TREKKING WITH ORTANA AT ELA

A great thanks to any partners which took part in the trekking organised by ORTANA last saturday 10th November 2018 at ELA (Ecole Lodge Antananarivo )located at Sarimanina Ambohidratrimo.

RANDONNEE AVEC ORTANA A L’ECOLE LODGE D’ANTANANARIVO( ELA).

ECOTOURISM CIRCUIT HAS BEEN PREPARED AND IMPLEMENTED

Under the Eductour project introduced by the Union of the chambers of commerce and industry of the Indian Ocean (UCCIOI) and the association of the vanilla islands, Ramartour Madagascar was among theTour operators which answered to the expression of interets.

Three main objectives were defined during this Eductour: the necessity of collaboration between the vanilla islands on the creation of the combined circuits, the emphasis on the complementarity between the islands and their particularity regarding ecotourism. And finally, the discovery of both Indian Ocean islands in a single journey.
On 11 April 2018, the meeting between the inbound agencies of the Indian Ocean coming from Madagascar, Maurice, Mayotte, Seychelles, Comoros) was held in saint Gilles la Réunion and gave birth to the existence of combined circuits.

As a result, the marketing concept of the islands vanillas was also born, designed to boost the tourism sector of the Indian Ocean according to the international demand and the new business environment which rather promotes the Ecotourism.

The watchword used by the participants is the solidarity between islands to boost the tourism sector of the Indian Ocean while pooling their respective means and assets rather than to compete. From now on, a new economic and tourism situation exist.

For carrying out, combined destinations between the vanilla islands and Madagascar were created. Currently, proposing ecotourism destinations is highly- valued at both the regional and the global. One of the reasons why the combined destinations between the vanilla islands and Madagascar become very popular in the Indian Ocean. For Ramartour Madagascar,in particular, combined tourist destinations with the Mauritius Island (Promotours), the Reunion (Réunitours) and islands of Comoros (Comoros Tours and Safari) have been made.
The purpose of the ecotourism or sustainable tourism is to participate in the development of countries through a participative journey. The implementation of these ecotourism destinations are leading to the population capacity building strengthening while tackling the ecotourism issues. The training of the local guides while conducting trekking and interpreting the natural and cultural heritage has been improved. As an illustration, the ecoguides are local population and natives from respective countries to be visited.Anywhere in the participating countries, the community-based ecotourism has been highlighted .Thanks to these combined destinations, both the visitors and the population are also made aware of the animal and ecosysytem protection.
The ecotourism aspects have been demonstrated during the achievement of these combinations.The visit of every proposed site allowed to identify the ecotourism activities which will provide effective appreciation of the biodiversity. Following the example of Ramartour Madagascar, the company helped the participants discover the terrestrial biodiversity, emblematic and endemic figure of our island. The 1st day, the Comoran, Mauritian visitors and réunionais are taken towards the RN2 more precisely to Andasibe for the Pereyras visit with the animals which make the fame of the site : chameleons, reptiles, crocodiles, night-lemurs which become the heroic actors of this visit. . Then, this discovery is linked with the Analamazaotra park visit, a place where the biggest Lemur ” Indri Indri ” reigns in its ideal housing environment.
Without forgetting a trip towards the island of lemurs called Vakoana. The cultural and historic aspect was also emphasized by passing to the Musée de la Gendarmerie in Moramanga, a place where the vestiges of the malagasy uprising of 1947 against french colonisation are preserved, and then, the inspection of the sacred hill of Ambohimanga, an important place for the spirituality and the history of the highland monarchy, classified among the vestige of the UNESCO as well. The malagasy can receive a fair share of profits from tourism activity,when the visitors passed by the handicraft market of « the Route Digue ».
To close up, the positive aspect of these combinations is the possibility for the Eductour participants to visit 4 different ecosystems with its respective fauna and distinctive flagship products. The objective is both to develop the tourism products and create among the tourists and natives biodiversity preservation reflex.

Ramartour Madagascar has become involved in an environmental and social approach introduced by the program Travellife for almost 4 years. For Ramartour Madagascar,which has already succeeded the 2 stages: Engaged Travellife and Partner, now the company is acting to the position of being certified Travellife. For the company, this sustainable development approach can allow to be more attentive to meeting its clientele needs, motivate its staff and support its economic performance. It is a matter of commitment and ecoresponsible best practice that includes not only the company products, the follow-up and the management of its impact but also the suppliers support to sustainable development approach.
It is from that perspective that a seminar on the quality and the sustainability was organized in Mantasoa Lodge on May 22-24th, 2018.Eleven key staff of the company had participated in this seminar and worked for setting up the specific strategy to the company to achieve the objectives imposed by the quality and durability policy.

At the end of this seminar, several lists of task ahead were determined and distributed according to 3 active tools in the company: human means,material means, and methodological tools.
As the company had already filled the sustainable report up in compliance with the basic requirements estimated by Travellife, had obtained the Travellife Partner position; after this seminar, Ramartour will work at ensuring the company compliance with the Travel life international standards for Tour operators and later on , will receive the label ” Certified Travellife “.