Country: United States

Organization: GreenSpot

Year the initiative began: 2007

Project Website: www.greenspot.travel

Positioning in the Mosaic of solutions:

• Main barrier addressed: Corporate monolithic approach to tourism
• Main insight addressed: Develop community assets

What is the goal of your innovation?
Develop local tourism projects and build community resources in Central America using the revenue created through personal luxury travel planning.

How does your approach support or embody geotourism?
We're making real engagement with local people and lifestyles part of the itinerary for luxury travel. Travelers on GreenSpot trips balance their time between the amenities of world-class green resorts and excursions to cook local food, view ongoing historical preservation efforts, or meet biologists and ecologists on the front lines of conservation of native species. One day our travelers might enjoy a gourmet meal in a highly rated organic restaurant serving local cuisine, and the next day they join a local family in preparing tortillas and eating a delicious meal in a rural home. We’re breaking down the barriers between high-end travel and authentic cultural experiences by tailoring each itinerary to match the traveler’s interests to an activity that provides an enriching exchange with community members at their destination. Once the traveler has returned home, we will offer the opportunity to stay engaged with people and projects via updates on our website, as well as news and information about new initiatives in sustainability here and in the locales we visit most often. We are also building community by providing a photo gallery for travelers to post pictures and commentary from their trips to demonstrate the connection.

Describe your approach in detial. How is it innovative?
GreenSpot is rethinking the way the resources created by tourism are directed to the destinations we serve. On the most practical level, we are a nonprofit organization that will ultimately generate revenue through several business channels, including our travel planning services, as well as advertising and the sale of green travel products and services on our website. All profits will then be invested in sustainability projects at our destinations through grantmaking and other forms of support. The projects in turn will become destinations and points of engagement for the travelers who wish to make them part of their itineraries. For example, we work with a school in Costa Rica that is using the sale of used clothing to fund the purchase of technology. We donate profits from our travel services to the school, and we also make visits to the school available to travelers. We will feature the school and its project on our website, giving our website viewers an opportunity to donate directly or to visit the school. When those travelers return from their visits, we will post their photos and descriptions of their experiences on our site and generate interest in those who might support the work.

What types of partnerships or professional developement would be most beneficial in spearding your innovation?
As part of our strategy to bring together best practices in business and revenue creation with best practices in sustainable local development, GreenSpot is looking to form partnerships with mid-sized companies whose products and goals are similar to ours. For example, we would love to work with an already green coffee, travel gear, or travel services retailer who is interested in underwriting projects that tie closely into their positioning. We would also love to partner with companies who want to raise their green profile and undertake new initiatives with us to forge connections with the tourism industry in Central America.

In one sentence describe what kind of impact, change, or reform your approach is intended to achieve.
We will reshape tourism into a mutually beneficial exchange of ideas and resources that leaves travelers connected to destination communities.

Describe the degree of success of your approach to date. Clearly define how you measure quantitative and qualitative impact in terms of how your approach contributes to the sustainability or enhancement of local culture, environment, heritage, or aesthetics? How does your approach minimize negative impacts?
In our relatively short history, GreenSpot has been very successful in creating high quality travel experiences that permit travelers to truly engage with the people and cultures they visit. We always solicit feedback from our travelers, and they consistently point to the opportunities for direct interactions with local communities as the most satisfying aspect of their trips. As we expand the number and depth of local sustainability projects we support, we expect to see both increasing traveler satisfaction as their trips contain even more opportunities for community connection. At the same time, the projects will produce tangible results in the form of increased economic stability and independence for residents, while producing beneficial environmental impacts. Our founder brings his experience as an economist specializing in sustainability to bear on the selection and development of every new project as proposed by local organizations in our destinations. With that lens we are able to ensure that our resources are targeted at projects with the greatest probability of lasting success and meaningful change. Moving forward, we will use these early projects and our assessment of their economic and environmental impact to create a clear model for future project selection.

How does your program promote traveler enthusiasm, satisfaction, and engagement with the locale?
GreenSpot’s model is focused on providing authentic experiences for travelers by giving them opportunities to really know local people in destination communities. We involve travelers in a deeper understanding of the work being done to preserve and improve historical sites and natural phenomena, and each area’s unique cultural heritage. The buy-in created by our sustainability projects means that travelers continue interacting and helping long after they return home. More than a massage or a day at the beach (though we arrange those too), these kinds of experiences become the narrative of a memorable trip that inspires others to get involved.

In what ways are local residents actively involved in your innovation, including participation and community input? How has the community responded to or benefited from your approach?
Our primary project thus far has been providing support to a school in Costa Rica that collects used clothing to sell to the community, in turn using the proceeds to fund the purchase of technology equipment, as well as to underwrite environmental education for its students. We use our personal contacts and friendships in town to ensure that GreenSpot’s role is in line with community needs and expectations. More broadly, our years of connections as both residents and travel planners in Costa Rica and beyond mean that trusting relationships have already been established at the local level.

Describe how your innovation helps travelers and local residents better understand the value of the area's cultural and natural heritage, and educates them on local environmental issues. How do you motivate them to act responsibly in their future travel decisions?
Our work as travel planners already involves significant education, as we provide our travelers with reading lists, very detailed itineraries, and other supplemental materials to make sure that they know what to expect and what to look for. We explain to our travelers exactly why we are recommending each element, what its contribution to sustainability might be, and how they can best engage with the people and events at each of their destinations. For our most unique local attractions, this kind of briefing is essential, and we make sure that our pre-trip advice is supplemented by the local guides.

Is your initiative financially and organizationally sustainable? If not, what is required to make it so? What is the potential demand for your innovation?
GreenSpot’s travel planning business is already very successful and can be run separately as a for-profit venture, and we are also developing other revenue streams in green travel. We have decided to become a nonprofit organization instead to create a larger movement to leverage tourism dollars to create more robust local economies and to promote responsible travel. We believe that the circular nature of our model is inherently sustainable, as travel dollars are invested in local attractions, businesses, and community development, and those projects then become destinations for future travelers to observe or participate in, whether as volunteers or donors.

How is your initiative currently financed? If available, provide information on your finances and organization that could help others. Please list: Annual budget, annual revenue generated, size of part-time, full-time and volunteer staff.
As a very young nonprofit organization, GreenSpot does not have an extensive financial profile. However, we are confident that our innovative approach to financing our fixed costs with revenue generated by our ever-growing travel planning services, online store, and advertising income from our content-driven website will provide the funding we need to establish a solid foundation for the development of projects. We currently operate with 2 full time and 3 part-time staff members, and in the next two years we expect to add 1-2 additional part-time staff members and 4-5 volunteers who will assist in content creation for the website. As a nonprofit travel organization, we plan to leverage the expertise and involvement of both volunteers and our travel clients to document our work via our website.

What is your plan to expand your approach? Please indicate where/how you would like to grow or enhance your innovation, or have others do so.
We believe the model we have begun using with the used clothing store can be replicated to other businesses. We expect to provide substantial startup money for the first three years, with the majority of the funding at the start of the project to acquire inventory, establish a space with necessary equipment, and train staff. Our financial involvement would then be reduced as the project gains self-sufficiency, and we will be able to transfer our support to new projects. We plan to focus on businesses that make use of recycled materials or that preserve cultural or historical heritage.

What are the main barriers you encounter in managing, implementing, or replicating your innovation? What barriers keep your program from having greater impact?
Our primary barrier at this point is one of human resources. We have great momentum in our travel planning work, and we are taking a measured approach to its growth to maintain quality. However, in order to move forward with our plans to make our website both a place of community and a revenue stream, we need people who are knowledgeable about travel in Central America and green travel in general to assist with content. Additionally, we will need support people at our destinations to oversee our projects and reach out to new organizations in other communities.

What is the origin of your innovation? Tell your story.
In our years as travel planners working with several different agencies, we have designed thousands of itineraries for travelers of all kinds. In many cases these trips have been limited by our clients’ preconceived notions of what kinds of experiences were available to them, dictated by friends who had already visited Central America or by marketing from other firms and travel guides. In addition, we found that the tourism industry often keeps local people and travelers apart, with only minimal crossover through tour guides and staff at lodgings and restaurants. As our expertise in luxury green travel has expanded in the countries we serve, we have been able to push past these barriers in our planning and add more elements of authentic personal contact with our destination communities, such as meals in private homes or visits to restoration project sites. Our travelers have loved these encounters, and when we ask them to tell us what they enjoyed most about the trips we have planned for them, most say it is the people they have met who made the experience truly memorable. On the other side, people in Central America have appreciated the opportunity to form deeper connections with visitors to their communities. When we created GreenSpot as our own luxury travel planning business, we began with the idea that we needed to make these kinds of interactions a key part of our itineraries. At the same time, we wanted to promote green travel and to support sustainable projects at our destinations. We believed our website would be an ideal vehicle to do, especially if we provided a place for the projects to market themselves and reach a broader audience. The final piece of the picture fell into place as we realized we could become a nonprofit organization and channel the resources generated by luxury travel and the revenue from other business initiatives into direct assistance for community-based projects, which would in turn create more and better opportunities for travelers to get involved in these projects. As interest in responsible travel has grown enormously in recent years, we knew that this was the right idea at the right time. We’re just getting started and we’re moving forward quickly with all of the elements of this approach. Our travel business is well underway, our expanded website is in development and will replace the current placeholder site soon, and we are finalizing our nonprofit status. We continue to partner with startup projects in Costa Rica, such as the used clothing store and a home-based local cuisine teacher, and we are looking at adding more projects to our portfolio. We are extremely motivated by the possibilities of this model, and we look forward to seeing all of the elements come to fruition.

Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers' marketing material.
Founder Richard Edwards has traveled, worked and lived in Costa Rica for more than twenty years. He is both a knowledgeable travel professional and an economist who has spent years working in sustainable development. Co-founder Irene Edwards is a native of Costa Rica with years of experience in the travel industry. The Edwards know the communities, companies, and local business people they work with, and they only recommend accommodations and activities that they have experienced and enjoyed themselves. Conde Nast Traveler magazine has recommended Richard as Costa Rica travel specialist for the past two years.

Please write an overview of your project. This text will appear when people scroll over the icon for your entry on the Google map located on teh competition homepage.
GreenSpot is a nonprofit organization that supports local community tourism initiatives in Central America by leveraging our focus on high levels of traveler engagement. We start our personal travel itineraries by partnering with lodgings that offer both premier luxury amenities and robust green practices, such as hiring locally, offering organic native cuisine, and supporting economic needs in the community. We match travelers to activities, events, local artisans, and historical sites based on their interests. We find that when travelers encounter authentic experiences through meaningful contact with local residents, they remain engaged with the places they have visited long after they return home. GreenSpot further plans to use its website to enhance this connection by providing a forum for partner projects to market their work to a web audience, as well as providing green travel news and information focused on Central America, and offering select green travel accessories and services through its online store. Revenue from travel planning activities, the online store, paid advertisements on the website, and donations from members of the green travel community will in turn be used to provide grants to under-resourced small businesses who are developing new and innovative tourism resources in the destinations we promote.

Contact Information
Mr. Richard Edwards
Founder
GreenSpot
4741 Secret Valley Road, Billings, Montana
richard@greenspottravel.org