Pro-Poor Tourism Strategies: Making Tourism Work For The Poor:A review of experience

Pro-Poor Tourism Strategies: Making Tourism Work For The Poor:A review of experience

Caroline Ashley, Dilys Roe and Harold Goodwin

This report reviews practical experience of ‘pro-poor tourism strategies’ in order to identify useful lessons and good practice. It synthesises findings from 6 case studies of pro-poor tourism interventions, in South Africa, Namibia, Uganda, St Lucia, Ecuador and Nepal.

What is pro-poor tourism?
Pro-poor tourism (PPT) interventions aim to increase the net benefits for the poor from tourism, and ensure that tourism growth contributes to poverty reduction. PPT is not a specific product or sector of tourism, but an approach. PPT strategies aim to unlock opportunities for the poor – whether for economic gain, other livelihood benefits, or participation in decision-making.

Pro-poor tourism overlaps with, but is different from, the ‘sustainable tourism’ agenda. PPT focuses more on countries of the South, not on mainstream destinations in the North. Poverty is the core focus, rather than one element of (mainly environmental) sustainability.

Why focus tourism on poverty?

Poverty reduction is not usually at the heart of the tourism agenda. Yet tourism is significant in many poor countries and is already affecting the livelihoods of millions of poor people, positively and negatively. Poverty reduction requires pro-poor growth. Concerted effort is needed to maximise the contribution of tourism to this.

An overview of PPT strategies: what, who, how?

A wide range of actions are needed to increase benefits to the poor from tourism. These go well beyond simply promoting community tourism, although work at the grass-roots level to develop enterprises and local capacity is one key component. Efforts are also needed on marketing, employment opportunities, linkages with the established private sector, policy and regulation, and participation in decision-making. This involves working across levels and stakeholders. The focus and scale of PPT interventions vary enormously: from one private enterprise seeking to expand economic opportunities for poor neighbours, to a national programme enhancing participation by the poor
at all levels. Strategies can be broadly grouped into three types: expanding economic benefits for the poor; addressing non-economic impacts; and developing pro-poor policies/processes/partnerships.

Impacts on the poor
Emerging – though limited – indications of the impacts of the current PPT initiatives suggest that for the poor, where it happens, PPT interventions are invaluable. A few are lifted out of income-poverty while many more earn critical gap-filling income. More still are affected by non-financial livelihood benefits. These are very significant though highly varied; they include improved access to information and infrastructure, pride and cultural reinforcement. While some initiatives are yet to deliver on the ground, there are a few that affect hundreds directly and thousands indirectly.

http://www.propoortourism.org.uk/ppt_report.pdf