Is Tourism really a key industry to move people from poverty to prosperity in Sri Lanka?

Sri Lanka is one of the most attractive leading tourist destinations in the world. The beauty of this tiny island is simply breath-taking. Known for its enchanting ancient ruins, rolling surf, endless soft-sanded beaches, imposing mountains, colourful festivals, cheap prices, fun trains, famous tea, flavourful food, oodles of elephants, tempting water sports, dense wild-life, diverse ethnical groups and off the top hospitality from the local residents.

After the Sri Lankan Civil War, the Tourism Industry started to flourish and the industry became the third-largest and fastest-growing source of foreign currency by 2018.

Tourism is a fast-growing Industry due to its importance and economic significance. It is big business and will continue to grow. Tourism brings both advantages and disadvantages to a country. Tourism is in a significance position in generation of income, foreign exchange and provision of employment  opportunities that would otherwise remain poor just as much as it can lead to social dislocation, Increase in social tension and cultural disruption, increase in crime levels in the society ,lower economic growth of the country, health issues, loss of cultural heritage and ecological degradation etc.

“Tourism is one of the most important sources of foreign exchange earnings and job creation in many poor and developing countries with limited options for alternative economic development” according to the U.N.’s World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

Organization’s like UNWTO (a government and industry backed development agency), uses the sustainable tourism strategy and the Fare Trade concept to eliminate/fight poverty in many developing countries. Also, UNWTO has published an article on their official page providing awareness on Tourism and Poverty Alleviation which can be found on the below link: 

http://step.unwto.org/content/tourism-and-poverty-alleviation-1

There are multiple factors like the “size and growth of the sector” which has the potential to sustain development in many developing countries, foreign exchange earnings and job creation generated by the tourism industry that make the tourism industry well-suited for poverty alleviation. Tourist destinations diversify. So, tourism also has the potential for sustainable growth in developing countries. Developing countries have a “comparative advantage” in tourism because tourists look for many features that these nations share. These features include “warm climate, rich cultural heritage, inspiring landscapes and abundant biodiversity” like Sri lanka. With these features being most apparent in rural areas, poverty may be alleviated by making destinations out of poorer places.

The tourism industry is also relatively labor-intensive and generates jobs that require little investment. This opens up job opportunities for many people in developing countries including women, young people and minorities.  Generally, the poor have low incomes and lower levels of consumption than those who are not living in poverty. The poor are characterized by their lack of purchasing power in the market and by human underdevelopment, they are generally socially excluded and have minimal access to education, health and other forms of social welfare enjoyed by others in their society who are not poor; they suffer relative deprivation and are generally marginalized in the decision making processes. They generally lack marketable skills and have few employment opportunities. The poor lack access to savings and capital and generally experience high levels of vulnerability to changes in market conditions. The result is that their basic needs are not met.

Tourism provides connectivity between sectors and links, consumers to producers. With this connection, both the consumers and producers benefit from increased local investment. There are many strategies that could be used to reduce Poverty in Sri Lanka. We must encourage the local suppliers to provide sources rather than importing them. We have to promote local ownership by facilitating access to finances through credit and loan facilities for the poor, guaranteeing fair economic returns on the resources the communities are managing with a special attention to providing access for youth and women. We must help educate and inform local/rural populations about job prospects in the tourism industry and related sectors. We must strengthen the communication between the tourism industry and local/rural communities to facilitate the provision of food, goods, services or infrastructure by communities and to help them better understand the needs of the industry.

In 2015, International Labor Organization TV interviewed panelists from the “Global Dialogue Forum on New Developments and Challenges in the Hospitality and Tourism Sector”.  The spoke on Poverty reduction through Tourism. You may find the video of the interview on the below link provided:

Aside from governmental regulations in developing countries, alleviating poverty through tourism can be made possible through, international and individual assistance in planning and management, by providing awareness of the positive and negative impacts of tourism, creating and maintaining the enthusiasm of a community in order to achieve success in poverty reduction, joining hands with committee-based organizations who fight against poverty and organizations which provides support and working towards achieving pro poor tourism objectives. As long as tourism is sustainable and wealth from tourism trickles down to the poor, the poorest countries will prosper. There is potential for alleviating poverty through tourism as long as developing nations are given the assistance needed to make it work.

Published By – Travel Hunters 
Tourism and Development 
BA(Hons) Travel and Tourism Management – London Metropolitan University