Ricardo Anzola Betancourt

Secretary-General, Institute> Interamericano de Turismo Address: 7040 West Palmetto Park Road, Boca Raton, FL 33433, USA Telephone: (1 561)213-8092 Fax: (1 419)793-6406

E-mail: iit95@usa.net, iit95secge@usa.net, iit95secge@hotmail.com Ruben Nicolas ReinosoGeneral Coordinator

Address: Tierra del Fuego 1452 CP 9100;Trelew, Argentina Telephone: (02965)421619 Mobile tel.: (02965) 15688542 E-mail: rreinoso@gps-arg.org.ar

The Provincial Agrotourism Programme for Chubut Province was conceived and devel oped by the Instituto Interamericano de Turismo, under the supervision of its Secretary -General Ricardo Anzola Betancourt, and the local technical team composed of Ruben Nicolas Reinoso, who acted as General Coordinator of the Programme, professor Jorge Ricardo Reinoso and professional tourist guide Gustavo Tapia, as agrotourism experts, both belonging to the Association of Professional Tourist Guides of Northeast Chubut. The local technical team was trained previously by the Instituto Interamericano de Turismo.

Participating public institutions:

• Corporaciön de Fomento del Chubut CORFO - CHUBUT Government of the Province of Chubut Secretariat of Tourism of the Province of Chubut Municipalities of: Sarmiento, Epuyen, El Hoyo, Logo Puelo, Trelew, Rawson, Gaiman, Dolavon, 28 de Julio, Trevelin and Esquel.

Participating non-governmental institutions:Instituto Interamericano de Turismo, and Association of Professional Tourist Guides of Northeast Chubut.

Region/destination

In Argentina the all-time highest poverty rate was hit in October 2002, when it reached 57.5 % of the population. Shortly before the devaluation and the default in October 2001, the poverty rate among the urban population was 38.3 percent, and the indigence rate was 13.6 %. In the first half of 2004, 44.3 % of Argentines were under the poverty line and the indigence rate reached 17%.

In May 2003 the proportion of households and persons under the indigence line and of households and persons under the poverty line in urban centres was as follows:

Note Estimates by the World Bank mention poverty rates In rural areas that

were up to 20 % higher than typical levels In urban areas.

The Programme was carried out in four areas of Chubut Province:

4.The Municipality of Sarmiento (south zone)

5.The Andean Region of Paralelo 42 (northwest zone)

6.The Region of Valle Inferior y Medio del Rio Chubut (north zone)

7.The Region of Los Alerces (west zone)

and is aimed at smallholder producers of the valleys with Irrigation (access to potable water) of Chubut Province, with the objective of improving their quality of life.

Tourism project/activity to reduce poverty

The objective of this Programme is to offer support to the efforts of rural micro-entrepreneurs, applying tourism as an income-generating instrument that helps them im-prove their quality of life and to strengthen their economy, without drawing them away from their traditional activities and tasks. Furthermore, it is envisaged that agrotourism can help boost sales and the commercialization of their products through direct purchases by tourists and visitors, thus strengthening the image of the rural establishment and its products.

Agrotourism is an economic response to a series of social problems: uprooting of rural families, lack of employment and low income. The Programme is strongly focused on support for agricultural production, and consists in offering a personal attention service provided by rural families. Moreover, it helps maximize the use of existing tourism facilities in the area by extending the stays of visitors in the locality.lt should be pointed out that the Programme de-emphasizes the construction of tourism facilities on rural lands in order to minimize the investment required and to keep the rural entrepreneurs engaged in their traditional activities.

5. Project initiation and its The Programme began in October 2000 and consisted of three stages: evaluation, train-ing, and technical assistance. The community of producers

mobilized itself and took on the challenge of generating proposals for strengthening their rural enterprises. The Programme induced and facilitated the inclusion of this complementary activity based on training and technical assistance actions, and was carried out with the active participation of producers and local governments.

Instituto Interamericano de Turismo - This was the entity responsible for the conception, preparation, conceptual orientation and execution of the training activities, technical assistance and commercialization of the agrotourism Programme. In addition, it trained the local technical team that took part in the execution and development of the Programme. The Association of Professional Guides of Northeast Chubut - This association was in charge, under the orientation of the Instituto Interamericano de Turismo, of the technical cooperation activities related to the enhancement of rural lands and of itineraries within such lands. Technical personnel of the Instituto and of the Association of Guides comprised the Technical Team that carried out the Programme.

CORFO - As the entity responsible for promoting rural development in the province, it was the institution that promoted the Programme and coordinated support and execution activities.

Government of Chubut - Provide, through CORFO, the supportnecessaryfor the implementation of the Programme.

• Secretariat of Tourism of Chubut Province - Took charge of the production and printing of municipal maps for locating agrotourism lands and the preparation of a descriptive brochure of the Programme. Municipalities - These served as the headquarters of the training activities, and pro-vided the necessary logistical support. At the same time, the Programme drew the participation of municipal tourism offices.The municipal governments that partici-pated were those of Dolavon, El Hoyo, Epuyen, Esquel, Gaiman, Lago Puelo, Rawson, Sarmiento, Trelew, Trevelin and 28 de Julio.

Finance, funding. The main investments for the execution of the Agrotourism Programme came

technical assistance from the public sector. From the National State, through a funding programme of

the Ministry of Labour allocated to Training; from the government of Chubut Province, which financed technical assistance; and from the municipalities, which shouldered the costs of the stay of the Technical Team at each of the localities where the Programme was carried out.

The initial funding of the Programme was secured based on the presentation of a project by the Technical Team, which included training, technical assistance and commercialization tasks, which over time were oriented and directed from the Instituto Interamericano de Turismo.

No investments were made in traditional tourism structures or facilities.

Date: 2015-12-18; view: 1137