Tourism and Poverty Alleviation

- Rishiraj

singh

What is poverty

alleviation?

Poverty alleviation means to reduce the poverty

from urban areas & rural areas through

employment.

“Poverty reduction” is often used as a short-hand for

promoting economic growth that will permanently lift

as many people as possible over a poverty line. But

there are many different objectives that are

consistent with “poverty reduction,” and we have to

make choices between them.

Definition

“Poverty is insufficient supply of those things

which are requisite for an individual to maintain

himself and those dependent upon him in health

and vigour.”

- J. G.

Goddard

Poverty fact sheet

1.2 billion people live on less than U.S. $1 dollar a

day.

Women represent the large majority of the worlds

poorest . 70% of the people living in poverty

worldwide are female.

Over 9 million people die worldwide each year

because of hunger.

(source-UN & WHO)

Poverty alleviation

programmes in

India

National Old Age Pension Scheme (NOAPS)

National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS)

National Maternity Benefit Scheme

Annapurna

Integrated Rural Development Programme

Rural housing- Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY)

National Rural Employment Guarantee Act

(NREGA)

Significance of Tourism in

India

Tourism in India has emerged as an instrument of income and employment generation, poverty alleviation & sustainable human development.

It contributes 6.23% to the national GDP & 8.78% of the total employment in India.

20 million people are now working in the India’s Tourism industry.

conti….

The fact that tourism is a labor intensive

industry, which can provide jobs for women and

young people.

It is also an industry where entry barriers to

establishing new small businesses canbe quite

low.

And leaving aside economics, it can bring non-

material benefits such as pride in local culture

and a valorization of the surrounding natural

environment in the eyes of local communities.

Important principles to address

poverty through tourism

Mainstreaming: Ensuring that sustainable

tourism development is included in general

poverty elimination programmes. And,

conversely, including poverty elimination

measures within overall strategies for the

sustainable development of tourism.

Partnership: Developing partnerships between

public and private sector bodies, with a common

aim of poverty alleviation.

Integration: Adopting an integrated approach

with other sectors and avoiding over-

dependence on tourism.

Conti….

Equitable distribution: Ensuring that tourism

development strategies focus on achieving a more

equitable distribution of wealth and services –

growth alone is not enough.

Acting locally: Focusing action at a local

destination level, within the context of supportive

national policies.

Retention: Reducing leakages from the local

economy and building linkages within it, focusing

on the very long tourism supply chain.

Conti….

Viability: Maintaining sound financial discipline

and assessing the viability of all actions taken.

Empowerment: Creating conditions to empower

and enable the poor to have access to

information and to influence and take decisions.

Commitment: Planning action and the

application of resources for the long term

Conti...

Human rights: Removing all forms of discrimination against people working, or seeking to work, in tourism and eliminating any exploitation, particularly against women and children.

Monitoring: Developing simple indicators and systems to measure the impact of tourism on poverty.

Case- Slum tourism in Mumbai

(poverty alleviation)

While visiting Mumbai last month we had theopportunity to visit Dharavi, one of the largestslums in the world, which became worldfamous through the film "Slumdog Millionaire."Situated in central Mumbai, about one millionpeople inhabit an area of 175 hectares. That isa population density 80 times larger than thatof the city of São Paulo. At first we werehesitant to visit the slum as tourists becausewe weren't comfortable with notion, nor thelegitimacy of, "slum tourism".

conti….

But after some research we joined a tour offered

by Reality Tours, a for-profit private organization

whose goal is to change people's perception of

Dharavi, which is often hurt by the same factors

that make the place so famous worldwide. In the

movie, images of Dharavi show a miserable, dirty,

and poor location filled with injustice. The mission

of Reality Tours is to show that, despite its

reputation, Dharavi is also packed with ordinary

people - workers with dreams just like the rest of

us.

conti….

The tour, which lasts three hours, is divided into

two parts: Showcasing the community's

commercial activity and its housing conditions.

During the commercial portion of the tour, I was

impressed with the diversity of economic activity -

industries such as recycling, leather, ceramics

and even food products, of which papads (a

typical Indian snack) are the most relevant,

dominated. Many of the products manufactured

completely in Dhavarvi are exported to other

Asian countries, such as leather goods and

heavy machinery. The economic output

generated in Dharavi is estimated at $500 million

per year.

conti…. At the same time, another issue that has drawn much

attention to Dharavi is the precarious conditions faced

by workers, especially those in the recycling industry.

Often the recycling process involves exposure to

plastic and metal at high temperatures, and workers

typically are not offered basic safety equipment.

Moreover, the vast majority of workers have migrated

from poorer parts of the country with no place to live,

and consequently work up to 12 hours a day only to

sleep on the floor of their workplace. When you

consider that the average wage in the region is of $4

per day, it's clear conditions are short of any concept of

human rights. Our tour guide was also very forthright

about the incentive that drives many entrepreneurs to

use Dharavi as a base for their business: low

conti….

Apart from recycling, the of heavy machinery

manufacturing is one of the most important economic

activities in Dharavi. Photo credit: Tom Parker

conti….

Besides the goal of providing visitors with a

deeper understanding of Dharavi, Reality Tours

has also dedicated 80 percent of its profits (about

30 percent of gross revenues) for social projects.

Most of these resources are used by Reality

Gives, a sister organization that performs social

projects focused on the community's youth.

These include providing classes in art, English,

computing, vocational training, skill development

and personal health programs. The last stop of

the tour took place at the community center built

by Reality Gives, where we observed a classroom

of 16-year-olds learning English.

conti….

This is a perfect example of a hybrid organization.

To avoid possible distractions related to the dual

purpose as a social business, Reality Tours is

responsible for business activities and the

generation of revenue, while also taking account

of activities that generate direct social impact for

the population of Dharavi. So as the capital for

social projects is directly related to the company's

profitability, the ability to generate impact and

social change grow at the same pace as the

business.

conti….

Reality Tours can also serve as a case study of another

issue relevant to any social business: transparency and

accountability. The organization has posted its goals for

social transformation on its website, as well as some of

the results achieved so far, such as the 142 students

who are now educated in English. In addition, all financial

reports since the company was established in 2006 are

available to download. As consumers, having access to

financial reports and actual numbers of young people

impacted made us more relaxed about the objectives

and the legitimacy of this organization

conti….

Tourism is just another industry that can combine

financial return with social impact and therefore

offers incredible potential for social entrepreneurs.

There are numerous private organizations with social

transformation in mind that are operating in this

sector; some examples include Aoka and Raizes

Desenvolvimento Sustentável.

source-http://nextbillion.net/blog post. Aspx ?blo

conclusion

• I want to conclude it as that tourism can be used

as a vehicle to eradicate poverty if well planned, for

example in Uganda, most of the tourist attractions

are located in remote areas where the poorest

people live. These people are the ones that bare

costs of protecting the attractions for example

national parks, yet these parks have fetched a lot of

money for the country, the Uganda Wildlife Authority

gives back 20% from the park collections to the

communities and this money is used to develop

social facilities like schools, hospitals, water, roads

extra.

• So tourism can be said as the best possible

source to eradicate poverty.

• Tourism should not be seen on its own as ‘the

answer’ to the elimination of poverty but it can make

a powerful contribution. The potential to develop

more tourism and to channel a higher percentage of

tourism spending towards the poor may be great in

some areas and quite small in others. However,

given the size of the sector, even small changes in

approach when widely applied can make a significant

difference.

Thank You