Sustainable Tourism as a Tool for Employment and Reducing Poverty in SIDS

Dr. Frédéric Thomas

Associate Professor

IREST/EIREST – University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne

….but why do so-called “sustainable tourism projects” fail or succeed?

Dr. Frédéric Thomas

Associate Professor

IREST/EIREST – University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne

Criticism of the “Pro-poor impact” of the tourism sector

1. Lack of efficiency of unrestrained economic growth to reduce poverty in parallel to the depletion of environmental resources (Woodward and Simms, 2006)

2. Lack of evidence demonstrating the tourism sector’s potential in terms of poverty alleviation (Goodwin 2006, Harrison and Schipani 2007, Scheyvens 2007, Plüss and Bakes 2002 cited in Scheyvens 2009)

Tourism as a tool for poverty reduction?

Who are the poor?

Poverty background for tourism

workers based on the income per

head in the household/family

(Conway)

Likelihood to come

from a poor

background (PI)

Likelihood to be poor (3)

Cons. estimate <

national

consumption

poverty line

< US$ 1.25 per

person per day

(<US$ 38 per

month)

< US$ 2 per

person per day

(<US$ 60 per

month)

Poverty

headcount in

commune /

province of

origin (very

poor and poor

or < US$ 1.25)

Poverty

headcount in

commune /

province of

origin (near

poor or < US$ 2)

Monthly salary

< National

poverty line

Monthly salary

< US$ 1.25

Monthly salary

< US$ 2

Lao

(IFC) 15.74% 58.30% 79.80% 31.09% 61.60% 1.9% 22.26% 65.93%

Mali

(SNV)79.5% 84.8% 94.9% 12.5% 75.9% 37.10% 41.40% 61.20%

Who are the poor?

• Seychelles Household expenditures survey (2006-2007) –18% of Seychelles inhabitants cannot meet basic caloric needs

•National Bureau of Statistics (2013) – 39,3% of inhabitants of Seychelles are considered as poor (10$/day)

•World Bank (2016) – 1,1% of inhabitants of Seychelles are considered as poor (1,9 $/day and 2,5% (3,1 $/Day)

Does the responsibility of projects’ failure or success lies primarily with development agencies or with local communities?

1. Too high requirements from national/international organizations to rapidly transform low-skilled or unskilled workers into entrepreneurs

• The Complexity of Entrepreneurship

• The introduction of new ‘forward-thinking’ concepts

• The novelty that tourism represents

• The complexity of local power structures

2. Lack of business capacities by implementing agencies / people

So, why so-called “Sustainable tourism projects” are not making the difference?

Bazoulé – Burkina Faso

www.bazoule.net/campementbazoule.html

A case study

• About 30km of Ouagadougou (4000 inhabitants)

• Village known for its crocodiles’ pond (3 hectares)

• About 2500 visitors per year including 50% of international tourists

Bazoulé – The Site

Bazoulé – The project (1)

Association du Développement Touristique de Bazoulé (ADTB)

Comité de coopération de Belfort

Ministère de la Culture, des Arts et du Tourisme

Address local

issues by the

implementation of

a tourism project

2006

Request for financial assistance

to ST-EP

Bazoulé – The project (2)

3 bungalows with 3 beds, bathrooms and showers

3 bungalows with 2 beds, bathrooms and showers

6 bungalows with 2 beds only

1 bungalow with on bed only

One restaurant

Museum

(musée des arts et

des savoirs Mossi)

Conclusions conjointly made in 2010 by UEMOA officials (UNCTAD)

1. Started in 1999, the project was built without any business plan (An audit was made in 2010).

2. No tourism specialist on board

3. The proximity to Ouagadougou and the low standard of rooms makes that the occupancy rate for the bungalows is about 4%

4. In 2009/2010, 177 overnight stays for a turn over of €1,320 / Costs €1,450

(Initial investment for the accommodations = €38,000 / depreciation costs)

Bazoulé – Project Analysis

• Tourism-led poverty reduction programme - Opportunity study guidelines by Caroline Ashley, Jonathan Mitchell and Anna Spenceley, ITC 2009

(www.intracen.org)

• Tourism Initiative Assessment Primary Data Checklist by Christine Jacqueminand Frederic Thomas, in progress in responsible tourism, vol. 4(1), 2016

• Community-based tourism: Sharing lessons and love with the new generation, Euro-Uni roadshow, Potjana Suansri and Peter Richards (2017)

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