作為「中國西部旅遊」系列文章的第二篇，我們對中國西部另一家旅遊公司的老闆進行了採訪。我們很高興與Elevated Trips的所有者，創始人兼首席嚮導Ben Cubbage會面，該公司主營戶外探險旅行業務，在西藏，蒙古和泰國為客戶提供獨特的旅行體驗。 這是他獨享的私人與商業故事。
你好，Ben，很高興認識你，感謝你能接受我們的採訪。請向我們的讀者介紹一下你在中國西部開展旅遊業的工作。
您好，我叫Ben Cubbage，在中國西部生活了10多年，我喜歡與來青海、甘肅和四川的旅行者分享我對自然和文化的熱愛。自2010年以來，我一直居住在青海省西寧市的青藏高原。在來中國之前，我花了很長時間在加納和賴比瑞亞教授有機農業和可持續發展，並且在美洲積累了從墨西哥到加拿大長達2,650英裡（4,240公裡）的太平洋屋脊步道的豐富徒步旅行經驗。 我也曾在西藏和尼泊爾進行過廣泛的旅行和徒步旅行，還曾帶隊到過珠峰大本營、黃河源頭和阿尼瑪卿山營地。
你們在中國西部開展哪些服務？
我們在青藏高原上人跡罕至的地方提供獨特的生態旅遊體驗，這對當地居民有利！我們策劃的旅行和徒步是文化沉浸式的，充滿了驚奇感和真實感，並專注於小旅行團和原生態體驗。
我們主要是為在中國生活的外國人組織旅遊，協助亞洲的國際學校，促進團隊建設和領導力發展，實現戶外和體驗式教育，滿足中國人對小團遊或西方旅行理念的需求，以及私人定製遊和精品團。
作為一名外國人，你為何選擇了中國西部？
我已經當了20多念導遊了，但從來沒想過會來中國生活。這是我的人生故事，以及我如何選擇了中國。
2010年7月27日我和妻子飛抵北京。 我以前從未來過中國，甚至連一個中國字都不會說。如果誰在三年前告訴我，我將居住在中國，我絕對不會相信。在這之前三年我住在非洲。
但是，首先讓我回顧一下我們如何到達那個地方的。我和我妻子於2006年在西非加納相遇，一起從事社區發展工作，以幫助西非的貧困和欠發達地區。在那兒，我在加納和賴比瑞亞的村莊裡教授有機農業和社區發展。
在我和我妻子結束了在非洲的工作後，我們搬回美國結婚。2008年3月8日，我們在我妻子祖母的德克薩斯州的房子裡舉行了婚禮。婚禮一結束，我們就帶著所有的喜錢開始了為期6個月的蜜月之旅，我們沿著4000公裡長的太平洋山脊步道從墨西哥邊境走到加拿大。在這180天的時間裡，每天我們都要步行30公裡，穿過美國最高的山脈和乾旱的沙漠，晚上睡在帳篷裡。我們所有家當都裝在一個30磅重的背包裡。我們只有一套衣服，還帶了帳篷、睡袋、野營爐和背包裡所有的食物。這是一種簡單但充滿了冒險的生活，一如我們看到的美國西海岸最美麗的山脈。
在度過了6個月的背包蜜月之後，我和妻子發現了我們對大自然和旅行有著極大的熱情，我們想成為戶外嚮導，這可以幫助他人在荒野中發揮自己的潛力。所以，在2009年，我們加入了一所戶外學校，在那裡我們學習了如何領導和計劃攀巖、背包旅行、登山、洞穴探險、繩降以及團隊建設和繩索課程管理的技能。那所學校為我們的下一次冒險打好了基礎，之後，我們於2010年7月移居中國，和一位在西寧從事旅遊行業的朋友一起工作。
從2010年7月27日那天算起，我和我妻子在中國生活了10年。自從我和我妻子在非洲相遇以來，我通過生態旅遊融入了對高山和背包旅行的熱愛。雖然有時我們想念我們的祖國，但我們愛中國，真的覺得我們是註定要生活在這裡的。我們愛這裡的人，我們愛這裡的食物，我們喜歡住在青海的山區。我們非常感謝這個機會，並熱愛在中國西部的工作和旅行。
在四川徒步
西寧是一個少有外國人所知的偏遠地方，你為何選擇生活在這裡？
就城市發展而言，西寧遠不及上海、北京或重慶。儘管它是青海省的省會，但只有200萬人口，整個青海省也僅有550萬人。考慮到青海的土地面積實際上比整個法國都要大，而且其中大部分海拔超過3600米，所以這是一個相當低的人口密度。但我真正喜歡西寧的地方是高山和廣闊的空間。從市中心出發，只要驅車40分鐘，我們就能站上一座4000米高的山頂，這是其它外國人從未去過的。許多人管這裡叫「大美青海」，意即「美麗的大青海」。它的確像中國的蒙大拿州，擁有開闊的土地、高山和未被發現的高原湖泊。所以我住在這裡是因為我能從高山和自然中感受到自由。這裡也有很多機會和渠道接觸到真正有趣的文化。在中國西部，文化十分多元，有藏族，蒙古族以及回族和撒拉族。在世界上其它地方幾乎不可能看到如此多的文化彼此相對和諧地生活在一起。
你的商業模式是？
我們的商業模式非常簡單，僱傭當地最好的藏族嚮導，他們一輩子都在山裡遊牧。這些男人和女人比任何外人都更了解自己的家庭環境，我們很幸運能成為他們文化和傳統的一部分。我們與這些當地嚮導和社區合作，在青藏高原上提供獨特的文化沉浸式旅行。
你們最受歡迎的路線有哪些？
也許《紅石與修道院》是其中最受歡迎的。我想你們的讀者會喜歡這一路線。坎布拉國家公園擁有全中國最美麗的紅色巖層，有時被稱為「中國的大峽谷」。在紅色的巖石和峽谷中有很多徒步旅行的機會。點擊此處可以觀看無人機拍攝的視頻。
在山區徒步之後享受當地熱乎乎的午餐
新冠疫情給你們帶來了怎樣的影響？
從2020年2月1日到2020年7月15日，我們失去了所有業務，因為整個世界都處於封鎖狀態，沒人在中國出行。在這段時間裡，我的很多成功經營旅遊生意的朋友一夜之間失去了所有生意，幾乎破產了。由於突然沒人來旅遊，許多旅行社損失了數百萬元的收入。
總之，旅遊形勢看起來相當黯淡，我認識多年的一些導遊開始找其他收入，要麼在當地學校英語教學或在街邊出售犛牛牛油蠟燭掙得一些家庭開支。
7月15日之後，青海發生了一件非常有趣的事情。在失去所有業務6個月後，我們接到的旅行諮詢數量是以往任何一年的兩倍。外國人開始意識到，在可預見的將來，他們將無法去歐洲、美國或東南亞旅行。有些人被封在中國，他們知道如果離開這裡，可能會在一年或更長時間內無法再回來。他們的旅遊選擇現在僅限於少數幾個中國國內目的地。長期生活在中國的外國人不是去泰國的異國海灘或婆羅洲的叢林，而是去三亞——中國海南擁擠的海灘度假勝地。
2020年2、3月青海省僅發生18例新型冠狀病毒感染病例，且全部康復出院。所以青海現在是中國首批開放旅遊的地方之一。我想在經歷了這艱難的一年之後，人們已經準備好和朋友、家人出去放鬆一下了，而青海正是他們可以實現這一點的地方。
因此，儘管大多數旅遊企業在2020年舉步維艱，但我們發現，隨著越來越多的人開始關注中國西部的其他國內旅遊目的地，我們旅行社實際上正在增長和擴張。
甘肅拉卜楞寺旁山上祈福的旗幟
為度過新冠疫情危機，你們制定了哪些短期和中長期解決方案?
在應對新冠肺炎危機方面，我們將重點放在期望在中國國內旅行的中國人和外國人上。我們正在開發2020年聖誕節和2021年春節特別旅遊項目，讓被鎖在中國的外國人也能去旅遊。這些項目包括野生動物攝影、藏曆新年以及在青海省西南部的三江源頭旅遊等。
您認為中國西部旅遊市場的優勢是什麼?
我非常喜歡中國西部的一點是，你不需要像在拉薩和珠穆朗瑪峰地區那樣需要所有的旅行許可和官方文件。然而，與友誼公路沿線的任何地方一樣，這裡也展現著藏族文化和崇山峻岭的風採。所以這是有著所有奇蹟和神秘600年佛教寺廟卻不需要太多規定許可證和文件的美妙之地。
總體而言，中國西部仍是一個極不發達的地區，尤其是青海省。在青海，除了青海湖和塔爾寺，大多數地方都沒有遊客。這是一種優勢，因為這意味著有許多藏區的文化仍然是非常真實的，沒有被貪婪或大量遊客帶來的垃圾和廢物所破壞。雖然桂林、長城和麗江等中國最受歡迎的旅遊目的地已經完全被踏平，到處都是旅遊車停車場和嘈雜的人群，但青海仍然是最後的未被開發的邊界之一。這裡沒有為穿著皮大衣和高跟鞋的女性鋪設的人行道。山頂上沒有纜車（儘管我確信幾年後應該會出現）。對於那些喜歡冒險的旅行者和徒步旅行者來說，這是一個很棒的地方，他們將看到一個與東部沿海地區完全不一樣的中國。
從野生動物攝影到冬季穿雪鞋旅行，再到湄公河漂流，探索這裡的方式是無限的。這個地區可以很容易地提供像尼泊爾、不丹或泰國那樣的美麗的徒步旅行機會。作為中國三大河流——湄公河、長江和黃河的源頭，青海是許多獨特物種的重要生態家園和世界供水源頭。
您認為中國西部旅遊市場的缺陷是什麼?
另一方面，青海旅遊業欠發達意味著，如果你是一個奢侈的旅行者，你將很少有機會找到在大城市找到的五星級酒店和米其林星級廚師。
你如何支持生態旅遊和當地社區發展?
生態旅遊就是把錢留在當地社區，同時給環境和文化帶來價值和益處的旅遊。為了促進符合環境和文化倫理的旅遊，我們對下列做法感到自豪:
認真謹慎、（對環境）影響較小的遊客行為
敏感並欣賞當地文化和生物多樣性
支持當地保護工作
為當地社區帶來可持續利益
當地參與決策
為旅行者和當地社區提供教育
Elevated Trips使用當地的西藏嚮導、酒店、司機，支持和增強社區的力量。遊客花在這裡的錢會用來支持西藏當地的經濟。
我們不是一家大眾旅遊公司，不是以工廠的思維方式提供旅遊旅行。但我們確實深切關注每一個參與者的個人利益，同時最大限度地增進他們作為全球公民對當地文化和習俗的理解。
國際生態旅遊協會將生態旅遊定義為「到自然地區進行負責任的旅遊，保護環境，維持當地人民的福祉，並包括解讀和教育。」，我們的目標是走出生態旅遊的三條腿，同時為遊客提供有意義的、豐富的、引人入勝的體驗。
謝謝你接受採訪Ben，中國見！
Interview by Marco Bonaglia
For the 「Western China Tourism Series」 we offer today an interview to another tourism company owner in Western China. We had the pleasure to meet with Ben Cubbage, owner, founder and lead guide of Elevated Trips, an outdoor adventure travel business that offers unique travel trips in Tibet, Mongolia and Thailand. Here is his unique private and business story.
Dear Ben, thank you for this interview. It is a pleasure to know you. Please tell me more about your work in tourism in Western China.
Hello, my name is Ben Cubbage. I have lived in western China for over 10 years now and I love to share my passion for nature and culture with travelers in Qinghai, Gansu, and Sichuan Province. I have lived on the Tibetan Plateau in Xining’s Qinghai Province since 2010. Before China, I spent considerable time teaching organic agriculture and sustainable development in Ghana and Liberia. I have extensive trekking experience having completed both the 2,650 mile (4,240 kilometer) Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada in America. I have also traveled and trekked extensively in Tibet and Nepal and have guided trips to the base camp of Mt. Everest, the headwaters of the Yellow River, and the base of Amnye Machen.
What are your services offered in Western China?
We offer unique ecotourism experiences that are off the beaten track on the Tibetan Plateau that benefit the local communities! Our tours and treks are culturally immersive and full of wonder and life and focus on small group sizes and authentic experiences.
Lead guide, Ben Cubbage, near Laji Shan
We offer unique ecotourism experiences that are off the beaten track on the Tibetan Plateau that benefit the local communities! Our tours and treks are culturally immersive and full of wonder and life and focus on small group sizes and authentic experiences. We generally specialize in organizing trips for foreigners living in China, assisting International Schools in Asia, foster team building and leadership development, realize outdoor and experiential education, support Chinese looking for a new small group or western concept in travel and in customized private tours and small group travel.
How did you as a foreigner end up in western China?
I have been a tour guide for over 20 years now. But I never expected to live in China. Here is a little more on my personal story and how I ended up living in China.
On July 27, 2010, my wife and I flew into Beijing. I had never been to China before and I did not speak even one word of Chinese. Had you told me 3 years before that that I would be living in China, I would have never believed you. 3 years before that I was living in Africa.
But let me rewind a little bit to how we got to that space. My wife and I met in Ghana, West Africa in 2006 doing community development work to help the poor and undeveloped places of West Africa. There I taught organic agriculture and community development in the villages of Ghana and Liberia.
My wife and I finished our service in Africa and moved back to America to get married. We were married on my wife’s grandmother’s property in Texas on March 8, 2008. Immediately after our wedding, we took all of our wedding money and set out on a 6 month honeymoon to walk the 4,000km Pacific Crest Trail from the border of Mexico to Canada. Every day for 180 days we walked 30km through the highest mountains and dry deserts of America and slept in a tent at night. Everything we owned was on our backs in a 30 pound backpack. We only had one set of clothes and we carried a tent, a sleeping bag, a camping stove, and all of our food in our backpacks. It was a simple life and a life of adventure as we saw the most beautiful mountains of the west coast of America.
After our 6 month backpacking honeymoon, my wife and I knew we had a great passion for nature and travel and we wanted to work as outdoor guides to help people realize their potential in the wilderness. So in 2009 we joined an outdoor school where we learned skills in how to lead and plan trips in rock climbing, backpacking, mountaineering, caving, rappelling, and team building and ropes course management. That school prepared us for our next adventure, which was to move to China in July 2010 to work with a friend in his travel business in Xining.
Since that day on July 27, 2010, my wife and I have lived for 10 years in China. Through ecotourism I have gotten to integrate my love for the mountains and backpacking and my love for community development from when my wife and I met in Africa. Although sometimes we miss our home country, we love China and really feel like we were made to live here. We love the people, we love the food, and we like living in the mountains of Qinghai. We are so grateful for this opportunity and love to work and travel in western China.
Xining is a remote place that few foreigners have ever heard of. Why would you choose to live there?
As far as cities, there is not as much development in Xining as there is in Shanghai or Beijing or Chongqing. Although it is the capital of Qinghai Province, there are only 2 million people in the capital and there are only 5.5 million people in the whole of Qinghai Province. That is a pretty small population considering that the land area of Qinghai is actually bigger than all of France and most of it has an altitude over 3,600 meters. But the thing that I really love about Xining is the mountains and the wide open spaces. Within a 40 minute drive from downtown we can be on top of a 4,000 meter mountain that no foreigner has ever been to before. Many people refer to this province as 大美青海 – that means 「big, beautiful Qinghai」. It really is like the Montana of China with open lands and high mountains and undiscovered alpine lakes. So the reason I live here is because I love the mountains and the freedom of nature. There is also great access to really interesting culture here. Among the many diverse cultures of western China there are Tibetans, Mongolians, and Hui and Salar Muslims here. And there are few places in the world where you can see so many cultures living right next to each other in relative harmony.
What is your business model?
Our business model is pretty simple. We use the best local Tibetan guides who have spent their lives as nomads in the mountains. These men and women know their home environments better than any outsider could and we are blessed to be a part of their culture and heritage. We partner with these local guides and communities to offer unique and culturally immersive trips on the Tibetan Plateau.
What are some of your most popular trips?
Maybe the one of 「Red rocks and monasteries」 is one of the most popular. I think that your readers would love this itinerary. Kanbula National Park has some of the most beautiful red rock formations in all of China and is sometimes called 「the Grand Canyon of China」. There are lots of opportunities to hike there amidst the red rocks and the canyons. Here is you can see the drone video
How has COVID-19 impacted your business?
From February 1, 2020 to July 15, 2020 we lost all of our business as the world was on lock down and no one was really traveling in China. During this time a lot of my friends who ran successful travel businesses lost all of their business and virtually went bankrupt overnight. Many tourism agencies lost millions of RMB in revenue because suddenly no one was traveling. All in all, the travel situation looked pretty bleak and guides I had known for years were turning to alternative forms of income, whether it was teaching English in local schools or selling yak butter candles on the side of the street for a few RMB each day to buy their family noodles.
Then after July 15 something very funny started to happen in Qinghai. After losing all of our business for 6 months, we started getting twice as many trip inquiries as we had ever gotten in any previous year. Foreigners began to realize that they would not be able to travel to Europe or America or Southeast Asia for the foreseeable future. People were locked in China and they knew that if they left they would probably be locked out for a year or more. Their travel options were now limited to just a handful of destinations in domestic travel. Rather than going to exotic beaches in Thailand or jungles in Borneo, foreigners living long term in China were traveling to Sanya, China’s crowded beach resort in Hainan Province.
In 2020 Qinghai Province only had a total of 18 cases of coronavirus in February and March and all of those 18 cases had recovered back to full health. So Qinghai is now one of the first places to open for travel in China. I think after such a hard and difficult year people were ready to get out and relax with friends and family and Qinghai is a place where they can do that. .
As a result, while most tourism businesses have struggled in 2020, we have found that we are actually growing and expanding this year as more people start to look at alternative domestic destinations in western China.
What are the short-term and medium-long term solutions that you are putting in place to overcome the COVID-19 crisis?
As far as working to overcome the COVID-19 crisis we are going to focus on working with Chinese and foreigners looking to travel domestically in China. We are developing special Christmas 2020 and Chinese New Year 2021 tours that will allow foreigners who are locked in the country to travel. These include special programs that focus on wildlife photography, Tibetan New Year Festivals, and trips around the Source of the Three Rivers in southwest Qinghai.
What are the strengths of Western China tourism market in your opinion?
One thing I really love about western China is that you do not need all the travel permits and official documents as you do in the Lhasa and Mount Everest region. Yet the Tibetan culture and the splendor of the mountains is just as present here as any place along the Friendship Highway. So it is all the wonder and mystery of 600 year old Buddhist temples without the regulation of permits and papers.
Overall, western China is still a very undeveloped destination, especially in Qinghai Province. In Qinghai, other than Qinghai Lake and Taer Temple, most places have never seen tourists. This is a strength because it means that there are many Tibetan areas which are still very authentic in culture and have not been ruined by greed or the trash and waste that comes with mass tourism. While most popular Chinese tourist destinations like Guilin, the Great Wall, and Lijiang have been totally paved over and filled with tour bus parking lots and noisy crowds, Qinghai remains one of the last, untouched frontiers. Here there are no paved walkways for Chinese women in fur coats in high heels. There are no cable cars up to the top of the mountain (although I am sure in a few years we will start to see this). This is a great place for those adventurous travellers and trekkers who are willing to stray into a China that is unlike anything you will find on the east coast.
The opportunities for engaging and unique trips, especially those in the adventure industry, are limitless here from wildlife photography tours to winter snowshoe journeys to rafting down the Mekong River. This area could easily offer as many beautiful treks and journeys as Nepal or Bhutan or Thailand. As a source of three of the major rivers in China, the Mekong River, the Yangtze River, and the Yellow River, Qinghai is an important ecological home for many unique species and a good deal of the world’s water supply.
What are the weaknesses of Western China tourism market in your opinion?
On the other side of the coin, the lack of tourism development in Qinghai means that if you are a luxury traveler you are going to have fewer opportunities to find 5 star hotels and Michelin rated chefs that you might find in bigger cities.
How do you support ecotourism and local community development?
Ecotourism is tourism that keeps money in the local communities while giving value and benefit to the environment and the culture. In order to promote environmentally and culturally ethical tourism we pride ourselves on practices that encourage:
Conscientious, low-impact visitor behavior
Sensitivity towards, and appreciation of, local cultures and biodiversity
Support for local conservation efforts
Sustainable benefits to local communities
Local participation in decision-making
Educational components for both the traveler and local communities
Elevated Trips uses local Tibetan guides, hotels, drivers and exists to support and empower communities. The money from your tour goes to support local Tibetan economies.
We are not a mass travel company who turns out tourist trips with a factory mindset. But we do care deeply about each participant as an individual as well as maximizing their understanding and place as a global citizen in the local culture and customs.
Ecotourism is defined by the International Ecotourism Society as 「responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment, sustains the well-being of the local people, and involves interpretation and education.」 It is our goal to walk out these three legs of ecotourism while providing meaningful, enriching, engaging experiences to our travellers.
Thanks Ben for your time, see you in China!
Interview by Marco Bonaglia
Galileo Galilei Italian Institute
Chongqing University, Campus A, Main Teaching Bldg., Room 711, Shapingba District, 400044, Chongqing, PRC
Tel: +86 023 65106100
Email: galilei@sssup.it
http://www.galileiinstitute.it/
伽利略義大利中心
中國，重慶市，沙坪垻區，正街174號，重慶大學A區主教學樓711室
電話：+86 023 65106100
郵箱：galilei@sssup.it
http://www.galileiinstitute.it/