We have sought advice on how much tourism could affect other activities for local communities in poor countries. For example, if we train someone to rely predominantly on tourism for income generation, what will happen if some event outside of theirs or our control causes a disruption in tourism?

‘…while there is no doubt that tourism is vulnerable to swings in demand at country level (due to insecurity, recession or hurricanes), it is not clear that volatility is any greater than volatility in prices and demand in other exports, particularly commodity exports.’ (Bennett, Roe et al. 1999)

Or what happens if local agriculture is abandoned in favour of tourism? Studies show that tourism is often an additional diversification option for the poor, not a substitute for other core activities. It is possible to work to complement existing activities especially by keeping Leap Local’s working locally, encouraging the use of transferable skills and so on (Ashley, Boyd et al. 2000).  

REFERENCES: 

Ashley, C., C. Boyd, et al. (2000). Pro-poor tourism: putting poverty at the heart of the tourism agenda. No 51. Overseas Development Institute

Bennett, O, Roe, D., et al. (1999) Sustainable Tourism and Poverty Elimination Study, Overseas Development Institute

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