P1T-a game changer

By -
People-first Tourism Inc. (P1T) is a for-profit, S-Corp company with a social mandate led by an interdisciplinary team at North Carolina State University whose goal it is to use the power of cellphones to connect the socially conscious tourist with the struggling micro-entrepreneur. The global reach of tourism has made it important to many countries around the world, including the United States. Tourism brings much needed income to communities but often brings unequal distribution of income, changes in the social and cultural health of the community and the potential for environmental degradation. People-First Tourism provides an opportunity for what we call micro-entrepreneurs, often rural, experiencing vulnerable livelihoods to connect directly with tourists wanting a genuine experience at the grassroots level unmediated by the industrialized international tourism industry that objectifies heritages and local identities and transforms people into passive tourees.  People-First Tourism engages individuals and communities globally and locally (glocally) and leverages local knowledge for socio-economic change. To be sure, P1T is not trying to be the next Uber that runs roughshod over the needs and desires of people on main street, but rather, we intend to work with those who need assistance to get into the rapidly changing tourism economy where access to the Internet and the tourists who use it are essential. We use sophisticated technology behind the scenes, but our technology for the micro-entrepreneur is not complex, requiring only a simple cellphone.  However, we also have a broad network of partners we call empowerment agents who accompany aspiring entrepreneurs in their local community.  P1T is attempting to change the way travelers reach those who most need their support. Let us know how we can help you become a part of this new and powerful way to intercept the tourist market for the benefit of those who most need it.

Tim Wallace, PHD
Associate Professor of Applied Anthropology
NC State University

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Onto my life's next adventure...

By -
Image
I am in RDU airport, about to board a flight to Bilbao, Spain where I will live for a few months with the goal to expand my worldviews and to be more career-ready. It’s 6 o’clock in the morning and my eyes are bloodshot with sleep I didn’t get because the adrenaline kept me up last night. My anticipation is reflected in my feet that can’t keep still on the carpeted airport floor and my appetite seems to be the last thing I want to satiate. As I reflect on my journey during the last few years, it is intriguing to see how some decisions led me here. During my time at NC State I remember continuously thinking that I wanted to get myself somewhere beyond the brick-filled grounds of the NC State campus. The university was always able to propel my curiosity forward and nurse my hunger for new adventures - even if just over the railroad tracks at the arboretum - and the encouragement permitted me to take my studies beyond the backyards of Raleigh.   Going abroad wasn...
Read more

Manifesto of the People-First Tourism Movement

By -
Image
We seek a world where travelers develop deep connections with their hosts, are transformed by the genuine local cultures they experience, and improve the lives of the people they visit. Hosts All people have knowledge and experiences they want to share with others .   This is especially true for hosts who are marginalized and who are often the last bastions of traditional cultures and associated ways of living and knowing.   With mentoring and support, many of these hosts will emerge as successful tourism microentrepreneurs sharing knowledge, passions, and communities with empathetic visitors. Communities are complex with constantly evolving factions that use their various capitals to compete, complement, and collaborate with each other .   Some people are better equipped than others to embrace opportunities brought by tourism and, as a result, tourism often fails to improve livelihoods of the least resourced members of host communities. ...
Read more

Research update from P1tLab South Pacific: Communal microentrepreneurship in indigenous Fijian communities

By -
Image
A research paper tourism microentrepreneurship was recently presented at The 3 rd International Conference on Tourism and Business 2019 , Bangkok, Thailand. The University of the South Pacific P1tLab is reporting on thier ongoing research examining tourism microentrepreneurship potential, opportunities, and challenges in three Pacific Island Countries; Fiji, Vanuatu, and Tonga, in an effort to enable local microentrepreneurs to carve a more meaningful slice of the Fiji tourism economy by selling experiences directly to discerning visitors to the South Pacific region.    Alexander Trupp, Apisalome Movono, and Ilisapeci Matalolu from the  School of Tourism and Hospitality Management (STHM) at The University of the South Pacific (USP), presented the conceptual foundations of indigenous entrepreneurship in the South Pacific along with challenges in recruiting participants. A case study from a Fiji village was spotlighted to provide examples of their findings. ...
Read more