What is Pro Poor Tourism?

A number of recent initiatives, described as ‘pro poor tourism’, have focused specifically on linking tourism and poverty reduction.

A UK-based Pro Poor Tourism Team (see below) have come up with the following definition of Pro Poor Tourism (PPT): Tourism that results in increased net benefits for poor people.

In detail: PPT is not a specific product or niche sector but an approach to tourism development and management. It enhances the linkages between tourism businesses and poor people, so that tourism’s contribution to poverty reduction is increased and poor people are able to participate more effectively in product development.

Links with many different types of ‘the poor’ need to be considered: staff, neighbouring communities, land-holders, producers of food, fuel and other suppliers, operators of micro tourism businesses, craft-makers, other users of tourism infrastructure (roads) and resources (water) etc.

There are many types of pro poor tourism strategies, ranging from increasing local employment to building mechanisms for consultation. Any type of company can be involved in pro-poor tourism – a small lodge, an urban hotel, a tour operator, an infrastructure developer. The critical factor is not the type of company or the type of tourism, but that an increase in the net benefits that go to poor people can be demonstrated.

While many Pro Poor Tourism projects have been small (less than £60K) and funded from disparate sources, the cumulative impact is being noticed. At the Johannesburg summit, the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) launched a new report (see below) and initiative specifically focusing on linking tourism and poverty reduction. The WTO report contains many of the ideas developed by the Pro Poor Tourism Team, with DFID funding.

The PPT team is Caroline Ashley (Overseas Development Institute), Harold Goodwin (International Centre for Responsible Tourism, University of Greenwich) and Dilys Roe (International Institute for Environment and Development), and can be contacted on [email protected].

**At the World Summit on Sustainable Development the World Tourism Organization launched a new report on Tourism and Poverty Alleviation. The report draws substantially on the work of the Pro-poor Tourism Team and has additional material on Tourism and LDCs and the macro economic case for tourism and development.

To download an Acrobat version of the Report go to:
Tourism and Poverty Alleviation.

For further details of the case studies and pro-poor tourism work go to: www.propoortourism.org.uk.

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