Tourism has been utilised as a tool for poverty alleviation globally, and its growth is envisioned to directly or indirectly impact the lives of the local communities. The dialogue on poverty alleviation led to the formulation of pro-poor tourism (PPT). PPT is defined as tourism that generates net benefits to the poor, and it should be economically, socially, environmentally, or culturally beneficial. Although PPT has the potential to benefit the poor, it is not clear how the different types of tourism impact the poor. The tourism industry is mainly driven by the private sector, particularly large international companies. Therefore, their interest in ensuring that poverty is alleviated between local communities is not guaranteed. Thus, with this view, PPT has been criticised for over-emphasising local initiatives. Similarly, the understanding of the poverty concept has been overtly debated. Hence, this chapter intends to explore the concept of PPT and its effect on poor communities.
TopConceptualising Poverty
Poverty is defined differently by different countries, hence providing reliable comparisons amongst countries can prove to be impossible (Mutana et al., 2013). Mitchell and Ashley (2010) advocate that it is important to understand who the poor are first before analysing the effects of tourism on the poor and poverty alleviation. It is therefore crucial that the poverty concept and definition is notionally robust and apt to the society which it is being applied.
Originally, poverty was defined as just a lack of basic needs; it included hunger, lack of shelter and lack of medical facilities (Croes, 2014). According to the World Bank (2001) poverty is best described as “a situation where an individual lacks command over commodities that are deemed essential to realise a reasonable standard of living”. It is a state of being poor, insufficiency and non-existence of resources hence it comprises of low incomes, low levels of wealth, poor environments and vulnerability (McCulloch et al., 2001). There are two types of poverty; “absolute poverty” is when the person’s basic needs (such as food, shelter and clothes) are not covered, and “relative poverty” which is closely related to inequality, where the individual is regarded as poor when they are in an undoubtedly disadvantaged situation (financially or socially) in comparison to other people in the same community (Alcock, 2006). Therefore, poverty is a prescriptive concept that shows an undesirable state of affairs where individuals become deprived, excluded and disregarded. Poverty includes poor health, lack of access to water and sanitation, lack of participation in education and insecurity (World Tourism Organisation (WTO), 2004). It is therefore a mixture of illiteracy, poor health, unemployment, lack of basic infrastructure and empowerment (Croes, 2014). In this regard, it is plausible to view poverty as a multifaceted phenomenon since it consists of numerous characteristics that affect poor people (Holden, 2013; Mitchell & Ashley, 2010). The dimensions of poverty comprise of diverse characteristics of human capabilities such as the ones highlighted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (2001) below:
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Economic-income, livelihoods, decent work
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Human-health, education
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Political-empowerment, rights, voice
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Socio-cultural-status, dignity
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Protective-insecurity, risk, vulnerability