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Pro-poor tourism: opportunities for the poor?

Everyone knows that tourism affects the world's poorest countries and people. But just how great is its impact? Can tourism work for the benefit of the poor? Can tourism be developed to bring economic gains and engagement in decision making to those in greatest need?

Tourism is one of the world’s largest industries. It is widely agreed that pro-poor tourism strategies - or PPT - are necessary to harness the potential of tourism for poverty reduction. However, there is little experience on how to do this. New research looks at several recent interventions and assesses their strategies, progress and impact to identify good practice and determine the effectiveness of PPT.

The focus and scale of PPT interventions vary enormously. They range from individual private enterprises working with poor neighbours, to national programmes that enhance participation at all levels. PPT strategies often include community tourism but also go well beyond. They are not confined to any one sub-sector, product or market niche.

The report contains preliminary findings on implementation of PPT strategies and their impact. Recognising caveats on the difficulty of ascribing causality and measuring impact, it notes that, in general, PPT initiatives:

give small but significant earnings for poor individuals: a few people have been lifted out of poverty; many more supplement their income through occasional and part-time engagement
offer a range of valuable non-financial benefits that decrease vulnerability, such as access to information and infrastructure
produce a fairly wide though unequal spread of benefits
increase demand for the goods and services of the poor which in turn enhances their assets, reduces the negative impact of growth, and supports livelihood diversification
spread pro-poor policy processes
are particularly valuable in marginal areas.

As PPT strategies are generally at the early stages or limited to specific destinations, they so far have only had a minor effect on national poverty indicators. The report suggests, however, that PPT strategies have potential for wider application, resulting in a marginal change in a massive industry, thus generating new opportunities and benefits for the poor.

For making PPT approaches effective, the study recommends:

strategies that expand formal and informal economic opportunities, access to assets, and opportunities for participation
while also addressing key factors relating to commercial viability, location, pace, and costs.

The study concludes that extending PPT strategies across the industry is most likely if:

tourism planners and practitioners incorporate pro-poor concerns at all levels
growth and poverty strategies exploit the comparative advantage of tourism at specific locations
businesses get involved on the basis of commercial opportunity
the ‘sustainable tourism’ agenda shifts from environment to poverty and from north to south.

Source(s):
'Pro-poor tourism strategies: Making tourism work for the poor,' Pro-poor tourism report #1, Overseas Development Institute, International Institute for Environment and Development, and Centre for Responsible Tourism, University of Greenwich by C. Ashley, D. Roe and H. Goodwin, 2001
'Pro-poor tourism: Expanding opportunities for the poor,' Pro-poor tourism Policy Briefing #1, Overseas Development Institute, International Institute for Environment and Development, and Centre for Responsible Tourism, University of Greenwich by C. Ashley, D. Roe and H. Goodwin, 2001

Funded by: DFID (Escor)

id21 Research Highlight: 1 February 2002

Further Information:
Caroline Ashley
Overseas Development Institute
111 Westminster Bridge Road
London SE1 7JD
UK

Contact the contributor: c.ashley@odi.org.uk

Overseas Development Institute, UK

Pro-Poor Tourism

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