the role of tourism in natural resource management in the okavango ...

For the greater majority of the rural poor, survival depends on combining agriculture
with a diverse range of other livelihood activities. An important challenge is to
identify and stimulate sources of growth in the non-farm economy, while also helping
farmers to adapt to opportunities within more globalised commercial agriculture. Yet
effective strategies for achieving diversified rural growth in poor parts of Africa are
still proving elusive to government and donors alike (Ashley and Elliott, 2003).
Rural communities are pressed to generate growth in the face of economic
restructuring, declining government services and funding, and threats to their natural
resources. As such, rural tourism is becoming increasingly attractive as a
mechanism for meeting these challenges, and growing numbers of planners,
practitioners and academics believe that the future of rural communities rest with the
economic, social and political opportunities created through tourism (Mair et aI,
2001 ).
Many Third World governments view tourism as an important opportunity to diversify
local economies. It can develop in poor and marginal areas with few other export
and diversification options. Remote areas particularly attract tourists because of their
high cultural, wildlife and landscape value. Tourism offers labour-intensive and
small-scale opportunities compared with other non-agricultural activities, employs a
high proportion of women, and values natural resources and culture, which may
feature among the few assets belonging to the poor (Deloitte and Touche, 1999;
Ashley et aI, 2000).
However, the poorest may gain few direct benefits from tourism while bearing many
of the costs. It is therefore important to mitigate these costs, while maximising the
benefits to the poor. Strategies for promoting pro-poor tourism are emerging,
suggesting that there is potential for much to be done. In the past, the search for
market niches (e.g., eco-tourism, cultural tourism) has been dominant. Strategies to
enhance net benefits to the poor need to be developed across the whole industry,
drawing on a range of expertise to encourage pro-poor growth (Ashley et aI, 2000).
Pro-poor tourism (PPT) can be defined as "...tourism that generates net benefits for
the poor, which may be economic, social or environmental. As long as poor people
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