TOURISM’S CONTRIBUTION TO POVERTY ALLEVIATION: A COMMUNITY PERSPECTIVE FROM ZIMBABWE

Sipho Sibanda, Christopher Ndlovu

Abstract


Taking a micro-level approach, this study questions whether the positive impacts of tourism often claimed at the macro level do indeed trickle down to the grassroots level to  lift local people out of poverty. A case study of the local community in Victoria Falls urban area compares the perspectives of local residents and key decision-makers in the community. The extent to which tourism development has affected seven signifiers of poverty alleviation are examined: accessibility improvement (transport and communication), prices of goods and services, entrepreneurial training, income-generating projects, employment opportunities, general quality of life and household income. Most of the local community felt tourism development is having a positive impact and contributing to poverty alleviation, especially in terms of improving local facilities. However, there are variations, with entrepreneurial training and the prices of goods and services.

 

Article visualizations:

Hit counter

DOI

Keywords


community participation; tourism impacts; poverty alleviation

References


Akama, JS, 2002. The role of government in the development of tourism in Kenya. International Journal of Tourism Research 4(1), 1–13.

Ashley, C & Mitchell, J, 2005. Can Tourism Accelerate Pro-poor Growth in Africa? Overseas Development Institute, London.

Ashley, C & Roe, D, 2002. Making tourism work for the poor: Strategies and challenges in southern Africa. Development Southern Africa 19(1), 61–82.

Ashley, C, Boyd, C & Goodwin, H, 2000. Pro-poor Tourism: Putting Poverty at the Heart of the Tourism Agenda. Natural Resource Perspectives 51. Overseas Development Institute, London.

Ashley, C, Roe, D & Goodwin, H, 2001. Pro-poor Tourism Strategies: Making Tourism Work for the Poor: A Review of Experience. Overseas Development Institute, London.

Chok, S, Macbeth, J & Carol, W, 2007. Tourism as a tool for poverty alleviation: A critical analysis of ‘pro-poor tourism’ and implications for sustainability. Current Issues in Tourism 10(2/3),144–64.

Christie, IT, 2002. Tourism, growth and poverty: Framework conditions for tourism in developing counties. Tourism Review 57(1/4), 35–41.

Honeck, D, 2008. LDC poverty alleviation and the Doha development agenda: Is tourism being neglected? Staff Working Paper ERSD-2008-03. World Trade Organization, Geneva.

Kibicho, W, 2004. Community tourism: A lesson from Kenya’s coastal region. Journal of Vacation Marketing 10(1), 33–42.

Manyara, G & Jones, E, 2007. Community-based tourism enterprises development in Kenya: An exploration of their potential as avenues of poverty reduction. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 15(6), 628–44.

Moser, CA & Kalton, G, 1993. Survey Methods in Social Investigation. Second edition. Heinemann, London.

Nowak, J-J & Sahli, M, 2007. Coastal tourism and ‘Dutch disease’ in a small island economy. Tourism Economics 13(1), 49–65.

Reid, DG, 2003. Tourism, Globalization and Development: Responsible Tourism Planning. Pluto Press, London.

Rogerson, CM, 2002. Tourism and local economic development: The case of the Highlands Meander. Development Southern Africa 19(1), 143–67.

Ryan, C, 2002. Equity, management, power sharing and sustainability-issues of the ‘new tourism’. Tourism Management 23, 17–26.

Scheyvens, R, 2007. Exploring the tourism–poverty nexus. Current Issues in Tourism 10(2/3), 231–54.

Scheyvens, R, 2008. Tourism and poverty reduction: Issues for small island states. Tourism Geographies 10(1), 22–41.

Schilcher, D, 2007. Growth versus equity: The continuum of pro-poor tourism and neoliberal governance. Current Issues in Tourism 10(2/3), 166–93.

Sebele, LS, 2010. Community based tourism ventures, benefits and challenges: Khama Rhimo Sanctuary Trust, Central District, Botswana. Tourism Management 31(1), 136–46.

Simpson, MC, 2008. Communities benefit tourism initiatives: A conceptual oxymoron? Tourism Management 29(1), 1–18.

Tosun, C, 2000. Limits to community participation in the tourism development process in developing countries. Tourism Management 21, 613–33.

Tosun, C, 2006. Expected nature of community participation in tourism development. Tourism Management 27, 493–504.

UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development), 2007. FDI in tourism: The development dimension. UNCTAD Current Studies on FDI and Development No. 4. United Nations, New York and Geneva.

UNWTO (United Nations World Tourism Organization), 2002. Tourism and Poverty Alleviation. Tourism’s contribution to poverty alleviation 645

UNWTO, Madrid.

Zeng, B, Carter, RW, Lacy, T & Bauer, J, 2005. Effects of tourism development on the local poor people: Case study in Taibai Region, China. Journal of Services Research 5, 131–48.

Zhao, W & Ritchie, JRB, 2007. Tourism and poverty alleviation: An integrative research framework. Current Issues in Tourism 10(2&3), 119–43.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejsss.v0i0.124

Copyright (c) 2018 Sipho Sibanda, Christopher Ndlovu

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The research works published in this journal are free to be accessed. They can be shared (copied and redistributed in any medium or format) and\or adapted (remixed, transformed, and built upon the material for any purpose, commercially and\or not commercially) under the following terms: attribution (appropriate credit must be given indicating original authors, research work name and publication name mentioning if changes were made) and without adding additional restrictions (without restricting others from doing anything the actual license permits). Authors retain the full copyright of their published research works and cannot revoke these freedoms as long as the license terms are followed.

Copyright © 2016 - 2023. European Journal Of Social Sciences Studies (ISSN 2501-8590) is a registered trademark of Open Access Publishing Group. All rights reserved.

This journal is a serial publication uniquely identified by an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) serial number certificate issued by Romanian National Library. All the research works are uniquely identified by a CrossRef DOI digital object identifier supplied by indexing and repository platforms. All the research works published on this journal are meeting the Open Access Publishing requirements and standards formulated by Budapest Open Access Initiative (2002), the Bethesda Statement on Open Access Publishing (2003) and  Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities (2003) and can be freely accessed, shared, modified, distributed and used in educational, commercial and non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Copyrights of the published research works are retained by authors.