1. 1. Tourism and Poverty Alleviation - Rishiraj
2. 2. 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.
3. 3. 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
4. 4. 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)
5. 5. 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)
6. 6. 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 Indias Tourism industry.
7. 7. 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.
8. 8. 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.
9. 9. 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.
10. 10. 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
11. 11. 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.
12. 12. Case- Slum tourism in Mumbai (poverty alleviation) While visiting Mumbai last month we had the opportunity to visit Dharavi, one of the largest slums in the world, which became world famous through the film "Slumdog Millionaire." Situated in central Mumbai, about one million people inhabit an area of 175 hectares. That is a population density 80 times larger than that of the city of So Paulo. At first we were hesitant to visit the slum as tourists because we weren't comfortable with notion, nor the legitimacy of, "slum tourism".
13. 13. 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.
14. 14. 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
15. 15. 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
16. 16. conti. Apart from recycling, the of heavy machinery manufacturing is one of the most important economic activities in Dharavi. Photo credit: Tom Parker
17. 17. 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.
18. 18. 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.
19. 19. 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
20. 20. 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 Sustentvel.
21. 21. 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
22. 22. 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.
23. 23. Thank You