To date there has been a limited amount of research and critical debate on the relationships between tourism initiatives, poverty alleviation and rural livelihoods. In addition, the success or otherwise of tourism ventures in reducing poverty and enhancing livelihoods has been difficult to evaluate due to a general lack of effective assessment and monitoring methods. This thesis contributes to knowledge and to the literature in two key areas. First, it develops and tests a replicable, structured, integrated assessment protocol by which to assess more accurately the impacts of tourism initiatives that purport to deliver net livelihood benefits to communities living adjacent to or within a tourism destination. The approach evaluates the relationships, processes, impact types and their relative importance, patterns of interaction and their relation to poverty reduction and the loss or enhancement of rural livelihoods by using a carefully structured combination of qualitative and quantitative techniques. Second, the thesis introduces, defines and examines an alternative way of approaching the relationships between tourism stakeholders. This has been achieved through drawing on the knowledge and critical understanding gained by the study including two community, public, private partnership case studies conducted in Maputaland, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The research identifies a range of characteristics that contribute to creating the optimal scenario for successful, sustainable and responsible Community Benefit Tourism Initiatives (CBTIs). The study considers the roles of key stakeholders in CBTIs: government, the private sector, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and communities. It identifies the critical components of CBTI development, the potential problems associated with CBTIs and some of their possible solutions by which the private sector, governments and NGOs may successfully deliver a range of livelihood and other benefits to communities in the future.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:487062 |
| Date | January 2008 |
| Creators | Simpson, M. C. |
| Publisher | University of Oxford |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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