What is Pro-poor Tourism?
Pro-Poor Tourism (PPT) is tourism that results in increased net benefits
for poor people. PPT is not a specific product or niche sector but an approach
to tourism development and management. It enhances the linkages between tourism
businesses and poor people, so that tourism's contribution to poverty reduction
is increased and poor people are able to participate more effectively in product
development.
Links with many different types of the 'poor' need to be considered: staff,
neighbouring communities, land-holders, producers of food, fuel and other
suppliers, operators of micro tourism businesses, craft-makers, other users
of tourism infrastructure and resources etc.
Strategies for Pro-Poor Tourism can be divided into those that generate three
different types of local benefits: economic benefits, other livelihood benefits
(such as physical, social or cultural improvements), and less tangible benefits
in terms of participation and involvement. Each of these can be further disaggregated
into specific types of strategies.
Strategies focused on economic benefits include:
- Expansion of employment and local wage: via commitments to local jobs,
training up locals for employment etc.
- Expansion of business opportunities for the poor. These may be businesses/entrepreneurs
that sell inputs such as food, fuel, or building materials to tourism operations.
Or they may be businesses that offer products directly to tourists, such
as guiding, crafts, tea shops etc. Support can vary from marketing and technical
support (e.g. by nearby mainstream operators), to shifts in procurement
strategy, or direct financial and training inputs.
- Development of collective community income. This may be from equity dividends,
lease fee, revenue share, or donations, usually established in partnership
with tourism operators or government institutions.
Strategies to enhance other (non-cash) livelihood benefits generally focus
on:
- Capacity building, training and empowerment;
- Mitigation of the environmental impact of tourism on the poor;
- Addressing competing access and use of natural resources;
- Improved social and cultural impacts of tourism;
- Improved access to services and infrastructure, e.g. health care, radio
access, security, water supplies and transport.
Strategies focused on policy, process, and participation can create:
- More supportive policy and planning framework that enables participation
by the poor;
- Increased participation by the poor in decision-making, i.e. ensuring
that local people are consulted and have a say in tourism decision making
by government and the private sector;
- Pro-poor partnerships with the private sector;
- increased flow of information and communication, e.g. meetings, report
backs, sharing news and plans. (This is not participation but lays the basis
for further dialogue).
