A case study on tourism and poverty alleviation submitted to prof. Ramakrishna kongalla, IITTM GWL

1. Tourism and Poverty Alleviation
- Rishiraj

2. What is poverty
alleviation?
 Poverty alleviation means to reduce the poverty
from urban areas & rural areas through
employment.
 “Poverty reduction” is often used as a short-hand for
promoting economic growth that will permanently lift
as many people as possible over a poverty line. But
there are many different objectives that are
consistent with “poverty reduction,” and we have to
make choices between them.

3. Definition
 “Poverty is insufficient supply of those things
which are requisite for an individual to maintain
himself and those dependent upon him in health
and vigour.”
- J. G.
Goddard

4. Poverty fact sheet
 1.2 billion people live on less than U.S. $1 dollar a
day.
 Women represent the large majority of the worlds
poorest . 70% of the people living in poverty
worldwide are female.
 Over 9 million people die worldwide each year
because of hunger.
(source-UN & WHO)

5. Poverty alleviation
programmes in
India
 National Old Age Pension Scheme (NOAPS)
 National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS)
 National Maternity Benefit Scheme
 Annapurna
 Integrated Rural Development Programme
 Rural housing- Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY)
 National Rural Employment Guarantee Act
(NREGA)

6. Significance of Tourism in
India
 Tourism in India has emerged as an instrument
of income and employment generation, poverty
alleviation & sustainable human development.
 It contributes 6.23% to the national GDP &
8.78% of the total employment in India.
 20 million people are now working in the India’s
Tourism industry.

7. conti….
 The fact that tourism is a labor intensive
industry, which can provide jobs for women and
young people.
 It is also an industry where entry barriers to
establishing new small businesses canbe quite
low.
 And leaving aside economics, it can bring non-
material benefits such as pride in local culture
and a valorization of the surrounding natural
environment in the eyes of local communities.

8. Important principles to address
poverty through tourism
 Mainstreaming: Ensuring that sustainable
tourism development is included in general
poverty elimination programmes. And,
conversely, including poverty elimination
measures within overall strategies for the
sustainable development of tourism.
 Partnership: Developing partnerships between
public and private sector bodies, with a common
aim of poverty alleviation.
 Integration: Adopting an integrated approach
with other sectors and avoiding over-
dependence on tourism.

9. Conti….
 Equitable distribution: Ensuring that tourism
development strategies focus on achieving a more
equitable distribution of wealth and services –
growth alone is not enough.
 Acting locally: Focusing action at a local
destination level, within the context of supportive
national policies.
 Retention: Reducing leakages from the local
economy and building linkages within it, focusing
on the very long tourism supply chain.

10. Conti….
 Viability: Maintaining sound financial discipline
and assessing the viability of all actions taken.
 Empowerment: Creating conditions to empower
and enable the poor to have access to
information and to influence and take decisions.
 Commitment: Planning action and the
application of resources for the long term

11. Conti...
 Human rights: Removing all forms of
discrimination against people working, or
seeking to work, in tourism and eliminating
any exploitation, particularly against women
and children.
 Monitoring: Developing simple indicators and
systems to measure the impact of tourism on
poverty.

12. Case- Slum tourism in Mumbai
(poverty alleviation)
 While visiting Mumbai last month we had the
opportunity to visit Dharavi, one of the largest
slums in the world, which became world
famous through the film "Slumdog Millionaire."
Situated in central Mumbai, about one million
people inhabit an area of 175 hectares. That is
a population density 80 times larger than that
of the city of São Paulo. At first we were
hesitant to visit the slum as tourists because
we weren't comfortable with notion, nor the
legitimacy of, "slum tourism".

13. conti….
 But after some research we joined a tour offered
by Reality Tours, a for-profit private organization
whose goal is to change people's perception of
Dharavi, which is often hurt by the same factors
that make the place so famous worldwide. In the
movie, images of Dharavi show a miserable, dirty,
and poor location filled with injustice. The mission
of Reality Tours is to show that, despite its
reputation, Dharavi is also packed with ordinary
people - workers with dreams just like the rest of
us.

14. conti….
 The tour, which lasts three hours, is divided into
two parts: Showcasing the community's
commercial activity and its housing conditions.
During the commercial portion of the tour, I was
impressed with the diversity of economic activity -
industries such as recycling, leather, ceramics
and even food products, of which papads (a
typical Indian snack) are the most relevant,
dominated. Many of the products manufactured
completely in Dhavarvi are exported to other
Asian countries, such as leather goods and
heavy machinery. The economic output
generated in Dharavi is estimated at $500 million

15. conti….
 At the same time, another issue that has drawn much
attention to Dharavi is the precarious conditions faced
by workers, especially those in the ​​recycling industry.
Often the recycling process involves exposure to
plastic and metal at high temperatures, and workers
typically are not offered basic safety equipment.
Moreover, the vast majority of workers have migrated
from poorer parts of the country with no place to live,
and consequently work up to 12 hours a day only to
sleep on the floor of their workplace. When you
consider that the average wage in the region is of $4
per day, it's clear conditions are short of any concept of
human rights. Our tour guide was also very forthright
about the incentive that drives many entrepreneurs to

16. conti….
Apart from recycling, the of heavy machinery
manufacturing is one of the most important economic
activities in Dharavi. Photo credit: Tom Parker

17. conti….
 Besides the goal of providing visitors with a
deeper understanding of Dharavi, Reality Tours
has also dedicated 80 percent of its profits (about
30 percent of gross revenues) for social projects.
Most of these resources are used by Reality
Gives, a sister organization that performs social
projects focused on the community's youth.
These include providing classes in art, English,
computing, vocational training, skill development
and personal health programs. The last stop of
the tour took place at the community center built
by Reality Gives, where we observed a classroom
of 16-year-olds learning English.

18. conti….
 This is a perfect example of a hybrid organization.
To avoid possible distractions related to the dual
purpose as a social business, Reality Tours is
responsible for business activities and the
generation of revenue, while also taking account
of activities that generate direct social impact for
the population of Dharavi. So as the capital for
social projects is directly related to the company's
profitability, the ability to generate impact and
social change grow at the same pace as the
business.

19. conti….
 Reality Tours can also serve as a case study of another
issue relevant to any social business: transparency and
accountability. The organization has posted its goals for
social transformation on its website, as well as some of
the results achieved so far, such as the 142 students
who are now educated in English. In addition, all financial
reports since the company was established in 2006 are
available to download. As consumers, having access to
financial reports and actual numbers of young people
impacted made us more relaxed about the objectives
and the legitimacy of this organization

20. conti….
 Tourism is just another industry that can combine
financial return with social impact and therefore
offers incredible potential for social entrepreneurs.
There are numerous private organizations with social
transformation in mind that are operating in this
sector; some examples include Aoka and Raizes
Desenvolvimento Sustentável.

21. conclusion
• I want to conclude it as that tourism can be used
as a vehicle to eradicate poverty if well planned, for
example in Uganda, most of the tourist attractions
are located in remote areas where the poorest
people live. These people are the ones that bare
costs of protecting the attractions for example
national parks, yet these parks have fetched a lot of
money for the country, the Uganda Wildlife Authority
gives back 20% from the park collections to the
communities and this money is used to develop
social facilities like schools, hospitals, water, roads
extra.
• So tourism can be said as the best possible

22. • Tourism should not be seen on its own as ‘the
answer’ to the elimination of poverty but it can make
a powerful contribution. The potential to develop
more tourism and to channel a higher percentage of
tourism spending towards the poor may be great in
some areas and quite small in others. However,
given the size of the sector, even small changes in
approach when widely applied can make a significant
difference.

23. Thank You