Tourism is a major economic activity in the country, especially in rural areas. Most of the community-based rural tourism entrepreneurships are led by indigenous communities and by local entrepreneurs. However, the industry has not succeeded in commercially consolidating its value, due to: (a) limited access to the various kinds of information (market, sources of financing, etc.); (b) weak business articulation in the horizontal and vertical axes; and (c) little managerial skills. The industry has a huge growth potential, considering the increasing demand from international markets with a high purchasing power, such as Europe and the USA, which have not yet been discovered.
This project intends to strengthen the chain of community-based rural tourism by incorporating an ICT services platform (B2B, B2C, GIS, Web 2.0), which will make the relationships and capabilities of the people involved in the chain of community-based rural tourism more efficient and effective, and, at the same time, they will provide Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) with more elements to improve their competitiveness through business and financial development services, thus improving their technical and managerial skills, too.
SMEs on community-based rural tourism do not properly exploit ICT, neither do they have staff that is skilled in business development. Those two aspects, in a context of businesses that are open to external competition, create a huge gap with large and multinational companies. Additionally, ICT gives rural tourism SMEs the chance to trade their services through the Internet, which leads to the creation of more open markets and the disappearance of intermediary men who hold abusive trading positions.
- Creation of Skills: this component will allow for the diagnosis of the enterprises’ position and it will identify the kind of training required for the development. This includes: (a) the development of a website marketplace and a collaboration network; (b) the implementation of 2.0 services and tools to promote the bond and interaction with clients; (c) electronic trading tools, B2C, B2B, and e-Marketing types; (d) design and implementation of new processes, practices, certifications and logistics for the management of tourism services.
- Financing Fund: without access to credit, the chances to invest in goods and services that contribute to improve the SMEs are almost zero. The purpose of this idea is to improve competitiveness through efficient financial services that are accessible and at low costs, which support the SMEs’ potential. The fund will be guided by successful models of online platforms, such as Kiva, Zopa and others. It will permit investors and donors to meet their beneficiaries and recover their investments upon default. The fund is maintained with the payment of loans and interests and is guaranteed by mortgages.
The pilot project will benefit a network of 200 tourist SMEs (rural communities, hotels, tour operators, craftsmen, restaurants, etc.) and other suppliers of services from the regions of Cajamarca, Cusco, Punot and Arequipa. The network is intended to grow up to 1500 participants in the 3rd year of operations. The number of beneficiaries can be extended to other SMEs dealing with other Peruvian tourist destinations, amounting to between 8 and 10 thousand SMEs.
For that purpose, we intend to create skills in the SMEs to implement Tourist Services Good Practices that ensure standardization and ICT for electronic trade (B2B and B2C), which will let them be competitive enterprises and participate in the network and in the new ways to do business, reaching new local and foreign clients, with services that abide by market standards.
Quantum Solutions is a Think Tank and an Incubator of Social Initiatives founded in 2000. The team is made up of professionals in the areas of Health, Engineering, Finance, and Entrepreneurship. The team is supplemented by the collaborators from other organizations that are committed to social development.
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