Transcript 12 Pro-Poor Tourism in Pacific Island States? The Issues

PRO-POOR TOURISM IN
PACIFIC ISLAND STATES?
THE ISSUES
David Harrison
Faculty of Business and Economics
School of Tourism and Hospitality Management
Presentation outline
Part 1
• Focus on poverty alleviation is not new
• Emergence of pro-poor tourism
• What pro-poor tourism is not
• What is pro-poor tourism?
Part 2
• Importance of tourism to Pacific Island Countries
• Some types of poverty alleviation through tourism
• Issues arising
• Measures for increased poverty alleviation
THE FOCUS ON POVERTY IS
NOT NEW
• It has been a major concern in development thinking since the
1940s
• Brandt Report of 1980
• Brundtland Commission of 1987
• Earth Council of 1996 and Agenda 21 of 1999
• And among academics……………..
For example….
• Smith (ed. 1978)
• Economic benefits depend on:
– The type of tourism; and
– The expectation of tourists and
host’s ability to meet them.
• ‘The effects of tourism can be assessed along a
continuum from a highly positive relationship that
benefits all, to a highly disruptive, negative
interaction fraught with conflict’
and ……
• de Kadt (ed. 1979)
• Tourism can:
–
–
–
–
–
Create jobs;
Bring backward linkages with agriculture and other sectors;
Provide opportunities, especially for young and women;
Encourage entrepreneurial activities; and
Improve quality of life for the poor through funding basic facilities,
training & education.
• Growth alone may not suffice to overcome poverty within a
reasonable time and the distribution of the material benefits
to the poor requires special attention.
EMERGENCE OF PROPOOR TOURISM
•
Some divergence of development agency and academic
thinking:
former focused on doing
latter on theory and non-economic impacts, e.g.
tradition, inauthenticity, commercialisation etc.
•
Both tended to oppose capitalism, large-scale tourism in
favour of alternative tourism: CBT, ecotourism, etc.
•
Sometimes the issue of poverty became neglected
DFID (UK) and ODI: 1999 ff
• Pro-poor tourism (PPT) = tourism that generates net benefits
for the poor
• In response to MDGs:
putting poverty at the
heart of the tourism
agenda.
• Target: tourism
planners
and development
practitioners.
1
2
3
• Tourism could be pro-poor.
• And it could be made
more pro-poor.
• PPT is an approach that
can be applied to any
tourism. It is not a ‘niche’.
Lessons learned from PPT
• Application of PPT
and lessons learned
• Many organisations and
• How businesses can create
policies embrace PPT.
linkages. The business cases
• We now know several
for corporate action.
key ingredients for propoor destinations.
• Working at destination level:
• Emerging work with
joint action to boost market
businesses
access of the poor.
• Work at destination level,
• Joined-up thinking: supply
in different contexts –
side, demand side, market
beach, safari, backpacker
destinations
functioning, global linkages
Problems with PPT
Conceptual
problem
comment
Accepts neo-liberal status quo
Morally indiscriminate
Theoretically imprecise.
Academically & commercially marginal.
True but irrelevant
Not in practice
True but irrelevant. Not a theory.
True
Substantive Narrow and parochial
Does not deliver much to poor
No clear links of PPT with alleviation
No attempt at equity or change
Ignores markets & commercial viability
Ignores + and – of mass tourism
True – financial constraints?
Little evidence but probably true
Probably true?
True but explicitly so.
No. This is more so for CBT
True to some extent
WHAT PRO-POOR TOURISM
IS NOT
PPT is NOT
PPT DOES
Anti-capitalist
Focus on incorporating the poor into markets
Separate from the rest of
tourism
Depend on existing structures and markets
A niche type of tourism
e.g. CBT
Orientate research to net benefits of tourism to the poor
A specific method
Use different methods to collect and analyse data,
including value chain analysis
ONLY about the poor
Recognise that the poorest may not be touched by PPT and
that the non-poor may benefit disproportionately
Just about hunger and
incomes
Has a broad definition of ‘poverty.’ Is basically about
‘development’
Only about individual
benefits
Focus on family and community benefits, including water,
sanitation, health, education, training etc.
No links between CBT and
PPT?
SURELY they are connected?
Harold Goodwin:
Few [CBT] projects have generated sufficient benefits to either provide
incentives for conservation – the objective of ecotourism – or contribute to
poverty reduction (2006).
Murray Simpson, who focuses on Community Benefit Tourism Initiatives:
Case studies show that…… community participation, ownership or control
does not need to play a significant role in the decision-making processes of
a tourism initiative for benefits to flow to the community (2008).
WHAT IS PRO-POOR
TOURISM?
Any tourism that brings net benefits to the
poor!
OR: a moral injunction to be concerned with the
poor, sometimes reflected in the application of
standard techniques of data collection and analysis
by consultants/practitioners/researchers/planners
who have obtained data to assess actual and develop
potential linkages of tourism with poverty
alleviation. This includes value chain analysis.
TOURISM’S IMPORTANCE TO
PACIFIC ISLAND COUNTRIES
• Since 2000, Oceania (including NZ, Australia and Palau) has
grown at only 1.8% p.a. Lower than most other parts of the
world. It is losing market share.
• Reliant mainly on Australia, NZ, USA & European markets
• Within region, mixed fortunes (unrest, crime etc)…..
• Key driver of economic growth in Palau, Fiji, Samoa, Cook
Islands and Vanuatu. Increasing in others (from low base)
International tourism receipts as % of GDP:
top 26 (inc. 22 islands…): includes 3 PICs
% GDP
Rank
% GDP
rank
Palau
72.6
1
St. Vincent & Grenadines
24.5
14
Macau
66.7
2
Sao Tome & Principe
23.9
15
Aruba
43.5
3
St. Kitts & Nevis
23.6
16
St. Lucia
41.8
4
Bermuda
21.2
17
Seychelles
38.8
5
Dominica
20.1
18
Cayman Islands
36.3
6
Croatia
19.8
19
Antigua & Barbuda
36.1
7
Samoa
19%? 30%
20?
Maldives*
35.1
8
Mauritius
18.9
21
The Bahamas
32.2
9
Jamaica
18.6
22
Barbados
29.3
10
Cape Verde
18.0
23
Vanuatu
27.3
11
Belize
18.5
24
Lebanon
26.7
12
Malta
16.6
25
Fiji
24.5
13
Cyprus
16.5
26
* 2005 figure. Tsunami was December 2004: in 2004 was 58.9%
Pacific Island tourism
over two decades
country
1985
1990
1995
2000
2008
Cook Islands
29,000
34,000
49,000
72,994
94,184
% change 19852008
224.8
Fiji
French Polynesia
228,000
122,000
279,000
140,000
336,000
186,000
294,070*
233,326
582,602
196,496
155.6
61.1
Kiribati
3,000
3,000
3,900
4,377
3,871
29.0
New Caledonia
51,000
87,000
100,000
109,587
103,672
103.3
2,000 (est)
3,000
2,500 (est)
2,010
4,750
137.5
Papua New Guinea
30,000
41,000
42,000
58,429
114,182
200.6
Samoa
39,000
48,000
68,000
87,688
121,578
211.7
Solomon Islands
12,000
12,000 (est)
12,000
10,134
16,264
35.5
Tonga
14,000
21,000
29,000
34,694
49,400
252.9
Tuvalu
-
1,000
900
1,504
Vanuatu
25,000
35,000
44,000
57,591
90,657
262.6
TOTAL
555,000
704,000
873,300
966,404
1,337,656
141.2
Oceania (million)
3.8 (est)
5.2
8.1
9.2
11.1
192.1
332.7
436.0
536.0
683.0
922.0
177.1
Niue
Global tourism (million)
= over Oceania average)
General Constraints on Pacific
Island Tourism
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Relatively isolated and (until recently) poor air access
Gradually increasing competition in air transport
Limited natural resources
Small domestic markets
Lack of HR development at all levels
Cultural + (‘friendly people’) and – (no service orientation;
lack of financial, social and cultural capital?)
Poorly developed infrastructure
Small size and lack of many distinctive ‘attractions’
Land issues common in many societies
Commonly reliant on few markets – normally Oz, NZ, USA
Some differences
• Varied political stability in region.
• Strongly differing cultural attractions: Polynesia/ Melanesia
• Different stages of development and ownership, e.g..
–
–
–
–
–
Fiji: high level of TNC involvement
Samoa and Cook Islands: almost all locally owned
Tonga: mainly locally owned & very small-scale
Vanuatu: nearly all overseas-owned
Kiribati: nearly all local, small-scale & undeveloped
• Different types of tourism…….
• Which raises several key issues re poverty alleviation……
So far……
• Seeing tourism as a way of alleviating poverty is not new
• PPT is not focused specifically on small-scale CBT.
• CBT does not have a great record in poverty alleviation or
conservation
• Tourism is a major driver of the economy in several PICs –
and is growing in others
• Value chain analysis is one form of analysing tourism’s
relationship with poverety
• There are other forms of poverty alleviation that can be
achieved through tourism
SOME TYPES OF POVERTY
ALLEVIATION IN TOURISM
• Coincidental alleviation
• Supplementary alleviation
• Policy-focused alleviation
• Corporate Social Responsibility/Strategic alleviation
• Culturally-situated alleviation
• ‘Special’ payments
Coincidental alleviation
• Feature of everyday trading
• wages & salaries
• supply chain linkages
– e.g. food & beverages
– construction
– transport
– handicrafts
– public sector employment .
• The usual tourism sector boast: aren’t we good in providing
employment etc. (= self-interest as philanthropy)
• Wide variety of wages, working conditions, training etc.
• Subject to some government control – e.g. minimum wage rates
Supplementary alleviation (addons to normal trading)
– village visits
– treks
– shell markets
– cultural shows
– taxi tours
– other village-based SMEs catering to hotel and cruise ship guests
Policy-focused alleviation
Government and para-statal approaches
– Native Land Trust Board contracts in Fiji – c.25% to NLTB, then sub-divided
among Head of Yavusa and heads of Mataqali (changing)
– Similar issues in Vanuatu (strata title), Solomon Islands and Samoa
– Fiscal measures aimed at redistribution, e.g. hotel taxes
– Small grants/loans schemes for indigenous enterprises
• Donors and other agencies
– Support for specific indigenous enterprises (e.g. NZAID for Bouma)
– Tend to be to CBT enterprises
– Success in such projects is very limited
Corporate Social
Responsibility/Strategic Alleviation
• Established practice of larger hotels and resorts. Mixed motives? e.g.s:
– Clinics and school support (Turtle Island, Tavarua)
– Cure Kids Fiji and Friends of Fiji Heart Foundation (Sofitel Fiji)
– school scholarships and equipment (Blue Lagoon Cruises etc.)
– water tanks and pumps
– Mamanuca Environment Society (hotelier-led)
– Housing for poor communities (Rosie Group)
– Employment policies aimed at local communities (less so than Sandals)
• Ad hoc assistance to local communities. Examples:
– community centres, church and school repairs
– prizes for raffles run by worthy local organisations
– secret cash payments to sweeten local chiefs
Culturally-situated alleviation
• Typically small-scale, clan-owned
• Staff rotation enables wide household distribution of income
• Finance community projects: churches, running water for
showers and toilets, primary
school fees
• secondary students work PT
for $$ for uniforms, books
• Profit motivation? And/or to
meet traditional obligations?
Wayalailai Ecohaven, Yasawas, Fiji
ISSUES ARISING
1. All types of tourism can be ‘pro-poor’
2. There is no special relationship of PPT and CBT
3. Tourism in PICs is commonly seen as promoting poverty
alleviation…..
4. And it does – but could be much more directed
5. Five suggested (overlapping) current forms of poverty
alleviation via tourism:
Coincidental
Supplementary
Policy-focused
CSR/Strategic
Culturally-situated.
MEASURES FOR INCREASED
POVERTY ALLEVIATION?
• Coincidental alleviation
– increased education/training for more local staff at senior level
– work on linkages (e.g. value-chain analysis) to develop supply chain
and source more local materials and services at all stages
• Supplementary alleviation
– encourage greater community participation
– via education and training, add value to supplementary products offered
• Policy-focused alleviation
– greater support at HR level for government and parastatals, including
more competent administration, valuations etc.
– more fiscal focus on redistributing to poor (training/education/grants)
– more realism among donors, working with private sector, in developing
local enterprise
And more…….
• Corporate Social Responsibility/Strategic alleviation
– institutionalising current ad hoc assistance to local communities on an
organised basis
– focusing on community projects relating to health, education and
environment
– two-pronged approach:
• THE hotel in the local community, and
• HOTELS in the wider community
• Culturally-situated alleviation
– government and donor assistance with HR
– cultural and social capital [education and training in tourism] and
financial capital [via grants, NOT loans]
– part of wider development programme [integrated rural development]
VINAKA VAKELEVU
`
What do
you think?
I think I need a
drink….