Scholar Deposits to Body of Knowledge in Nicaragua

Instead of continuing with his plans to be an investment banker, 23-year-old Roman Yavich is making a deposit – to the body of knowledge about sustainable tourism in Nicaragua.

Yavich, who graduated in May from the University of Coloraada with a double degree in economics and business, had accepted a high paying job as an investment banker when he learned he was selected as a Fulbright scholar. He apologized to the company that offered the job, traded his skis for a surfboard and headed south, arriving in Nicaragua in early October of 2006.

The Fulbright Program for United States Students is sponsored by the United States Department of State. It is the largest U.S. international exchange program, according to its web site, offering opportunities for students, scholars, and professionals to undertake international graduate study, advanced research, university teaching and teaching in elementary and secondary schools worldwide. Fulbright was established in 1946 by the U.S. Congress to “enable the government of the United States to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and people of other countries”.

Yavich’s project is called, “Tourism in Nicaragua: The Road to Sustainability”. He plans to study the practices and views of various people and organizations with a stake in sustainable tourism. According to Yavich’s statement of proposed study or research submitted to Fulbright, which came from the World Tourism Organization in 2004, “Sustainable tourism should make optimal use of environmental resources, ensure viable, long-term operations, provide socio-economic benefits to all stakeholders, respect the socio-cultural authenticity of host communities, require informed participation of all stakeholders, and strong political leadership, and should maintain a high level of tourist satisfaction.”

Yavich also proposes analyzing the viability of nature reserves and infrastructure in Nicaragua, thereby gaining an understanding of the extent of sustainability in the national tourism industry. He plans to make recommendations based on his findings.

The Road to Sustainable Tourism Meandered

Yavich and his family moved to the United States from Kiev, Ukraine, in 1992, when Yavich was nine years old. According to the curriculum vitae Yavich prepared for the Fullbright scholarship, “I am lucky to have my family. My father is the most able person I know. In four years he rose to the top of the computer science field with little previous experience, imperfect language skills, and having to deal with the stress of adapting to a new culture.” He also lauds other members of his family – his mother, who is his emotional and ethical guide; his grandmother who lives with the family and is the soul and strength of the family; his charismatic, cunning, caring and compassionate younger brother, who has Down syndrome; and his little sister, to whom Yavich hopes to share his knowledge.

After two years in college at the University of Colorado, Yavich, who had acquired an “eternal flame of interest for international affairs”, went to study abroad, hoping to learn Spanish and immerse himself in a new culture. He studied in Chile and then, influenced by the inequality and injustice faced by the people of South America, he took the next semester off from school to live in Buenos Aires and begin work on his honors thesis in economics on income inequality and the informal economy in Argentina.

When Yavich returned to school, he took an elective course on tourism development from Professor Patrick Long.

“It got me hooked on the academic applications of tourism as something you could study and that has significant affects on a broad range of things, such as the community, the environment, and the economy,” Yavich recalls. “Tourism is a unique industry, one of the biggest in the world.”

A year earlier, some of Yavich’s friends had won Fulbright grants. Yavich didn’t think about it much. After all, he was going into investment banking. He had heard throughout his school years that this was the field to go into if you had the knowledge, which he did.

But when he came back from his visits abroad, then took the tourism course, and he visited a friend living on the northern side of the Dominican Republic. She, too, was a Fulbright winner and she was doing linguistic research and living in a Latin paradise.

“I was reading lots of research on tourism as an economic development issue and I really liked the development side of tourism,” Yavich recalls. At about the same time, Yavich spoke to a co-worker at the restaurant at which he worked. The co-worker was singing the praises of Nicaragua as a great place to surf and a booming tourist destination. He compared it to Costa Rica 20 years ago. Then Yavich saw an article about Nicaragua and its fabulous surfing in a New York Times article.

His future as an investment banker was slowly flowing out to sea.

Bringing People Up Through Tourism

Yavich applied for the Fulbright grant, a process that began in September, 2005 and lasted until July of the following year. At the University of Colorado, he had to first pass an evaluation by a team of professors, who suggested revisions to the application and recommended him to the national selection board. Then, after he graduated from college and had already accepted his New York City investment banking job, he was notified he had won. “It was really difficult to send an email backing out of a Wall Street salary,” Yavich recalls. “But I felt like retiring before I started working was a great way to go,” he says in jest. He actually likes the idea of bringing people up – economically, environmentally, and educationally – through tourism.

The award is aimed at allowing him to live as a graduate student in the United States would. A mid-term report on his project was due in March and a final report in July.

His former professor, Patrick Long, is a professor of tourism management in the Leeds School of Business on the University of Colorado at Boulder campus. He’s is also a faculty member of the Environmental Studies program and faculty director of the Center for Sustainable Tourism at which Yavich began his fateful course of study. Long additionally typically supervises one or two Fulbright recipients a year. He says he was impressed with Yavich’s proposal and his desire to supplement his education.

“Roman is an outstanding student – bright, eager to learn and seek challenges,” he says. His study provides him a wonderful opportunity to apply what he has learned in business, sustainable tourism and research methodology.”

Long said that the Fulbright program is “very, very competitive”, particularly at the undergraduate level.

“Proposals must be thoughtful, well-written and realistic within the budget request. Most Fulbrights go on to graduate school and their research is generally among the best of their peers.”

Of his experience in Nicaragua to date Yavich says, “It’s a really different experience once you get thrown into the deep end, when you’re expected to produce work and adjust to living in another country at the same time.” His project methodology consists of the following:

• Quantitative assessment of sustainable practices – Based on a framework designed by a U.S. eco-certification company, Yavich will rate businesses based on practices in areas such as waste, water, and resource management; biodiversity preservation; socio-economic benefits to the local community; and responsible purchasing. He will share his findings and recommendations for improving sustainability with contributing businesses.

• Stakeholder feedback – Yavich will collect information from tourism business stakeholders, including tourists, local community members, and government authorities. Through personal interviews and literature research, he plans to compose a comprehensive guide detailing the desires of various stakeholders. This guide will be shared with contributing businesses and CANATUR, the national board of tourism of Nicaragua.

• Nature reserves development – In 2001, according to Yavich’s proposal, Barany et. al. wrote a paper entitled, “The role of private wildlife reserves in Nicaragua’s emerging ecotourism industry”. In this paper the authors identify the government’s inability to fund public nature reserves and suggest privatization as the solution. Yavich will analyze the changes in ownership and administration of reserves while researching changes in biodiversity in protected areas. He will share his findings with MARENA, the government’s environmental agency.

• Infrastructure analysis – Yavich will quantitatively summarize the available transportation, accommodation, and communication environments, area available for development, number of visitors, and the rates of growth for each. He will then compare these figures to figures from more developed countries, including Costa Rica, so he can provide information to government officials and local businesses on how to fill infrastructure shortfalls.

Yavich summarizes his hopes succinctly in his proposal, “Having my research incorporated into the national tourism policy or into more sustainable business practices would be the greatest achievement of this project.”

To learn more about the Fulbright programs, please visit their web site at www.us.fulbrightonline.org

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