ECOCLUB, Issue 91
11
Although tourism is not new to development discourse (Jenkins, 1982; Hosni, 2000), revamped tourism or alternative tourism
like ecotourism, cultural tourism or any niche tourism are gradually becoming the core of tourism development for many Third
World nation’s economic development strategies (Tosun, 2005). Where such tourism is incorporated into development policies,
it is known to promote economic growth and generate employment (Inskeep, 1991), encourage community participation and
help in biodiversity conservation (Kiss, 2004), enhance rural development, environmental restoration, coastal protection,
cultural heritage preservation, etc. (Elliot and Mann, 2005). Given the importance and relevance of this trend, nearly every
developing country is now promoting some brand of tourism, tied to its development (See Table 1).
Underlining the importance of tourism in development, the United Nations World
Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and other international development agencies like
World Bank, Regional Banks, IDB, UNEP etc. are identifying tourism related projects
and funding them appropriately. For example, international lending and aid agencies
are using tourism projects to promote sustainable rural development, increase local
income generation, conserve biodiversity and improve indigenous knowledge, build
infrastructure and institute capacity building (Elliot and Mann, 2005).
Coming from the dissatisfaction with the trend of mass tourism and growing
environmental concern, coupled with increasing third world debt in the 1970s,
international lending institutes like UNEP, IDB, DAS, USAID rekindled their
commitments and took a stride and further identified tourism as a development tool and
conservation strategy.
Regarding the perils of third world countries, in international development discussions,
most of the agencies that show concern for development have all addressed poverty
eradication as one of the most compelling challenges of the 21st century. This also
means concern for income disparity, healthcare, etc. As discussions on the role of
tourism in addressing poverty became prvalent in various international fora, its
potential use became imminent. This recognition came to the fore when the UNWTO
introduced the “Sustainable Tourism for the Elimination of Poverty” (STEP)
framework which clearly links tourism development with poverty eradication making it
a step towards achieving the MDG1. In this context, at the World Summit on
Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburgh, the UNWTO took a global lead
in the field of poverty reduction through tourism, launching the concept of “sustainable
tourism as an effective tool for eliminating poverty” (STEP). This initiative links the
longstanding UNWTO pursuit of sustainable tourism with the United Nations
leadership on poverty alleviation. Consequently, STEP may be seen as a response by
the global tourism industry under the leadership of UNWTO to the United Nations goal
to halve extreme poverty by 2015.
Significantly though, it was earlier at the 1999 meeting of the UN Commission on
Sustainable Development that urged governments to: “maximize the potential of
tourism for eradicating poverty by developing appropriate strategies in cooperation
with all major groups, indigenous and local communities.” Tourism indeed flourishes
where there is an abundance of natural and cultural resources. In the real sense,
resources (both natural and cultural) upon which tourism products appear and flourish
belong to the poor. It is therefore clear, that if tourism development is planned and implemented properly, it could be used as an
effective tool for poverty alleviation and eradication. Already, tourism is a fact of life for many of the World’s poor.
Accepting the notion that tourism resource, both cultural and natural are mostly located where the poor are, it became
imperative that tourism projects and investments should be in such a way that will benefit the local community. Projects can be
created that will uplift the livelihood of the local community and generate additional income thus partially achieving MDG1. A
reduction in world poverty is an internationally agreed priority and targets have been set to halve poverty by the year 2015.
Achieving poverty reduction requires actions on a variety of complimentary fronts and scales and tourism, an industry that is
multifaceted and comparatively labour intensive can make adequate contribution in achieving this goal.
While increase in income and economic well being can be directly attributable to tourism policies, the quality of life and the
intangible environmental ambience highlighted by tourism can result in the overall community empowerment. This is because
the product that tourism packages and sells ultimately relies on clean seas, pristine mountain slopes, unpolluted water, litter-free
streets, well-preserved buildings and archaeological sites, and diverse cultural traditions all of which the community can have a
controlling stake (Honey, 1999).
Depending on the location and focus of tourism industry, different segments and types of tourism can have substantially
different impacts on the local community. Limited evidence suggests that domestic/regional tourism and independent travel can
create proportionately more local economic opportunities (Wang and Wall, 2007) than international packaged tourism.
Table 1: Notable choice of
countries offering ecotourism
products
Africa
Senegal
Namibia
Madagascar
Uganda
Zimbabwe
Kenya
South Africa, etc.
Asia
Vietnam
Cambodia
Bhutan
Malaysia
Thailand
China, etc.
Latin America
Costa Rica
Dominica
Bolivia
Belize
Ecuador
Brazil, etc.
