A BRIEF Q&A WITH FRANCO NEGRI, FOUNDER AND CEO OF LA BASE LAMAY
Born in Peru, Franco Negri studied Tourism and Hospitality at San Martin de Pores University in Lima. After his university studies, he moved to Cusco to be near the mountains and dedicate himself to adventure tourism — starting his interest in gastronomy, nutrition, and local agriculture. His time at Explorandes, a pioneer adventure tourism company in Peru, showed him that it is possible to develop sustainable and responsible tourism, both environmentally and socially. A few years ago, he moved to Lamay, Cusco where he started his venture “La Base Lamay”, a model of operating tourist experiences that contribute to the care of nature and the sustainable development of the town and communities of Lamay.
Franco, you are a Founder and CEO of La Base Lamay, a community tourism venture in Peru’s Sacred Valley, and former Director of Explorandes, the first adventure travel company to operate commercial treks on the Inca Trail. Can you tell us a bit more about your professional background in the tourism industry, how did it all begin?
“I studied tourism in Lima in the 90s and used to work in hotels and in the food industry. Then I moved to Cusco and changed from working in a hotel to Explorandes, a Pioneer adventure Tour Operator, as a logistic manager. There is where I got the connection with nature, the mountains, the local people and cultures, and started working for sustainability and conservation.
Explorandes has very strong principles for social and environmental awareness and responsibility, and that is where I realized this different way of doing business: being fair and responsible. After my experience in Explorandes, I decided to found La Base Lamay, a small and locally focused tourism initiative, where we prioritize connections with the local people and create alternatives for development and nature conservation, through responsible tourism.”
Your first professional engagement in the Western Balkans was back in 2015, when you held a series of workshops on the topic of eco-tourism for adventure tourism providers from Bosnia and Herzegovina within the USAID-funded Via Dinarica project. Can you tell us more about the project and its results, and the obstacles that adventure travel providers faced at the time?
“Yes, I was in Bosnia Herzegovina in 2015, sharing with the local tour operators the vision, strategies and tools for developing a responsible and sustainable tour operation.
At the same time in the Balkans, what I felt in 2015 is a lot of interest in recognizing the impacts and the future of the travel industry. And a motivation for taking care and being responsible for our operations. After this, the next steps are allowing the group of responsible tour operators to get together and share their experiences in order to move the local industry towards a responsible, sustainable and regenerative industry.”
At this year’s Adventure Travel World Summit (ATWS) in Lugano, Switzerland, the USAID EDGE project in cooperation with GIZ supported 25 adventure travel operators from the Western Balkans, and Moldova to present their products and offers in one of the world’s premiere B2B adventure platforms. What was your role during this event, and what are your impressions after the summit?
“At the ATWS in Switzerland, I met the Balkan adventure travel tour operators and had the opportunity to start getting to know them. My role was to orientate and advise some of them on how to approach the buyers. I received good feedback about this advisory–[it is important for] tour operators to feel confident in their abilities to showcase their products.
The summit was also very rich and motivational about sustainability. There were important presentations about the negative impacts of our industry and ideas shared on solutions. One of the things I liked was the approach of the Adventure Travel Community, to strengthen businesses and decrease environmental impact.”
Shortly after the ATWS 2022, the USAID EDGE project in cooperation with the GIZ Supporting Economic Diversification in Rural Areas (SEDRA) project, organized four two-day regional Adventure Travel Trainings for more than 60 participants from the adventure travel community of the Western Balkans. You traveled through the region and delivered these trainings in four Western Balkans countries. What are your impressions from these trainings? What were the topics discussed during these sessions? What are the main benefits for the participating adventure tour operators?
“I was very lucky to travel all around the area and get to know beautiful places and meet very nice people. Most of them are very committed to changing their ways of doing things and becoming aware of the future of the industry. There were many topics around the idea of greening their travel business, tools for developing a responsible and sustainable tour operation, managing garbage, using alternative energies, leaving more benefit in the local areas and for the local people, offsetting the carbon footprint, and in general taking care of sensitive nature and culture which we interact with.
But one of the most important concepts is allowing all of us to rethink the way of doing tourism. This begins by focusing on the needs of the destination, not only on the traveler’s requirements. There are many benefits for the participants in “re-thinking” and “changing minds” about the way we do our business; from keeping our activity sustainable for a long time to innovating and developing other ways of traveling and experiencing the Balkans!”
As a follow-up of the trainings and the ATWS 2022, USAID EDGE and GIZ SEDRA projects organized a three-day Western Balkans Adventure Travel gathering in Ohrid for adventure tour operators from the six Western Balkan countries to provide them with the opportunity to explore the region’s potential for adventure tourism. What are the key takeaways from this gathering?
“The main issue in this gathering was Associativity, working together for common purposes. I shared my experience in Peru, developing the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu regulation in order to take care of our attraction and destination, as the government was not taking care of it. This regulation was proposed and developed by the Peruvian Association of Adventure and Ecotourism and Specialized Travel, and we had to face many inconveniences dealing with bureaucracy and a corrupt and inefficient system. The key takeaway of this gathering was working together for the sustainability of our attractions and destinations.”
According to the latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, international tourist arrivals almost tripled in the first half of 2022 compared to the same period of 2021, meaning the sector recovered almost 60% of pre-pandemic levels. Given your expertise, what are the current trends in the adventure travel sector and how well do you think the Western Balkans are placed to be a competitive and attractive destination for adventure travelers?
“The travel industry is indeed growing exponentially, which means opportunities and risks are growing as well. I believe that the trend that we should follow is the one about sustainable tourism, experiences with purpose, connections with local people, and enjoying and caring about the destination we visit. All of these “ideas” matches with the new Adventure and Active Travel, which involves nature and landscape observation and enjoyment, living cultural interaction, agri-tourism, gastronomy/culinary, soft adventure and sports activities, such as hiking, mountain biking, kayaking and stand-up-paddling, rock climbing — and many other activities related to the destination travelers visit and what is positive for it.”
