
Pricing System ♦♦ Foreign tourist of member
country of Mercosur or
Andean Community of Na-
Once you know why you want to charge, you should decide how to tions under 12 $25
charge. What is the structure of the pricing? ♦♦ National tourist or foreign
resident of Ecuador $6
♦♦ National tourist or foreign
a. Peak Loading. resident of Ecuador under
Different prices for different times, depending on demand. 12 $3
♦♦ Tourists non-resident for-
eign students registered at
b. Multi-Tiered. one of the National Univer-
Different prices based on demographics. Consider some common sities of Ecuador $25
categories in tiered systems. Distribution of Site Fees
♦♦ Galapagos National Park
40%
♦♦ National residents and non-residents ♦♦ Municipalities of Galapagos
♦♦ Senior citizens and children 25%
♦♦ Provincial government of Gala-
♦♦ Cars and boats pagos 10%
♦♦ Students ♦♦ Galapagos Marine Reserve
5%
♦♦ Members of a friends group to the site ♦♦ INEFAN (site agency) 10%
♦♦ Exemptions include poor schools, local residents ♦ Provincial Inspection System
5%
♦♦ Researchers
♦ Ecuadorian Navy 5%
♦♦ Disabled people http://www.galapagospark.org/nophprg.
php?page=programas_turismo_
c. Differential. tributo&set_lang=es
Viewed September 2013.
Different prices based on level of service offered. Better hotels
charge more, for example.

d. Donations.
Entrance Fees in a Belize Marine
Park In cases where sites cannot charge or retain fees, they may use a
Friends of Nature is a local donation system. They can charge “mandatory” donations in some
conservation group which co- cases (which, in effect, is a fee). Donations, depending on local
manages the Gladden Spit &
Silk Cayes Marine Reserve with policies, can be managed by the site itself or by a third party such
the Forest Department. It is au- as a Friends of the Site or a non-profit conservation group that is
thorized to collect and manage not subject to legal restrictions and who can manage donations on
fees. Following extensive consul-
tation with local tour operators, behalf of the site. For example, the Friends group could pay for
a system of scheduling access to construction or run interpretation programs with donations.
the whale shark hot spot within
the marine reserve was estab-
lished. A limited number (6) of e. Direct and Indirect Collection.
vessels with a maximum capac- The site needs to decide if it will collect the money directly from
ity of 12 divers can be in the hot visitors or indirectly through tour operators, hotels, or other tourism
spot for one 2-hour period per
day during whale shark season service providers. The Rwanda Tourism Board, for example, collects
1 March to 30 June. Based on fees and issues permits for gorilla trekking.
a willingness to pay survey, Consider the advantages and disadvantages.
entrance fees of $15 per person
per day for the hot spot and $10
for the rest of the reserve were Direct collection by person
established. Advantages: Direct link between service and visitors; can inform,
Revenues managed by Friends
of Nature are distributed as regulate, and easily count visitors
follows: Disadvantages: Cost
♦♦ 80% for marine reserve Indirect collection
operational costs,
Direct collection is not a good strategy in sites with low visitation
♦♦ 15% for Friends of Nature
overhead (commission), or several entry points because it will cost more to pay the salaries
♦♦ 5% for the Special Schol- of fee collectors than the amount they could collect. Other options
arship Fund for local chil-
include a drop box or a ticket system (such as a passport allowing
dren who would not oth-
erwise go to school. access to several sites in the system). Another popular alternative is
for tour operators to collect fees. It is often used along with direct
Source: Andy Drumm, presenta- collection.
tion at World Parks Congress,
2003; The Nature Conservancy. Advantages: Increases communication between site and tour
See Appendix for this module. operators, reduces collection costs while allowing the site to monitor
visitation, offers the possibility of hiding the price in the package,
buffering effects of more expensive visitor fees.
Disadvantages: reduces contact between site staff and visitors;
sacrifices visitor control.
How to Calculate Fees
There are several different ways of calculating fees and some of those
can be combined. Very briefly you can choose from the following.
a. Comparable Pricing.
Prices are based on an average of user fees charged by other sites
with equivalent attractions or services. The site can also base different
tiers on comparable pricing but may have to estimate on its own.

b. Marginal Cost Pricing.
Prices set where the added costs equal the added benefits of
producing the site; prices set at the intersection of the marginal cost
and marginal benefit curve. Ways to Reduce Public Resis-
tance to Fees
c. Target Setting. Strategies exist to reduce peo-
ple’s natural resistance to the
Prices are determined by meeting certain targets with respect to cost implementation of new fees.
recovery or other needs. To calculate this requires knowing how
many visitors will pay in a given time, so demand response to prices Increase in Small Increments.
is necessary. Targets may also include reducing visitation to certain Big jumps especially in manda-
tory entrance fees will cause
levels for management purposes and this requires trial and error. many people to react nega-
tively. Costa Rican parks were
d. Profit Margin. famous when they jumped the
fee from just a few dollars to
Prices are determined based on a desired margin of profitability. $15. There was a strong public
reaction and they reduced the
How Do I Do It? entrance back to $6.
Do
In all cases, it is very useful to have willingness to pay data. You can Advanced Warning.
obtain such data by having someone  university or consultants or Tour operators usually need
at least a year of advanced
government  survey visitors and by asking how much they would warning to integrate new prices
be willing to pay for certain services. But this can be costly in terms into their products and conse-
of time and resources and most sites do not do this. quently their product promo-
tions which they send out once
PUP recommends the use of comparable pricing, modified a year.
with some trial and error and target setting depending on your needs.
It is the most common and most accessible method. If you would Explain What the Funds Are for.
like to use an additional approach, you will need to discuss this with In some contexts people are
naturally suspicious of where
PUP technical assistance. In most cases, you will have to consider the fees go. Do they go into
willingness to pay, even if on an intuitive level. someone’s pocket or the na-
tional treasury? They are will-
ing to pay more if they know
1. Research any existing willingness to pay data about either your their money is being used for
site, comparable sites, your region or country (in decreasing order conservation or to improve
services in a site. So if you can
of usefulness to you). Ask university tourism programs, tourism afford to be transparent, let
consortia, chambers of commerce, and the Ministry of Tourism. everyone know what the fees
2. Find other sites with comparable attractions and services to your are used for.
own. If you cannot find one or more in your own region, then you
Discuss with Stakeholders.
can try to identify such sites in similar countries. Discuss fees with the affected
3. Assemble a panel which knows both sites and ask 4 questions. stakeholders before imple-
menting.
♦♦ Is your site more or less attractive to visit than com- Justify.

parable sites? (Be honest!) If you can justify why you chose
♦♦ Does your site offer better or more (or worse and to implement or raise the fee a
certain amount, then do so.
fewer) services than comparable sites?
♦♦ Is your site more or less accessible than comparable
sites?

Factors that Affect ♦♦ Do people pay more or less to get to your site than
Visitor Demand comparable sites?
Though price is a principal fac- 4. If your panel answers yes to the majority of questions, then visitors
tor influencing visitor demand,
there are others. They include:
might be willing to pay more than average in your region or country
1) demographic, psychographic for similar protected areas. If no, then they might not. In general,
(tastes), and spending patterns most sites can charge the country average for entrance fees without
of the consumer (Background
Reading 8); 2) security of the
complaint from visitors. To determine a more exact number, you
destination; 3) availability of would have to do a willingness-to-pay study or trial and error. You
a substitutable service (com- must keep track of how many people actually come at a certain price
petition with other sites or
services within the same site
and then when you increase it, you see if the number of people
, i.e., choices of multiple eating increases. It is important to note, though, that even if the number
facilities); 4) travel time and of people decreases, your revenues can increase, depending on how
cost to get to the site or service
if the services are spread out
much you increased the entrance fee. For some objectives such as
in the site; 5) quality of experi- maximize revenues while reducing the number of visitors this may
ence; 6) attractiveness of the be acceptable. Do not increase more than 25% without systematic
site; 7) quality of attraction and
willingness to pay data.
5. Even without willingness-to-pay data, you might informally ask
visitors if they would be willing to pay the suggested amount or you
can have a pilot period to see the reaction of visitors.
6. Consult with relevant stakeholders about proposed amounts,
especially tour operators. Their natural bias may be to resist increases.
See the box on ways to reduce resistance.
7. Determine any other tiers also based on comparable pricing
and what you and relevant stakeholders think is fair. Once
you have established the principal entrance fee (usually for
national and international), other tiers come much more easily.
8. If you are still unsure about the feasibility of charging a particular
fee, start with the country-wide average or a little less.
9. If you used target setting, then you need to justify in the PUP how
you calculated the amount, how the amount will affect visitation and
meet the established targets over a specified period of time.
Elements Commonly Included in Concession Contracts

You should involve a lawyer in creating the contract, but here are some considerations in such a contract.
Length of Time of the Contract.

Concessions can be yearly when investment is low for the concessionaire or they can be 25 years or more if the
concessionaire needs to construct costly infrastructure. Ownership of the infrastructure often reverts to the site
when the concession expires.
Renegotiation and Renewal.

How do the parties renegotiate terms and when can a concessionaire apply for a renewal? Also concessionaires
may request that sites increase the prices for the public, especially if conditions change (number of visitors, infla-
tion, new products).
Payment Schedule.
Does the concessionaire pay every month, quarter, or annually? This might depend on whether it is a flat fee or
percentage of income. Continued on next page

Concessions
What Does It Mean?
Explain
When a site grants the right to provide public use services to one or
a few service providers, it is granting a concession (see Module 5). Continued from previous page
The site in effect creates a monopoly at the site using quality service Minimum Standards.
The site establishes minimum
providers to offer a certain level of quality and fair prices for whatever standards in quality and often
service the site is offering the concession. Sites usually choose to the maximum price that a con-
create concessions in areas for which they lack capacity or resources cessionaire can charge the pub-
lic. The contract will explain how
to do it themselves. Concessions also create opportunities for local the site evaluates the standards
service providers to benefit directly from the site. and what it can do if the conces-
sionaire is in violation of them.
Ways to Charge Concessions Other Requirements.

Often sites include in conces-
There are three ways that concession fees are normally calculated. sions other requirements such
as facility maintenance, re-
porting, interactions with site,
a. Competitive Bidding. data collection for monitoring
While this is rarely done, it can work when the bidders are all known quality, environmental controls,
participation in training work-
and sufficiently qualified. The site can start the bidding at a minimum shops, etc.
amount.
b. Percentage of Gross/Net Income.

Sites can charge a percentage of income earned by the concession.
This is often preferable to the concessionaire because it reduces
the risk of purchasing the concession. If they do not make money,
they do not have to pay money. Sites and service providers need to
estimate expected visitation and sales using prices established by
the site (based on comparable prices in the private sector). Gross
income is easier to calculate than net income which requires even
more financial data. In most cases a mechanism must exist for the
site to get reliable earnings data from the concessionaire.
c. Flat Fee.
If you have chosen criteria for determining the fee, then a flat
fee is the easiest to administer. Fees could be based on expected
income, operating costs, or rents comparable to existing markets.
For example, to rent a restaurant, the site could charge the same fees
as for commercial space for the same purpose in a nearby town or
city. Sometimes for long-term concessions, the site might share in
the cost of building the infrastructure. In all cases, concessionaires
need to be assured of making a reasonable net profit or they will not
invest in the concession.

How Do I Do It?
Do
1. Since you are not actually negotiating a concession contract at this
time, you will have to make a number of assumptions to estimate an
income amount from the concession.
2. Determine the method and criteria for determining the
concession.
3. Consider the major elements in the concession contract. While
most details will not be relevant to the income the site receives, some
will be, such as construction costs and other major investments by
either the site or the concessionaire.
4. Do comparable pricing in other sites.
5. Calculate a conservative fee amount (better to under- than over-
estimate).
Other Fees
What Does It Mean?
Explain
Besides entrance fees and concessions, there are other fees that a
site can charge (10-14).
How Do I Do It?
Do
1. Review Product Description Sheets for fees. Most fees should
already be listed there, but you may have others that come from your
notes, discussions in the Review of Results workshop or others.
2. You will need to estimate the number of sales per year. You do this
Fee Uncertainty Requires Addi- by estimating the number of people who will come in contact with
tional Research
If after estimating fees or any
the service and then the percentage of them that will likely pay the
other amounts in this module, fee. Consult with people experienced in providing this service. You
you still feel uncomfortable may need to bring them to the site so they can make a more accurate
that the prices are too rough or
inaccurate, then you have the
estimate. It is better to be conservative and underestimate.
responsibility to do additional 3. Determine the fee amount. You can do it by comparable pricing
research into related examples or estimate costs and then increase it by a margin of profitability
in country or elsewhere to find
more accurate numbers. PUP
such as 25%. (Recall that 25–30% is an average profitability in the
recognizes that they will be tourism industry.)
inaccurate in the first draft and 4. In the Break Even Analysis you will determine how many people
as you move through time, the
amounts will become more pre-
you need to break even with this service. You may need to alter either
cise. Part of what you are doing the number of people (with more marketing or increased quality) or
in this exercise is learning to increase the price to make a profit on the service. For now you only
think and plan in a new way, so it
should be no surprise that your
need to calculate an initial price and a description.
results will not be as accurate 5. If the service is not currently described on a Product Description
as someone who has been doing Sheet, you will need to make a brief description on new (or already
such planning for years.

existing) Product Description Sheets. You may want to create a new
table of services with descriptions. You will list all services on an
Excel spreadsheet in order to do the Break Even Analysis.
Deciding site fees requires that you consider a number of different

factors.

IV. Setting Financial Objectives
What Does It Mean?
Explain
PUP is based on SMARTI objectives and Module 10 requires them
How to Calculate the Conservation as much as any other module. There are three kinds of objectives
Contribution that we must consider at this point.
There are a number of ways of
actually calculating the contri-
bution in your spreadsheets. 1. Conservation Objective.
You could increase the cost
of every service or you could You should have created financial conservation objectives in the
take a percentage of the net or Terms of Reference (Module 1). If you have not done so, do so now,
gross profits of all site services refer to Module 1 for examples. This is the last chance to plan the
together. In the spreadsheets
that follow, PUP has assigned generation of resources to meet those objectives. If while you are
the conservation contribution analyzing the entire public use program, you find that you cannot
its own line item in the cost sec- meet your conservation objective, then you need to
tion to emphasize its role, rather
than adding it into the “miscella-
neous costs” which would hide it. ♦♦ Increase prices and services to generate more in-
PUP calculates the contribution come,
as a percentage of gross earned
income (fees + services). This is ♦♦ Cut costs, or
much easier to calculate than ♦♦ Change the conservation objective.
net income because you do not
need to consider any costs if you
only consider fees and services. Changing the objective should be the last option once you have
(Net profits means subtracting determined that your conservation objective truly was unrealistic. It
costs from gross income, thus is tempting simply to lower your target, rather than make the system
you must know the costs to take
a percentage of net profits.) La work harder to reach your objective.
Ruta Mosquitia in Honduras, a
community organization that
offers tours in La Mosquitia,
2. Sector-Based Objectives.
takes 10% of gross income for its Each sector has an objective and a role to play within the site-wide
Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve strategy for public use. You have already determined if the sector is
Conservation Fund.
Also PUP’s contribu-
intended to make money, break even, or require subsidies to operate.
tion calculation does not take a While those were mere words before, it is in Module 10 that you
percentage of unearned income must confirm that the sectors meet these objectives or else you might
such as government transfers,
donations, grants, etc. You may
have to go back and modify the services provided in the sector. Also
of course take a percentage of note that each product within the sector also has a financial objective
these as well; but, many grants associated with it. You will be able to calculate through the Break
and donations do not allow that
you use their money for pur-
Even Analysis if the service is projected to meet its objective as well.
poses other than those specified Almost certainly you will need to go back and modify the Product
in the agreement. Description Sheets based on the financial findings of Module 10.
3. Visitation Objectives.
Most of the time, sites want to increase their visitation. Some sites,
however, may already have more than enough visitors (which is true
of a variety of World Heritage Sites), and instead would like to change
the visitor composition. Perhaps they would prefer to attract more

high-end tourists or sell more higher yield products, so that the site
can generate more money with the same number of people — or
fewer. In either case, you will need to establish visitation objectives
and their corresponding categories in order to meet income objectives
(sector-based and conservation). Without income objectives, it is
impossible to calculate a break-even point or do any serious financial
planning. You will discover that you may need to adjust your visitation
objectives once you generate the three-year totals.
We use the SMARTI objective-writing rules for visitation
objectives. Consider the following examples.
♦♦ Receive 500 entrance-paying trail hikers by 2008.

♦♦ Double the number of annual people-nights at the
Big Sheep Campground by 2008 to 7,800.
♦♦ Raise $15,000 in new entrance fees (2,500 people) at
the West End site entrance by the end of 2008.
♦♦ Extend the average stay (in days) of visitors in the
Mountain Lodge from 1.3 to 2.5 by September
2009.
How Do I Do It?
Facilitate
1. Review the conservation objectives from the TOR. If you did not
do them or postponed them, now is the time to write the objectives.
Consult with PUP technical assistance.
2. Review the sector-based and product-based objectives. Put them
in a list to make it easier to see if they are projected to be met.
3. Now take up visitation objectives. These will be preliminary
objectives, possibly modified after the Break Even Analysis.
4. If you have historical visitation data, take them out now. Review
to see existing trends as this will help you calculate visitation rates.
Also take out the Excel file in the Appendix and fill in the sectors in
the sheets named “Sector” (10-49).
5. First estimate general entrance visitation over the next three years
for each of the tiers (visitor categories) identified in the previous
section on fees. Now you are setting objectives of what you would
like it to be, not just what you think it will be1. You need to consider
any new factors that might influence visitation such as an increase in
entrance fee. Also note that general entrance is not a sum of sector
visitation numbers. Rather it is a sum of all entrance tickets sold. 1Of course, if you want more visitors than would normally
The table “Visitation” (10-48) does not break down general entrance come, that means you will likely have to increase promo-
tions or promotions and offerings in the site.
by points-of-sale (each gateway or location where someone buys
a ticket is a point of sale) or by entry points. If you have multiple
entry points, you might want to represent this in your visitation data

to have an idea of visitor flow.
6. Now go sector-by-sector and service-by-service. You will have to
estimate the flow of people by the service location and estimate what
percentage of people is likely to purchase the service. For services
that will expand only a little, you might choose a small percentage
increase. A conservative target might fall around 10%, but it depends
on the market potential, the kinds of development, and the rapidity
with which they will be implemented. Keep notes on how you chose
percentages or made calculations. Fill in the “Visitation” table (10-
48), noting the sectors, services, and type of visitor categories for
a multi-tiered entrance fee system as determined previously in this
module.
Later you will modify this number with the results from the
Break Even Analysis. At that point, the quantity changes from what
you expect to what you want. Obviously to influence the number
of sales, requires promotions, quality control, and other incentives
that you might provide to the service provider (and all of which
have associated costs). It is always safer to be more conservative
and have lower targets unless the service provider is there with you
and has reason to set more aggressive targets. Certainly if there is
a real provider (rather than planned), it is important to call up that
person and ask them to provide their estimates and targets.

V. Determining Costs and Income by Sector
What Does It Mean?
Explain
You are about to enter the heart of PUP financial planning.
Depending on how detailed you were in the previous modules will
influence how much thinking you need to do here. These spreadsheets
require many estimates as you continue to create program details. At
this point, you may feel uncomfortable with making rough estimates. Accounting for In-Kind Donations
When someone gives an in-kind
You must realize that this is just the first step, but if you feel too donation to the site, that is, a
uncomfortable the best solution is to do more research and get more non-monetary donation such as
realistic numbers. There are a few considerations at this point: a shovel, photographs, a com-
puter, or five hours of consulting
time, these need to be in the
♦♦ While you have been working with high-priority sec- Contributions Register as well as
tors and will continue to do so, you may also need to the income/costs sheets.
This is not difficult.
include in your financial plan low-priority sectors if Just figure out how much the
they have financial activity. If you have for example donation would cost on the mar-
only one small service in a low-priority sector, you ket how much you would have
paid for it were it not a donation
might consider including it in another sector’s spread- and count that as income. If you
sheet, rather than creating an entire sheet for one actually use the donation, then
service. Or you may combine all low- and perhaps you are in effect spending it,
thus you must also count it as an
medium-priority sectors in the same sheet. expense for the same amount as
♦♦ Note that in the blank Excel sheet found in the the income.
Appendix for this module, there are many inserted You can of course dis-
tribute both the income and cost
comments and notes to help guide you through the if public use shares the donation
process. There are also some inserted comments in with another department. Or
the example spreadsheets for Crater Lagoon. you can not count it as a cost
if you never use it. It’s probably
♦♦ The numbers in the example spreadsheets are in- better not to count it at all if you
tended only to show you how the numbers flow have no intentions of using it.
through the spreadsheets and some ways to handle
transfers and other elements. The numbers them-
selves are not realistic. Do not use them for creating
estimates. There are also some intentional problems
in the financial plan intended for use during the PUP
course as practice. In other words, what you see can
be considered only a first draft before the Crater La-
goon administration went back and tried to cut costs
or decided to increase visitation numbers so that the
numbers at the end look more promising.
♦♦ Many cells throughout the blank worksheet have
formulas that draw information from previous work-
sheets and do some basic calculations. The formulas
in the example, however, have been altered for pur-
poses of the example. Do not use these formulas
for your own work although you may study them
to see what we did. As you proceed through your
own worksheets, you will also alter and erase formulas
to suit your purposes.
♦♦ Understand each formula and where it gets its data to
calculate values. If you do not understand one, you
may not be able to fix it when you begin inputting
data into the spreadsheet.
♦♦ Throughout the spreadsheets, we use the symbol
and term “dollar.” But you would of course change
the symbol and term to your local currency (Rupiah,
Colon, Euro, etc.).
The steps below will take you through the process of determining
the costs and income of services and sectors. You should use the
example (10-48).
How Do I Do It?
Facilitate
1. Understand assumptions. Every accounting system has numerous
assumptions regarding definitions of terms, standard practices, rates
of exchange in terms of inflation, growth, taxes, etc. Many costs and
Why We Don’t Use Depreciation income sources are classified differently, depending on the system.
♦♦ We cannot set a price on
natural and cultural re-
It is important to recognize these assumptions, to be able to use and
sources, mainly because interpret the sheets supplied by PUP. Consider the list of standard
they are not in any way assumptions (10-42). Modify or add any assumptions necessary for
sold on the market. With
time, these resources can
your case. You should decide the average annual inflation rate now for
appreciate. calculating costs over three years in your spreadsheet. To determine
♦♦ The value of tangible the inflation ask at a local bank or check this web site: http://
goods, such as buildings,
can increase, especially if
inflationdata.com/Inflation/Inflation_Rate/InternationalSites.asp.
they have historic value. 2. Set up the worksheets. In the sheet “Visitation” type in the names
♦♦ Most sites do not pay tax- of your sectors in Column A. The names will automatically copy
es, so it is not necessary
to distribute the cost over
throughout the remaining spreadsheets. You might need to add
several years. additional sectors to the six spaces provided. To do this, first insert
♦♦ We are interested in find- 6 rows beneath Sector 6 and then copy and paste rows 3−7 to the
ing out where the money
is to pay our debts. There-
inserted rows. You will need to modify the summing formulas below.
fore, this financial plan is Then insert the tiers for different visitor categories in Column B.
more cash flow than bal- 3. If you need more than six sectors you will need to copy a blank
ance sheet.
sector spreadsheet. Edit > Move or Copy Sheet > (To the same book;
select the sheet after which you want to add the new sheet; check the
box “Create a Copy” and hit OK). Label all the tabs for the sector
sheets. Double click on the name tab at the bottom of the screen.
You may need to add additional rows for new sectors in the sheets:
“BEP,” “Projection,” “Conservation,” and “Startup.”
4. Go to “Visitation.” Insert the number of visitors in each category

you expect for the upcoming year. They could be identical to this
year or else you might need to guess the increased amount based on
the past couple of years. Notice that Excel automatically calculates
visitation for the upcoming two years based on an arbitrary 10% sales
volume increase. You should adjust this formula if 10% is not your
assumption. This makes a big difference. If you are unsure, it is much
better to be conservative and UNDERESTIMATE the increase. Excel
also adds up all the numbers of categories from each sector (be sure
to make sure each visitor category is in the exact same line order for
each sector or Excel will add up the wrong numbers).
5. Go to the sheet “Sector 1” (or whatever you have renamed it). The
sector name should already be in cell A1 at the top. Note that you
should not alter any cells in the first table “Three-Year Projection.”
Excel automatically calculates these totals from the numbers that
appear below.
6. First you begin with income. Review the categories of income (10-
43). Excel will copy all entrance fee categories from the “Visitation”
sheet. You need to write the amount charged per visitor category in
Column C. Excel will then multiply the number of visitors by the fee
amount to give you income. Excel does not multiply in the second
and third year by a sales volume amount because the increase has
already been reflected in the increasing number of visitors per year.
You can see why it is important not to include non-paying visitors
in the “Visitation” sheet as Excel assumes that all visitors in the
first sheet do pay a fee. So, non-paying visitors should be recorded
somewhere else.
7. Write down any other fees such as licenses or concessions fees.
Include the amount in Column C and the number of fee payers in the
column marked “visitors” (D, F, H); Excel will calculate the totals.
8. Type in all the services offered by the site (only those services for
which the site collects income; do not include services operated by
private service providers such as tour operators or concessionaires)
in section 2 “Services.” In Column C put the amount or average
amount (such as at a restaurant) that the customer spends on this
service. The price is determined generally by taking the variable cost
and multiplying by the profit margin which is 20−30% in general for
tourism. You can calculate a price based on your costs plus profit or
by seeing what other similar services charge in other sites or in the
private sector. You can modify it later after you see the results of
the Break-Even Analysis.
In the next column “Sales,” type in the number of expected
sales (usually the number of customers who purchase the service).
You have to make conservative estimates about what percentage of
visitors will actually purchase. You might need to consult historical
data or else get estimates from similar service providers outside of

the site or in other sites. Excel assumes a 10% increase in sales in
the following two years and calculates the totals accordingly.
9. For other sources of income, record the loans, amounts, and
number of loans (“units”). Since every loan is different (whether for
a building, a vehicle, or meet short-term cash flow shortfalls), Excel
makes no assumptions and simply adds up the total amounts.
10. Include the portion of membership income retained by the public
use program. Do not include money that goes to other programs in
the site. For “units” you can write the number of people if you like.
Again Excel only calculates the total money for the three years.
11. For interest/investment you can include the number of accounts
under “units” and also the total amount of interest you anticipate
retained by the public use program for each year. If it is a fixed
interest amount, you could make a formula to reflect the percentage
increase over the three years. This would apply normally just to
savings or checking accounts that pay interest.
12. Add any debts owed to the public use program. Include the
amounts in the years you expect these debts to be paid.
13. Many sites receive budget transfers from governments or other
grants. Include the donors and purpose in the Notes column. Type
in the amount of money to be spent in each year. Some grants are
multiple-year, so do not include the full amount of the grant in just
one year if it is paid out over three years.
14. Make sure that all the totals in Column J and rows 53 and 54
look correct and have been recorded in the “Three-Year Projection”
above. Never assume that the formulas are always correct. You can
easily make small changes by adding columns/rows or accidentally
erasing formulas in cells that will cause the totals to reflect incorrect
information.
15. Write down any assumptions you make in determining numbers
in the Notes, Column K. You will need this to justify your choices
and remind you of how you arrived at your choices later on. You can
also use the Comments function in Excel. Select the cell in question
and Insert > Comments.
16. See the “Costs” section on the same sheet. Review cost categories
(10-44).
17. Write down all startup costs for this sector during the next three
years. Excel will total them. Do not forget to write down for what
they are in the notes cell. Also include in the notes which startup
costs are distributed among programs and how much.
18. Go service by service in the sector and write down all the
variable costs, that is, all those that directly depend on the number of
customers served. It is not always clear if a cost is fixed or variable,
the important thing is to be consistent throughout the financial plan.
Type in Column C the variable cost per sale. In the first year type

the number of sales or clients for which the cost will be charged Labor Time
(Column D). The computer then multiplies the number of sales by Volunteer time can be accounted
20% per year, 10% for sales increase and 10% for inflation (you may for as contributions and valued
in monetary terms. You should
have different assumptions for your site) and then totals them. only count volunteer time from
19. Write down all the fixed costs both for services offered and also people outside the organization,
for any public use infrastructure or operations in the sector. Do however. Counting time donated
by your board of directors or
note that there is a sheet for general program-wide costs, so do not other formal volunteer advisors
include, for example, your salary unless you have a good reason to might bias your figures, mak-
charge your salary to a particular sector. This will make the sector ing it seem you have had more
volunteer help than you actually
seem much more costly when compared to other sectors when you have had.
do the all-sector comparison in the sheet “Projection.” Again, you
may need to distribute costs among different programs. Do note that
in Column C. FTE means “full-time equivalent.” This is the number
of equivalent people, rather than the actual number of people. For
example instead of hiring 2 full-time maintenance people, you might
hire 4 half-time maintenance people. Both would be 2 FTE. Or
maybe you hire 5 (2.5 FTE). You might also distribute personnel
among different sites, so again you need to record in equivalents,
not in real people. Similarly where it says “Distribution” include the
percentage of the total fixed cost applied to public use. Excel does
not use this number to calculate costs, rather the column is there as
an additional notes column.
20. As always, you may need to do additional research on costs if
you are unsure of a reasonable estimate or feel uncomfortable with
the accuracy of the estimate. The more accurate your estimates, the
more informed your decision-making, but do not expect perfectly
accurate either now on your first draft or ever, since real life always
changes from predictions.
21. For other fixed costs, include them as necessary.
22. You should have determined a conservation contribution during
Module 1 (TOR). If not, then you must do so in Module 10. There
are a number of ways of calculating the contribution, considering
either net or gross income, over different periods of time (weeks or
months), etc. PUP recommends one particular way which is simply a
percentage of gross earned income (fees + services)1. It does not take
a percentage of other unearned income. You may of course include 1“Earned” means that the site collects money for services
some forms of unearned income such as membership or donations provided; it does not include money given to the site
through grants or transfers.
simply by adding their corresponding cells to the summing formula,
but it might be easier simply to raise the percentage a little more.
Neither way is wrong. The contribution sums will be reflected above
in the Three Year Projection and in the sheet called “Conservation.”
As recommended above, you should review all totals for accuracy.
23. Repeat this process for all other sectors including any sheet that
records low-priority sectors.
24. The sheet “Program” records income and costs not specific to

any particular sector. Without this sheet, you will have to include
for example your salary or rent for the central office to one sector,
making it seem like it costs much more than it does. The other
option is to distribute your salary across all sectors. But to distribute
all program-wide costs and income is much more work. It is also
much easier to see if you record program-wide money flow in one
sheet. The sheet is essentially the same as the sector sheets except it
assumes that there are no entrance fees in the program-wide sheet
since all visitors must physically enter through some sector in the
site. There may be concessions or services that serve the entire site
that you may want to include here. Or you may want to include one
service that so dominates site income that, even though it is located
in a particular sector, you do not want to include it in that sector’s
spreadsheet because it will make the sector look more profitable than
it is. For example, one main restaurant at the gate could be considered
a program-wide service since it generates so much money. Where
you put it depends on your needs and preferences.
25. Fill out the “Contributions Register” (Access file found in the
Appendix for this module) for the present year which will be used by
the site and PUP as baseline in determining donations. See reasons
for using a Register (10-45).
Break-even point analysis can be very useful

for managing site investments.

VI. Calculating Break-Even Points of Services
What Does It Mean?
Explain
Many businesses do some kind of break-even analysis. It is essential
especially for investors to know at what point a business or specific
product will cover its costs and begin making a profit. If it takes
too long before an investor can expect a return, then it is likely he
will not invest. Thus a new business wants to demonstrate that it
will return a profit within a reasonable period of time and that the
profit is sufficient enough to make all stakeholders happy. For many
industries, three years is a standard break-even time. For others
that might require greater capital investment, perhaps five years is a
break-even point.
In any case, although uncommon for sites, it is useful
information for a site manager to know when and how much its
services will make money. If they never make money (and they could
be subsidized depending on their financial objective set in Module
5) or break even in 10 years, then either the service (or “product”
more generally) must be reformulated or perhaps dropped because
it is not profitable to run under a given set of assumptions.
Another use of break-even is to help you know whether or
not the sector meets its financial objectives. It is quite possible to
offer a service at a loss (requiring subsidies) and is often the case such
as educational programs for local people where the site may charge
nothing. If it does this, it must find the money elsewhere to pay for
the project. Maybe the project needs only break even and thus have
a very small or 0% profit margin or perhaps it should break even in
three years to be a viable profit-generating service. It all depends on
the objectives you identified in Module 5.
PUP walks you through inputting data into the break-even
point analysis which Excel then calculates for you. After you have
calculated the BEPs, you may find you need to go back and adjust
your assumptions, change visitation objectives, reduce the costs, or
otherwise modify the service so its numbers are acceptable to the
site. Note this does not mean invent numbers so that the final BEPs
come out the way you like them. If you write down unrealistically
high visitation numbers or unrealistically low costs, you are in effect
lying to yourself and will pay the price later on when you find you
do not have the money you projected.
How Do I Do It?
Facilitate
Break even point is about calculating how many sales (which are
usually people in the case of tourism) and how much money you
need to earn to cover your costs (fixed and variable). So given a
certain number of paying customers and certain set of costs, how
many years after you begin offering the service will your income
exactly equal your costs. This is the break-even point. The very next
dollar earned, then, is profit. PUP will not go in detail about how
BEP is calculated but if you are interested you can infer it from the
formulas and notes in the sheet “BEP” (10-57). If you have further
questions, contact your PUP technical assistant.
Facilitate
1. If the formulas or cell locations in previous sector sheets have not
changed, then Excel will have correctly placed the sector names and
services in the corresponding cells on this sheet. But double-check
just to make sure everything is correct.
2. For each service, type in the variable cost which comes from
Column C under variable costs for each service in each sector.
3. The fixed costs require a little more work to generate. For each
service, find all related fixed costs in the same sheet. Then add to
that all start up costs associated with the service. You might need to
distribute these fixed costs among several services (for example, a
restaurant, conference room rental, and interpretive programs might
all contribute to the fixed costs of a visitor center). This should
already be noted in the sector sheet. Note, PUP considers startup
costs as a kind of fixed cost.
4. Then include the sales price for each service, also taken from
Column C, in the services income section of each sector sheet.
5. The sales volume or number of people who purchase the service
comes from the same sheet. We want the sales volume for ALL 3
years. So add them up.
6. Total sales volume in dollars comes from Column J for each service
in the income section.
7. The following columns (H-M) are all calculated automatically by
Excel.
H. Marginal Contribution is the total amount of money the service

makes in three years after you have subtracted all the variable costs
(for all customers combined) from the total sales volume.
I. Marginal Individual Contribution is the same as above except is
the contribution for each individual, rather than all the customers
combined.
J. Percentage Marginal individual Contribution is simply dividing I by
the sales price, so that you know what your percentage earning is.
K. The BEP is the tricky formula. Here we are dividing the total fixed
costs by the percentage marginal individual contribution. In other
words, given that we make a certain amount of money per individual
above the variable costs, how long does it take before that earning

covers all the fixed costs for the service?
L. This BEP tells us the same thing except in terms of number of
customers rather than dollars.
M. Last, we know how many years (or fractions of years) will it take
to break-even and begin making a profit on this service.
8. Note that if you start up a service in year 2 or 3 of this financial

plan, you will not have enough data to calculate the BEP because you
do not know how many people will be served over three years. You
could easily calculate that and insert that information. Of course a
three-year financial plan is arbitrary and cuts our view short of all
on-going activities beyond three years.
9. To analyze, you need to consider if the BEP is an acceptable
amount of time. PUP arbitrarily recommends that all services should
break even within three years, perhaps even sooner. If they do not,
you need to go back and re-consider your assumptions. If they are
as correct and accurate as you can make them, then you might need
to cut costs or otherwise modify your service. You may even find it
is simply uneconomical and that either you subsidize or cut it from
the plan.
10. Ask yourself if the service is making the appropriate financial
contribution to the site. After three years or less will it be making
sufficient money? You may also find that a particular service breaks-
even very quickly and perhaps you might consider raising the price
and increasing your profit margin to 30% or more. Do note, however,
if you increase the price you may decrease the number of customers.
To know that relationship requires a willingness-to-pay survey of
potential customers (site visitors) or a careful comparison with the
prices and types of customers of similar services in other sites or in
the private sector. So be very careful when raising the price and try
not to do it only using intuition. Discuss with your PUP technical
assistant or private sector business advisors.

VII. Analyzing Site Finances
What Does It Mean?
Explain
Another analysis you will do is of the entire public use program. With
the sector tables (examples starting on 10-58), you will be able to
see which sectors are generating the money and which are spending
it (profit and cost centers). This will help you visualize how money
flows through the system and where your spending priorities are.
It also demonstrates who contributes how much to conservation.
Perhaps most important you can see where funding shortfalls exist,
allowing you the opportunity to either come up with strategies to
find resources or cut back your vision. All these data should align
with your site-wide public use strategy. If they do not, you may need
to go and modify the layout of services and distribution of funds
in the sectors.
How Do I Do It?
Do
1. Consider the sheet “Projection” and the table “Net Cash Flow”
(10-58). Check to make sure the formulas and cell references are
correct. Excel calculates all the data in this table.
2. Analyze the results to make sure the cost and profit centers are
where you want them. Make sure that program-wide costs are in
program and that no costs or incomes are in the wrong sectors,
Keep Visitor and Visitation Infor-
mation Separate
confusing your data. Make sure results match your public use site-
The visitation totals in the “Visi- wide strategy.
tation” sheet will be multiplied 3. Just as above, Excel calculates all the conservation contributions in
by the fees, so the assumption
is that all visitors will be charged
the table, “Conservation Contribution by Sector” (10-59). Here you
a use fee. If the site is unable to can see where the contributions come from, and hence where the site
charge all the visitors for what- is generating earned income. Sometimes for different stakeholders,
ever reason, do not include them
in these totals. Any site can have
marketing resources, telling visitors where their entrance fees go, it
a visitor ledger, the data of which is important to know where the money is coming from and where
can be registered in a database it is going.
along with mailing addresses
and other demographic informa-
4. Turn to the sheet “Conservation.” The sheet has the same table
tion about the visitors. This is a as in “Projection.” It is repeated for easy reference. In this table
task that does not correspond you connect the conservation money with the target conservation
to finances, so we strongly rec-
ommend that you do not try to
projects identified, most likely, in Module 1’s TOR.
count or describe the visitors in 5. Type in the projects that you have identified to receive public use
the financial plan sheets. funding. Type in the total annual funding for the conservation project
on the same line where indicated.
6. Then add 1−4 (or more if you wish) line item expenses for each
project that are appropriate to be funded by public use.

7. Now assign or allocate available conservation funds to the line Benefits Plan
items in the projects (in order of priority). Ideally in the future, the financial
plan will be more of a “benefits
8. Divide the amount funded to the line item by the total cost of the
plan” that measures inputs and
line item to calculate the percentage of each line item being funded outputs in terms of not only
by public use contributions. money, but other kinds of ben-
efits that a site and a public can
9. Now the public use program can express its conservation
derive from a protected area.
contribution as a percentage of line items, percentage of a project’s There are ecological services
total budget, and total contributions to several projects across (water, clean air, erosion control)
that can be valued economically,
several years. This can be expressed qualitatively as, “We were
and there are other intangible
50% responsible for the protection of the hummingbird.” Or “We services (spiritual, philosophi-
were responsible for a 40-bird increase in the population (overall cal, and, to some degree educa-
tional) that have intrinsic value
increase of 80 birds) due to the project.” Similarly public use can
and, according to many thinkers,
claim an equally weighted loss if the project fails. Some donors and should not be valuated economi-
stakeholders may like this quantification and others may not. So cally. How many of these relate
to public use is a discussion for
decide if it is appropriate for every use.
another day.
10. Consider the final worksheet, “Startup” (10-60) and the
table, “Startup Costs for the Public Use Program.” Excel inputs
sector names, startup items, and costs if formulas and cell
references have not been altered. Review them for accuracy.
11. This table allows you to identify where, when, and how are startup
costs for the different sectors within the program. It also requests
that you identify possible sources of funding. While it is tempting
to put whatever comes to your mind, it is important this is well
thought out since the search for these funds must be placed into the
Calendar of Activities from Module 9. Without assigning dates and
responsible people for pursuing those funding sources, it is merely
dreaming without the seriousness of reality. You may find out that
the amount of money that you want is way beyond your site’s means.
If this is so, then you should go back and CUT unrealistic startup
costs. Note: one big barrier to implementing strategic plans is that
sites aim to do so much that it depresses them and they do nothing.
They then blame LACK OF RESOURCES as an excuse for not
implementing. This table is designed specifically to make sure your
needs are reasonably within your means. If they are not, this is your
responsibility and fault, not that of the planning process or plan.
12. The other table, “Other Funding Shortfalls,” (10-60) attempts to
identify funding shortfalls related instead to Fixed Costs or Other
Costs rather than startup costs. (We assume that for any service
that has variable costs, those are being covered by the income they
generate.) This table is used in the exact same fashion as the one
above. Do not forget to include the fund raising effort in the Calendar
of Activities. Of course you might need to remove something already
in the calendar to allow time to raise the funds. Strategic planning is
about making choices, finding the most efficient and equitable means
to achieve well-defined ends.

13. If you need to go back and cut costs to make ends meet,
consider that it is usually easier to fund raise for startup costs than
recurring costs. Donors prefer to build things, they prefer to start
things with which they can then associate their names. To the
extent possible, try to cover recurring costs with earned income.
The shortfall that you allow in your public use plan should not be
greater than the startup costs. If the shortfall is greater than the
startup costs, then you are including recurring fixed costs as well in
your shortfall and these are harder to fund with unearned income.
Future Steps
After finishing the financial plan, all the results will go to a
committee for final review, before producing PUP version 1.0. You
may also need to consult with stakeholders if you had to change
products, sector strategies, or other elements that came from
previous modules.
Evaluation
1. Were the above instructions clear and explicit enough for you to
complete the exercise?
2. Did you make any changes to your plans as a result of the financial
plan? If so, which ones? If not, why not?
3. Can you suggest way to improve the instructions or the Excel
spreadsheets?
Post-Workshop Task 1: Adapting the Accounting System

Once you have finished creating these financial documents, then a
trained accountant or perhaps the site administrator needs to adapt
them to the accounting system, which is usually based on national
accounting standards. Most countries have their own accounting
Remember: all your work results standards and formats. The Excel spreadsheets presented in this
in happy visitors and protected module do not conform specifically to any one country. Your chief
(from tourism-related impacts
anyway) heritage!
financial person must decide to what extent these tables can be used
and integrated into the local accounting practices. If this step does
not happen, then there is little chance that real financial data will
flow through these sheets or that the site’s accounting system will be
improved to control for essential public use financial data, necessary
to run the public use program with more business-like efficiency.

Post-Workshop Task 2: Updating the Calendar of Activities
Once you complete this module, you will likely find that you added a
number of new needs to the program. The bigger needs may require
actual dates (step cards) in your Calendar of Activities from Module
9. For instance if you need additional trainings or built infrastructure,
you will need to place these in your calendar. Additionally you may
have added or subtracted activities and products based on your
financial analyses. These modifications to the public use strategy
need to be reflected in your calendar.

♦ Introductory letter to financial team members
♦ Program needs tables
♦ Financial plan accounting assumptions
♦ Kinds of income
♦ Kinds of costs
♦ Purposes of a contributions register
♦ Pros and cons for site entrance fees
♦ Additional information on site fees
♦ “Ecotourism’s Conservation Connection” by Jon Kohl. www.
jonkohl.com/publications/a-m/ecotourism-P-R-Mag.htm
♦ Cham Island Biosphere Reserve financial plan

Focus Question:
Can we produce budgetary data of sufficient quality to
help us distinguish between a PUP dream and a PUP
vision?
• Develop a financial projection • Get excited about the new power in

• Use the projection for planning public use planning
Days/Hours Activity Notes

Introduction
1 hour Explaining the process
Defining Needs
1 day Defining needs for the public use program
Establishing Site Fees

1–3 days Establishing site fees Includes research
Setting Objectives
1–3 hours Setting objectives
Determining Cost and Income by Sector

5−7 days Determining costs and income Includes research
Calculating Break-Even Points of Services

1 day Calculating BEPs Includes analysis
Analyzing Site Finances

1 day Analyzing site finances
variable Modifying PUP based on results Consult with stakeholders
Future Steps & Evaluation
30 minutes Reviewing future steps and evaluating With financial team
Post-Workshop Task 1: Adapting the Accounting System

Variable Adapting results to accounting system Site financial people
Post-Workshop Task 2: Updating the Calendar of Activities

2−3 hours Updating the Calendar of Activities

10
Financial Plan
Purpose: Define a financial plan for three years, estimating income, costs, and break-even points
for services, and conservation contributions of the entire program.
Focus Question: Can we produce budgetary data of sufficient quality to help us distinguish
between a PUP dream and a PUP vision?
Summary: A small financial team will determine program needs, fees, and finances for all planned
services in the upcoming three years. By calculating these numbers and doing a break-even
analysis for each service, the site will know where the cost and profit centers are (in terms of
sectors) and which services are most appropriate to the site-wide public use strategy. The data
will also help in estimating visitation, investment, and where costs might be cut. To accomplish
this requires some cost research and estimates based on similar enterprises in other sites. The
accuracy of these estimates will increase with time and experience.
Format: Private work sessions with independent research
Time: 3−4 weeks
Materials: Excel spreadsheets, Access database, and telephone access
Participants (4-5): PUC, site director, site administrator and accountant, private sector person
with experience in product financing and planning, another person with experience and interest
in financial planning
Deliverables: Financial plan, contributions register

Introductory Letter to Financial Team Members
As you know PUP has gone on now through nine modules and now we are approaching the climatic
Module 10: “Financial Plan.” In this module we bring all of our previous decisions together and ground
them in real financial data. We learn how realistic our wishes have been, whether we are pursuing a
possible vision or an impossible dream. Module 10 asks us to determine what other needs we have to
build our public use program, what fees will we charge, how much will we make, how much will it cost
us, how much can we contribute to conservation, and how much more money do we need to make it
all work.
When we are done the PUP will be a business plan as well as a financial plan for public use
in our protected area. Not only will it help us plan better, but it will also make us more attractive to
donors as we have thought through very carefully the financial side of our plans. And in our society, if
a thing is quantified and has been budgeted, then it is real. Whether or not this is a good perspective,
it is one many people  especially government and donors  believe.
To make this happen over the next three weeks or so, our site has put together a financial
planning team. The methodology calls for a group of five people that are roughly composed of the
following people:
1. Public use coordinator (name)

2. Site director (name)
3. Site administrator or accountant (name)
4. Private sector person with experience in product and financial planning (name)
5. Some other person with interest in finances and project planning (name)
To accomplish this task, we will need to meet a couple times a week for the next three weeks and do
some work independently. I will be in charge of research, that is, it will be necessary to call other sites
and private sector service providers to see what they charge for services and how much they estimate
certain kinds of costs are so that we have reasonable data for our own estimations. In many cases when
we meet, we will sit together and discuss needs and how much things cost. There are many assumptions
to be made.
Since we strongly believe it is necessary to manage public use as a business, then we need a
business perspective and some business tools. We may need to look differently at how we track finances
in the site. We will look at public use as a sub-unit or division within the site with its own budget. This
way we can track all money in and out and calculate where money is being earned and lost, just like a
business does. Hopefully this way, we can more ably calculate how much money we can contribute to
our site’s conservation.
I look very much forward to working with you and will be sending along an initial schedule
for meetings. Of course depending on how things proceed, we may update this schedule. Thank you
very much for your support of our site and helping public use here become a financially viable and
productive element of site and conservation operations.
Public Use Coordinator

Needs Lagoon World Equipment
Heritage Site
Sector
of CraterYear Cost Equipment Description Source
Mountain area 2004 0 10 search and rescue radios For park guards, when searching Donate from Red Cross
2005 0 5 guns Perimeter patrols Donate from Army
2004 $500 12 sleeping bags and 2 tents To sleep in the mountains Purchase
River City 2007 variable 2 motor canoes To sail up river Lease from locals
Crater Lagoon 2007 0 12 solar panels Reduce use of the plant International Solar Foundation
2004 $250 Telescope Stargazing Purchase
2006 0 Special ferry To cross the lagoon, camouflaged Concession
Program-wide 2004 0 15 pairs binoculars Guards, guides, educators Donate from Birdwatchers Group
Infrastructure
Sector Year Cost Infrastructure Description Source
Main Entrance 2004 $2,400 Electric gate Stop speeding vehicles Contract out
2005 $3,400 Expand reception area Room is too small Contract out
2005 $300 Fence along road Stop motorcycles from running over delicate vegetation Build by maintenance staff
Ciudad Grande 2007 $700 Garage For overnight vehicles Contract out
Crater Lagoon 2004 $200 Entrance to mountain trail Better orientation Build by maintenance staff
River City 2007 $15,000 Visitor Center Needed as base for extension program to river fishermen With university
Overlook Mountains 2004 $500 Refuges To spend the night, cost is for material, transport Build by international volunteers
Staff and Training
Sector Year Cost Personnel/training Description Source
Program-wide 6/04 $25,000/ Night surveillance Supervisor to set up and coordinate surveillance throughout 50% with protection program
yr supervisor the park at night, especially at the gateways.
04−05 0 Annual first-aid training for Necessary to advertise higher quality service in park. Red Cross
guards Reduce accident insurance.
2004 15,000/ reservationist Located at main office to make hotel, camping and other Hire, 50% with Big Lake Park

yr reservations for Big Lake Park nearby.
Crater Lagoon 2005 $12,000/ 1 janitor General maintenance and cleaning Hire
yr
Ciudad Grande 2005 0 2 educators Does not include volunteers working there. Grant from Conservation Worldwide
Overlook Mountains 2004 0 2 guides Private sector, coordinate with park reservationist. Share with Big Sky Tours
River City 2004 0 2 boat operators Private sector, coordinator with park reservationist Locals, per trip basis
Systems
Sector Year Cost System Description Source
Program-wide 2005 $2,000 Payroll system Software, system, and training Consultant
2004 $400 New ticket design Ticket is unprofessional looking, non-electronic counter Consultant
Crater Lagoon 2004 $500 Quality Control Teach maintenance supervisor how to inspect and respond Consultant
to quality issues
10-41
Financial Plan Accounting Assumptions
1. This financial plan only tracks money that comes through public
use. If a site guard is part of the protection program, then his salary is
not recorded in this financial plan. For fixed costs shared by different
units or programs within the site, the costs are distributed among
the programs. The public use share is in this plan. Money to cover
that share is also considered income for public use.
2. Donations generated by or going to public use functions are
recorded in the spreadsheets.
3. Volunteer time is accounted as a contribution, but only for people
outside the organization. Thus, the plan does not count the time
donated by board of directors or other formal advisors. Volunteer
time is calculated as number of hours multiplied by regular market
rate to have hired this person.
4. The plan assumes a five percent increase in annual sales volume,
thus implying a five percent increase in variable costs. The site can
increase this as necessary.
5. The plan does not use depreciation indexes for the reasons stated
earlier (10-26). Lifetimes for furniture (replacement time) is eight
years, and everything else has a three-year life. These are standard
accounting assumptions.
6. We recognize that not all benefits are monetary, and we will try
to describe them in narrative form or find ways of assigning them
monetary values. In short, they will not be ignored.
7. The plan applies an annual increase of 10 percent due to inflation
for expenses, though the site should adjust this amount to be
consistent with its own country’s reality. It does not apply the same
percentage to income, which is determined more precisely through
visitation estimates. Inflation does not directly affect income, as it
does costs.
8. Salaries already include benefits (medical, retirement, severance,
etc.).
9. The plan assumes that the site will charge all visitors who arrive.
It is possible, however, that the site will not be able to collect from
each and every visitor. These visitors are not included in the visitation
table. The site, if it desires, should try to estimate these outside of
the financial plan.
10. The average margin of profitability in tourism is 20−30%. This
can be used to price services.

Kinds of Income
1. Fees. Sites charge fees both to visitors and service providers. The
first kind of fee is the entrance fee for which there are usually several
tiers (different kinds of entrance fees based on types of visitors).
Then there are other fees that include concessions, permits, licenses,
and other use fees for both visitors and service providers.
2. Services. Sites can offer a variety of services to visitors and service
providers. Common services include food, lodging, parking, gift shop
items, photocopying, etc. Services can also be outsourced.
3. Loans. This money comes into the public use program when the
site takes out a loan for public use purposes. All loan principal plus
interest repayment is recorded as “4. Other Costs.”
4. Membership. Income generated from visitor membership
programs or other programs such as adopt-an-animal or similar
programs. This money might be distributed to different programs
depending on how the site manages it. Record only income that
enters the public use program.
5. Unrestricted donations. Income generated from any unrestricted
monetary donations, with the exception of guide tips which are
retained by the guides. Donations can be solicited or unsolicited, by
tourists or major corporations. The quality they all share in common
is that the donor places no restrictions on how or where the money
should be spent (with the possible restriction of spending it on public
use). A donation targeted for a specific end such as a building would
be registered a restricted grant. All donations are recorded in the
“Contributions Register.”
6. Interest/Investment. Income generated from interest on any
financial investments or savings accounts held by the public use
program and retained by the program.
7. Pending payments. These are monies owed to the public use
program from the previous year.
8. Transfers/Restricted Grants. Sites that are run by governments
receive a portion of their operating expenses from the government
or from special funds. If these regular government transfers or
allocations are used in public use, they are considered “transfers.”
If a donor gives money to a site for a specific or restricted purpose,
those are recorded here as well.

Kinds of Costs
1. Startup costs. These are one-time big investments in public use
programming, such as computers, furniture, construction, trainings,
consultants to set up a new information system, etc. They are not
recurring costs and arbitrarily they would be greater than $300. For
purposes of calculating the Break-Even Point, startup costs are
considered fixed costs. Sometimes it is said that startup + fixed costs
= overhead. To simplify, PUP does not use “overhead.”
2. Variable costs. These are recurring costs tied to the amount of
business done. For example, if there are more visitors, then the site
needs to spend more money on printing tickets, more informational
brochures, and has more maintenance expenses, due to greater wear
from visitor use.
3. Fixed costs. These are recurring costs that must be paid regardless
of the number of visitors that come to the site, or the amount of
business that the site does. They include salaries, utilities, rent, routine
office expenses, insurance, regular marketing materials (although
actual brochures handed out to visitors in the site would be variable),
and others.
4. Other costs. These include repayment of any debts (such as loans),
payment of taxes, or transfers to conservation projects, government,
or other programs within the site.

Purposes of a Contributions Register
The register is used only for contributions related to public use. The
following should not appear in the register: if the site requests a
scholarship to send its agronomist to a course or if it applies for a
grant to expand the agroforestry program.
1. You can calculate the net worth of the entire program, which is
defined as donations + cash on-hand + assets. This can be a useful
way of demonstrating the growth of the program, or showing the
economic value of the public use operation.
2. You can set income targets if you track donations. You should
strive for an increase in gross donations each year.
3. You can track dependence on donors, and percentage of income
earned through contributions. More sophisticated organizations try
to achieve a certain mix of revenue sources. They may not want to
be overly dependent on grant proposals or on visitation fees. By
tracking contributions, they can draw a clearer picture of where their
resources come from and where they go.
4. By registering what donations come in and where they go, the site
can demonstrate if public use is actually supporting conservation (or
any other objective). Thus it is an important evaluation tool.
5. By capturing data about donors, the site can develop follow-up
programs to cultivate them and involve them in longer-term giving
or membership programs for the site.
6. By recording which staff is responsible for bringing in donations
to the site, the site can reward them and encourage others who may
not be achieving as much as they could in that area (especially useful
for guides).

Pros and Cons of Entrance Fees
Since most sites including those in the United States are under-funded, often drastically so, PUP assumes that its collaborators
will want entrance fees. Nonetheless we share here some arguments for and against entrance fees.
Pros
♦ There are costs and benefits to the site for citizens even those who do not physically visit. But when one visits
a site, that implies additional costs, environmental, financial, experiential, that the visitors should cover with an
entrance fee.
♦ Government budget allocations almost never cover the full costs of operating the site. Thus it must make up the
difference through other means. By not charging entrance fees, very often the conservation of the site’s resources
is one of the first areas to suffer.
♦ Entrance fees help the site move towards financial independence, a status the site can use to gain additional political
and financial support.
♦ By not charging or undercharging the entrance fee, the site is subsidizing users. This is especially true of international
visitors who are normally capable and willing to pay significantly higher entrance fees. Poor countries, many argue,
should not be subsidizing richer visitors.
♦ Small charges often have little impact on visitation but can be very helpful in maintaining services.
♦ Charging fees gives greater value to the site resource in the eyes of visitors. Some evidence exists that this can
reduce vandalism in a site and that people in general have greater appreciation for the site.
♦ Entrance fees, if tiered, can be flexible enough to accommodate different users and their abilities to pay.
♦ Site fees can control congestion. By raising fees during certain parts of the year or for certain kinds of visitors,
sites can control their numbers.
♦ Site fees can remove the inequitable advantages realized by free access to public sites.
♦ When sites make it clear that fees are used for conservation or improvement of services, visitors are usually much
more willing to pay it. Some even insist on contributing when it helps site conservation.
♦ Those who do not participate in public site or recreation activities are taxed for a service they do not use. Visitor
use fees guarantee that only consumers of recreation pay for the site and bear the cost of their activities.
♦ When there is no fee, people may overuse and poorly treat the site resource.
♦ By charging an entrance fee, the site has a point of contact with the visitors which is useful both for collecting
visitor data as well as sharing regulations and delivering other important messages.
♦ By charging a fee, sites feel greater obligation to offer better services and management to recreation consumers.
If they do not contribute, sites do not have to respond to their needs.
♦ By charging (and retaining fees), sites improve self-sufficiency and do not need to appease politicians as much.
Cons
♦ Locals visiting a protected area which is national property is a national right. Sites are to some extent supported
through citizen taxation.
♦ Entrance fees can reduce visitation and reduced numbers can hurt local businesses.
♦ Entrance fees can make a business operation too costly to be able to compete with other products.
♦ Entrance fee collection costs money.
♦ When only one standard fee is charged, that can have a disproportionate impact on local and poor residents than
on international visitors.
♦ Using entrance fees as a form of visitation control is often considered an unfair technique by pricing some people
out of visiting the site.
♦ When it is unclear where fees go (such as back to the central government), people and businesses are less likely
to want to pay.
♦ Visitor use fees may alter the social roles of manager and visitor, transforming them into seller and buyer. This
type of shift could possibly change the rights, responsibilities, and obligations of managers and visitor.
♦ Local individuals are charged for protected area resources twice, once through taxes and again through use fees.
♦ Some object to paying for what has traditionally been free. Some object strongly to the idea that citizens should
have to pay for access to their own land.

Who Offers Which Services in a Site
Site Operator
Charged Services Charged Services
♦ Admission fee $ ♦ Transportation to protected area $

♦ Restaurant $ ♦ Package design and marketing $
♦ Transportation inside site (horse, boat, cable car, ♦ Guiding $
airplane, etc.) $ ♦ Food $
♦ Special equipment (binoculars, tents, flashlights, ♦ Special equipment (trekking, rafting.) $
sleeping bags, telescopes, vests, helmets, boots, bird ♦ Lodging (hotel) $
guide, etc.) $ ♦ Other
♦ Sale of souvenirs, handicrafts, insect repellent,
maps, water, other field gear $
♦ Guiding and program offerings $
♦ Trails, towers, etc. $
♦ Special events (concerts, children’s games,
carnivals, Environment Day celebration,
presentations by experts, etc.) $
♦ Space rental in visitor centers $
♦ Lodging (cabins, camping area, lodge, community
house) $
Free Services
♦ Security
♦ Restrooms (although sometimes they are paid)
♦ Protection of protected areas
♦ Management of wildlife and attractions
♦ Administration
♦ Signage
♦ Roads
♦ Promotion
♦ Understanding of the site
Several of these services can be grouped to charge one fee only or they can be sold separately.

Crater Lagoon World Heritage Site Financial Plan
The following fictional example of Crater Lagoon’s financial
plan is meant only to illustrate how the numbers flow through
the spreadsheets and how different kinds of situations, costs,
this sector, except infant/seniors with

Thus only 2% increase in visitation in
incomes, etc. are represented in them. The numbers are com-
No general entrance in this sector

Assume 10% increase in visitation
pletely invented and should not be used as a reference for pric-
Visitation stable for many years.

ing. Furthermore the example represents a first draft before
Crater Lagoon officials go back to their public use plan and
modify it and their financial assumptions to make the numbers
no expected increase.
more acceptable. You may also consult the Excel version of this
example in the Appendix. This is useful for seeing the formulas
in action. For a complete set of formulas unmodified for the
in this sector.
example, you should review the blank financial plan templates
found at the same location.
Notes
41,248
23,815
17,432
18,222
4,085
Total
31,381
13,160
7,757
3,672
2,109
1,509
600
0
14,628
2,742
2006
11,135
8,706
5,922
4,474
6,661
1,248
1,493
752
200
552
0
10,442
13,725
2005
6,056
2,581
4,386
5,810
7,915
1,224
1,357
702
200
502
0
0
Projected Visitation (General Entrances)
12,895
9,805
2,434
2004
5,700
5,505
4,300
1,200
7,195
1,234
656
200
456
0
Grand Total Entrances

Visitor Category
Infant/Senior
International
Infant/Senior
Infant/Senior
International
International
Nationals
2. Park Entrance National
National
3. Overlook Mountains
1. Crater Lagoon
Total Entrance
Total Entrance
Total Entrance
Entrances
Sector
Totals
Projected visitation

Crater Lagoon sector
Three Year Projection 2004 2005 2 006 Total Notes

Income Do Not Modify Any Figure -- They Adjust Automatically.
1. Fees 525 551 579 1,655
2. Services 47,847 52,631 63,395 163,873
3. Loans 0 0 0 0
4. Membership 0 0 0 0
5. Unrestricted donations 0 0 0 0
6. Interest/Investment 0 0 0 0
7. Payments Pending 0 0 0 0
8. Transfer/Restricted Grants 0 0 0 0
Total Income 48,372 53,183 63,973 165,528
Costs Costs
1. Startup Costs 0 0 56,200 56,200
2. Variable Costs 15,824 37,116 26,057 78,997
3. Fixed Costs 91,650 113,233 126,044 330,927
4. Other Costs 0 2,000 2,000 4,000
5. Conservation Contribution 2,419 2,659 3,199 8,276
Total Costs 112,311 157,667 216,698 486,676
Profits/Losses -$63,939 -$104,484 -$152,725 -$321,148 Crater Lagoon
Income 2004 2005 2 006 Total Notes

1. VFees Amount ($) Visitors Income Visitors Income Visitors Income Income
None Entrances: Do Not Modify These Figures - They Adjust Automatically.
0 0 0 0
Permits
Street vendors 50 10 525 10 551 10 579 1,655 annual fee, limited # of vendors
Total Fees 525 551 579 1,655
2. Servic es Sales Income Sales Income Sales Income Income
95% people who come through Park Entrance
Restaurant 8 5,126 41,012 5,639 45,113 6,203 49,624 135,748 go to Crater Lagoon.
Gift Shop 5 1,367 6,835 1,504 7,519 1,654 8,271 22,625
Parking Lot 0 0 No charge, included to show all services
Bungalow Begins in 2006; BEP must be calculated
National 15 200 3,000 3,000 using a different spread sheet beyond
International 25 100 2,500 2,500 this financial plan.
Infants/Seniors 10 50 500 500
Total Services 47,847 52,631 63,395 163,873
Other Sources of Inc ome Units Income Units Income Units Income Income
3. Loans 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
4. Membership varies 0 0 0 0 0 0
5. Unrestricted donations 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
6. Interest/Investment 0 0 0 0 0 0
7. Pending payments 0 0 0 0 0 0
8. Transfers/Restricted Grants
National Government 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Multi-lateral Agency 0 0 0 0 0
Total Other Sources 0 0 0 0
Total $48,371.75 $53,182.68 $63,973.38 $165,527.81
Costs 2004 2005 2 006 Total Notes

1. Start Up Costs Distribution #REF! Costs
Bungalows 1 50,000 50,000 Build 5 bungalows
Train manager 1 5,000 5,000 Train initial manager by outside consultant
Computer 1 1,200 1,200 For manager and bungalow management
Total Start Up Costs 0 0 56,200 56,200
2. Variable C osts Unit Cost Volume Costs Volume Costs Volume Costs Costs
Maintenance (trails, restrooms, etc.)
Bungalow 5 350 1,750 1,750
Restaurant
Food/supplies 2.5 5,126 12,816 5,639 33,642 6,203 16,283 62,741
Sales
Gift shop 2.2 1,367 3,008 1,504 3,474 1,654 8,024 14,505
Total Variable Costs 15,824 37,116 26,057 78,997

3. Fixed Costs Costs Notes
Salaries FTE
Gift shop attendan 1 20,000 21,000 22,050 63,050
Works for a half year before opening bungalow
10-50
Bungalow manage 1 17,000 25,000 42,000
Guards 2 30,000 31,500 33,075 94,575
Restaurant worker 2 40,000 42,000 44,100 126,100
Maintenance (office, eq Distribution
Power generator 0.2 450 473 496 1,419
Gardening 0.2 700 735 772 2,207
Utilities (water, electricity)
Gift Shop 1 500 525 551 1,576
Total Fixed Costs 91,650 113,233 126,044 330,927
4. Other Costs Costs
Miscellaneous 0 2,000 2,000 4,000
Debt Repayment
Transfers (municipality) (5%) 2,419 2,659 3,199 8,276
Taxes 0 0 0 0
Total Other Costs 2,419 4,659 5,199 12,276
5. Conservation Contribution (5%) 2,419 2,659 3,199 8,276
Total Costs $112,311 $157,667 $216,698 $486,676

Park Entrance
Three Year Projection 2004 2005 2006 Total Notes

1. Fees 18,870 20,757 22,833 62,460
2. Services 5,399 5,939 6,533 17,872
3. Loans 0 0 0 0
Total Income 24,269 26,696 29,366 80,331
Costs Costs
1. Startup Costs 350 0 0 350
2. Variable Costs 2,935 3,257 3,582 9,774
3. Fixed Costs 15,950 16,795 17,687 50,432
4. Other Costs 300 315 331 946
Total Costs 20,749 21,702 23,068 65,519
Profits/Losses $3,521 $4,995 $6,297 $14,813 Park Entrance

Income 2004 2005 2006 Total Notes
1. VFees Amount ($) Visitors Income Visitors Income Visitors Income Income
Entrance Entrances: Do Not Modify These Figures - They Adjust Automatically.
National 2 5,505 11,010 6,056 12,111 6,661 13,322 36,443
International 6 1,234 7,404 1,357 8,144 1,493 8,959 24,507
Infant/Senior 1 456 456 502 502 552 552 1,509
Licenses, Permits, Concessions
0 0 0 0 0
Total Fees 18,870 20,757 22,833 62,460
2. Services Sales Income Sales Income Sales Income Income
Trail Map Sale 2.5 1,799 4,497 1,979 4,947 2,176 5,441 14,885
Snack Shop 1.78 507 902 558 993 613 1,092 2,987
Total Services 5,399 5,939 6,533 17,872
10-51
Other Sources of Income Units Income Units Income Units Income Income
3. Loans 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
4. Membership varies 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
10-52
5. Unrestricted donations 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
6. Interest/Investment 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
7. Pending payments 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
National Government 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total $24,269 $26,696 $29,366 $80,331
Costs 2004 2005 2006 Total Notes

Trail map design 1 350 350
Total Start Up Costs 350 0 0 350
2. Variable Costs Unit Cost Volume Costs Volume Costs Volume Costs Costs
Sales
Snack Shop 1 507 507 558 586 613 644 1,737 Ticket salesperson sells snacks
Trail Maps 0.75 1,799 1,349 1,979 1,484 2,176 1,632 4,465
Publications (tickets, brochures)
Entrance tickets 0.15 7,195 1,079 7,915 1,187 8,706 1,306 3,572
Salaries FTE

Ticket Salesperson 1 15,000 15,750 16,538 47,288 In charge of maintaining the area.
ticket/reception ar 1 250 275 303 828 Only supplies
Gardening 1 500 550 605 1,655 gardening is outsourced.
Electricty 1 200 220 242 662

Miscellaneous 300 315 331 946
Transfer (municipality 5%) 1,213 1,335 1,468 4,017
Total Costs $21,962.25 $23,036.36 $24,536.74 $69,535.34
Overlook Mountains
Three Year Projection 2004 2005 2 006 Total Notes
1. Fees 34,870 37,073 39,471 111,414
2. Services 27,950 29,825 31,870 89,644
3. Loans 0 0 0 0
Total Income 62,820 66,898 71,34 1 201,058
Costs Costs
2. Variable Costs 10,086 10,750 11,473 32,310
3. Fixed Costs 48,150 50,715 53,424 152,289
4. Other Costs 300 315 331 946
Total Costs 61,677 65,125 68,795 195,598
Profits/Losses $1,142 $1,773 $2,545 $5,461 Overlook Mountains
Income 2004 2005 2 006 Total Notes

1. Fees Amount ($) Visitors Income Visitors Income Visitors Income Income
Entrance Entrances: Do Not Modify These Figures - They Adjust Automatically.
Nationals 2 9,805 19,610 10,442 20,883 11,135 22,270 62,763
Internationals 6 2,434 14,604 2,581 15,488 2,742 16,450 46,542
Infant/Senior 1 656 656 702 702 752 752 2,109
Total Fees 34,870 37,073 39,471 111,414
Trail Map Sale 2.5 10,316 25,790 10,980 27,449 11,703 29,256 82,495
Campground
Nationals 1 686 686 755 755 830 830 2,272
Internationals 3 487 1,460 535 1,606 589 1,767 4,834
Infant/Senior 1 13 13 14 14 16 16 43
Total Services 27,950 29,825 31,870 89,644
10-53
National Government
10-54
Total $62,820 $66,898 $71 ,341 $201,058
Costs 2004 2005 2 006 Total Notes

0
Total Start Up Costs 0 0 0 0
Sales
Trail maps 0.75 10,316 7,737 10,980 8,235 11,703 8,777 24,749
Campground Mainte 0.35 1,186 415 1,305 457 1,435 502 1,374 Person hourly to clean up, replant, fix things
Publications (tickets, brochures)
Entrance tickets 0.15 12,895 1,934 13,725 2,059 14,628 2,194 6,187
Salaries FTE
Ticket Salespeople 1.5 22,500 23,625 24,806 70,931
Guards 1.5 22,500 23,625 24,806 70,931
Maintenance (office, e Distribution
Ticket/reception a 0.2 2,200 2,420 2,662 7,282
Campground 1 50 55 61 166 only supplies, gardener cleans

Gardening 1 700 770 847 2,317 outsourced
Reception area 1 200 220 242 662
Transfer (municipality 5%) 3,141 3,345 3,567 10,053
Total Costs $64,818 $68,470 $72,362 $205,651
Programwide
Program Wide
Three Year Projection 2004 2005 2006 Total Notes

1. Fees 200 400 400 1,000
2. Services 0 0 0 0
3. Loans 0 0 0 0
5. Unrestricted donations 20,500 23,250 25,538 69,288 Donated time and resources to program
6. Interest/Investment 250 354 375 979 bank accounts
8. Transfer/Restricted Grants 150,000 157,500 137,813 445,313 Government, non-profit donors
Total Income 170,950 181,504 164,125 516,579
Costs Costs
2. Variable Costs 0 0 0 0
3. Fixed Costs 86,100 90,405 94,925 271,430
4. Other Costs 100 100 100 300
5. Conservation Contribution 10 20 20 50
Total Costs 86,210 90,525 95,045 271,780
Profits/Losses $84,740 $90,979 $69,080 $244,799 Program Wide
Income 2004 2005 2006 Total Notes

1. Fees Amount ($) Visitors Income Visitors Income Visitors Income Income
Entrance All visitors must enter through a particular sector.
Licenses, Permits, Concessions These may or may not be related to a particular sector. They can be for the entire system.
Nature guide licens 50 4 200 8 400 8 400 1,000
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total Fees 200 400 400 1,000
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total Services 0 0 0 0
3. Loans 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
4. Membership varies 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
5. Unrestricted donations 22 5,500 24 7,500 27 9,000 22,000 Includes dollarized in-kind donations
Webmaster half-time salary 1 15,000 1 15,750 1 16,538 47,288 donated time/services
6. Interest/Investment 1 250 2 354 2 375 979
7. Pending payments 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
National Government 1 100,000 1 105,000 0 110,250 315,250 General operating transfer
National Interpretation Group 1 25,000 1 26,250 0 0 51,250 2-year grant to get interpretation going
Multi-lateral Agency 1 25,000 1 26,250 1 27,563 78,813 PUC Salary
Total Other Sources 170,750 181,104 163,725 515,579
Total $170,950 $181,504 $164,125 $516,579
Costs 2004 2005 2006 Total Notes

0.00
Total Start Up Costs 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Maintenance (trails, restrooms, etc.)
None 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total Variable Costs 0 0 0 0

Salaries FTE
10-56
PUC 1 25,000 26,250 27,563 78,813
Secretary 0.2 5,000 5,250 5,513 15,763
Interpreter 1 25,000 26,250 27,563 78,813 Covered by National Interpretation Group
Webmaster 0.5 15,000 15,750 16,538 47,288 Donated by private individual, equivalent value
Central office clea 0.2 2,200 2,310 2,426 6,936
Administration veh 0.2 4,700 4,935 5,182 14,817
Office (Paper, telephone, mail)
Office telephone 0.5 2,400 2,520 2,646 7,566
Office supplies 0.2 850 893 937 2,680
Mail 0.2 500 525 551 1,576
Insurance
General Insurance 0.2 1,500 1,575 1,654 4,729
Marketing (materials, design)
PUP 1 3,000 3,150 3,308 9,458
Website 0.75 450 473 496 1,419
Office 0.2 500 525 551 1,576
Transfer (Municipality 5%) 10 20 20 50
Total Other Costs 110 120 120 350
5. Conservation Contribution (5%) 10 20 20 50

Total Costs $86,210 $90,525 $95,045 $271,780
Break Even Point Analysis for Park Services
Variable Total Fixed Sales Price Sales Volume Volume MC MC per Percent BEP BEP Years to
Sector Service Cost ($) Costs ($) per person ($) 3 Years (people) Sales ($) ($) person ($) MC ($) (people) BEP
Crater Lagoon Restaurant 2.50 126,100 8.00 16,968 135,744 93,324 5.50 68.8% 183,418 22,927 4.1
Gift Shop 2.20 64,626 5.00 4,524 22,620 12,667 2.80 56.0% 115,404 23,081 5.1
Bungalow Did not calculate because it starts in year 3 and needs additional projections.
Park Entrance Trail Map Sale 0.75 350 2.50 5,954 14,885 10,420 1.75 70.0% 500 200 0.0
Snack Shop 1.00 0 1.78 1,678 2,987 1,309 0.78 43.8% 0 0 0.0
Overlook Mountains Trail Map Sale 0.75 0 2.50 32,999 82,498 57,748 1.75 70.0% 0 0 0.0
Campground
Nationals 0.35 55 1.00 2,271 2,271 1,476 0.65 65.0% 85 85 0.0
Internationals 0.35 55 3.00 1,611 4,833 4,269 2.65 88.3% 62 21 0.0
Infant/Senior 0.35 55 1.00 43 43 28 0.65 65.0% 85 85 2.0
Break even Point Analysis

10-57
Public Use Parkwide Finances by Sector
Net Cash Flow
10-58
Sector 2004 2005 2006 Total
Crater Lagoon -63,939 -104,484 -152,725 -321,148
Park Entrance 3,521 4,995 6,297 14,813
Overlook Mountains 1,142 1,773 2,545 5,461
Program Wide 84,740 90,979 69,080 244,799
Total $25,464 -$6,737 -$74,802 -$56,076
Conservation Contribution by Sector

Crater Lagoon 2,419 2,659 3,199 8,276
Park Entrance 1,213 1,335 1,468 4,017
Program Wide 10 20 20 50
Total Contribution $6,783 $7,359 $8,254 $22,396

Parkwide
finances by
Conservation Benefits
Conservation Contribution by Sector
Crater Lagoon 2,419 2,659 3,199 8,276
Benefits
Park Entrance 1,213 1,335 1,468 4,017
Conservation
Total Contribution $6,783 $7,359 $8,254 $22,396
The data for the following table must be added manually based on total conservation revenues above.
2004 2005 2006
Hummingbird Project $100,000 $100,000 $100,000
Item Amount %Budget Amount %Budget Amount %Budget Total
1. Banding $2,500 3% $2,625 3% $2,756 3% $7,881
2. Researcher salary $4,283 4% $4,734 5% $5,498 5% $14,515
Total Contribution to Project $6,783 7% $7,359 7% $8,254 8% $22,396
Project 2 $0 $0 $0
1.

2.
3.
4.
Total Contribution to Project $0 #DIV/0! $0 #DIV/0! $0 #DIV/0! $0
Total Conservation Benefits $6,783 $7,359 $8,254 $22,396
Public use can therefore claim 7-8% of the Hummingbird Project's conservation success (or failure).
10-59
Startup Costs for the Public Use Program
Sector Item 2004 2005 2006 Total Possible Funding Sources
10-60
Crater Lagoon Bungalows 0 0 50,000 50,000 Big donor
Train manager 0 0 5,000 5,000 Big donor
Computer 0 0 1,200 1,200 Partner international NGO
Sector Total 3 $0 $0 $56,200 $56,200
Park Entrance Trail map design 350 0 0 350 General operations
Sector Total 1 $350 $0 $0 $350
Overlook Mountains 0 0 0 0
Sector Total 0 $0 $0 $0 $0
Program Wide Total 0 $0 $0 $0 $0
Annual Startup Totals 4 $350 $0 $56,200 $56,550
Other Funding Shortfalls

Sector Item 2004 2005 2006 Total Possible Funding Sources
Crater Lagoon Bungalow manager 0 17,000 31,500 48,500 Earnings do not cover at least in first 2 years.
0 0 0 0
Sector Total 1 $0 $17,000 $31,500 $48,500
Park Entrance 0 0 0 0
Overlook Mountains 0 0 0 0

Program Wide Interpreter 0 0 27,563 27,563 funded only for first 2 years
Program Wide Total 1 $0 $0 $27,563 $27,563
Annual Startup Totals 2 $0 $17,000 $59,063 $76,063
Startup
Quality control is an essential part of participatory planning, an aspect often overlooked by other planning method-
ologies. A plan with problems, no matter how participatory it might be, will make life difficult for those who have to
implement the plan, such as these public use personnel in Indonesia.
u ts i d e
O
1. What is the purpose of the photographic vision? How
is this different from a standard vision statement? Sterile vision statement at
outset vs. photographic,
inspiring vision toward the
end
Second Review of Results SR-3

SRR Second Review of Results
Review results to eliminate inconsistencies, improve wording, fill
holes, and discuss pending issues from modules 7-10.
Focus Question: Can we significantly improve product quality with a small, focused review com-
mittee?
Summary: The facilitator gathers a small group of critically thinking people, as well as people from
outside the process, to review the results to date among the operational modules and improve upon
them. They will also write a “photographic” vision designed to capture the essence of where the
site is headed. This vision statement will be used to guide and inspire public use development.
Format: Private meeting
Time: 4 hours minimum
Materials: Copies of all the results to date, materials representing the “PUP journey,” food and
drink
Participants (4-5): Same as the first review committee, plus a creative writer
Deliverables: Revised products from modules 7–10, narrative photograph
This Workshop Contains:

I. Introduction
II. Reviewing Results from Modules 7–10
III. Dealing with Difficult Issues
IV. Creating a Photographic Vision
Next Steps
Post-Workshop Task 1: Writing a First Draft Photograph
SR-4 Second Review of Results

See preparations for the First Review of Results.
Participant Selection. You should aim for approximately the same

review committee as the first review of results. If someone did not
produce in that meeting, consider replacing them, diplomatically of
course. One addition to the group is a creative writer to help write
up the “photographic” vision of the PUP after this revision.
The quality of our planning and our

implementation directly affects
visitor experiences such as this
tourist who stands on the equator
line at Mitad del Mundo, Ecuador,
that separates the Northern and
Southern Hemispheres.

I. Introduction
Warming Up
There is no need for a warm-up for this activity, since the group
should essentially be the same as the First Review of Results. Howe-
ver, be sure to introduce the creative writer.
Facilitate
1. Since it is mostly the same group, you do not need to go through
all the orientation, but feel free to repeat key issues from the first
review of results.
2. Explain briefly that with the help of the creative writer, the group
will create a photographic vision of the site’s future condition in
The World Heritage city of An-
tigua, Guatemala must manage
order to inspire people to implement the plan.
many details when the many Eas-
ter processions take the streets
for a week.

II. Reviewing the Results of Modules 7–10
What Does It Mean?
Explain
This review covers results since the First Review of Results, placing
special emphasis on areas that the facilitator has identified prior
to the session. Modules 7-10 focus on the creation of operational
tools to help implement the strategic aspects of PUP developed in
Modules 2-6.
How Do I Do It?
Facilitate
Go through every module and read the results. Below are a series
of questions you can use to guide the analysis. Try to start changing
things from the outset to establish a culture of openness and give
participants the freedom to critique. Refer to the questions and
hypothetical scenarios for change (SR-13).

III. Dealing With Difficult Issues
This section can be seen in the First Review of Results.
IV. Creating a “Photographic” Vision

What Does It Mean?
Explain
Most people will not read the PUP cover to cover. Thus we need
to find ways to summarize its contents. In addition, if the implicit
vision we have is well interpreted, the PUP could inspire people to
reach the goals we have set and get excited about the program. Great
leaders and great movements have demonstrated that compelling
visions have the power to draw people toward the future. To accom-
plish this, we will write a narrative description of what the site will
look like in five years. In effect, this will be a written “photograph”
of what the site will look like. To do this, the PUP team employs a
professional creative writer to help craft our direction in inspirational
words. This is why a creative writer has been invited to this meeting.
If the site staff gets really excited, you could even find an artist to
paint an interpretation of the narrative photograph.
The team will try to outline the over-arching elements of this
photograph, which the writer will then take and craft into a photo-
graph, rather than a vision statement, which implies a completely
different format. See an example of a narrative literary photograph
(SR-18).
How Do I Do It?
Facilitate
1. Ask the focus question: In five years, what will the public use
program look like? Pretend you are a nature guide and you have a
blind person to whom you want to interpret the facilities, personnel,
methods, procedures, audience, programming, processes, etc.
2. Make sure that the writer takes many notes on your answers.
3. Have the group identify and interpret the site’s greatest strengths
and comparative advantages over other sites. They should draw
heavily on site messages and heritage value from Module 2. They
could also refer to the administration or other aspects of the site
aside from the protected resources. Ask: what is special about what
is being offered and proposed, relative to other sites in the country?
What are the superlatives and innovations?
4. What is the marketing image that the site wants to cultivate? The
reputation in five years? How will the site be known? When people

mention the name of the site, what do you want them to think of ?
NOTE: The answers need to be justified by the content of PUP.
5. What kind of visitors will be coming in five years? What kind of

programs will have evolved?
6. How will the administration be different? What capacities will the
staff have? What technologies will they use?
7. Which challenges and problems will they confront in five years?
NOTE: A photograph does not necessarily just show the good

things.
8. After the discussion, tell participants that the writer will get to
work and will produce a first draft for review in a few days.

Future Steps
The writer will return a draft in X days. The draft will be evaluated
by the team, who will suggest changes. This marks the end of the
planning part of the PUP process. Module 11 PUP Document
Preparation helps to produce the semi-PUP and PUP and get it
approved.
Post-Workshop Task 1: Writing a First Draft Photograph

Share with the writer the following qualities of the narrative photo-
graph. See an example (SR-18).
♦♦ It should not have technical jargon, ambiguous lan-

guage, or dry text.
♦♦ All aspects must come from the PUP, even if they
are extrapolated from its vision.
♦♦ It should be written in present tense.
♦♦ It should be inspiring.
♦♦ It should not cover only the good aspects you expect
in five years, but also the challenges you expect to
face.
♦♦ Avoid clichés that could be describing other sites,
and generalities.
♦♦ The length should be about a page or two at most.
Let the writer know that he or she should review the materials to
date, and should feel free to interview people to get other ideas.

You should write up two things.
♦♦ A list of all the modifications into one document so

that everyone can easily see all changes that came out
of this review session.
♦♦ An update of the results of the modules with the
above modifications. You should also create new files
of each module deliverable, and keep the pre-review
session deliverables just in case someone later chal-
lenges the changes.

While most changes will need no more than the director’s nod, there
might be some changes that should be consulted with relevant stake-
holders, and others that might require approval from other persons
or bodies. You should acquire any approvals necessary as soon as
possible so that the process can move forward.

♦♦ Evaluation questions for each module
♦♦ Sample comments that session members might make
for each module
♦♦ Pico Bonito’s photographic vision statement
None at this time.

cards on the wall
to you to update
a dated addendum
ownership

The World Heritage cathedral in
Cologne, Germany.

Second Review of Results
Purpose: Review results to eliminate inconsistencies, improve wording, fill holes, and discuss pending
issues from modules 7-10.
Focus Question: Can we significantly improve product quality with a small, focused review commit-
tee?
Summary: The facilitator gathers a small group of critically thinking people, as well as people from
outside the process, to review the results to date and improve upon them. They will also write up a
“photographic” vision designed to capture the essence of where the site is headed. This vision state-
ment will be used to guide and inspire public use development.
Deliverables: Revised products from modules 7–10, narrative photograph
Introduction
This review covers results since the first review of results, placing special emphasis on areas that the
facilitator has identified prior to the session.
Module 7: Monitoring Plan

♦♦ Have the most likely significant impacts been identified?
♦♦ Have the best indicators for the impacts been identified?
♦♦ Are the indicators measurable, precise, and relevant?
♦♦ Are the methods accurate and reliable, cost-effective, feasible, and appropriate?
♦♦ Is the data in the Monitoring Table complete and realistic?
♦♦ Are these the most cost-effective and feasible interventions?
♦♦ Will these interventions really remedy the problems?
Sample Comments on the Monitoring Plan

I can see a lot of indicators for the biological aspects of the activities; it looks like the work of a group
of biologists. There should be more emphasis on the experience of the visitors, to make sure that
overcrowding or unappealing conditions don’t ruin their time there.
Examples & Illustrations SR-13

I rather doubt that we will be able to get GPS, telemetry, and special
cameras to establish photo plots. I think we need to review these
methods and choose ones that are more realistic considering our
reality.
In terms of the intervention, there is too much emphasis on traditional

command-and-control. We need to be more imaginative, using design
features and education to avoid destructive behavior by the visitors.
Module 8: Regulations
♦♦ Are there holes in the proposed regulations?
♦♦ Have the regulations been properly identified as in-
ternal and external?
♦♦ Are there regulations for exceptional circumstances
or regulations that will not be necessary in the im-
mediate future? These should be eliminated.
♦♦ Are the regulations very clearly written to reduce
ambiguity?
♦♦ Is it clear in what order different groups of regula-
tions might be implemented? (see calendar)
♦♦ Are the site fees realistic? Are there too many?
♦♦ Have the legal barriers to implementation been identi-
fied, with proposals suggested on how to overcome
them?
♦♦ Have any suggested certifications or licenses already
been broken down into their component parts? Or
is the organization postponing the tough work until
the indeterminate future?
♦♦ Have the most basic regulation logistics already been
drawn up, or is that being put off to the future?
Sample Comments on Regulations

There are too many categories of fees. This will make it very difficult
to keep good records and keep track of them all. Maybe we can com-
bine the fees for foreign and national students or eliminate a special
category for people from this city. That is probably illegal anyway
since the site is national property, not property of the municipality.
The site has suggested two kinds of licenses, a certification, and the
implementation of low-impact camping principles. Unfortunately
none of these have worked out. I think that some of this should be
SR-14 Examples & Illustrations

worked out before the PUP is presented. If we leave so much until
future dates, it may never get done.
This regulation talks about “local people,” another about “socially

unacceptable behavior” and another about “when too many people
have entered.” This lack of specificity will make these regulations
practically useless because people can interpret them in different ways.
We should review these regulations and eliminate the vagueness.
There are plenty of controls on visitor behavior, but I see no attempt

by the site to regulate its own behavior. Without greater control,
the site can arbitrarily enforce its rules, could lose money, and due
to inconsistency from a lack of self-regulation, will risk looking
unprofessional.

♦♦ Is the pacing realistic, starting out slow with few
milestones in the first six months?
♦♦ Are the evaluations clearly marked?
♦♦ Have responsible parties and dates been clearly
elaborated?
♦♦ Is the length of time for activities realistic?
♦♦ Have the techniques for implementing the PUP
been included? Are there others that should be
considered?
♦♦ Is the strategic approach to developing the sectors
clearly articulated? That is, has emphasis been placed
on certain sectors and locations in the site, or are
activities somewhat random?
♦♦ Have major steps been omitted?
Sample Comments on Calendar of Activities

There is no doubt the team was too excited since there is way too
much to do in the first year. They should probably double the
length of time for the development of an information center and
the other major projects. Scratch out building this new observation
tower altogether.
It seems like the public use coordinator has way too many tasks
assigned to him. We need to find other people to help out or else
reduce the number of activities. He will either burn out, quit, or just
not implement this plan.

I know this site has had difficulty in implementing its strategic plan,
thus I think there needs to be more techniques to help them learn
how to implement. I recommend an evaluation committee from
the municipal tourism committee meeting every four months for
the first year.
There are no feasibility studies for any of the products proposed. We

cannot assume that just by building them that this will be a financial
success. We better include time for some business plans.
OK, so we have this visitor center. Who will run it? When will they be
trained? Are there special permits to opening the restaurant? I think
we need to think a little more about the steps that go into opening
a visitor center. And there is not much time to do it, either.

Visitation Sheet
♦♦ Are visitation projections realistic (in terms of an-
nual increases)? Have the increases been explained
in the notes?
♦♦ Have all the categories that were identified in the
regulations been included in the sheet?
♦♦ Have the totals been redesigned to reflect the cat-
egories?
Revenues Sheet
♦♦ Have the visitor fees been correctly placed into the
formulas to calculate visitor fee income?
♦♦ Have all the sources of income been properly ac-
counted for?
♦♦ Are the numbers realistic?
Expenses Sheet
♦♦ Have any major variable or fixed expenses been
omitted?
♦♦ Have the increases over years (inflation and sales
volume) been correctly placed in the sheet?
♦♦ Have partial years (number of months) been duly
noted in the notes?
♦♦ Have fixed costs been properly distributed among
programs?

Contributions Register
♦♦ Have any contributions been omitted?
♦♦ Has the registry design been modified for this site?
Three-Year Projection Sheet

♦♦ Did the sheet calculate the numbers properly?
♦♦ Are there any apparent anomalies?
♦♦ Has the site used the data to plan implementation?
♦♦ Has the three-year break-even point been clearly
calculated?
♦♦ Are there any unnecessary cost centers?
♦♦ Are the numbers realistic?
Future Capital Sheet

♦♦ Were all startup costs not covered by revenues in-
cluded?
♦♦ Does the sheet show real financial options? Have
these been noted in the sheet?
Sample Comments on the Financial Plan

I think the fixed and variable costs were mixed up, since both are
being multiplied by the same yearly increase. Fixed costs are multiplied
only by inflation, while variable costs are multiplied by inflation and
also by the increase in sales.
The site has not reached a break-even point. It needs to cut something.
You can’t have everything. I think we need to cut back on the number
of trails. Realistically, we won’t be able to build three anyway in this
time. Let’s try to get the bottom line to break-even in three years.
There are several employees here but there is no funding identified for
them. Is the money just going to materialize out of thin air? We might
move them to the contributions sheet and look for funding if they are
really important. I think that we are projecting too big a staff.
There are no notes here, so I don’t know how these costs were calcu-
lated. I would like better justification. In six months, the staff itself
will forget how it produced these numbers.

Photographic Vision of Pico Bonito National Park
When visitors reach La Ceiba and see the Pico Bonito mountain rise up, they know they have encoun-
tered a special site. To the residents of La Ceiba, it is a source of great pride, of legends, and represents
the principal fountain of water. To tourism developers it represents one of the most innovative sites in
the country; to the tourist it means great trekking and sharp mountain vistas. Even though the peak is
the fourth-highest in the country, it is often considered the most famous in Honduras and rules over
the second-largest national site which, along with Jeannette Kawas National Site, holds together the
weakest link in the MBC between southern Mexico and Panama.
The national tourist typically visits one of the two strong arms of the site, Sectors Río Cangrejal
or Río Zacate, where they trek on a top-notch trail or bathe in the rivers. School groups can learn na-
tural history in Honduras’s largest animal rescue center, AMARAS, or the butterfly house and serpent
house or experimental forest. Nature-oriented visitors and scientists visit Campamento CURLA where a
museum and host of nature-related walks and talks are available from the site’s master naturalist. Those
interested in rural tourism can work with local forest managers in San Francisco, and the adventurers
can penetrate deep into the site in the Remote Zones.
But it is the form in which Pico Bonito has been developing its ecotourism that makes it per-
haps the most famous. Pico Bonito is known far and wide as the true people’s site, not only because
it is easily accessible to the masses, but also because it gave up the concept of a superministry* a long
time ago; it shares the responsibilities of management with the private sector and other people who live
around the site. It was the first site in the country with a public use plan, the first with an eco-alliance,
and the first in the Mesoamerican Ecotourism Alliance with Jeannette Kawas National Site, first with
a coherent body of regulations, one of the first with a trained bilingual nature guide, co-management
with a university, and first to change its name and logo to become more marketable, rather than use a
horrid acronym which is still maintained by many of its colleagues.
People will consider Pico Bonito to be the most professional site in Honduras with the help of
uniforms, snappy logo, and a good public image, complemented by its long known reputation among
donors and the government as one of the productive and no-nonsense NGOs in the country. It is
proactive in product development, enlisting the help of the private sector to develop and carry out
products, which generates more revenue for the site and more value for the public at large. The site
recruits the private sector to run its tour packages, its food concessions, and management of some of
its attractions. It has developed rapport with local landholders, municipalities, and especially businesses.
It has become a supervisor at times more than an executor.
Above all, Pico Bonito is not only the pride of La Ceiba over which it watches, but is also so
because of the site’s proximity to La Ceiba and the airport, and its marvelous profile so close to the
sea that can be seen from Utila. With the help of private businesses such as the Lodge at Pico Bonito
and Moskitia Ecoaventuras, it has become the premier trekking location in Central America.
*Performing too many functions (health care, protection, education, etc.), beyond the capacity of the managers.

Pico Bonito National Park in Honduras was
the first PUP. They recruited a local artist
to do a cover for them to make sure the
document not only looked like something to
be proud of, but also that welcomed other
staff to read it.
Parque Nacional Pico Bonito
e
Outsid
1. Why do we hold a workshop on implementation?
2. Why do we call the first draft the PUP Version 1.0? Finishing the plan vs.
3. Why does PUP choose unconventional forms of pagi- Launching implementation
nation and binding?
4. What message is PUP giving by making Part B about
PUP approval?
Paper vs. virtual plans
PUP Document Preparation 11-3

11 Preparation for Implementation
Prepare the PUP Version 1.0 for implementation by carrying
it through the implementation planning, public presenting,
writing, reviewing, and approval processes.
Focus Question: Can we get to implementation as quickly as possible without losing mo-
mentum from the planning phase?
Summary: This module helps the PUC take the products from all previous modules, put
them together into Version 1.0, and prepare for implementation. This document needs
to be written and designed. Then its contents need to be shared with stakeholders and
approved by whatever process identified in the Terms of Reference. It is critical to begin
implementing as fast as possible without delays in production and approval.
Format: Implementation workshop can be invite-only, while the presentation a public
forum; other steps carried out in office
Time: 6 weeks, depending on time needed for formal approval
Materials: Workshop: Hand-out of implementation strategies; Presentation: audio-visual
equipment, refreshments for visitors, summaries of PUP results, paper and pens for com-
ments; preparation of PUP V. 1.0: computer system with printer, paper, and ink; second
draft: ring binders, color photos/maps, etc.
Participants: Workshop: All stakeholders who will be involved in implementation; Pre-
sentation: Variable and wide.
Deliverables: PUP result summaries, PUP Version 1.0, PUP approval (if necessary)

Part A: Getting PUP Ready for Approval
I. Holding the Implementation Workshop
II. Giving the Public Presentation
III. Preparing PUP Version 1.0
Part B: Getting Formal PUP Approval
I. Distributing to External Reviewers
11-4 Preparation for Implementation

Getting PUP Ready for Approval
Part A
Introduction
Explain
Once you have the module products, you need to present them and
put them together and prepare PUP for implementation. You will
also add implementation strategies to the mix. You should refer to
the PUP Master Calendar of Events to see the order in which the
different steps should take place. You would have negotiated these
dates and steps during the Terms of Reference.
Preparation for Implementation 11-5

I. Holding the Implementation Workshop
What Does It Mean?
Explain
Although we have been talking about implementation since the begin-
ning of this program, people’s ideas about the topic hopefully have
evolved since Module 1. So although we first took on the topic in the
Terms of Reference, there is a good chance that your decision makers
may have avoided some uncomfortable decisions with the hope that
they could deal with them later or never. Later has arrived.
This short workshop allows one more head-on conversation
about implementation and its strategies. We do this just before the
public presentation so that we can take advantage of the latter to
publicly present implementation commitments.
The principal decision-makers and implementers need to be
reminded that plans are (not) implemented simply because of the
tools or techniques we choose; they don’t get implemented because
of a technocratic mindset that places science over participation,
control over power sharing, and products over processes. To change
this mindset requires whole-scale changes in the organization and
the way we think. But for now we can take some smaller steps in
the direction of implementation, small inroads we can make in the
conventional planning process that systematically disables plans all
over the world. This meeting compels us to converse about what we
have already agreed and another opportunity to agree on additional
strategies or improvements to those already on the table. We need
to do it together or we won’t get anywhere. Experience shows that
when only one stakeholder, even a central one like the protected area
manager, tries to go it alone, implementation may be unattainable.
Obviously this opening talk you share with participants will
filter through what you and other stakeholders consider possible. If
your organization is still very concerned about maintaining control,
then it will be difficult even to mention “power-sharing.” But like so
many points in this process, we can take small steps. And opening
the box of uncomfortable and at times formerly forbidden issues will
move us toward implementation and a new paradigm of planning
and managing.
Review
Make sure you or someone explains each strategy on the handout
and its merits. The audience needs to be very clear about why they
should consider the strategy. Thus, you may need to do some research
on these strategies. Reread Background Readings 1 and 9 before this
workshop.

How Do I Do It?
Do
1. Break audience into groups per kind of strategy listed below and
on 11-27. Make sure there are at least three people per group.
♦♦ Community Investment
♦♦ Approval Strategy
♦♦ Plan Format & Technology
♦♦ Scheduling and Updating
♦♦ Implementation bodies
♦♦ Incentives for Implementation
2. Groups will discuss previously agreed upon strategies in the TOR

or elswhere. They will make recommendations to modify those. En-
courage them to share other ideas they may have on how to foment
implementation, aside from more money, time, personnel, and data
(the conventional response). Allow 45 minutes.
3. Each group tags its recommendations as “Strongly recommended”
(max. 3) and “Ideas for Discussion” (max. 5). It is important then to
ensure enough time for the “Strongly Recommended.”
4. With the plenary, each group presents and discusses “Strongly
Recommended.” Your should work toward a consensus on what
to do. Any organization which directly or indirectly implies actually
implementing a strategy should contribute. None should remain
quiet. PUP’s or any plan’s survival depends almost entirely on stake-
holders’ supporting the strategy, especially if they would participate
in making it happen.
5. When all Strongly Recommended items have been discussed and
decisions made, then the remaining time can be distributed for ideas
for discussion. In the worst case scenario, these items can be posted
without discussion or for a discussion at a later time.
6. Integrate commitments into PUP results. They may go in different
places. Anything related to periodic planning or updating should go
into the Calendar of Activities. Any format considerations would
simply be reflected in the proceedings and the format itself; any
institutional bodies to be set up could have its own section in the
introduction or you could create an implementation section that
describes the importance and strategies.
7. Make sure to present in the public presentation all the decisions
made that involve doing something. Thus, you may not present Ideas
for Discussions or Strongly Recommended ideas for which you could
not achieve consensus.

II. Giving the Public Presentation
What Does It Mean?

Explain
Every project needs celebration; every project needs a sense of having
achieved an important milestone — it is a normal part of human mo-
tivation. This presentation is both celebration of what has been done
and commencement. Commencement should reenforce the vision
that implementation is everything and the document alone, nothing.
While the initial phase of planning may be closing, we should avoid
words like “end,” “final,” or “finished,” because they give the wrong
impression. A site should not think that once it has finished a PUP, it
can now relax. It is, after all, only version 1.0. All it has accomplished
is set up for the most important phase, implementation.
The presentation can take any form that your organization
feels appropriate to its budget, sense of pride, and comfort with the
media. All these elements have their place. The one important point
is that you have not yet produced a complete plan version 1.0; that
comes later, because you will still be collecting public comments.
Some considerations follow to help you design this public event.
How Do I Do It?
Do
Planning the Presentation Content
You will need to design a visual, enjoyable presentation of PUP results
to date. Along with PowerPoint, you should consider the big site map,
zone maps, etc. Generally your audience will not have patience or
interest in details, but they will want to see where the site is going. To
inspire the audience, you might use the photographic vision developed
in the Second Review of Results as the anchor for your presentation,
which probably should not last more than 45 minutes.
Since you do not have a PUP document to show off, you are
presenting module results. Even if you did have the entire document,
you would not want to distribute it to this audience. What would be
useful here, however, is a two-page summary of all results to date.
Perhaps you put the intended cover on top of this summary. See in
the Appendix for a summary that Pico Bonito used both to hand out
in their presentation and placed on the web.
You should moreover anticipate comments from the audience
on the results you present. In fact, that is one of the objectives of
the presentation, aside from the formalities, and the celebration. In
order to facilitate comments you can leave blank sheets where people
can write them during the presentation. You should also make clear
your email and address for people to send comments thereafter. Give

them a due date by which you would like them to submit. If you do
not, people will not get around to doing it, despite best intentions
or they may send them in too late to be of use in the first round of
PUP production.
Sending Out Invitations & Press Releases Do

You should send out invitations. Let them know that this is still part
of the review phase, and that they can make specific comments for
the site to consider in their development of the PUP. You might also
offer a reception after the event. Food (and drink!) attracts more
people. Remember to make the invitations interesting, perhaps using
elements of the brochure created in Module 1.
To get more impact and wider participation, you should is-
sue press releases to the media. See the Appendix for information
on writing a press release (found only in Spanish).
Preparing the Logistics

Consider the following logistical issues for the presentation:
♦♦ Recruit help from staff to move equipment, manage

logistics, take photos, make or bring refreshments
♦♦ Rent a space
♦♦ Decorate the space (optionally with pictures from
the modules, posters of site attractions, Big Site Map,
flags or other interesting graphics)
♦♦ Refreshments
♦♦ Appropriate lighting, heating, cooling, bathrooms
♦♦ Signage if necessary to find the location
♦♦ Transportation necessary to bring people and equip-
ment to the event
♦♦ Audio-visual equipment
♦♦ Sign-up sheets/comment sheets
♦♦ Tables, chairs and tablecloths (including guest table)
♦♦ Special seating for special guests
♦♦ Petty cash for last second purchases such as new
bulbs or electrical adaptors or tips to local service
providers
Be sure that someone else is helping you so that you do not have to
manage at the same time both logistics and public relations. Make
sure whomever is helping knows the agenda, including:
♦♦ How to record who attends (in a log, with help of

someone who knows everyone, photographs, etc.)
♦♦ What time to start the event

♦♦ Who gives opening remarks, who is master of cer-
emonies
♦♦ What equipment is needed (projector, speakers, ra-
dio), how to turn off lights
♦♦ When food should be served
♦♦ When should materials be distributed to attendees
♦♦ Collect comments sheets from attendees, business
cards, sign-up sheets for further copies (if you con-
sider that useful)
♦♦ How to close the presentation
♦♦ Make sure someone stays and helps to clean up
Doing the Public Presentation

If you have done all the necessary preparations, then the event should
flow and reduce all those unforeseen problems that always happen.
Dress right, brush your teeth, and good luck in your presentation.
There is one technique that PUP recommends you do. It is
one of many small techniques recommended to encourage imple-
mentation (such as avoiding the term “final” as in “final draft”). It
is the public declaration. If your site is truly serious about imple-
menting PUP, then there should be no problem in publicly declaring
— promising — the kickoff of activities, announcing their schedule
and responsible persons. The more you can commit to publicly, the
more you have to live up to. You should consider this as an aid to
implementation, not something to avoid. Ultimately, the site has to
take responsibility for the PUP’s implementation.
Integrating Public Comments

You should view this as yet another opportunity to fortify public su-
pport for PUP. The more support you have, the more successful your
job will be. You earn support in two ways. First, in taking comments,
you display an openness that reduces people’s suspicions about your
motives, and increases their respect for the site and the PUP process.
Second, you will be reaching new people with another medium that
may generate yet more useful comments for you to integrate into
PUP, making it better.
You should make it clear that you or someone else will take
notes during any oral comments or questions. You will also collect
comment sheets.
As soon as possible after the event, you should sit down with
the principal participants in the PUP process to discuss the com-
ments. Integrate as many as feasible. Do not, however, feel obligated
to integrate every comment you receive. Do not throw them away
either. It is important to maintain records of all contributions, even
those that do not manifest directly in the process.

III. Preparing PUP Version 1.0
What Does It Mean?
Explain
PUP Version 1.0 as a name indicates that this is not any kind of
final document that will not be updated or implemented. This is the
beginning of a document that will enjoy continuous updates for as
long as planning exists, much the same way that software developers
continually release new updates of their software. It would be arro-
gant and incorrect that the final PUP contained all the most optimal
answers and thus did not need to be updated. Even if it had all the
answers, many of those go out of date very quickly as condintions
change. Thus it is imperative for the success of any plan that it be
easily and continuously updated.
Consider the following steps, which are also reflected in the Master
Calendar of Events.
Do
Reviewing the Table of Contents
You made a draft of the table of contents during the First Review
of Results. It is time now to review that table of contents to see if
it is consistent with everything you have learned and created since
that meeting. Hopefully it will not change that much.
Assigning Writing Tasks

After you have reviewed the table of contents, someone has to wri-
te and assemble the PUP V1.0. There are several options for who
actually writes the PUP, including:
♦♦ You alone (not a good option)

♦♦ You and the director or one other staffer (somewhat
better)
♦♦ You and several other staff members (most likely)
♦♦ Staff and stakeholders (superior)
♦♦ Staff, stakeholders, and board of directors (ideal)
At least in general terms, the responsible writers might have been

determined in the terms of reference. If not, now the moment has
come to assign writers to specific sections. But remember that a plan
should be an authentic expression of participants’ voices.
How you assign which parts to which people will depend
on your director’s judgment. It might be having everyone sit around
and draw from a hat, or going around the room and having each
person choose which section most interests him or her. Maybe the

Making File Back Ups director will just assign the parts based on writing skill. Whatever
If you are already experienced in pool of potential writers you and the director choose, you will need
making computer file back ups, to prepare them. If you do not establish, for example, rules for kee-
please disregard this. Since most
people are not good at making ping the style consistent, you could spend many hours re-formatting
back ups, please read on. the writers’ work. On page 11-21 there is a slightly edited letter used
by Pico Bonito to prepare its writers, who in this case, were actually
Losing your work seems always
to happen to somebody else un- members of the board of directors. That was a particularly intelli-
til it happens to you. Probably it gent move for two reasons: 1) It took advantage of their generally
already has at one point in your more educated writing styles, and 2) It got them directly and actively
computer career. Here are some
pieces of back up advice. involved with the content of the PUP. Whether or not you are so
fortunate, you should still consider using such a letter. You should
♦ Save changes no longer also have an introductory meeting to orient the writers to the PUP
than every 15 minutes, pre-
ferably more frequently
process. At this meeting you can hand out the results of the corres-
while you are writing. You ponding modules and offer suggestions on how they should focus
can set Microsoft Word to their writing.
automatically make back
ups by going to Options and
choosing the Save tab. Editing the PUP Version 1.0
♦♦ Back up your file at the Before the pieces begin to come in, you should set up a document
end of every session on a
separate disk, outside your using the table of contents structure. Assign pages to the different
computer. sections and write in the sections titles, leaving blank space for the
♦♦ Every draft should also be pieces to come. As they arrive, cut and paste the work into the ap-
backed up on a disk or a
computer away from your propriate blank spaces. And make at least two back-ups!
current computer in case of Remember now you are about to lay the mortar to PUP bricks.
fire or theft. This should be You will have to be honest with yourself about your editing skills.
done every week while you
are preparing the PUP. Many times people have a higher regard for their editing and writing
♦♦ One trick is to email the power than reality would support. If writers attempt to translate into
document to someone else their second language, they will leave lots of markers that a native
every couple of days or set
up your computer to make did not do the translation (if they are good), or lots of gross errors
a back up on a CD or USB (if they are not so good). Either way, that person compromises pro-
flash drive. fessionalism and clarity. While you are clearly in charge of content,
♦♦ Do not forget to back up
your graphics files as well. you might consider recruiting the help of someone you know to be
♦♦ Now there are many service a good writer to keep the text lively. You do not want the PUP to
providers that provide free read as though a scientist with no sense of humor wrote it. Consider
space and paid space on the
Internet, “in the cloud.” If employing the writer you used to write the narrative “photograph”
you do an Internet search in the second review of results.
for “free storage space
in the cloud” you will find
providers such as www. Laying Out the Document in Microsoft Word
dropbox.com We have chosen MS Word not because PUP endorses it specifica-
lly, rather because it is everywhere and has the ability to do layout.
(Other options include the free Libre Office Writer.) Layout refers to
positioning text and graphics on a page. If you look at any profes-
sional magazine, you can see how designers mix photos, big letters,
fancy letters, multiple columns, photo captions, headers and footers,
and other design elements on a page to make it both attractive and
readable for the audience.

Newspaper designers recognize the importance of visual
communication through art. While most official documents are bo-
ring in their design, they need not be. In fact, if you want people to
read the document and not just file it away, you must pay attention
to the visual communication present on each page. One of the obs-
tacles that PUP attempts to override, but traditional planners face,
is creating documents that are unreadable because of their technical
language, their massive size, their complex theory, and of course their
bad design.
While PUP only recommends a relatively small amount of
design, nothing that requires an art degree or a professional graphic
designer to update, it does encourage you to use a few very basic
design techniques so that you can convince your staff, your board
of directors, and other important stakeholders to read it, when they
otherwise might feel no motivation to do so1.
Should your site have exceptional design capacity, it can always
use more sophisticated design or programs more appropriate to that 1Of course, if they feel this way about the document, likely
function, such as Adobe InDesign, Quark XPress, or even Microsoft this indicates a much deeper problem, deeper barrier, that
Publisher. This section will ignore those advanced features and stick simple layout will not overcome.
with the minimum that is necessary to make your PUP stand out from
the multitude of studies and planning documents that surround it
on the shelf. Review
Reviewing Functions You Should Already Know

This section does not aim to give a tutorial on the basic use of Mi-
crosoft Word. If you have never used it or another word processor
like WordPerfect or OpenOffice Writer, then you should have someone
else do the layout or else take a fast course in its use. You should be
able to do the following before beginning work on a PUP:
♦ Open the program and files

♦ Create and save a new file
♦ Cut, copy, paste, print, undo, find, format (italics, bold, list,
change font and font size)
♦ Set margin sizes, add headers/footers, and page numbers
♦ Format paragraphs and tables
♦ Insert a bulleted or numbered list, or a table
♦ Make a box around text
♦ Insert graphics
Using Graphics
Graphics include photos, drawings, diagrams, text boxes, special text,
colors, maps, fills, and shapes. While a graphic designer can use many
of these in the same document, you can keep it simple for the PUP.
Here are the answers to a few basic questions about graphics.

Get Permission
Be sure that you have permis- a. Where do graphics come from?
sion to use any graphics that you
Microsoft Word can generate some of its own graphics such as boxes
did not create. It is both ethical
and a legal requirement to use around text, boxes filled with colors, special background designs,
only photos and artwork with the and colored and special text, which is very similar to PowerPoint (see
permission of the legal owner.
Chapter 4). You can also draw simple charts using Word or other
programs. There are collections of drawings and photos that come
with Microsoft Office that you can place into your document, called
Clip Art. Many more are also found in most major languages at Mi-
crosoft Corporation’s Clip Art collection that can be downloaded to
your clip art gallery in Microsoft Office (must use Internet Explorer).
You will likely need to scan photos, drawings, or maps. Once
those have been scanned and edited with a graphics program (if you
have one), they can be placed in your document.
b. What are graphics file formats?

Emphasize Key Planning
Framework Elements There are different kinds of graphic formats that different companies
If you have elements from the have produced for different uses. Just like Microsoft Word or Excel
Planning Framework that influ- have their own formats indicated by their respective extensions “.doc”
enced very strongly the strategy
and approach of your PUP, you and “.xls,” there exist many graphics extensions, some of which you
can illustrate those elements might be familiar with: .gif, .jpeg (or .jpg), .tif, .pic, .bmp, .eps, .png,
more prominently in your docu- etc. For the sake of simplicity, you should probably stick to .jpeg
ment. You might emphasize the
elements to remind people of and .gif. These are the two most common formats you find on web
them as they go about using the pages, for example. Jpegs are very flexible formats readable by just
PUP. You might also emphasize about everything. They compress images, especially photos, by over
them due to the prestige associ-
ated with them. You can also 50 percent, making larger files much smaller. Gifs also compress
use them as design elements to images. When choosing between one or the other, you should opt
improve the design and read- for jpegs, unless you are looking for a special feature of gifs such as
ability of the document. Consider
the World Heritage criteria. If animation or a transparent background. However, neither of these
UNESCO designated your site as offer much utility for printed documents, and will not be discussed
World Heritage for two criteria, here. For printed documents .tif is an excellent format for preser-
there are a number of ways you
can emphasize this element. ving bitmap (graphics composed of many pixels or dots) while be
editable time and again.
♦♦ Write the criteria on the
cover almost like a quota-
tion. c. How do I edit graphics?
♦♦ Organize attractions in the Microsoft Word can edit graphics in several ways. It can reduce the
directory according to the size of the graphic on the page (although it does not change the
criteria.
♦♦ Put the criteria in the footer disk space the file occupies). You can cut an image with the crop-
or header of parts of the ping tool found on the drawing toolbar, and even change the con-
document. trast and lighting of photos. But if you want to edit the photo, by
♦♦ On chapter title pages or
as fillers, you could write changing the colors, cleaning up dirt that was scanned, adding text
the criterion with a pho- or other images, or making any other kind of alteration, you should
tograph, story, anecdotes, use a different program. Microsoft Office comes with a Kodak ima-
attractions, activities, or
other illustration of the ging program and a painting program that can alter images. There
criterion. are also much more powerful programs to create or edit graphics

files. The most common ones include Adobe Photoshop (for pho-
tos and paint-style drawings), Adobe Illustrator (drawings), and Corel
Draw (also for drawings). There are specific programs for charts
(such as Microsoft Excel), graphs, and maps, as well as other kinds
of photo retouching programs. If you do not know how to use any
of these programs, you should find someone who does, or have a
local computer shop do the work. You can also download a wide
variety of freeware and shareware programs from www.download.
com, if you feel more adventurous with computers. Review
Reviewing Techniques to Make PUP Easy to Update

PUP would be useless if you could not update it easily and quickly,
because it is a creature in constant evolution. This is one of the obs-
tacles of traditional plans: they are written up in formal documents
that cannot easily be updated (among other intentional barriers; see
Background Reading 1). In a short time, they become outdated, wi-
thout anyone doing anything about it. While a virtual plan is by far the
best technique for handling updates, there are also several techniques
that can be used for hard-copy plans.
a. Pagination. Going Virtual with the Plan
The simplest updating technique that we could
employ is to change the traditional page-numbering PUP highly recommends that PUP Version 1.0 go virtual
and online. Printed and bound documents date back at
system. One barrier to updating a document is the least 600 years to Guttenberg’s printing press which he
page numbering. If you have a 100-page document, used to produce exquisite Bibles. Of course he had no
you might be reluctant to make a change on page intention of updating his Bibles so printing them on high-
quality paper, fancy lettering, and using a permanent
4 that will require that ALL the following pages binding suited well his purposes. But given that plans
also be re-printed because that change has altered must be changed on a monthly basis due to changing
the page numbering. If, however, we broke up the conditions and strategies, such an ancient publishing
technology will not do if protected areas have any hope
paper into a series of pages or chapters, each with to implement their plans.
its own page numbering, then when we make one The new technology available, which is now
change, the most we would have to re-print would hardly new, is HTML or on-line publishing. It has
penetrated deeply even developing countries. Which
be that chapter, with all the other chapters being advantages does it offer over polished and published
left untouched. Thus, if you observe another PUP, bound documents? Websites are interactive, flexible,
you will see that it is broken into about 12 chap- non-linear, graphical, easily updated, inexpensive,
universal access, and highly integratable with other
ters, each of no more than 10 to 15 pages (like networks and softwares. In addition, protected area
this manual). stakeholders do NOT have to have Internet connectivity
as HTML-based plans can be easily delivered on CDs or
other media to anyone with a computer. And pages can
b. Table of Contents and Binder. even be printed for those who have no computers at all.
If we have chapters or sections, we can place them Of course in extremely rural areas where no computers
physically in different ways. Another big barrier exist, it is less likely that people would be willing to read
any extensive documentation anyway.
to the ease of updating is using a binding that So printing bound documents which tend to be
cannot easily be undone. If you use a hard binding expensive, difficult to update, and cut off from social
with thread or glue, you cannot unbind the pages and informational networks are dinosaurs that serve no
one. This manual too will eventually take that route.
without breaking the document. You can use sta-

ples, but these too can get messy if you are ripping them out every
so often. PUP recommends using a three-ring binder. A binder that
has pockets in the front and back is even better. This way you can
separate out certain parts, making them even more accessible for the
reader. Consider Pico Bonito’s table of contents, made with the table
function of Word. You can see that different parts of the plan are
found inside and outside and in different pockets. You could even
imagine supplementary materials found at a web site, a CD-ROM, or
in a particular library.
Design Tools in Microsoft Word

Review
a. Sections versus page breaks versus individual files.
If PUP will have chapters with their own numbering system, there
are a couple of options to keep those individual systems separate.
1. You can keep all the chapters in one file, and separate them using
section breaks rather than regular page breaks. You also use section
breaks if you want to have a landscape page (with the long side on
This line indicates a section
the bottom) next to a portrait page (with the long side on the side).
break in “normal” view.
Sections allow you to separate page numbering. You can insert a
section or page break by clicking on the Insert menu, choose break
and then Next page. This is the barrier between chapters, indicated
by a double line and the words (Next Page or Continuous Page) when
you are in “normal” view on the View menu.
Place the cursor somewhere in the text of the new section and click
on View menu, then choose Header and Footer and select on the bar
that pops up the icon that shows the header and footer around a
blank page (fourth from the right side).

You can switch back and forth between header and footer (each one
represents how it will appear throughout the section or the
document) by clicking on that icon. Place the cursor in the header

or footer where you want the page number, and click on the insert
page numbericon which is the one on the far left for Word XP. Once
you have done that, click on the button for format page number.

You can choose an option for the numbering to con-
tinue from the previous section, or start with a new
number. Type “1” since you want to start over for
this new section.
2. A much simpler technique is to keep each chapter
in its own file. Then you only have to worry about
one numbering system per chapter.
To insert page numbering in just one file,
click on the Insert menu, and choose page numbers
and make your selection. This is if you are not using
a header or footer. If you are, then you still must go
to the View menu and follow the instructions above.
b. Insert picture.
You will want to insert and manipulate graphics and pictures. To
insert a picture, place the cursor approximately where you would like
the picture to appear. Then click on Insert, and choose picture and
then from file (exactly as if you were in PowerPoint).
Choose the picture from your drive. When you insert the
picture into Word, it places the entire picture rather than creating a
link to the picture file (there is no connection between the graphics
file outside of the Word file and the one you have just inserted). You
do not need to store the picture file with the chapter, because the
picture information is inside the Word file.
c. Format the picture.

You can make the picture bigger or smaller, longer or shorter, by
simply dragging the handles that appear on the edge of the pic-
ture when you click on it. Then right click the picture and choose
Format picture. To make text flow around the graphic, choose
Layout. Then you can click on tight or something else and hit
apply. You will see the text run around the picture. You can also
add a line around the picture if you go to the colors and lines tab
and choose the kind of line, the color, and width of line.
d. Add text boxes.

You can also add text boxes that act like pictures, and make the
text flow around them. This is good for boxes of information out-
side the text, such as lists, notes, or captions for photographs. Click
on the Insert and choose Text Box (exactly like in PowerPoint). Your
cursor turns into a “+” sign and you can draw the size of your box
by holding down on the mouse button and dragging to the desired
size. You can type text in the box, format the text and the box an-
ywhere on the page you like. If you put a textbox next to a picture,

it can serve as a caption.
e. Leaving strategic space.
Layout can get complicated very quickly if you try to place images in
the text precisely, fitting them perfectly into columns and on pages.
That requires the work of an experienced layout person, and makes it
much harder to update them while keeping good form. PUP recom-
mends that you not worry about this. Place images and let them float.
At the end of every chapter or section, leave a big chunk of space
and fill it with a picture. Do not worry about making every chapter
fit exactly to the bottom of the last page. Better to have more empty
space at the end of a chapter into which new text and images can
flow, than find yourself restricted by a tightly fine-tuned layout. Place
a picture in that space, saving the space until you need it later.
f. Page borders.
Another easy graphics feature that can give structure to your page
Space and break apart the massive white of a traditional page is the page
border. To insert such a border around a section or entire document,
click on the File menu and choose Page setup, layout & borders.
Then choose the options you want.
g. WordArt.
This is a feature that allows you to insert text that is flamboyantly de-
signed. This is good for headers, special illustrations, or other special
design elements. Click on Insert, picture and then WordArt (for more
instructions, see the Powerpoint Step 12 in Chapter 4). Choose the style
you like and then type in the words. You can change the dimensions
of the art by dragging on any of its handles. Note: use WordArt
sparingly or else it can make your document look amateurish.
h. Styles.
A powerful function and a bit more complicated is the use of styles.
In a document, it is always good to use the same style for the same
kind of text elements. For example, the biggest headers in your do-
cument might be 24-point, Interstate font, bold and centered. For
example:
Biggest Headers
The second biggest might be 18-point small cap, Garamond Italic
font, left justified.

Second Biggest
Whatever style you choose, you should be consistent about using it
throughout the entire document. You can, of course, format each
header manually. But when you decide you want the header to be
18 point, rather than 24, you have to go back and change them all
manually, causing you to waste much time. Your other option is to
create a style that you can apply to the header, with the pre-deter-
mined characteristics. If you decide down the road to change one
of those characteristics, then all the headers automatically change
at once when you make that change to the style. Using styles also
allows you to automatically derive tables of contents, indexes, and
other functions. Consult your local Word expert on how to construct
those elements.
To create a style click on the Format menu, choose Style. You
can use one of the many pre-defined styles that come with Word,
or create your own. Manually format the text, select it, and then go
to Style. You will see the characteristics described in the box on the
center-right side. Click on New and give it a new name.
You can edit the text at this point. Once you have created a
style, you can simply select the text, and then choose the style from
the style window, which is next to the font window on the Format
toolbar.
Reviewing PUP by Staff
Now that you have the first laid-out version. You will need to read
through it with staff. This is an internal review and no doubt will Explain
produce a large number of comments and corrections. They will
comment probably first on the format and second on content. But
take all those and integrate what makes immediate sense and discuss
any other points that resist easy integration.
Once you have received comments, you can then proceed
to complete the second draft of PUP Version 1.0. Remember that
there is still another phase of approval and long-distance review that
will result in more comments, but hopefully nothing that will imply
big changes in your plan. You can now print out the PUP and place
several copies in the three-ring binder. Certainly when you send out
copies for review, those will be electronic.

Getting Formal PUP Approval
Part B Many strategic plans make it all the way to the final stage of approval
and there they die, never to be implemented. In some cases, this is
Continual Releases for Plans inevitable due to political death, other cases are avoidable. This is
We look to the software industry especially the case when the approval process has been clarified,
for a model on how to update whether with government or just your board or directors, and agreed
PUP Version 1.0. Software de- upon from the outset of the planning process. Once it is known
velopers release a tested, but
imperfect first version of their who approves, which steps, and how long, and if you have followed
software 1.0. Likely even before whatever parameters are needed for approval as well as keeping the
that release program engineers approvers in the process from the beginning, getting approved should
already have a list of updates to
come (as we do with this manual). not be too difficult.
They immediately begin working You should have identified in sufficient detail in your Terms
on version 1.1. Very often they of Reference (Module 1) how to get your PUP approved. If this has
have builds and updates that
are far more specific such as implications for how the document is designed and what to include,
Version 1.245b. Eventually there now is the time to take note. Also in the TOR is the procedure to
have been so many updates or get your Module 9 activities integrated into site’s official annual op-
they introduce such significant
changes that it is time for the erating plan. So you should make sure whatever needs to be done
release of Version 2.0. to accomplish this is now going on. Getting PUP activities into the
official workplan is a big step to getting PUP implemented.
How would this system work with Ideally as well you have already agreed not to pause the
a strategic plan. We recommend process while Version 1.0 is approved. The delay that accompanies
of course that with Module 11 you
publish version 1.0. This version government processes often represents the death of plans.
would be approved (if required
by government). But planning
folks would already be working
on version 1.1 (without stopping
for approval) which would be
released on their website at the
end of the first month. Then
version 1.2 after another month
and so on until the end of year
1 at which point they release
Version 2.0 which could also
warrant approval by whatever
agency demands it. They key is to
update continuously and ensure
that the process does NOT pause
for approval, which can become
otherwise a major source of
plans going out of date and not
begin implemented because they
wait for the green light of govern-
ment which often takes too long
to come. Ideally this issue has
already been worked out in the
Terms of Reference in Module 1.
Public use coordinators preparing a PUP during the PUP course in Antigua,
Guatemala.

I. Distributing PUP to External Reviewers
What Does It Mean?
Explain
As part of gaining consensus for the PUP, you will want to send
out the PUP to external reviewers, a group of people who could
not participate in the process personally. These may include gover-
nment agencies, tourism associations in the capital (if you are not in
the capital), international NGOs, experts, donors in other countries,
etc. You will need to make a list of external reviewers and send out
the document. For this review, you are looking not only for com-
ments, but also trying to avoid that a stakeholder feels resentful for
being excluded from the process.
In a cover letter, you should state the date and means by
which you need to receive comments. You will meet with staff one
more time to discuss and incorporate comments; once you have done
that, you can print up the PUP. This will be the version you work
with until you revise it again in the first evaluation. Notice that after
all these review steps, there is a temptation to call it “final” — but
the PUP is never final.

♦♦ Letter to writers of strategic plan
♦♦ “Como Preparar Boletines de Prensa.” A short how-
to guide for preparing press releases.
♦♦ Service Mapping in Site. An example of an optional
way to represent or map where services are being
offered in a site.
♦♦ Various examples of public use plans

A PUP public presentation.
11-22 PUP Document Preparation

11
Preparation for Implementation
Purpose: Prepare the PUP Version 1.0 for implementation by carrying it through imple-
mentation planning, public presenting, writing, reviewing, and approval processes.
Focus Question: Can we get to implementation as quickly as possible without losing mo-
mentum from the planning phase?
Summary: This module helps the PUC take the products from all previous modules and
put them together into Version 1.0, and prepare for implementation. This document
needs to be written and designed. Then its contents need to be shared with stakeholders
and approved by whatever process identified in the Terms of Reference. It is critical to
begin implementing as fast as possible without delays in production and approval.
Deliverables: PUP result summaries, PUP Version 1.0, PUP approval (if necessary)
La Ceiba, Honduras April 1999
Members
Board of Directors
FUPNAPIB
Dear Writers of the Public Use Strategic Plan:
Thank you for having made the important decision of writing the Plan — on Earth Day, of all days.
This note aims to explain and settle some issues to ease this process. First, and attached to this letter,
you will find the new table of contents with the names of the authors for each section. You should
also have the corresponding part to the final products of the modules.
Please understand that although we have gathered a lot of information in workshops and other
meetings, this information is by no means final. There is always an opportunity to be creative, the
opportunity to see the contents from a different perspective and, especially, to organize it in the most
efficient — even inspiring — manner. Of course, we must respect the work of our colleagues that
collected the information and their ideas, but if you feel the need to change something that you deem
important, speak to me or to the other members and highlight the places in the text where you have

deviated from the main ideas. Likewise, the number of pages is just a suggestion. It is always better to
write more than less, because it is much easier to cut than to ask people to write more. If you want to
add information that has not yet been included, do it, and let’s decide later if it should stay. We do not
want to have way too many details. (We do not care how many people, how many square feet, what
color, which steps are needed to finalize procedures, names of people, etc.) Above all, perhaps, try to
stay within the same frame of mind as the module products. Hikes to unknown rivers may result in
finding gold, but in the long run it will usually cost more to make that hike than the revenue obtained
from it. This is a strategic plan that outlines the vision of all involved and that leaves development
details for future documents. Remember: brevity, clarity, and relevance.
We want narratives, not lists. For example, it is easy to develop lists of attractions with des-
criptive phrases that discuss, scantily or not at all, the context. Context is very important. We must
describe how everything fits into the document’s context, and then into public use. Our audience are
everyday readers. They are not technicians or people who must read the document. So make sure that
the readers understand everything they read. All the time.
Technically, the suggested pages contain some 500 words each. In other words, we use 2.5 cm
margins, 12 point font (Times New Roman), single spacing. Your work MUST be delivered by electronic
means, i.e. they should be written on the computer. If you need the secretary’s (Ivania) help, please give
her enough notice before the due date so as not to miss the deadline. And speaking of deadlines, we
are some two weeks behind the original schedule. This is no disaster, but the project usually keeps to
schedule and I request that we continue in this fashion. The Foundation is ready to finalize this project
and we do not want to work during Carnival. So please deliver your text, electronically, no later than
May 1, at 12:00 pm, noon, at the FUPNAPIB office (the sooner the better). Most of the information
is already organized, so nobody should use more than a few hours to finish his or her part. However,
if somebody has any problems with the date, please talk to me AT LEAST TWO DAYS prior, on
Thursday, April 29 to make other arrangements.
Before the specific comments for each section, you should begin to decide which graphics
would be adequate for your section (and the cover). If you can suggest maps, pictures of specific things,
drawings, diagrams, logos, etc., that would help the reader digest the material better. Please include
notes in the text with short descriptions of what you want. These suggestions will be of great help
when we’re publishing the text.
Some style pointers: don’t use all CAPS; use the “tab” at the beginning of each paragraph instead
of entering five blank spaces; don’t leave spaces between paragraphs; do not right-justify the text; you
may use boldface or italics sparingly; use the Times New Roman font; use 2.5 cm or 1” margins; use
bullets or numbers in lists, don’t use dashes to separate items of a list; you should save your file in RTF
format, text only, or MS Word 10.0, because I do not have Windows 7 and there’s problems with MS
Word files for Windows 7, which FUPNAPIB uses; it is better if you deliver your files by e-mail because
my 3.5” drive is broken. The editors will then take care of business.
The following contain suggestions for each section:
Preface
1. Letter from the President: Mention how important the plan is for the Foundation, perhaps how
hard or easy it was to accomplish, the methodology, acknowledgement to Angelica and others, your
thoughts or reflections that might be important
2. Background: Refers to the program’s development history
3. Executive Summary: The editors will write at the end, in Spanish and English

I. Introduction
1. Introduction: Meaning of public use, why it is important and necessary, the national context in
reference to public use plans, methodology, participants (coordinated with Letter from the President,
above), process objectives, perhaps brief description of the contents of the document, for whom the
document was written, that it is a living document, how to use the document, why 5 years into the
future, what the present public use program is, etc.
2. Holes in the Plan: We do not cover all we wanted for one reason or another. This section will high-
light some of the document’s limits.
3. Legal context: The management plan was not approved, the law restricts us in zoning and use of
the natural protected area and approval process.
4. Monitoring plan: It would be ideal to have, but the methodology was just not enough. It is consid-
ered in the implementation plan.
5. Norms: There are some, but the main part is not here because the zones don’t exist yet.
II Background
1. Legal Base: Which existing legal documents influence this document? What is FUPNAPIB’s mission
(in strategic plan) and which public use objectives derived for this process (coordinated with Introduc-
tion, above)
2. Interpretative messages: Which, their implications, perhaps outstanding examples, brief explanation
of use, why we have them
3. Plan administrator: The Public Use Plan must be integrated into the foundation’s existing structure
and plans regarding the strategic plan. How would the Public Use Program interact with existing and
proposed programs?
III. History and Present Situation

1. History: There is a historical piece written by Gerardo and a table that was developed during the
planning workshop. We must reconcile both. The history must be brief. The main purpose of develop-
ing it is to extract messages. Therefore, its use might be limited in this context, but this forces it to be
brief. We don’t have to use the table or perhaps just parts of it, maybe all.
2. Importance in regional and national context: When we look at the messages we can appreciate some
significant aspects. Why is it important to the North Coast and part of the Mesoamerican Biological
Corridor? First public use plan of its kind (coordinated with Letter from the President and Introduc-
tion).
3. Visitor Profiles: Simple description of each profile of the plan. Brief. Perhaps mention some aspects
where each profile visits now or which sector would be more adequate for each future profile.
4. Description of resources: We have a very poor database. So we have to visit the office to gather
more information. Gerardo knows where it is in the Management Plan (1989).
5. Threats: Physical (deforestation, agricultural migration, etc.), must consider the enforcement of the
law, political support and other human issues
6. Site Attractions: There are five categories of attractions, the descriptions of which I will send later.
But they help to group the attractions inside and outside Pico Bonito. A brief description of each one
should state why it is attractive, how to reach it, in which sector it is (some are outside any sector) and
any other information deemed important.

7. Existing infrastructure. What infrastructure does the site have?
VI. Sectors
1. Definition and criteria: How were the sectors selected? Range of different criteria to balance the
strategy. Conflict ensues when activities of different criteria are mixed. Imagine an education center
visited by many tourists or a modern hotel where there are low-scale community agricultural attractions,
etc. Perhaps mention the possibility of switching priorities and the access to new sectors.
2. Two authors must strive to decide on a format. We have an information table that we can keep or
discard. Perhaps some key questions can be used as sections. We could develop the interpretative mes-
sages of each sector or when they are developed or what budget we work with or main obstacles, or
main beneficiaries, etc. Can we tell the present situation from the vision of the sector in 5 years? The
description we now have is the source of information which you must mold.
3. Low Priority. Brief description of each one, with its general posibilities and why they have been
classified as low priority. Maybe they will have their day in the sun in years to come.
V. Administrative Development
1. Requirements: There are resources for the whole program outside the individual sectors and these
global needs deserve their own section.
2. Implementation Plan: Task tables, responsible parties, dates. Perhaps it would be wise to mention
strategies in this mass of activities.
3. The budget gives us an idea of how much the whole program to be developed will cost (not oper-
ate), each sector, and every year.
VI. Appendices
1. The bibliography must include all written material pertinent to the site, including books that only
mention Pico Bonito. This bibliography will be useful for many users, from the foundation team itself,
to students, tourists, foreign scientists, and even Internet visitors.
The idea is to write a good draft, lay out the text, and illustrate the document before handing it to the
reviewers, to obtain a) approval of the proposed document and b) because, the better-looking the
document, the more likely it will be read. We are writing the first and only document of its kind in the
country and Pico Bonito is right now in the eye of several national and international donors. Lots of
people who are demanding a plan like this one have heard what we are doing here in La Ceiba, and are
very excited about the results. When the director of the biodiversity sector of the Rural Area Manage-
ment Project (PAAR), who has $5 million to support some protected areas of the country, saw the
results, he said that all protected areas of the country should have a plan like this. FUCSA has asked
for assistance to develop their own public use plan. This is the context of our work and we will soon
see the fruits of our labor.
If you have any questions, please send me e-mail or leave a note for me at the Pico Bonito office.
Very truly yours,
Public Use Coordinator

Plan Implementation Strategies
The following list offers strategies rather than more intangible but equally important habits and ori-
entations of honesty, modeling positive behaviors and culture, promoting psychological growth of
employees, listening deeply, publicly recognizing achievements and skills, asking meaningful questions,
treating people with respect, informing everyone when you change a strategy or schedule, honoring
purpose more than task. It also refers to very few strategies about wider organizational change critical
for implementation of any kind of plan. Consider learning: organizational learning, learning infra-
structure, learning networks, making organization more horizontal, team-based, etc. are approaches to
integrate learning into the culture.
Theme 1: Community Investment

Can the site or planning community offer trainings to improve its staff and stakeholders in skills relevant
to planning and management (conflict resolution, facilitation, team learning, group dialogues, or what
community members choose)? Can the site or whichever coordinating stakeholders cultivate relation-
ships between stakeholders instead of just using them to produce plans? Can coordinators recognize
stakeholder strengths and contributions rather than deficiencies? Can all corners of the stakeholder
community participate in creating site management and owning those creations? Can the biggest stake-
holders reduce bureaucracy by replacing it with concern and trust? Can the community participate in
continuous shared visioning? Can it hold meaningful conversations about site and community manage-
ment instead of just display obedience or deference to hierarchical power? Can coordinators practice
Block’s five techniques of engagement (allow transparency, full disclosure, and public expression of
doubt; balance presentation and participation; placing real choice on the table; shift the conversation;
spaces that support community)? Can the site publicly disclose finances? Can coordinators declare
intentions about the level of participation they will pursue? Can they support champions of alterna-
tive public use management among the stakeholder community? Can the process use consensus? Can
there be a wide delegation and sharing of management powers?
Theme 2: Approval Strategy

Can site eliminate approval altogether or at least use the middle-way approach of incremental approv-
als? Has approval process been described in detail such that the length of time can be estimated? Does
process allow for provisional implementation while approval process unfolds?
Theme 3: Plan Format & Technology

Can the plan be published as a virtual web site or does it need to be printed on paper at all? Can both
occur? If printed on paper, can the process avoid formal publishing? Can it avoid rigid layout and in-
stead use a loose, easily updated format, even if it doesn’t look “professional”? Can the plan be written
in non-technical language, symbols, and format or must it appeal to only very few technical personnel?
Can the plan express non-scientific knowledge and use a variety of media to do so? Does the plan
document commitments or does it only make recommendations (because it does not have authoritative
power because it is not sufficiently participatory)? Some examples of virtual plans include:

• www.ourstrategicplan.ca
• www.ontarioplan.org
• http://winnipesaukeegateway.org/management-plans/plan-1-meredith-paugus-and-saunders-bay/
introduction
Theme 4; Scheduling and Updating

Can the plan eliminate expiration dates/planning horizons and begin continuous planning and updating
(and truly be a living document)? Can the Calendar of Activities include periodic evaluations, weekly
meetings? Can the site display tasks on the public Big Wall Calendar and put it on the plan web page?
Can the plan use a wiki, openly editable approach to allow the entire community to participate in the
plan’s evolving contents?
Theme 5: Implementation Bodies

Can the site community establish advisory groups, watchdogs, implementation committees, or delegate
responsibilities to different sectors of the community in order to oversee and facilitate implementation?
Can planners not only ask stakeholders to contribute and make sacrifice but also share power with them?
Can the planning body establish a position or body to develop learning strategies and infrastructure or
communities of practice within an organization to facilitate innovation in public use management?
Theme 6: Incentives for Implementation

Can the planning community shift incentives from plan creation to plan implementation, for example by
celebrating for achieving PUP Version 2.0, offering financial incentives for implementing, recognizing
publicly accomplishments of community members, dedicating funds for implementation and funds for
community development rather than outsourcing, offering paid opportunities to share implementation
experiences with other sites, and otherwise make people feel recognized and well regarded for finding
ways to adapt the plan and make things happen rather than stand in the way of progress?
Sources: Background Readings 1 and 11, Module 1.

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Introduction to the Conversations Intro-5

Intro-6 Introduction to the Conversations

Introduction to the Conversations Intro-7

Intro-8 Introduction to the Conversations

1. The Information Box. This box, which appears at the beginning

Introduction to the Conversations Intro-9

Each module will introduce new vocabulary marked in bold. This

Focus Question: This question, as defined by the Technology of

This Module Contains

Intro-10 Introduction to the Conversations

Once everyone is in the room where the module will be executed,

What Does It Mean?

This section covers the theory in the background presentation. The

Introduction to the Conversations Intro-11

Intro-12 Introduction to the Conversations

♦♦ Ask (an ORID or other question)

Introduction to the Conversations Intro-13

Public Use Planning [Organization] [Date]

Module 2: Interpretive Framework

Rational Goals: Experiential Goals:

Minutes Activity Notes

Recreating Site History

This agenda can be found as an editable MS Word document in the Appendix.

Intro-14 Introduction to the Conversations

Introduction to the Conversations Intro-15

Intro-16 Introduction to the Conversations

Training 1: Set Up Modules

Tentative schedule of tasks for Modules 1–4 Schedule (1) .25

Introduction to the Conversations

Introduction to the Conversations

Training 2: Strategic Planning Modules

Introduction to the Conversations

Module 7. LAC Module 7 Prepare materials and logistics Preparations 1

Introduction to the Conversations

Introduction to the Conversations

Study Questions Thinking Ω the Box

Last updated November 2015

PUP Planning Preparation 1-3

1-4 PUP Planning Preparation

1. Establish core planning team members and roles (A).

PUP Planning Preparation 1-5

♦♦ By sharing tasks among team members, the team

Set Up the Core Planning Team

1. Recruit members of the core planning team.

1-6 PUP Planning Preparation

PUP Planning Preparation 1-7

3. Facilitate opening dialogue.

♦♦ What is the crossroads at which we find ourselves

♦♦ How have we as the core planning team contributed

1-8 PUP Planning Preparation

4. Establish basic team rules.

♦♦ Be open to new ideas before critiquing

Some teams like to nominate a well respected person to watch out

You should also establish some standard operating procedures and

♦♦ Regular meetings, either weekly or one meeting be-

PUP Planning Preparation 1-9

5. Study PUP together.

1-10 PUP Planning Preparation

PUP Planning Preparation 1-11

Continued on following page

1-12 PUP Planning Preparation