Beyond Greening - Tourism Watch

Beyond Greening: Reflections on Tourism in the Rio-Process | Positioningpaper"The definition says nothing about the relative distribution of the benefits of the tourism.Therefore, as long as poor people reap net benefits, tourism can be classified as ‘pro-poor’ (evenif richer people benefit more than poorer people)" (Ashley/Roe/Goodwin, 2001, p. 2)."Doing business differently will only ever involve change at the margin – tourism businessremains a business. But marginal change in a massive sector can be significant for development"(Ashley/Haysom, 2005).According to proponents of PPT, this objective can be achieved regardless of the tourismmodel in question."Pro-poor principles apply to any tourism segment, though specific strategies will vary between,for example, mass tourism and wildlife tourism" 49The logical conclusion is that bad models do not exist. Enclave or minority tourism modelsoperated by foreigners can be considered appropriate and valid in the fight against poverty ifthey increase the income of the most disadvantaged members of the population, even if theseobtain only marginal benefits from the activity.Consequently, according to PPT, the impact of tourism activity is assessed on the basis of itsability to increase the net income of the poor. Any tourism model that achieves this is a validmodel, whether or not one of its objectives is the fight against poverty, whether or not thisobjective is implicit or explicit, a priority or a secondary goal. Other factors, such as thepotential increase in socio-economic differences or inequities in the distribution of profits, areconsidered secondary issues. In fact, the PPT discourse not only accepts that the model doesnot promote equality, but that it can even create problems for some sectors of the population;“Do not expect all the poor to benefit equally, particularly the poorest 20 per cent. Some willlose.” 50All that matters is that average poverty rates decline. 51This objective is based on a limited conceptualisation of poverty: a conceptualisation thatconsiders poverty in absolute terms, based on the amount of money available to an individual.However, researchers and experts have beendefining poverty in relative terms fordecades: it is not the amount of incomeearned which defines poverty andmarginality so much as the position of theindividual within the social structure (Sen,1981). Thus, an increase in socio-economicdifferences (such as those generated by theinequitable distribution of tourism profits)will always entail impoverishment, althoughin the process the poorest may increase theirincome. Meanwhile, whoever obtains themost benefits will increase their economic49Key principles and strategies for pro-poor tourism. www.propoortourism.org.uk/ppt_principles.html50Ibid.51For more information on the principles of PPT, see the documentation available on its website (www.propoortourism.org.uk).76