People-First Tourism Lab Blog

Hi folks... in class this week we talked about the good, bad, and ugly aspects of tourism.  As you know, a number of us are trying to find ways to make tourism helpful to the most vulnerable people in the State.  You are experts in all things North Carolinian :-), so I would ask you to please drop ideas on how we might engage poor North Carolinians in small tourism businesses - so that they can make some income and have better control over their lives.  Insightful comments will merit extra credit!  Thanks for your help.   Duarte

A number of us, faculty and students in tourism, community development, and environmental conservation, have been interested in examining ways to use tourism as a force to help marginalized communities gain improved well-being and self-determination while also improving their often eroded relationships with the natural environment.  We are constantly faced with limitations in dominant tourism paradigms (e.g., eco-tourism, sustainable tourism, pro-poor tourism), so we decided to think of a new way to approach tourism.  Whence "People-First Tourism!" People-First because we think the focus of our efforts must be on the development of human beings - perhaps through the creation of improved eco-dependent livelihoods that will then elicit pro-conservation attitudes and behaviors.  This directive is influenced by Amartya Sen's assertion that development is more than improved access to income and should instead be seen as individuals' freedom to pursue fulfilling lives.

Today I am in Delhi discussing the merits and challenges of the People-First Tourism Cooperatives concept  with a group of students in TERI's Masters of Sustainable Development Practice.  Here's the advice they have for us.  Thank you for your input folks,   Duarte