Tourism is arguably the world’s largest industry today, and has been adopted as an economic staple by countless low-income countries. However, while the tourism industry can bring much needed foreign capital into a country’s economy, it has also proven to have severe environmental, economic and social implications on host countries. With these implications come the drive for sustainable and ecotourism approaches, and more recently, pro-poor tourism, which is tourism that aims to generate net benefits specifically for the poor population of the tourism community or country. The purpose of this study is to explore the potential for pro-poor tourism strategies to be implemented in low-income countries, and evaluate the obstacles to implementing these strategies in small-scale tourism locations. The study site for this research is a small rural community in Communist Cuba, and the main objectives of the research are to evaluate the current economic linkages that exist within the study site; determine the thoughts and feelings of the local people with respect to their local tourism industry; evaluate the degree to which the study site is currently following pro-poor tourism principles and what possibilities exist for more to be done; and to offer recommendations for the case study location. In addition to a comprehensive literature review on the progression of Cuba’s tourism industry since the Revolution to present date, this research employs further methods to examine Cuba’s small-scale tourism industry including semi-structured and informal interviews with residents employed by the tourism industry, residents employed in sectors other than tourism, as well as local farmers. Further, participant observation is carried out over a three month period on the island, with one month spent specifically at the study site. The results of this study demonstrate that Cuba’s Communist political environment both fosters and hinders pro-poor tourism development. In terms of employment and agriculture, the State goes to great ends to utilize local resources to supply the local economy, however, with respect to entrepreneurship and the rigid regulations dictated by the State, pro-poor development is inhibited. Not surprisingly, Cubans generally have a positive opinion of the tourism industry, primarily because it has directly increased the standard of living of many, yet for those who do not work in tourism, State wages and monthly rations are inadequate, pushing many to find other means to make ends meet. These factors have swayed many people to dealings on the black market and to seek out legal and illegal employment within the tourism industry, both of which have serious implications on the country’s economy. The main conclusion drawn from this study is that Cuba’s small-scale tourism industry is in fact benefiting the country’s rural population, and generally, the residents’ standard of living within the study site has improved with its introduction. While the Cuban government has not purposefully adopted pro-poor tourism principles, some of the country’s Communist practices naturally lead to their adoption, i.e. maximizing internal economic linkages where possible, widespread local employment, and maximizing the use of regional and national foodstuffs to support the country’s tourism industry. On the other hand however, and as this thesis will reveal, Communism works in direct opposition to the adoption of many pro-poor practices.

Tourism is arguably the world’s largest industry today, and has been adopted as an economic staple by countless low-income countries. However, while the tourism industry can bring much needed foreign capital into a country’s economy, it has also proven to have severe environmental, economic and social implications on host countries. With these implications come the drive for sustainable and ecotourism approaches, and more recently, pro-poor tourism, which is tourism that aims to generate net benefits specifically for the poor population of the tourism community or country. The purpose of this study is to explore the potential for pro-poor tourism strategies to be implemented in low-income countries, and evaluate the obstacles to implementing these strategies in small-scale tourism locations. The study site for this research is a small rural community in Communist Cuba, and the main objectives of the research are to evaluate the current economic linkages that exist within the study site; determine the thoughts and feelings of the local people with respect to their local tourism industry; evaluate the degree to which the study site is currently following pro-poor tourism principles and what possibilities exist for more to be done; and to offer recommendations for the case study location. In addition to a comprehensive literature review on the progression of Cuba’s tourism industry since the Revolution to present date, this research employs further methods to examine Cuba’s small-scale tourism industry including semi-structured and informal interviews with residents employed by the tourism industry, residents employed in sectors other than tourism, as well as local farmers. Further, participant observation is carried out over a three month period on the island, with one month spent specifically at the study site. The results of this study demonstrate that Cuba’s Communist political environment both fosters and hinders pro-poor tourism development. In terms of employment and agriculture, the State goes to great ends to utilize local resources to supply the local economy, however, with respect to entrepreneurship and the rigid regulations dictated by the State, pro-poor development is inhibited. Not surprisingly, Cubans generally have a positive opinion of the tourism industry, primarily because it has directly increased the standard of living of many, yet for those who do not work in tourism, State wages and monthly rations are inadequate, pushing many to find other means to make ends meet. These factors have swayed many people to dealings on the black market and to seek out legal and illegal employment within the tourism industry, both of which have serious implications on the country’s economy. The main conclusion drawn from this study is that Cuba’s small-scale tourism industry is in fact benefiting the country’s rural population, and generally, the residents’ standard of living within the study site has improved with its introduction. While the Cuban government has not purposefully adopted pro-poor tourism principles, some of the country’s Communist practices naturally lead to their adoption, i.e. maximizing internal economic linkages where possible, widespread local employment, and maximizing the use of regional and national foodstuffs to support the country’s tourism industry. On the other hand however, and as this thesis will reveal, Communism works in direct opposition to the adoption of many pro-poor practices.

Tourism has emerged as one of the most dynamic sectors in many countries; as one outcome, it has generated widespread hope that this particular industry can bring prosperity to numerous developing nations. Conversely, there is substantial suspicion of its capacity to bring equitable benefits to the poor. A recent proposition is to strengthen the tourism-poverty nexus by placing tourism at the heart of poverty reduction strategies. This thesis explores the application of this new and relatively untested approach. It does so by conducting a case study of the impact of heritage tourism, a community-based and poverty-focused tourism initiative, implemented in Anse La Raye, the most impoverished rural community in the Caribbean island of St. Lucia. Obviously a single case study cannot justify sweeping generalizations, but it can perhaps serve at least to raise a number of useful policy questions that might also have some broader application.The findings reveal that poverty-focused tourism development initiatives can positively impact the lives of the rural poor, under certain circumstances. Some observable effects included the creation of useful community infrastructure, linkages of direct and indirect employment benefits and consequent income generation. Notwithstanding these successes, this limited research piece suggests that, despite their nearly exclusive and commendable focus on the livelihood of the poor, pro-poor approaches to tourism also have limitations [for example, seasonal and part-time employment, and leakages] and certainly cannot be regarded as a panacea for reducing poverty in any poverty stricken region. Nonetheless, it is believed that St. Lucia, at least, can learn from the experiences of Anse La Raye as it further refines its tourism development policies in quest of further development targets.

No description available.

This thesis looks at the potential for using tourism as a poverty alleviation strategy in the context of Vietnam and the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS). The theoretical basis for this research stems for the growing recognition within development rhetoric of the place of tourism as a key industry in many developing nations, and the formation of a Pro-Poor Tourism (PPT) approach. The fieldwork section of this thesis looks at the barriers and opportunities for those in the poorer communities of Lang Co, a small town on the cental east coast of Vietnam, to supply the burgeoning tourism industry with locally produced products that are compatible with their current livelihood strategies. Results show that there are many opportunities for the poor to benefit from the rapidly growing tourism industry in Vietnam and the region. There is a strong recognition of tourism in national and regional development strategies, there is a rich cultural, environmental and social context driving the tourism industry and there are several initiatives taking place, such as the Vietnamese National Tourism Law, which include many elements of pro-poor tourism principles. However, this thesis has found many barriers also prevent poorer people from benefiting from tourism. In the case of Lang Co, the poor were often limited in their ability to participate in the industry by debt and lack of access to credit, lack of education and training opportunities, a declining natural resource base and by a lack of awareness and participation in the planning of the tourism industry. More widely, the tourism industry is centrally driven and focused on high growth and large infrastructure type developments which in some cases conflict with the principles of PPT and the ability of people at the ground level to participate. This research highlights the complexity of attempting to use tourism as a poverty reduction strategy given the wide range of stakeholders involved and various levels involved the planning and implementation of the tourism industry. The potential applicability of a concept of pro-poor tourism in a rapidly changing context such as Vietnam is contingent of the ability of the poor to have influence on an industry which is having an increasing effect on their lives and livelihoods.

No description available.

Magister Artium - MA / Recent years have seen an upsurge of interest from governments and development organisations in adopting the Public Private Partnership (PPP) approach when developing and operating ecotourism projects. A PPP is a contract between a public sector institution and a private party, in which the private party assumes substantial financial, technical and operational risk in the design, financing, building and operation of a project (South African National Treasury 2004). Countries such as India, China and Kenya have developed numerous projects through PPPs. Protected Areas have followed suit in adopting the PPP approach, to be able to focus on their core business, namely conservation. To date, relevant research on PPP ecotourism projects, specifically pro-poor tourism approach is fragmented, limited in scope, and lacks examples that can assist practitioners in embedding pro-poor tourism principles in the PPP methodology. Academically, studies are largely evaluations that compare progress against projects’ defined objectives or broad based sustainable tourism goals. However, this study is an assessment of a tourism development from a pro-poor tourism perspective. Thus, this study interrogated the extent to which ecotourism PPP at De Hoop is pro-poor. Furthermore, the study sought to establish if rural local communities living in and near De Hoop PPP benefit and how their benefits can be enhanced. Pro-poor tourism indicators are used in this study as a theoretical base to evaluate De Hoop PPP.

In recent decades tourism has asserted its importance as the biggest employer and foreign exchange earner in both the developing and developed countries. Consequently, there has been increasing attention to tourism development as a strategy to stimulate economic growth, local economic development and poverty alleviation, especially in the developing countries. This study was undertaken with the objective of determining the direct benefits of the growth in tourism to the local communities in the vicinity of protected areas in South Africa's Mpumalanga Province. The tourism sector is strategically located within the economic mainstream as it links easily with other sectors of the economy such as agriculture, hospitality, transport and entertainment. It has added advantages, including the fact that the tourist product is consumed at the destination. This offers local communities opportunities in job creation, skills development, economic empowerment and social development. The study found that meaningful involvement of local communities in the tourism industry through ownership of tourism-related enterprises was almost non-existent. There were no meaningful linkages between the industry and the local communities other than the communities' supply of unskilled labour. There were also no programmes aimed at harnessing the phenomenal growth in South Africa's tourism for the economic empowerment of local communities. The economic empowerment of local communities need not be achieved through the ownership of tourism-related enterprises only, but may also include shareholding, outsourcing, affirmative procurement and social responsibility programmes by the industry.The continued marginalisation of the local communities by the tourism industry was attributed to unsatisfactory progress with the industry's transformation. The launch of the Tourism Black Economic Empowerment Charter and Scorecard in 2005 provided impetus for the transformation of South Africa's tourism industry. However, more work still needs to be done in the identified areas of ownership and control of tourism-related businesses, distribution of tourism benefits and the development of tourism-related skills and entrepreneurial culture in local communities. The role of the private sector in stimulating community involvement in tourism is particularly important. The private sector is singled out because of government policy that tourism development would be regulated by government and be private-sector driven. Furthermore, the private sector has the capacity and the resources to mobilise, not only to improve the attractiveness and marketing of a destination and the overall management of the tourism industry, but also to build thriving local communities. / Development Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Development Studies)

In recent decades tourism has asserted its importance as the biggest employer and foreign exchange earner in both the developing and developed countries. Consequently, there has been increasing attention to tourism development as a strategy to stimulate economic growth, local economic development and poverty alleviation, especially in the developing countries. This study was undertaken with the objective of determining the direct benefits of the growth in tourism to the local communities in the vicinity of protected areas in South Africa's Mpumalanga Province. The tourism sector is strategically located within the economic mainstream as it links easily with other sectors of the economy such as agriculture, hospitality, transport and entertainment. It has added advantages, including the fact that the tourist product is consumed at the destination. This offers local communities opportunities in job creation, skills development, economic empowerment and social development. The study found that meaningful involvement of local communities in the tourism industry through ownership of tourism-related enterprises was almost non-existent. There were no meaningful linkages between the industry and the local communities other than the communities' supply of unskilled labour. There were also no programmes aimed at harnessing the phenomenal growth in South Africa's tourism for the economic empowerment of local communities. The economic empowerment of local communities need not be achieved through the ownership of tourism-related enterprises only, but may also include shareholding, outsourcing, affirmative procurement and social responsibility programmes by the industry.The continued marginalisation of the local communities by the tourism industry was attributed to unsatisfactory progress with the industry's transformation. The launch of the Tourism Black Economic Empowerment Charter and Scorecard in 2005 provided impetus for the transformation of South Africa's tourism industry. However, more work still needs to be done in the identified areas of ownership and control of tourism-related businesses, distribution of tourism benefits and the development of tourism-related skills and entrepreneurial culture in local communities. The role of the private sector in stimulating community involvement in tourism is particularly important. The private sector is singled out because of government policy that tourism development would be regulated by government and be private-sector driven. Furthermore, the private sector has the capacity and the resources to mobilise, not only to improve the attractiveness and marketing of a destination and the overall management of the tourism industry, but also to build thriving local communities. / Development Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Development Studies)