Questions to be asked at first relate to the reasons for establishing tourism in Timidarte:• Does tourism contribute to the conservation of the local cultural heritage?
• Does tourism contribute to a high added value in the village, to the elimination of poverty and to stem emigration from the village?
• Do the overall benefits of tourism fit the expectations and do they outweigh the costs reasonably?
The least reservations are given by the conservation of local cultural heritage. The restoration measures realised in Timidarte seem to be successful. However, there is no detailed information available about the success of the connection of tourism (in particular the number of tourists participating in the project-orientated tours) and the conservation.
If taking into account, what Lessmeister/Popp found out about trekking and desert tourism in southern Morocco, it can be said, that the way tourism is organised in Timidarte supports a high added value for the locals. Tourism there is not based on great luxury which would use up most of the income for imports (from other regions/from other countries), and there are no foreign investors who would take the revenues out of the region. However, attention has to be paid to how much of the travellers' money actually reaches Timidarte and if this money covers the nec-essary investments, or if it will cover them when the project will be working fully independently.
Every project that aims at working independently has to function economically sus-tainable, that is, commercially profitable, and it has to be able to compete on the market. Häusler/Strasdas call this condition "Community-based Tourism as a Business". Therefore a market study at the international, national, regional and local level is an absolutely necessary step in the beginning of a tourism project. If the market study reveals a positive chance for the particular tourism project, the planning process can start. The product development should be adapted to the mar-ket situation and target specific groups or visitor types and their needs. This aspect of product development has to be analysed thoroughly, as an example from South-East Asia shows. This project based on similar aims as Timidarte and it was confronted striking problems concerning the demand for this type of tourism. Tourists were looking for leisure and relaxation, not for ‘difficult’ cultural learning processes so that nobody booked the offer of living in the traditional village. Although in Timidarte the situation might be somehow more relaxed, because the visitors can at least commu-nicate with the locals in French, the example from South-East Asia should be taken as a hint. With respect to the market and visitor's profile of the WTO Timidarte should look for possibilities to meet the demand of tourists. For example, the sense of adding relaxation elements for circular tours travellers and mountain tourists (in the adjacent hiking area of the Jbel Sarhro) to the tourism offer should be considered.
Besides a profound product development, it must be ensured that there are enough resources and sufficient infrastructure in the destination. With regard to the latter requirement Häusler/Strasdas list for example cultural and environmental resources, accommodation, location, access and transportation, human resources, water, en-ergy and sewerage as well as financial resources. For Timidarte there is no detailed information available whether a SWOT-analysis, a feasibility study, infrastructure inventory or something similar to assess the situation for the kind of tourism planned in the village was performed. The planning process was mainly based on the experiences of the German tour operator and the tourism experience of one of the villagers. However, some elements of the list of requirements can be judged from the information available:
• Cultural resources: Timidarte has quite a lot to offer, starting with the historical cultural elements and continuing with the program offered to tourists. So, if tour-ists book a tour to Timidarte, they do not have to search for cultural or other ex-perience and attractions.
• Location: Timidarte has an advantage in location because the valley Drâa, which connects Ouarzazate southwards with Zagora, is one of the better-known cultural routes. It must be seen if the neighbouring famous 'route of the kasbahs', which starts in Ouarzazate and heads eastwards to Er-Rachidia will be of advantage for Timidarte or not. The favourable location also be-comes evident when looking at different tour operators and their routes. Some of them are mentioning the village explicitly, others just mention the valley Drâa. The question that remains more or less unanswered at this point is, whether Timidarte can build on a unique selling proposition (USP) that would mark it as an extraordinary destination. Possibly the way tourism is performed can already work as USP.
• Financial resources: The NGO Helen Keller International supports the associa-tion ATDDT and thus the tourism project, also the ATDDT members themselves contribute financially to the project. Since the project aims at functioning autarkic after the initial period, it has to be managed in a 'sustainable' manner: It has to work economically while not overusing its cultural and ecological resources which are viable to tourism. However, with respect to the present support by Helen Keller, the following quote should be kept in mind: " Experiences in all kinds of development work have shown that projects fully fi-nanced or run by donors fail at the moment the donor leaves the project". In the case of Timidarte a detailed business plan would be helpful. Theoretically one exists but not in a written form. Nevertheless, a success factor of Timidarte could be that the project was initiated by the villagers themselves and not by the initiative of an outsider, and that they have been participating actively in the development process from the beginning, but it is unclear whether there are offers for other fields and other groups.
• The management of the natural resource water is an important aspect to be dis-cussed in the village since, the village suffers from a lack of water despite its location at the river side. Information on Timidarte does not give details, it is only indicated that the water system is being ecologically reorganised.
• In regions with seasonal shortages of food supply, it is useful to set up a ‘seasonal calendar’. This calendar illustrates the ‘difficult’ periods of a year so that it becomes clear in which periods heavy tourism would provoke serious difficulties. On the other hand it can show visitors how the local community has to economise its supplies because of natural circumstances.
• Monitoring the generation of income, cultural and social impacts, conservation, and community participation is seen as a useful instrument to follow the success, the development and the proper carrying-out of CBT.
• CBT usually encounters a specific problem of group processes. This are power structures inside a community (e.g. men dominating women) which can become evident when a certain group takes over the process, its benefits etc.. These structures often work against the community process, so that it is necessary to be aware of them from the very beginning. Therefore it is for example recommended that women form groups of their own to get more power. Con-cerning the power structures between men and women Timidarte seems to per-form quite well: The memberships of the ATDDT show that women are involved (about 38% of the members are women). Additionally there are special training programs for women (alphabetisation, breeding sheep). However, it is not clear to what degree women do have influence and to what extent they really do partici-pate in the development process.
• Lastly, a code of conduct for visitors will take tourists into responsibility to con-tribute to the process of CBT. The best CBT concept might not work if tourists don't recognise and respect it.
As seen, there are quite a lot of aspects that have to be considered in order to give the tourism development in Timidarte a good chance for success. Yet, there are certain aspects that can be counted as strengths of the pro-ject. These are first of all the initiative of the community and their idea of using the cultural heritage for tourism and using tourism for positive effects on the village and on the cultural heritage fits well into the general tourism situation in Morocco. Also, the existence of the local NGO ATDDT, which supports the tourism development and puts it into a package of village development projects is a good base for success.
Nevertheless, factors that could lead to a failure of the tourism development seem to be the missing market studies, structured planning, documentation, and analysis of the project as well as thorough analysis of the tourism situation in the area of Timidarte.
Evidently, there is potential for success. But this potential should be accompanied by some managerial measures: market study, SWOT-analysis, documentation of the project, its ideas, visions, principles, (quantified) aims and the financial management. By doing these, the projects would become transparent: the situation in which the tourism development takes place would be documented, the steps to be taken, the responsibilities etc.. Thus, all the information would be available for everyone (villager and foreigner) who is interested in and/or affected by the project.
Lastly, in order to survive on the tourism market, Timidarte's product has to be distinct and, above all, it has to be a quality product. Tourism in Timidarte should try to find the balance between the traditional, simple life and the comfort western tourists are used to.
Conclusion
Tourism in Timidarte, in the context of the tourism situation in Morocco can be successful. Nevertheless, critical aspects for its future development exist. These can be estimated and possibly overcome with some rather simple measures (e.g. seasonal calendar) and with measures that need more effort (e.g. SWOT-analysis, documen-tation). Simply said: Timidarte should aim to create a quality professional product. Therefore, before measures are taken, it is necessary to find out about the exact situation in Timidarte and to conduct a detailed study related to the tourism situation and potential markets world-wide, nationally and locally. This work should be part of market research and of field studies within the final thesis which will be carries out in a couple of weeks, as mentioned above. Concerning the situation in Timidarte it is necessary to survey:• Are there any written documents (mission statement, documentations, etc.)?
• How is the aspect of finance exactly organised? What does the financing plan for the future look like? Who administers and who gets the benefits?
• How many tourists are already coming? Are they coming on their own or exclu-sively with tour operators?
• What do tourists like, what do they dislike?
• How do inhabitants feel at the moment – comfortable and satisfied or disap-pointed and uncomfortable?
• To what extent is marketing useful and necessary?
• How are the chances for creating a new product which would relate to the moun-tain and circular tourism and which would put relaxation before cultural tourism?
However, without professional and profound preparations and without monitoring, chances for the tourism development in Timidarte can hardly be judged. Although preparations and monitoring as advised are not a guarantee for success, they would at least enable realistic speculations and expectations on the potential of tourism and they would bring transparency for in- and outsiders.
Sources
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Images and maps:
Fig. 1/front page: private (Annika Burger) Kasbah of Timidarte.Fig. 2: Michelin (2003): Marokko, Maßstab 1:1 000 000.
Fig. 3: Morrocan National Ministry of Tourism (no year): Die Straße der Kasbahs. Rabat (no publishing house) p.6.
