Ecotourism

In the second assignment, you will combine your information (the ideas, not the words) on the environmental impacts from assignment one (attached) with an overall assessment and proposal of your project. This will include:

• Project description and justification: several paragraphs (environmentally, locally, globally etc.) (~150-200 words)clearly describing the project and location and the importance of it
• Short overview of the negative environmental impacts of the project (discuss as an overview – do not cut and paste from assignment 1 but you can pull ideas/info from there and synthesize it here focusing on the 2-3 most important ones) (~150-200 words)
• Short discussion of the environmental benefits (positive impacts) that your project might create. This could include changes to the land, park system, education and knowledge, etc (refer to the textbook as a reminder of environmental benefits) (~200 words)
• Similar overview of the social and economic benefits and impacts (~200-300 words)
• Discussion of how you will reduce environmental (as in assignment one, but choose 3-4 of the most significant impacts, synthesis and expand on ideas, informing your discussion with academic research) and social/economic impacts (mitigation) and develop a monitoring program to track the success and impacts (~300-400 words)
• You will also include a short marketing plan (see ‘Marketing Plan’ for an overview). You have already explained your product so focus on discussing your SPECIFIC target market, your implementation strategy (advertising methods), and pricing (look at similar products) (~250-350 words)

Some of this material will come from your previous work, so in this exercise you will be primarily graded on the last four sections. You need to consider what benefits your project will bring to the local community, environmentally, socially and economically or how might it negatively impact on the local community. Mitigation and monitoring are integral components in an EA but are often not included because of lack of money or initiative by the developer. It is important in ecotourism that the activity is environmentally-friendly or at least the attempt has been made to make it this way. Finally, the last section is more of a brain-storming section for you to think of how you would sell your project, what would you need to consider when trying to make this project successful.

Overall, your paper should be about 1,500 words or 6 pages (double spaced). It can be a little longer if you feel you need the extra material to present your project in the best light. However, you are being graded on the content as well as the quality of the writing of the report. A report that rambles on in sections without adding value to the overall paper will receive a lower grade than a well organized, concise report. Very long papers will also be penalized (see note below).

This assignment should be in a report form. There is not a lot of space for the areas you must cover so it will test your ability to be succinct and informative. The nature of the proposal is more of a report and it is recommended to use headings to identify each section (see ‘report template’). You can use bullets for some of your discussion (if it makes sense), but make sure you include discussion of the points, not just a list of words.

The preferred referencing style is APA. However, you may also use either Chicago or MLA. There should only be one reference list for the entire assignment and that list should follow Part C, beginning on a separate page. If using figures (maps or pictures) or tables in your report, label them appropriately. You should also include the source to indicate where the pictures was taken from, even if it was taken by you [i.e. Figure 1. An example of canoeing excursions (from Parks Canada, 2010)], then include the full source in your reference list.

The general rule for research papers is to have 1-3 references per page of text. This is the expectation for this assignment. The overwhelming majority of your sources should be academic in nature (i.e. academic journal articles or academic books). Primary research articles are preferred sources. Google Scholar is an acceptable place to search for these academic references. A better place to search is the WLU library website: it provides access to some excellent databases to help you look for appropriate references.

Marketing Plan Overview (This is a general guide only, please focus on the ‘short marketing plan’ details outlined above)

A note about the length of your assignment: Your assignment should be approximately 1,500 words, excluding the title page and references. To encourage conciseness, I am requiring that your Assignment Two be no longer than 1,500 words, excluding your title page and reference list. To help you, I have included suggested word counts for each section. For papers that are longer than 1,500 words, I will be deducting one mark for every 100 words over 1,500 words, beginning at 1,600 words.

A note about plagiarism: This is an academic document. Thus, be careful to avoid plagiarism. Be aware that sections of text that are copied directly from your first assignment (i.e. “cut and pasted”) may be considered to be plagiarism.