This website is designed to provide the tourism industry, researchers and consultants with information on sustainable and responsible tourism. You are welcome to download any documents that you find useful, and use the links provided. If you would like to obtain other information or assistance, my contact details are at the bottom of the page.

Dr Anna Spenceley is a Senior Tourism Advisor with the Netherlands Development Agency SNV in Rwanda.

SNV's strategy is to apply destination management approaches in combination with value chain development to increase tourism receipts, employment, small business development, and reduce poverty. reduce poverty.

Before joining SNV in February 2009, Anna consulted for a wide range of institutions including the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the International Trade Centre of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the World Conservation Union (IUCN), the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Columbia University, Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa, and the International Ecotourism Society.

Anna is the CEO of Spenceley Tourism and Development: a consultancy company based in South Africa. She is a member of a number of professional associations including the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) Tourism Task Force, the IUCN-WCPA Transboundary Protected Areas Taskforce and the IUCN’s Southern African Sustainable Use Specialist Group (SASUSG). She also acts on the Interim Advisory Committee of the Tourism Sustainability Council.  Anna is on the editorial board of the International Journal for Sustainable Tourism, the Journal of Educational Travel and also the journal of South African National Parks: Koedoe.

Anna is the editor of "Responsible Tourism: Critical issues for Conservation and Development" and also co-editor of "Evolution and Innovation in Wildlife Conservation". Both books were published with the support of IUCN SASUSG with Earthscan

BOOK: Responsible Tourism: Critical issues for Conservation and Development (2008)

All too often conservation efforts are seen to be in conflict with local livelihoods and resource use. As more land and natural resources are incorporated into protected areas ‘responsible tourism’ is often invoked as a way to serve both conservation ends and support local livelihoods and promote economic development. Yet does it actually work in practice?

Employing a series of case studies by practitioners from across southern Africa - one of the testing grounds for the idea that responsible tourism can promote biodiversity conservation and poverty alleviation - this book provides a comprehensive, evidence based examination of the range of issues of what works and what does not.

This is an essential reference and a unique and rich source of cases studies and salient insights for professionals and academics from across conservation, development and tourism. Some reviews of "Responsible Tourism" include:

‘Responsible Tourism presents a wide variety of valuable lessons learned in responsible tourism initiatives in Southern Africa that many tourism practitioners can use in their efforts to make the tourism sector work for the poor and for the environment.’
Dr Harsh Varma, Director, Development Assistance Department, World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)

‘For those interested in how tourism can assist in the economic and social development of societies in need, Responsible Tourism effectively integrates scales and types of knowledge to present an informative, stimulating perspective. It will be on my bookshelf.’
Steve McCool, Professor Emeritus, Wildland Recreation Management, University of Montana

‘Responsible tourism is one of the most significant contemporary issues for tourismscholars and practitioners alike. This useful and clearly written collection of new research demonstrates the innovations in responsible tourism occurring within southern Africa and provides lessons for international research and practice.’
Professor Christian Rogerson, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa

Links :
Earthscan - www.earthscan.co.uk/?tabid=26778
Download Earthscan flyer here (690 KB, pdf file)
Download the contents list here (79 KB, pdf file)

BOOK: Evolution and Innovation in Wildlife Conservation: Parks and
Game Ranges to Transfrontier Conservation Areas (2009)

The crucible of innovation in wildlife and habitat conservation is in southern Africa where it has co-evolved with decolonization, political transformation and the rise of development, ownership, management and livelihood debates. Charting this innovation, early chapters deal with the traditional 'fines and fences' conservation that occurred in the colonial and early post-independence period, with subsequent sections focussing on the experimentation and innovation that occurred on private and communal land as a result of the break from these traditional methods. The final section deals with more recent innovations in the sector, focussing on building and strengthening the relationships between parks and society. Importantly, the book provides a data-rich summary of experimentation with more inclusive models of conservation in terms of ecological, social, political and economic indicators.

Links :
Earthscan - www.earthscan.co.uk/?tabid=26775
Download Earthscan flyer here (690 KB, pdf file)

Contact details

Dr Anna Spenceley

SNV-Rwanda, PO Box 1049, Kigali, Rwanda
Telephone +250 (0)750 428 726
Email: annaspenceley@gmail.com / aspenceley@snvworld.org
Skype: annaspenceley
www.snvworld.org

Updated July 2009