Environmental Engineering Reference
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being financially viable (Ashley, 2002; WTO, 2004). One of the most problematic
areas of assessment has been to quantify the impacts of tourism on communities,
poverty reduction and local livelihoods.
The relationships and interactions between tourism, poverty reduction and
rural livelihoods are complex, requiring considerable debate and research, which
to date has been somewhat lacking (Cheong and Miller, 2000; Jafari, 2001;
Sofield, 2003; Rogerson, 2006; Hall, 2007; Scheyvens, 2007; Simpson, 2008b).
Proponents of poverty alleviation and rural development through tourism have
ambitious goals (Sharpley, 2002; Briedenhann and Wickens, 2004; Saarinen,
2007). Critics of such high objectives question core concepts such as: the level
and type of benefits being delivered to the rural poor; the roles of tourists, tour
operators and other stakeholders in the poverty-tourism equation; the value and
effect of trade-offs between the negative impacts on the environment and
communities' culture and traditions in comparison to the supposed livelihood
enhancements; and the lack of research into the intricate relationships between the
development goals of marginalized communities and the objectives of tourism
initiatives (Mowforth and Munt, 1998, 2003; Cheong and Miller, 2000; Davis,
2001; Gossling et al, 2004; Hall, 2007; Scheyvens, 2007; Simpson, 2008a).
In addition to the paucity and fragmented nature of research on the topic and
despite on-going conceptual discussions concerning the relationships between
development and tourism (De Kadt, 1979; Lea, 1988; Eadington and Smith,
1994; Mowforth and Munt 1998, 2003; Deloitte & Touche et al, 1999; Scheyvens,
2007; Harrison, 2007), there also appears to be a lack of consensus about appro-
priate and effective methodologies with which to assess whether in fact tourism is
reducing poverty and enhancing livelihoods in given situations. The majority of
work conducted is highly subjective and difficult to compare (Visser and
Rogerson, 2004; Zhao and Ritchie, 2007; Spenceley and Goodwin, 2007;
Harrison, 2007). Tourism's relationship with rural development, poverty and
livelihoods is convoluted and fraught with conflicts and challenges, and the surge
of tourism to rural and peripheral areas has wide-ranging implications for devel-
opment and the livelihoods of rural communities (Sharpley and Roberts, 2004;
Hall, 2007; Scheyvens, 2007; Simpson, 2008a). The limited amount of critical
debate combined with a lack of primary research and the use of methodologies
that are inadequate and extremely difficult to replicate has led to calls for an
elemental reassessment of the interrelationships between tourism, development
and rural livelihoods and poverty reduction (Visser and Rogerson, 2004; Gossling
et al, 2004; Scheyvens, 2007; Chok et al, 2007). There is clearly a pressing
requirement not only for a replicable and robust analytical framework to evaluate
the relationships, processes and impacts associated with the issues surrounding
tourism and development but also a need to evaluate more critically tourism's
interactions with poverty and rural livelihoods.
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