Antecedentes

The tourism industry directly and indirectly accounts for a high portion of revenue of the Government of Maldives. In December 2004, tourist arrivals reached more than 600,000 within a calendar year (MoT, 2005). In 2013, this figure almost doubled with 1,125,202 tourists arriving in 2013. Lease payments from hotel projects were US$ 48 million in 2004 with bed and departure taxes contributing US$41 million and custom duties another US$ 43 million (World Bank et al. 2005). By the end of 2013, there were 109 Resorts with 23,469 beds, 20 hotels with 1,708 beds, 136 Guesthouses with 1,918 beds and 163 Safari Vessels with 2,716 beds registered in the Maldives (MoT, 2013) generating a significant portion of government revenue.

The luxury cruise and safari market has seen a large growth in the Maldives in the recent years.  In order to diversify tourism and cater to this high end market, the Fourth Tourism Master Plan highlights the development of Infrastructure for a better future through various tourism mega projects within the special economic zones and introduction of varieties of tourism related activity in these zones which includes the development of yacht marina construction programs to contribute to liveaboard industry of the Maldives. Among the tourist establishments in the Maldives, safari vessels are one of the most popular forms of accommodation among tourists who visit the Maldives for diving. Although in terms of numbers, Safari vessels are the leading form of accommodation, their bed capacity represented only 9% of the total capacity of the country in 2013. At the end of 2013, there were a total of 163 safari vessels with 2,716 beds registered in the Maldives. 

Marina harbors refers to the establishments developed for anchoring yachts and such vessels and to provide various services to those sea vessels. A Marina also could be associated with accommodation facilities. With no fully functional Marina developed in the Maldives currently, the development of marinas in different zones of the Maldives will take the cruising industry to a new level and allow liveaboards and yachts to safely dock. This will make circuit travel a new dynamic product that will have the ability to link in islands that were previously excluded from the tourism economy. The Fourth Tourism Master Plan highlights the development of a marina in the central of Maldives (Hulhumale’) and a second hub to be developed in S. Gan with international airport facilities able to handle long-haul wide-bodied aircraft.

Development of marinas and breakwaters can cause changes in currents and coastlines. Furthermore, if the establishments such as Marina’s are developed without proper environmental analysis, it could affect coral reefs and mangroves leading to erosion and destruction of habitats. Hence the Strategic Plan and standards of Marina development should incorporate the CCA measures.

The tourism sector’s vulnerability to climate change lies in the fact that climate change undermines the resilience, viability and profitability of the industry as well as its value-chains both directly and indirectly. Major climate hazards to which resorts in the Maldives are exposed to regularly include, windstorms, heavy rainfall, extreme temperatures and drought, sea swells and storm surges. Of these, the risks associated with swell waves, heavy rainfall and windstorms are believed to be the most serious, due to their high frequency occurrence and great potential for physical destruction and erosion. The combined effect of storm surges and tides, or storm tides, are perceived as especially destructive to the tourist resorts. The rising ocean water temperature, acidification and coral bleaching is expected to have a serious impact on snorkeling and diving – the two main tourist activities in Maldives.

The Tourism Adaptation Project (TAP) addresses key infrastructure issues, and will formulate necessary policies, standards, codes and regulatory guidance that would facilitate necessary investments to increase the resilience of the tourist infrastructure to climate change in the Maldives.  The project is the first of its kind in the Maldives where climate change adaptation measures are to be integrated into policy and planning instruments of a key sector such as tourism. The project strengthens the capacity of the Ministry of Tourism and tourism businesses to recognize evident climate risk issues in tourism operations and adopt appropriate adaptation measures to address them. To cover residual catastrophic risk, the project will develop the capacity of the government and the tourism industry to assess the feasibility of market-based risk financing mechanisms (such as weather index insurance) and ensure that tangible private-sector investments can be leveraged. The Project is funded by GEF/LDCF and implemented through an agreement between UNDP and the Ministry of Tourism.

The Tourism Adaptation Project supports Maldives to become climate resilient by integrating adaptation measures in development policies, plans, programs, projects and actions. This goal is to be achieved by increasing the adaptive capacity of the tourism sector in Maldives to respond to the impacts of climate change and promoting investment in appropriate, no-regrets adaptation measures.

The goals and objectives of the project would be achieved through the delivery of the following three Outcomes.

• Strengthened adaptive capacity of the tourism sector to reduce risks to climate-induced economic losses;
• Reduced vulnerability of at least 10 tourism operations and 10 tourism-associated communities to the adverse effects of climate change;
• ransfer of climate risk financing solutions to public and private sector tourism institutions.

Furthermore a Maldives Tourism Adaptation Platform (MTAP) has been established to support effective public-private partnerships for CCA in the tourism sector.  Utilizing the information gathered to date by the project, the planned activities for the project include the dissemination of the information, providing various forms of trainings to the industry specialists, working on potential insurance and risk-pooling options for the industry and ensuring the sustainability of the project.  The project has established 10 small grants projects between TAP and non-government organizations and private companies to demonstrate how tourism operators and tourism-dependent communities can cooperate on joint initiatives to reduce common vulnerabilities.

Specific goals, objectives and outcomes are described in the Project Document and in the Project Inception Report. These reports, and other project related information can be accessed at http://tourism.gov.mv/projects/tap-project/. The TAP Project Management Unit (PMU) is established within the offices of the Ministry of Tourism.

Developing a sustainable strategy for developing Marinas to cater for the expanding liveaboard and safari industry is essential to reap long term benefits from this sector and is a key component of Output 1 detailed above.

Objectives:

The purpose of this consultancy is to facilitate the development of Strategic Plan and standards for Marina development incorporating Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) measures.

This can be achieved by the consultant analysing the findings from the studies conducted by TAP on economic valuation of the costs and benefits of adapting to climate change impacts, the Manifesto of the current government as well as the Tourism Master Plan, and Laws & regulations of the Maldives which provides environmental guidelines as well as recommendations for tourist facilities development to move towards a diversified tourism sector. The consultant will also coordinate with the private sector tourism businesses with regard to the Marina development.

Deberes y responsabilidades

Scope of work

The scope of work for the consultancy will include, but not necessarily be limited to, the following key activities:

Prepare an Inception Note comprised of:

• The Consultant’s understanding of the consultancy and associated tasks;
• List of institutions, organizations, industries, individuals etc (henceforth referred to as Stakeholders) who have a stake in the development of marinas and detail how the relevant stakeholders will be engaged during the consultancy;
• Brief outline of documents that would be reviewed;
• Methodology, timeline and scope of the assignment.

• Review relevant documents;
• Conduct meetings with the relevant government and private sector institutions;
• Develop resource materials based on technical expertise regarding the development of marinas and analysis of marina development in Small     Island States;
• Develop presentation materials based on the existing technical studies conducted on CCA measures in infrastructure development for the tourism industry in the Maldives;
• Conduct a validation workshop to share the findings and get feedback from relevant government and private sector stakeholders;
• Produce the final report. This report should draw on discussions from the meetings and literature review to propose sustainable strategies for     marina development in the Maldives.

Provide recommendations for future development of marinas including;

• The standards and CCA measures that should be incorporated in the development of marinas;
• Facilities & services to be developed in the marinas;
• Identify economic benefits;
• Strategies for sustainable development of marinas.

Duration of the Work:

• The final report and criteria shall be produced no later than 6 consecutive weeks from the contract date;
• The target date to start the consultancy is 01 November 2015;
• The estimated lead time for reviewing outputs and certifying approval/acceptance of outputs is 4 working days.

Institutional Arrangement:

• The Consultant shall report to Programme Analyst – Climate Change, UNDP and shall seek guidance from the technical bodies identified in the Inception Note and Ministry of Tourism. The reporting structure will be agreed upon at the beginning of the assignment;
• Coordination with stakeholders and partners will be provided by Ministry of Tourism;

• Logistical arrangements and coordination of the workshop will be arranged by Ministry of Tourism. The workshop agenda, session plans, presentations and other materials to be used in the workshop will be developed by the Consultant, in consultation with the Ministry of Tourism and TAP;
• Any travel, accommodation and other logistical arrangements for the travel to the field will be arranged by Ministry of Tourism.

Duty Station:

• The duty station for the consultancy is the Ministry of Tourism, Government of Maldives;
• The consultant will be required to report regularly to Programme Analyst – Climate Change, UNDP or the designated reporting person on the progress of the consultancy. The mode and frequency of reporting will be agreed upon at the beginning of the assignment.

Competencias

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism;
• Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Functional Competencies:

• The Consultant should have the ability to work independently while working closely with the Ministry of Tourism in order to carry out the project activities and to produce the desired outputs;
• Inter-personal skills;
• Exceptional analytical skills, solution oriented program design skills;
• Research and evaluation skills including ability to synthesize information;
• Excellent oral, and effective presentation and report-writing skills;
• Ability to work under with minimum supervision, while meeting deadlines;
• Demonstrated ability of timely completion of assignments;
• Excellent social and communication skills;
• Strong facilitation skills;
• Ability to work in multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural settings;
• Good working knowledge of information technology;
• Excellent Managerial and analytical skills;
• Proven co-ordination and networking skills.

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education: 

• At minimum an advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent), preferably in the area of Planning, Development, Environment, Climate Change or other related field.

Experience:

• Five years’ experience in facilitating strategic planning and project formulation preferably in the area of environment and tourism is preferred;
• Previous experience in the field of climate change adaptation, preferably in the tourism sector or related field is preferred;
• Possess strong analytical and research skills;
• Demonstrated ability and experience to conduct high-level discussions in a productive manner;
• Experience in similar assignment is preferred;
• Previous experience working with UNDP, UN and/or other international agencies is desirable.

Language:

• Excellent communication skills (written & oral English) are an essential requirement.

Scope of the financial proposal and schedule of payment:

The consultancy fee will be in lump sum to be paid in installments corresponding to deliverables.

Application Documents:

• The application must include a letter of interest to undertake this task, the CV, proposed time-line, P-11, and a financial proposal for the assignment. To download P11, kindly please visit the link:   http://www.mv.undp.org/content/maldives/en/home/operations/jobs
• Please combine all the documents into one single file, as the system will allow for only one document to be uploaded.
• We will only accept online applications.

For any clarifications or additional information, please contact; Ahmed Siyah, Project Manager, Tourism Adaptation Project, Ministry of Tourism
Mobile: +960 7999133, Email: ahmed.siyah@tourism.gov.mv