Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
project, which provides marketing tools to farmers with tourism businesses as
well as access to information through 306 websites (www.invil.org) (Choo &
Jamal, 2009).
While the Korean organic farm tourism communities and SMEs are well-
supported by government incentives and regulatory/policy frameworks,
greater difficulties may be experienced in informal as well as formal econo-
mies in emerging or lesser developed rural regions, and exacerbated by his-
torically entrenched barriers. Torres and Momsen's (2004) study of linkages
between hotels purchasing from agricultural producers in Quintana Roo,
Mexico, for instance, showed deep mistrust and lack of communication
between the primarily Mayan rural farmers and the local non-Maya elites,
tourism industry and the hotel chefs - some of this may be traced to histori-
cal discrimination against the Maya in the Yucatan and Quintana Roo that
stems from its colonial past. Poverty alleviation efforts in this context have
to be cognizant not only of strengthening economic linkages, but also
addressing entrenched discrimination and racism against minority groups
and communities that may prevent them for accessing and developing net-
works with tourism service providers such as hotels, and establishing link-
ages between the formal and informal sector.
The role of (good) government is a critical success factor in stimulating
rural tourism and poverty alleviation in both informal and formal sectors.
Zambia, like some other African countries, has made policy commitments
to harness tourism for poverty reduction in rural areas. Dixey's (2008: 330)
extensive study of community tourism in Zambia broadly defined it in the
context of that research as 'tourism which is owned and/or managed by
communities with the aim of generating wider community benefit'. A wide
range of international and local NGOs and bilateral and multilateral donors
assisted the development of community enterprises in tourism and crafts
with mixed results. These include African Parks Conservation, African
Wildlife Foundation, Choma Museum and Crafts Centre Trust Ltd, Conser-
vation Lower Zambezi, Kasanka Trust Ltd, North Luangwa Conservation
Project, Source Connection Foundation, West Lunga Trust, Wildlife Conser-
vation Society, WWF Zambia, Danish International Development Agency,
USAID and the World Bank. The study found that it was difficult to develop
community tourism in remote rural tourism areas away from the 'tourism
capital' of Livingstone. Furthermore, its weak legal status meant there was
no enabling legal framework to cater to the needs of community tourism
participants, which inhibited business partnerships. The results also suggest
that while grass-roots enterprise development and local capacity were impor-
tant components, actions needed to go beyond the local toward policy and
legal action at the wider level (Dixey, 2008). Capacity building of Zambia's
rural sector had to also include marketing, business development, coordina-
tion and planning skills, aided by improved local governance and policy
coordination between local and state levels (Dixey, 2008).
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