TERI Brainstorm Session
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
The chain explained in the ‘People-First Tourism’ initiative seems a little problematic. The chain begins with the tourists demanding, for instance, a dance, and sending the request to the central server, which is further forwarded to the “micro-entrepreneurs”. While this will give tourists the opportunity to demand and pay a price suitable to them, we feel that the chain should begin from the “micro-entrepreneurs” advertising about their culture, choosing how they want to present it to the world… deciding ‘what’s for sale and what’s not?’ … They could maybe advertise their “services” using short videos, pamphlets and so on.
ReplyDeleteThis will serve a dual purpose – giving a plethora of choices to the tourist, while enabling the communities to set their own prices, rather than getting trapped in a bidding process, which would obviously result in competition. We believe eco-tourism should financially benefit these communities, but a competitive market for cultural commodities seems to somewhere “de-value” the “products” being sold. No community is same and each would have something distinct to offer, and if tourists are willing to pay the prices charged, why is there the need for a bidding process, which could possibly result in lower income generation…
Rozita Singh
Praniti Maini
People's first is a great idea,and its aiming to empower the people in the grass-roots.but i have some reservations on it due to: the security of the tourists,infrastructure available for the tourists as in the case of home stay and also the lack of gorvernment involvement in it.
ReplyDeleteMe,as a kenyan,i doubt its applicability in the kenyan tourism industry as in kenya its almost controlled by the elites and government as the sole provider of security and it has gone ahead and created a branch in the policy to deal with tourism "tourist police" with all the chain of command.
Also its one of the main contributor to economy through the foreighn exchange earner,and hence when the tourists have to pay directly to the people,their will arise issue of taxation and that may be a point of conflict.
Moreover,the national parks and game reserves are mentained and run by the gorvernment through the wildlife wardens and guards who controlthe movement of the tourists and monitor them,so to break that well established chain of command it will be a challenge for the people-first tourism initiative.
But its not all gloom for the people-first tourism,for a start,it can have its roots on the camping and organizing field sight seeng an area which hasnt been of importance,bearing in mind kenya has some of the beatiful sceneries ranging from the beautiful great rift-valley,to the snow top mount kenya which is situated few kilometres from the equator.
Paul Nzue and Maneesh Manjunath
First if all, I would like to appreciate the person who has given the tag line "creating dignified and sustainable livelihoods glocally" to People First Tourism. This tag line itself says a lot about the concept of People First Tourism. I do believe that this initiative has a potential to make a paradigm shift. Tourism is no more all about leisure. It can be used for successful business model that can create better livelihood opportunities to local communities.
ReplyDeleteI am very much inspired by this concept. Apart from better livelihoods it provides better management of natural resources which is a key component of sustainable development. In many cases philanthrophy based livelihood generation models fail. That's why in today's globalized era there is a need for economic sustainability of any development initiative. I wish People First all the best...
People-First tourism is very interesting to us as it brings local community at the limelight. The concept of creating eco-dependent livelihoods, deciding aspects of cultural and natural capital that should be commoditized, leveraging and empowering indigenous knowledge and social capital all present a possibility of changing the present tourism paradigm that is centric to and often imbalanced between different developmental components.
ReplyDeleteThough with vast possibilities, we see few challenges that this concept might encounter. The development of eco-dependent livelihoods in many areas around the world has resulted in a biased conservation strategy focusing on a particular species or habitat. The tourism-led conservation of Rhinos and Tigers in Chitwan National Park of Nepal is blamed to be a cause of decreased conservation efforts of many other equally important species including vultures and snakes.
Similarly, will tourism be an obstacle or a facilitator for individuals’ freedom to pursue fulfilling lives. How can the economic shocks associated with tourism in a globalize world be minimized. Does tourism actually provide a self recognition of one’s own cultural identity? Will culture be too monetised? Will the high-value species syndrome prevail in culture too, resulting in decreased practices of culture that are less attractive to foreigners?
We assume the involvement of communities in designing and planning of the destination. But, even how do we guarantee that the planning process reflects meaningful participation of locals and will not be hijacked by individuals, companies and organizations or academic institutions with vested interest - vested interested here might also mean that one aspect of development is given more priority than other equally important developmental concern but doesn’t fall into the individuals, companies and organizations or academic institution’s working area. Can uninfluenced decision on “their cultural and natural capital should be commoditized” be actually taken in practice? How will people-first tourism build a network of individuals, companies and organizations or academic institution’s so that imbalances are minimized? Can first decide what aspects of their cultural and natural capital should be commoditized.
Yet, with all of these of question, we are very hopeful that people-first will work :-) All the best
Samrat Katwal and Ravindra Kumar
It's really great idea to involve the local community with the development process. In my opinion tourism is one of the best ways to improve the standards of the local living of the people. In fact, we need to make inclusive growth.
ReplyDeleteWe need to understand the development can only be possible with the involvement of the people so, we need to involve the local public in designing the activities such as preparing the menu of the food, traditional practices in the area, getting the local history and its importance to explain for others to understand the geographical area
The basic problems may occur with the tourists such as selection of the area, hospitality conditions and security measures.
We need to understand language is very important barrier for any outsider to visit the place, making them to know the basic steps of acknowledging the local people efforts towards the tourism and their commitment should be honoured.
We can plan different schedules for the international tourists such as giving the options of Varity of food, local talent (dances, music).
if feel this would be a small contribution from me but I’ve the hope that people-first can make the difference by giving the importance to the local community aspirations and needs to improve their living conditions and the help in the healthy tourism practices.
All the best for the People-First team
-Chandra Prakash Kamana
I would first congratulate the team and the memebrs for such a nobel concept and I understand that it is still a long way to go. With modernization and urbanization happening in India and elsewhere we are sought of loosing the population who desires to put back to the rural stream. There are several reasons that the farmer never wants his son/daughter to see the same pain he/she suffered. But then what if everyones wants to escape. Why should the farmer keep some cultural dance/ traditional instrument alive , will that help him/her feed the family...
ReplyDeletePeople first is not limited to the above idea. While on one hand it clearly indicates an eco-friendly means whereby we come up to a strong reason for why the farmer can sustain his/her traditions/culture. Eco-tourism obviously acts as an alternate source of income. So monetary value is now associated.
On the other hand it suggests the fact that the people must be given right te decide what and how do they want to share their traditions /culture or what part of their lives do they want to expose to the external world. But then this is fundamental for being a part of civilized human race.