Role of hotels in the social development of a country

‘Role Of Hotels In The Social Development Of A
Country’

Submitted by:
Rahim Somani
Rajat Monga
Reema Arora
Vinod Alexander

A research project in partial fulfillment of the
requirement of NCHMCT, New Delhi for awarding the
degree of B. Sc. H. & H. A.

Institute Of Hotel Management, Catering Technology &
Applied Nutrition, Mumbai.

Published on: 7th February, 2007

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

On the successful completion of this research work, We would

like to express our gratitude towards all the people who have helped

us in doing this extensive study.

First of all, we would like to thank our research co-ordinator ,

Mrs. Jyoti Acharya and the principal of our renowned institute, Mr.

R.K. Saxena for giving us the opportunity of carrying out this research

project.

We would also like to thank all the staff as well as the

management of the various hotels that I have surveyed, for providing

us their valuable time, support and information.

Lastly, but most important of all, we would like to thank our

parents, relatives and friends for being understanding, helpful and co-

operative throughout the period of our research work.

Table of Contents

Contents Page No.
Introduction
Aims & Objectives
Review of Literature
Methodology
Data Analysis & Interpretation
Summary & Conclusion
Bibliography
Appendices
Appendix 1-Questionnaire for International Hotel Chains
Appendix 2-Questionnaire for Indian Hotel Chains

AIMS & OBJECTIVES

To define, analyze and characterize social development and determine its
importance for a country’s progress.

To find out the role of hotels in the social development of a country.

To study the initiatives taken by various hotel chains worldwide, for the social
development of different countries.

To study the initiatives taken by various Indian hotel chains for the social
development of our country.

To study and compare the role of a particular Indian hotel chain with an
international hotel chain in terms of initiatives taken for social development.

To suggest various successful initiatives that may be applicable in the Indian
context, thus promote social development.

Review of Literature

Social sciences
The social sciences are a group of academic disciplines that study human aspects
of the world. They diverge from the arts and humanities in that the social sciences tend to
emphasize the use of the scientific method in the study of humanity, including
quantitative and qualitative methods.
The social sciences, in studying subjective, inter-subjective and objective or
structural aspects of society, were traditionally referred to as soft sciences. This is in
contrast to hard sciences, such as the natural and physical sciences, which may focus
exclusively on objective aspects of nature. Nowadays, however, the distinction between
the so-called soft and hard sciences is blurred. Some social science subfields have
become very quantitative in methodology or behavioral in approach.
Conversely, the interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary nature of scientific
inquiry into human behavior and social and environmental factors affecting it have made
many of the so-called hard sciences dependent on social science methodology. Examples
of boundary bluring include emerging disciplines like social studies of medicine,
neuropsychology, bioeconomics and the history and sociology of science. Increasingly,
quantitative and qualitative methods are being integrated in the study of human action
and its implications and consequences.

Sociology
Sociology is the study of society and human social action. It generally concerns
itself with the social rules and processes that bind and separate people not only as
individuals, but as members of associations, groups, communities and institutions, and
includes the examination of the organization and development of human social life. The
sociological field of interest ranges from the analysis of short contacts between
anonymous individuals on the street to the study of global social processes. Most
sociologists work in one or more specialties or subfields (listed below).
The meaning of the word comes from the suffix "-ology" which means "study of,"
derived from Greek, and the stem "soci-" which is from the Latin word socius, meaning
member, friend, or ally, thus referring to people in general. It is a social science
involving the study of the social lives of people, groups, and societies, sometimes defined
as the study of social interactions. It is a relatively new academic discipline which
evolved in the early 19th century.

Because sociology is such a broad discipline, it can be difficult to define, even for
professional sociologists. One useful way to describe the discipline is as a cluster of sub-
fields that examine different dimensions of society. For example, social stratification
studies inequality and class structure; demography studies changes in a population size or
type; criminology examines criminal behavior and deviance; political sociology studies
government and laws; and the sociology of race and sociology of gender examine
society's racial and gender cleavages.
Sociology is methodologically diverse using case studies, survey research,
statistical analysis, and model building, among other approaches.
New sociological sub-fields continue to appear - such as economic sociology, community
studies, computational sociology, network analysis, actor-network theory and a growing
list, many of which are cross-disciplinary in nature.
Since the late 1970s, many sociologists have tried to make the discipline useful
for non-academic purposes. The results of sociological research aid educators,
lawmakers, administrators, developers, and others interested in resolving social problems
and formulating public policy, through subdisciplinary areas such as survey research,
evaluation research, methodological assessment, and public sociology.
Sociological methods, theories, and concepts compel the sociologist to explore the
origins of commonly accepted rules governing human behavior. This specific approach to
reality is known as the sociological perspective.[

Social Structure
The term social structure, used in a general sense, refers to entities or groups in
definite relation to each other, to relatively enduring patterns of behaviour and
relationship within social systems, or to social institutions and norms becoming
embedded into social systems in such a way that they shape the behaviour of actors
within those social systems.

The notion of social structure as relationships between different entities or groups
or as enduring and relatively stable patterns of relationship emphasises the idea that
society is grouped into structurally related groups or sets of roles, with different
functions, meanings or purposes. One example of social structure is the idea of "social
stratification," which refers to the idea that society is separated into different strata,
according to social distinctions such as a race, class and gender. Social treatment of
persons within various social structures can be understood as related to their placement
within the various social strata.

Social structure may be seen to underly important social systems including the
economic system, legal system, political system, cultural system, and others. Family,
religion, law, economy and class are all social structures. The social system is the parent
system of those various systems that are embedded in the social system.

Development
Development (in general) - it is a dynamic process of improvement, which implies a
change, an evolution, growth and advancement. Development as a phenomenon suggests
that people are able to control their future and can improve their condition in the world
(living conditions, capacity to feed, education level, life length, etc.) through process
towards something better (Skeldon R., 1997).

Social development
Social development is a process which results in the transformation of social
structures in a manner which improves the capacity of the society to fulfill its aspirations.
Society develops by consciousness and social consciousness develops by organization.
The process that is subconscious in the society emerges as conscious knowledge in
pioneering individuals. Development is a process, not a programme. Its power issues
more from its subtle aspects than from material objects.

Not all social change constitutes development. It consists of four well-marked
stages -- survival, growth, development and evolution, each of which contains the other
three within it. The quantitative expansion of existing activities generates growth or
horizontal expansion. Development implies a qualitative change in the way the society
carries out its activities, such as through more progressive attitudes and behavior by the
population, the adoption of more effective social organizations or more advanced
technology which may have been developed elsewhere. The term evolution refers to the
original formulation and adoption of qualitative and structural advances in the form of
new social attitudes, values, behaviors, or organizations.

While the term is usually applied to changes that are beneficial to society, it may
result in negative side-effects or consequences that undermine or eliminate existing ways
of life that are considered positive.

But here we are only considering the beneficial aspects.

Community development
Community development seeks to empower individuals and groups of people by
providing these groups with the skills they need to effect change in their own
communities. These skills are often concentrated around building political power through
the formation of large social groups working for a common agenda. Community
developers must understand both how to work with individuals and how to affect
communities' positions within the context of larger social institutions

Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD)
The Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) is a methodology that seeks to
uncover and highlight the strengths within communities as a means for sustainable
development. The basic tenet is that a capacities-focused approach is more likely to
empower the community and therefore mobilize citizens to create positive and
meaningful change from within. Instead of focusing on a community's needs, deficiencies
and problems, the ABCD approach helps them become stronger and more self-reliant by
discovering, mapping and mobilizing all their local assets. Few people realize how many
assets any community has:

the skills of its citizens, from youth to disabled people, from thriving
professionals to starving artists;
the dedicaton of its citizens associations — churches, culture groups, clubs,
neighborhood associations
the resources of its formal institutions — businesses, schools, libraries,
community colleges, hospitals, parks, social service agencies.

By the late 1990s, communities around the country were mapping and using these
resources in imaginative ways, bringing them out of the closet and into creative synergy
with each other, with dramatic results. Asset-based community development has provided
leaders and institutions in all sectors with an approach that is relatively cheap, effective
and empowering, that avoids paternalism and dependence — an approach that can be
supported by all parts of the political spectrum and initiated at any level of civic life.

Sociocultural evolution
Sociocultural evolution(ism) is an umbrella term for theories of cultural
evolution and social evolution, describing how cultures and societies have developed
over time. Although such theories typically provide models for understanding the
relationship between technologies, social structure, the values of a society, and how and
why they change with time, they vary as to the extent to which they describe specific
mechanisms of variation and social change.

Most 19th century and some 20th century approaches aimed to provide models for
the evolution of humankind as a whole, arguing that different societies are at different
stages of social development. At present this thread is continued to some extent within
the World System approach (especially within its version produced by Andre Gunder
Frank). Many of the more recent 20th-century approaches focus on changes specific to
individual societies and reject the idea of directional change, or social progress. Most
archaeologists and cultural anthropologists work within the framework of modern
theories of sociocultural evolution. Modern approaches to sociocultural evolution include
neoevolutionism, sociobiology, theory of modernization and theory of postindustrial
society.

Introduction

Anthropologists and sociologists often assume that human beings have natural
social tendencies and that particular human social behaviors have non-genetic causes and
dynamics (i.e. they are learned in a social environment and through social interaction).
Societies exist in complex social (i.e. interacting with other societies) and biotic (i.e.
interacting with natural resources and constraints) environments, and adapt themselves to
these environments. It is thus inevitable that all societies change.

Specific theories of social or cultural evolution are usually meant to explain
differences between coeval societies, by positing that different societies are at different
stages of development. Although such theories typically provide models for
understanding the relationship between technologies, social structure, or values of a
society, they vary as to the extent to which they describe specific mechanisms of
variation and change.

Early sociocultural evolution theories—the theories of August Comte, Herbert
Spencer and Lewis Henry Morgan—developed simultaneously but independently of
Charles Darwin's works and were popular from the late 19th century to the end of World
War I. These 19th-century unilineal evolution theories claimed that societies start out in a
primitive state and gradually become more civilised over time, and equated the culture
and technology of Western civilisation with progress. Some forms of early sociocultural
evolution theories (mainly unilineal ones) have led to much criticised theories like social

Darwinism, and scientific racism, used in the past to justify existing policies of
colonialism and slavery, and to justify new policies such as eugenics.

Most 19th-century and some 20th-century approaches aimed to provide models
for the evolution of humankind as a single entity. Most 20th-century approaches, such as
multilineal evolution, however, focus on changes specific to individual societies.
Moreover, they reject directional change (i.e. orthogenetic, teleological or progressive
change). Most archaeologists work within the framework of multilineal evolution. Other
contemporary approaches to social change include neoevolutionism, sociobiology, dual
inheritance theory, theory of modernisation and theory of postindustrial society.

History
The 14th century Islamic scholar Ibn Khaldun concluded that societies are living
organisms that experience cyclic birth, growth, maturity, decline, and ultimately death
due to universal causes several centuries before the Western civilisation developed the
science of sociology. Nonetheless, theories of social and cultural evolution were common
in modern European thought. Prior to the 18th century, Europeans predominantly
believed that societies on Earth were in a state of decline. European society held up the
world of antiquity as a standard to aspire to, and Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome
produced levels of technical accomplishment which Europeans of the Middle Ages
sought to emulate. At the same time, Christianity taught that people lived in a debased
world fundamentally inferior to the Garden of Eden and Heaven. During The Age of
Enlightenment, however, European self-confidence grew and the notion of progress
became increasingly popular. It was during this period that what would later become
known as "sociological and cultural evolution" would have its roots.

The Enlightenment thinkers often speculated that societies progressed through
stages of increasing development and looked for the logic, order and the set of scientific
truths that determined the course of human history. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, for
example, argued that social development was an inevitable and determined process,
similar to an acorn which has no choice but to become an oak tree. Likewise, it was
assumed that societies start out primitive, perhaps in a Hobbesian state of nature, and
naturally progress toward something resembling industrial Europe.

While earlier authors such as Michel de Montaigne discussed how societies
change through time, it was truly the Scottish Enlightenment which proved key in the
development of sociocultural evolution. After Scotland's union with England in 1707,
several Scottish thinkers pondered what the relationship between progress and the
'decadence' brought about by increased trade with England and the affluence it produced.
The result was a series of "conjectural histories". Authors such as Adam Ferguson, John
Millar, and Adam Smith argued that all societies pass through a series of four stages:
hunting and gathering, pastoralism and nomadism, agricultural, and finally a stage of
commerce. These thinkers thus understood the changes Scotland was undergoing as a
transition from an agricultural to a mercantile society.

Philosophical concepts of progress (such as those expounded by the German
philosopher G.W.F. Hegel) developed as well during this period. In France authors such
as Claude Adrien Helvétius and other philosophes were influenced by this Scottish
tradition. Later thinkers such as Comte de Saint-Simon developed these ideas. August
Comte in particular presented a coherent view of social progress and a new discipline to
study it—sociology. The founders of sociology spent decades attempting to define their
new discipline. In the course of this effort they tried several highly divergent pathways,
some suggested by methods and contents of other sciences, others invented outright by
the imagination of the scholar.

These developments took place in a wider context. The first process was
colonialism. Although imperial powers settled most differences of opinion with their
colonial subjects with force, increased awareness of non-Western peoples raised new
questions for European scholars about the nature of society and culture. Similarly,
effective administration required some degree of understanding of other cultures.
Emerging theories of sociocultural evolution allowed Europeans to organise their new
knowledge in a way that reflected and justified their increasing political and economic
domination of others: colonised people were less evolved, colonising people were more
evolved. When the 17th-century English philosopher Thomas Hobbes described primeval
man as living in conditions in which there are "no arts, no letters, no society" and his life
as "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short", he was very much proclaiming a popular
conception of the "savage." Everything that was good and civilised resulted from the
slow development out of this lowly state. Even rationalistic philosophers like Voltaire
implicitly assumed that enlightenment gradually resulted in the upward progress of
humankind.

The second process was the Industrial Revolution and the rise of capitalism which
allowed and promoted continual revolutions in the means of production. Emerging
theories of sociocultural evolution reflected a belief that the changes in Europe wrought
by the Industrial Revolution and capitalism were obvious improvements.
Industrialisation, combined with the intense political change brought about by the French
Revolution, U.S. Constitution and Polish Constitution of May 3, 1791, which were
paving the way for the dominance of democracy, forced European thinkers to reconsider
some of their assumptions about how society was organised.

Eventually, in the 19th century three great classical theories of social and
historical change were created: the sociocultural evolutionism, the social cycle theory and
the Marxist historical materialism theory. Those theories had one common factor: they all
agreed that the history of humanity is pursuing a certain fixed path, most likely that of the
social progress. Thus, each past event is not only chronologically, but causally tied to the
present and future events. Those theories postulated that by recreating the sequence of
those events, sociology could discover the laws of history.

Theory of postindustrial society
Scientists have used the theory of evolution to analyze various trends and to
predict the future development of societies. These scientists have created the theories of
postindustrial societies, arguing that the current era of industrial society is coming to an
end, and services and information are becoming more important than industry and goods.

In 1974 Daniel Bell, author of The Coming of Post-Industrial Society, introduced the
concept of postindustrial society. Like many more classical evolutionists, he divided the
history of humanity into three eras: pre-industrial, industrial and postindustrial. He
predicted that by the end of the 20th century, United States, Japan and Western Europe
would reach the postindustrial stage. This would be visible by:

domination of the service sector (administration, banking, trade, transport,
healthcare, education, science, mass media, culture) over the traditional industry
sector (manufacturing industries, which have surpassed the more traditional,
agriculture and mining sector after the 19th-century Industrial Revolution);
growing importance of information technologies;
increased role of long-term planning, modelling future trends;
domination of technocracy and pragmatism over traditional ethics and ideologies;
increasing importance and use of technology and intellect;
changes in the traditional hierarchy of social classes, with highly educated
specialists and scientists overtaking the traditional bourgeois;

From the 1970s many other sociologist and anthropologists, like Alvin Toffler
(Future Shock, 1970), and John Naisbitt (Megatrends 2000: The New Directions for the
1990s, 1982) have followed in Bell's footsteps and created similar theories. John Naisbitt
introduced the concept of megatrends: a powerful, global trends that are changing
societies on the worldwide scale. Among those megatrends he mentions the process of
globalisation. Another important megatrend was the increase in performance of
computers and the development of the World Wide Web. Marshall McLuhan introduced
the concept of global village (The Gutenberg Galaxy, 1962), and this term was soon
adapted by the researchers of globalisation and the Internet. Naisbitt and many other
proponents of the theory of postindustrial societies argues that those megatrends lead to
decentralisation, weakening of the central government, increasing importance of local
initiatives and direct democracy, changes in the hierarchy of the traditional social classes,
development of new social movements and increased powers of consumers and number
of choices available to them (Toffler even used the term "overchoice").

Some of the more extreme visions of the postindustrial society are those related to the
theory of the technological singularity. This theory refers to a predicted point or period in
the development of a civilisation at which due to the acceleration of technological
progress, the societal, scientific and economic change is so rapid that nothing beyond that
time can be reliably comprehended, understood or predicted by the pre-Singularity
humans. Such a singularity was first discussed in the 1950s, and vastly popularised in the
1980s by Vernor Vinge.

International development

International development is most used in a holistic and multi-disciplinary
context of human development - the development of livelihoods and greater quality of
life for humans. It therefore encompasses governance, healthcare, education, disaster
preparedness, infrastructure, economics, human rights, environment and issues associated
with these.

International development is by definition a process undertaken by countries and
communities with assistance from other nations' governments and communities, from
international Non-Governmental Organisations (such as charities) or from
intergovernmental organisations (such as the United Nations, the International Monetary
Fund and the World Bank). As such it is distinct from development which would take
place anyway, without international involvement.

International development is also distinct from, though conceptually related to,
disaster relief and humanitarian aid. While these two forms of international support seek
to alleviate some of the problems associated with a lack of development, they are most
often short term fixes - they are not necesarily sustainable solutions. International
development, on the other hand, seeks to implement long-term solutions to problems by
helping developing countries create the necessary capacity needed to provide such
sustainable solutions to their problems. A truly sustainable development project is one
which will be able to carry on indefinitely with no further international involvement or
support, whether it be financial or otherwise.

International development projects may consist of a single, transformative project
to address a specific problem or a series of projects targeted at several aspects of society.

The era of development

The second half of the 20th century has been called the 'era of development'[1]. The
origins of this era have been attributed to:

the need for reconstruction in the immediate aftermath of World War II[2];
the collapse of colonialism and the establishment of new relationships between
so-called 'developed' and 'underdeveloped' nations[3];
the start of the Cold War and the desire of the United States and its allies to
prevent the Third World from drifting towards communism.

It has been argued that this era was launched on January 20th, 1949, when Harry S.
Truman made the following remarks in his inaugural address[4]:

"We must embark on a bold new program for making the benefits of our scientific
advances and industrial progress available for the improvement and growth of
underdeveloped areas. The old imperialism - exploitation for foreign profit - has
no place in our plans. What we envisage is a program of development based on
the concept of democratic fair dealing."

Before this date, however, the United States had taken a leading role in the
creation of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (now part of the
World Bank Group) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), both established in
1944, and in the United Nations in 1945.

The launch of the Marshall Plan in 1947 heralded a new role of international
development aid - it came with political strings attached. This new approach which used
aid to promote a Western, primarily U.S., agenda, was given conceptual support during
the 1950s in the form of modernization theory espoused by Walt Rostow and other
American economists. The changes in the 'developed' world's approach to international
development were further necessitated by the gradual collapse of Western Europe's
empires over the next decades; now independent ex-colonies no longer received support
in return for their subjugation.

By the late 1960s, the critics of modernization were advancing a dependency
theory to explain the evolving relationship between the West and the Third World. In the
1970s and early 80's, the modernists at the World Bank and IMF adopted the neoliberal
ideas of Milton Friedman, which were implemented in the form of structural adjustment
programs, while their opponents were promoting various 'bottom up' approaches, ranging
from civil disobedience and conscientization to appropriate technology and Rapid Rural
Appraisal.

By the 1990s, development theory had reached an impasse [5] and some academics
were imagining a postdevelopment era[6]. The Cold War had ended, capitalism had
become the dominant mode of social organization, and UN statistics showed that living
standards around the world had improved over the past 40 years[7]. Nevertheless, a large
portion of the world's population were still living in poverty, their governments were
crippled by debt and concerns about the environmental impact of globalization were
rising.

In response to the impasse, the rhetoric of development is now focussing on the
issue of poverty, with the metanarrative of modernization being replaced by shorter term
vision embodied by the Millenium Development Goals. At the same time, some
development agencies are exploring opportunities for public-private partnerships and
promoting the idea of Corporate social responsibility with the apparent aim of integrating
international development with the process of economic globalization [8].

The critics have suggested that this integration has always been part of the
underlying agenda of development[9]. They argue that poverty can be equated with

powerlessness, and that the way to overcome poverty is through emancipatory social
movements and civil society, not paternalistic aid programmes or corporate charity[10].

While some critics have been debating the end of development other have
predicted a development revival as part of the War on Terror. To date, however, there is
limited evidence to support the notion that aid budgets are being used to counter islamic
fundamentalism in the same way that they were used 40 years ago to counter
communism[11].

Millennium Development Goals
In the year 2000, United Nations made the United Nations Millennium
Declaration. This represented the first time that a holistic strategy to meet the
development needs of the world has been established, with measureable targets and
defined indicators[5].

Because the MDGs are a multilateral United Nations programme, they are more
removed from (but by no means independent of) individual national interests than
unilateral development programmes, which are consistently subject to claims that they
are used to further national economic interests or ideology, often with considerable
justification.

The first seven Millennium Development Goals present measurable goals, while
the eighth lists a number of 'stepping stone' goals - ways in which progress towards the
first six goals could be made.

The MDGs have catalysed a significant amount of action, including new
initiatives such as Millennium Promise. Most of these initiatives however work in small
scale interventions which do not reach the millions of people required by the MDGs.

Recent critiscism has been that it will be impossible to meet the first seven goals
without meeting the eighth by forming a Global Partnership for Development. No current
organisation has the capacity to solve the enormous problems of the developing world
alone - especially in cities, where an increasing number of poor people live - as
demonstrated by the almost non-exist progress on the goal of improving the lives of at
least 100 Million slum dwellers.

The Institution of Civil Engineers recent Engineers Without Frontiers panel and
its recommendations, and the recent Brunel Lecture by the ICE's next president Paul
Jowitt, are representative of a change of approach in the UK at least to start drawing
together the huge capacity available to western governments, industry, academia and
charity to develop such a partnership.[6][7]

Development Concepts
During recent decades, development thinking has shifted from modernization and
structural adjustment programs to poverty reduction. Under the former system, poor
countries were encouraged to undergo social and economical structural transformations
as part of their development, creating industrialization and intentional industrial policy.
Poverty reduction rejects this notion, consisting instead of direct budget support for social
welfare programs that create macroeconomic stability leading to an increase in economic
growth.

Poverty

The concept of poverty can apply to different circumstances depending on context. In
general, it applies to a lack and need of material wealth and social inclusion - often
manifested in a lack of dignity.

Dignity

Modern poverty reduction and development programmes often have dignity as a central
theme. Dignity is also a central theme of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the
very first article of which starts with:

"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights."

The concept of dignity in development has been extensively explored by many, and
related to all of the development sectors. For example, in Development with Dignity Amit
Bhaduri argues that full employment with dignity for all is both important and possible in
India[12], while the UN Millinnium Project's task force on Water and Sanitation links the
sector directly to dignity in the report Health, Dignity and Development: What will it
take?. [8].

The Asian Human Rights Commission on July 27, 2006, released a statement claiming
that "Human dignity is the true measure of human development."[9].

Participation

The concept of participation is concerned with ensuring that the intended beneficiaries
of development projects and programmes are themselves involved in the planning and
execution of those projects and programmes. This is considered important as it empowers
the recipients of development projects to influence and manage their own development -
thereby removing any culture of dependency. It is widely considered to be one of the
most important concepts in modern development theory, with [10][11]. The 'UN System
Network on Rural Development and Food Security' describes participation as one of the
ends as well as one of the means of development[12].

Appropriate Development

The concept of something being appropriate is concerned with ensuring that a
development project or programme is of the correct scale and technical level, and is
culturally and socially suitable for its beneficiaries. This should not be confused with
ensuring something is low-tech, cheap or basic - a project is appropriate if it is acceptable
to its recipients and owners, ecomomically affordable and sustainable in the context in
which it is executed.

For example, in a rural sub-Saharan community it may not be appropriate to provide a
chlorinated water system because it cannot be maintained or controlled adequately -
simple handpumps may be better; while in a big city in the same country it would be
inappropriate to provide water with handpumps, and the chlorinated system would be the
correct response.

The economist E. F. Schumacher championed the cause of appropriate technology and
founded the organisation ITDG (Intermediate Technology Design Group), which
develops and provides appropriate technologies for development (ITDG has now been
renamed Practical Action.

Sustainability

A sustainable approach to development is one which takes account of economic, social
and environmental factors to produce projects and programmes which will have results
which are not dependent on finite resources. Something which is sustainable will not use
more natural resources than the local environment can supply, more financial resources
than the local community and markets can sustain and will have the necessary support
from the community, government and other stakeholders to carry on indefinitely.

It is on of the key concepts in international development, and is critical in removing
dependency.

Capacity Building

Capacity building is concerned with increasing the ability of the recipients of
development projects do continue their future development alone, without external
support. It is a parallel concept to sustainability, as it furthers the ability of society to
function independently in its own microcosm.

Development in Practice
Measuring Development

The judging of how developed a country or a community is is highly subjective,
often highly controversial, and very important in judging what further development is
necessary or desirable.

There are many different measures of human development, many of them related to
the different sectors above. Some of them are:

National GDP
Literacy rates
Life expectancy
Human Development Index
Gini coefficient
Per capita income
Maternal survival rate
HIV infection rates
Number of doctors per capita

Coloured world map indicating Human Development Index (2004)
██ 0.950 and over ██ 0.900-0.949 ██ 0.650-0.699 ██ 0.600-0.649 ██ 0.350-0.399
██ 0.850-0.899 ██ 0.800-0.849 ██ 0.550-0.599 ██ 0.500-0.549 ██ 0.300-0.349
██ 0.750-0.799 ██ 0.700-0.749 ██ 0.450-0.499 ██ 0.400-0.449 ██ under 0.300
██ N/A

The report for 2006 was launched in Cape Town, South Africa on November 9, 2006.

Sectors
International development and disaster relief are both often grouped into sectors, which
correlate with the major themes of international development (and with the Millennium
Development Goals - which are included in the descriptions below). There is no clearly
defined list of sectors, but some of the more established and universally accepted sectors
are further explored here. The sectors are highly interlinked, illustrating the complexity of
the problems they seek to deal with.

Water & Sanitation

In development, this is the provision of drinking water and sanitary provision (toilets,
bathing facilities, a healthy environment) of sufficient quantity and quality to supply an
acceptable standard of living. This is different to a relief response, where it is the
provision of water and sanitation in sufficient quantity and quality to maintain life [13].

The provision of water and sanitation is primarily an engineering challenge, but also
often includes an education element and is closely connected with shelter, politics and
human rights.

The seventh Millennium Development Goal is to Ensure environmental sustainability,
including reducing by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe
drinking water and achieving significant improvement in lives of at least 100 million slum
dwellers, by 2020

Examples of organisations specialising in Water & Sanitation are:

OXFAM
WaterAid

Health

This is provision of access to healthcare to the population. The standard and level of
provision that is acceptable or appropriate depends on many factors and is highly specific
to country and location. For example, in large city (whether in a 'developing' country or
not), it is appropriate and often practical to provide a high standard hospital which can
offer a full range of treatments; in a remote rural community it may be more appropriate
and practical to provide a visiting healthworker on a periodic basis, possibly with a rural
clinic serving several different communities.

The provision of access to healthcare is both an engineering challenge as it requires
infrastructure such as hospitals and transport systems and an education challenge as it
requires qualified healthworkers.

The fourth Millennium Development Goal is to reduce by two thirds the mortality rate
among children under five.

The fifth Millennium Development Goal is to reduce by three quarters the maternal
mortality ratio.

The sixth Millennium Development Goal is to halt and begin to reverse the spread of
HIV/AIDS and to halt and begin to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major
diseases.

Education

The provision of education often focusses on providing free primary level education, but
also covers secondary and further education. A lack of access to education is one of the
primary limits on human development, and is related closely to every one of the other
sectors. Almost every development project includes an aspect of education as
development by its very nature requires a change in the way people live.

The second Millennium Development Goal is to Provide universal primary education.

The provision of education is itself an education challenge, as it requires qualified
teachers.

Shelter

The provision of appropriate shelter is concerned with providing suitable housing for
families and communities. It is highly specific to context of culture, location, climate and
other factors. In development, it is concerned with providing housing of an appropriate
quality and type to accommodate people in the long-term. This is distinct from shelter in
relief, which is concerned with providing sufficient shelter to maintain life [13].

Examples of organisations specialising in shelter are:

UN-HABITAT (development)
UNHCR (relief)
Shelter Centre (mainly relief)

Human Rights

The provision of human rights is concerned with ensuring that all people everywhere
receive the rights conferred on them by International human rights instruments[13]. There
are many of these, but the most important are:

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The Declaration of the Rights of the Child
The Geneva Conventions (this is of more relevance to relief than development)

Human rights covers a huge range of topics. Some of those more relevant to international
development projects include rights associated with gender equality, justice, employment,
social welfare and culture.

The third Millennium Development Goal is to promote gender equality and empower
women by eliminating gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferaably
by 2005, and at all levels by 2015

Livelihoods

This is concerned with ensuring that all people are able to make a living for themselves
and provide themselves with an adequate standard of living, without compromising their
human rights and while maintaining dignity.

The first Millennium Development Goal is to reduce by half the proportion of people
living on less than a dollar a day and reduce by half the proportion of people who suffer
from hunger.

Finance

Several organisations and initiatives exist which are concerned with providing financial
systems and frameworks which allow people to organise or purchase services, items or
projects for their own development.

The 2006 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded jointly to Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen
Bank, which he founded, for their work in providing microcredit to the poor.

Concerns about Development
However, even the terms "developed" and "developing" (or "underdeveloped"), have
proven problematic in forming policy as they ignore issues of wealth distribution and the
lingering effects of colonialism. Some theorists see development efforts as fundamentally
neo-colonial, in which a wealthier nation forces its industrial and economic structure on a
poorer nation, which will then become a consumer of the developed nation's goods and
services. Post-developmentalists, for example, see development as a form of Western
cultural imperialism that hurts the people of poor countries and endangers the
environment to such an extent that they suggest rejection of development altogether.

Sustainable development

Sustainable Development is a collection of methods to create and sustain
development which seeks to relieve poverty, create equitable standards of living, satisfy
the basic needs of all peoples, produce sustainable economic growth and establish
sustainable political practices all while taking the steps necessary to avoid irreversible
damages to natural capital in the long term in turn for short term benefits by
reconciling development projects with the regenerative capacity of the natural
[1]
environment. The field of sustainable development can be conceptually broken into
four constituent parts: environmental sustainability, economic sustainability, social
sustainability and political sustainability.

Scope and definitions
While many definitions of the term have been introduced over the years, the most
commonly cited definition comes from the report Our Common Future, more commonly
known as the Brundtland Report, which states that sustainable development is
development that "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs”.

Sustainable development does not focus solely on environmental issues. More
broadly, sustainable development policies encompass three general policy areas:
economic, environmental and social. In support of this, several United Nations texts,
most recently the 2005 World Summit Outcome Document, refer to the "interdependent
and mutually reinforcing pillars" of sustainable development as economic development,
social development, and environmental protection.

The Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity (UNESCO, 2001) elaborates
further the concept by stating that "...cultural diversity is as necessary for humankind as
biodiversity is for nature”; it becomes “one of the roots of development understood not
simply in terms of economic growth, but also as a means to achieve a more satisfactory
intellectual, emotional, moral and spiritual existence". In this vision, cultural diversity is
the fourth policy area of sustainable development.

Some research activities start from this definition to show that the environment
we inherited and that we will transmit to future generations is a combination of nature
and culture. The Network of Excellence "Sustainable Development in a Diverse World"
SUS.DIV, sponsored by the European Union, works in this direction. It integrates
multidisciplinary capacities and interprets cultural diversity as a key element of a new
strategy for sustainable development.

The United Nations Division for Sustainable Developments lists the following areas
as coming within the scope of Sustainable Development;

Agriculture
Atmosphere
Biodiversity
Biotechnology
Capacity-building
Climate Change
Consumption and Production Patterns
Demographics
Desertification and Drought
Disaster Reduction and Management
Education and Awareness
Energy
Finance
Forests
Fresh Water
Health
Human Settlements
Indicators
Industry
Information for Decision Making and Participation
Integrated Decision Making
International Law
International Cooperation for Enabling Environment
Institutional Arrangements
Land management
Major Groups
Mountains
National Sustainable Development Strategies
Oceans and Seas
Poverty
Sanitation
Science
Small Islands
Sustainable tourism
Technology
Toxic Chemicals
Trade and Environment
Transport
Waste (Hazardous)
Waste (Radioactive)
Waste (Solid)
Water

Commission for Social Development

The Commission for Social Development is a functional commission of the Economic and
Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations. It consists of 46 members elected by
ECOSOC.

Since the convening of the World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen in 1995,
the Commission has been the key UN body in charge of the follow-up and implementation of
the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action. As a result of the Summit, the
mandate of the Commission was reviewed and its membership expanded from 32 to 46
members in 1996. It meets once a year in New York, usually in February.

Each year since 1995, the Commission has taken up key social development themes as part
of its follow-up to the outcome of the Copenhagen Summit. These themes are listed below.
The pages contain all documentation of the Commission for each of its sessions since the
Summit.

In 2001, the Bureau of the Commission for Social Development initiated a review of the
working methods of the Commission.

Multi-year programme of work 2002-2006

At its 39th session in February 2001, the Commission for Social Development agreed on a
multi-year programme of work for the period 2002-2006, built around the follow-up to the
Summit and the 24th special session of the General Assembly, incorporating also the review
of relevant United Nations plans and programmes of action pertaining to the situation of
social groups.

Two-year policy and review cycle

In resolution 2005/11, the Economic and Social Council decided that, beginning with its forty-
fifth session, the Commission for Social Development would be organized in a series of two-
year action-oriented implementation cycles, which will include a review and a policy

segment, and that the Commission would continue to review plans and programmes of
action pertaining to social groups. In 2006 the Economic and Social Council decided that the
theme for the 2007-2008 review and policy cycle will be "Promoting full employment and
decent work for all".

2007: Promoting full employment and decent work for all

2006: Review of the first United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty
(1997-2006)

2005: 10-year review of the implementation of the Copenhagen Declaration and
Programme of Action and the outcome of the 24th special session of the General
Assembly:

Review of further implementation of the outcome of the Social Summit
and the 24th special session of the General Assembly

Review of relevant UN plans and programmes of action pertaining to the
situation of social groups.

2004: Improving public sector effectiveness:

situation of social groups:

1) 10th anniversary of the International Year of the Family

2) Equalization of opportunities for persons with disabilities.

2003: National and international cooperation for social development:

Sharing of experiences and practices in social development;

Forging partnerships for social development;

Social responsibility of the private sector;

Impact of employment strategies on social development;

Policies and role of international financial institutions and their effect on
national social development strategies.


1) Review of the global situation of Youth.

2002: Integration of social and economic policy:

Social aspects of macro-economic policies;

Social assessment as a policy tool;

Expenditures in the social sector as a productive factor.


1) Preparatory Committee for the Second World Assembly
on Ageing (second session);

2) Report of the Third Mandate of the Special Rapporteur on
Disability.

Economic Benefits of Tourism
Export Earnings

International tourism is the world’s largest export earner and an important factor
in the balance of payments of many countries. Foreign currency receipts from
international tourism reached US$474 billion in 2002, outstripping exports of petroleum
products, motor vehicles, telecommunications equipment, textiles or any other product or
service.

Employment

Tourism is an important job creator, employing millions of people around the
world. The vast majority of tourism jobs are in small or medium-sized, family-owned
enterprises. Research shows that job creation in tourism is growing 1 1/2 times faster than
any other industrial sector.Tourism jobs and enterprises are usually created in the most
underdeveloped regions, helping to equalize economic opportunities throughout the
country.

Rural Opportunities

Tourism jobs and businesses are usually created in the most underdeveloped
regions of a country, helping to equalize economic opportunities throughout a nation and
providing an incentive for residents to remain in rural areas rather than move to
overcrowded cities.

Infrastructure Investment

Travel and tourism stimulates enormous investments in new infrastructure, most
of which helps to improve the living conditions of local residents as well as tourists.
Tourism development projects often include airports, roads, marinas, sewage systems,
water treatment plants, restoration of cultural monuments, museums and nature
interpretation centres.

Tax Revenues and Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

The tourism industry provides governments with hundreds of millions of dollars
in tax revenues each year through accommodation and restaurant taxes, airport users’
fees, sales taxes, park entrance fees, employee income tax and many other fiscal
measures. International and domestic tourism combined generate up to 10 per cent of the
world’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and a considerably higher share in many small
nations and developing countries.

But enrichment is not just economic…

The environment and local culture receive a boost when authorities restore
monuments, open museums and establish natural parks to lure visitors. As tourism
increases, so does a destination’s need to improve infrastructure to handle the influx.
New airports, roads, marinas, sewage and water treatment plants and dozens of other
projects are the result, providing a substantial improvement in the residents’ own lives
from cleaner drinking water to speedier communications.

And most important of all: tourism is a human story… it enriches with culture,
environmental and social awareness, helps families to spend time together, brings
openness and friendliness, be it on leisure or work. Tourism promotes peace and
cooperation among nations and builds bridges.

Tourism enriches individuals, families, communities and all the world.

1. While tourism was not the subject of a chapter in Agenda 21,1 the Programme for the
Further Implementation of Agenda 21,2 adopted by the General Assembly at its
nineteenth special session in 1997, included sustainable tourism as one of its sectoral
themes. The Programme recognized that tourism was one of the largest industries in the
world and one of the fastest growing economic sectors.3 It noted that the expected
growth in the tourism sector and the increasing reliance of many developing countries,
including small island developing States, on that sector as a major employer and
contributor to the economy highlighted the need to pay special attention to the
relationship between environmental conservation and protection and sustainable tourism.
The present report examines trends and developments in sustainable tourism and
identifies issues for future consideration.

2. Tourism has been one of the major economic and social phenomena of the twentieth
century. From an activity enjoyed by only a small group of relatively well-off people at
the beginning of the century, it had become a mass phenomenon in the more developed
countries by the 1970s and has now reached wider groups of people in most nations.

3. In 1999, the number of international tourist arrivals reached 664 million, while receipts
from international tourism were $455 billion. During the 1990s, international arrivals
grew at an average annual rate of 4.2 per cent, while international tourism receipts, at
current prices and excluding international transport costs, had an average annual growth
rate of 7.3 per cent. Domestic tourist movements are much higher than international
tourist arrivals, though more difficult to quantify.

4. Tourism, a sector that integrates a wide range of economic activities, is now regarded
as the world's largest industry. In 1998, 7.9 per cent of the worldwide export value of

goods and services came from tourism, surpassing such leading industries as automotive
products and chemicals. Tourism is already the largest sector of international trade in
services. For many nations, in particular most small island developing States, but also
some bigger and more economically diversified countries, tourism has become the main
sector of economic activity, or at least the main source of foreign exchange earnings, and
in most countries it is an important source of employment.

5. In addition to strong overall expansion, the development of tourism is characterized by
continuing geographical spread and diversification of tourist destinations. While in 1950
the top 15 tourist destinations, all in Western Europe and North America, attracted 97 per
cent of the world's total arrivals, by 1999 this figure had fallen to 62 per cent, with market
shares increasing for developing countries and economies in transition, particularly in
South-East Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, and Latin America. Africa, with the
exception of a few countries in North Africa, remains a less visited destination, with only
2.5 per cent of total international arrivals.

6. Some key qualitative development trends in tourism include: increased market
segmentation; development of new forms of tourism, especially those related to nature,
wildlife, rural areas and culture; and introduction of new programmes in traditional
package tours. Consumers' motivations and behaviour are increasingly characterized by a
more selective choice of destination, greater attention to the tourism experience and its
quality, and a greater sensitivity to the environment, traditional culture and local people
at the destinations.

Incorporation of sustainability in tourism development

7. As a result of the rapid expansion of the tourism sector, traditional and emerging
tourism destinations are facing increasing pressure on their natural, cultural and socio-
economic environments. There is now a recognition that uncontrolled growth in tourism
aiming at short-term benefits often results in negative impacts, harming the environment
and societies, and destroying the very basis on which tourism is built and thrives.

8. Even before the 1990s, some negative impacts of tourism were addressed by some
Governments and international organizations, including precarious conditions of
employment, child exploitation and prostitution, degeneration of traditions and cultural
values, and environmental damage to tourist sites and natural settings. Such adverse
environmental impacts are caused by over-consumption of resources, pollution and waste
generated by development of tourism infrastructure and facilities, transportation, and
tourist activities themselves. It was also recognized that tourism had the potential to bring
economic benefits to host communities and serve as a tool for poverty alleviation,
conservation of natural and cultural assets and other benefits, provided it was properly
planned and managed with a long-term vision.

9. The principle of sustainable tourism was proposed as early as 1988 by the World
Tourism Organization, with sustainable tourism "envisaged as leading to management of
all resources in such a way that economic, social and aesthetic needs can be fulfilled
while maintaining cultural integrity, essential ecological processes, biological diversity
and life support systems".

10. Host societies have become progressively aware of the problems of unsustainable
tourism, and sustainability concerns are increasingly being addressed in national, regional
and local tourism policies, strategies and plans. In addition, some tourists are now
demanding higher environmental standards from tourist services, as well as a greater
commitment to local communities and economies.

11. Although tourism was not included in Agenda 21, the recognition of the importance
of sustainability in tourism by the key stakeholders, including Governments, international
organizations, non-governmental organizations and the international tourism private
sector, resulted in the formulation of Agenda 21 for the Travel and Tourism Industry4 in
1995. Many tourism-based communities have formulated their own Agenda 21s at the
local level.

12. A multi-stakeholder Working Group on Tourism was called for by the Commission
on Sustainable Development at its seventh session.5 The Working Group was tasked with
coordinating the implementation of the international work programme on sustainable
tourism development adopted by the seventh session of CSD. This Working Group is an
innovative mechanism for collaborative efforts by major groups, Governments and
international organizations to enable sustainable tourism development. The first meeting
of the Working Group was convened by the World Tourism Organization in Costa Rica
(January 2000), where members identified 11 priority issues covering a wide variety of
aspects of sustainable tourism development. Further progress has been slow owing to
lack of funding.

13. There has been gradual but increasingly widespread application of environmental
management techniques in tourism companies and establishments, in particular hotels.
There has also been increasing use and popularity of voluntary approaches such as
certification systems, eco-labels, environmental awards and codes of conduct. The Global
Code of Ethics for Tourism was introduced by the World Tourism Organization in 1999
following over two years of consultation with the industry and was approved by the
member States of the World Tourism Organization. It has been submitted to the
Economic and Social Council for consideration at its substantive session of 2001 (see
E/2001/3).

14. A set of sustainability indicators on tourism has been developed and tested in a
number of countries under the initiative of the World Tourism Organization.6 These
indicators are now beginning to be used at some destinations. Further work is required to
improve existing know-how and methodologies for the definition, adaptation and
application of indicators to monitor the social, economic and environmental impacts of
tourism. Further work is also required to apply indicators in a larger number of countries.

15. Many tourist destinations are in mountain and coastal regions in different climate
zones from those of tourists' home countries. Tourists are therefore less familiar with
natural disasters in those areas, for example, avalanches in ski resorts, hurricanes in the
Caribbean islands and temperature extremes causing sunstroke or frostbite. It is important
that tourism development in such areas include public information, monitoring and
forecasting with respect to such emergencies.

16. Ecotourism is a small but rapidly growing niche market. Ecotourism activities have
been expanding rapidly over the past two decades worldwide and further growth is
expected in the future. Ecotourism generally involves travel by small groups to natural
areas with the main motivation being the observation and appreciation of nature, and
includes educational information on local ecosystems, cultures and sustainability issues.

It also attempts to minimize negative impacts upon the nature and sociocultural
environment. As one of the tools to control and manage ecotourism activities, it often
involves fees for entry to protected natural areas, with at least part of the fees dedicated to
the conservation of the area. The International Year of Ecotourism in 2002 will offer an
opportunity to review ecotourism experiences worldwide, in order to consolidate tools
and institutional frameworks that ensure its sustainable development in the future.

Issues for further consideration

17. Tourism is expected to continue to grow in the future owing to population growth,
improved living standards, improvement and expansion of transportation systems,
increasing free time and other factors. According to forecasts by the World Tourism
Organization, international tourist arrivals are likely to almost triple over the next two
decades, with nearly 1.6 billion tourists visiting foreign countries by the year 2020. This
will further increase the pressure on the natural, cultural and socio-economic
environments of popular destinations. More intensified efforts to address sustainability in
tourism development are required.

18. Along with tourism in general, ecotourism and other forms of environmentally
friendly tourism are expected to continue growing rapidly. This will also require specific
planning, management and infrastructure to protect the natural sites of interest, which are
often ecologically fragile. Availability of finance and capacity-building may hold a key to
the sustainable development of this subsector.

19. Small island developing States face particular challenges. Tourism is often seen as a
promising growth sector in countries with a natural environment appealing to tourists,
especially in view of the constraints that those countries may face in respect of
developing alternative sources of foreign exchange through exports. However, rapid
development of tourism can cause significant social disruptions and increase
environmental and ecological pressures. The fragile ecosystems of small island States,
and their generally more limited scope for pursuing alternative development strategies,
make concerns for the environmental and ecological impact of tourism particularly acute.
Integrated and environmentally and culturally conscious tourism planning should be
developed to make tourism compatible with the conservation of major ecosystems and
with the preservation of the historical-cultural heritage.

The socio-cultural impacts of tourism described here are the effects on host
communities of direct and indirect relations with tourists, and of interaction with the
tourism industry. For a variety of reasons, host communities often are the weaker party in
interactions with their guests and service providers, leveraging any influence they might
have. These influences are not always apparent, as they are difficult to measure, depend
on value judgments and are often indirect or hard to identify.

The impacts arise when tourism brings about changes in value systems and
behaviour and thereby threatens indigenous identity. Furthermore, changes often occur in
community structure, family relationships, collective traditional life styles, ceremonies
and morality. But tourism can also generate positive impacts as it can serve as a
supportive force for peace, foster pride in cultural traditions and help avoid urban
relocation by creating local jobs. As often happens when different cultures meet, socio-
cultural impacts are ambiguous: the same objectively described impacts are seen as
beneficial by some groups, and are perceived as negative - or as having negative aspects -
by other stakeholders.

Change or loss of indigenous identity and values

Tourism can cause change or loss of local identity and values, brought about by several
closely related influences:

Commodification
Tourism can turn local cultures into commodities when religious rituals,
traditional ethnic rites and festivals are reduced and sanitized to conform to tourist
expectations, resulting in what has been called "reconstructed ethnicity." Once a
destination is sold as a tourism product, and the tourism demand for souvenirs,
arts, entertainment and other commodities begins to exert influence, basic changes
in human values may occur. Sacred sites and objects may not be respected when
they are perceived as goods to trade.

Standardization
Destinations risk standardization in the process of satisfying tourists' desires for
familiar facilities. While landscape, accommodation, food and drinks, etc., must
meet the tourists' desire for the new and unfamiliar, they must at the same time
not be too new or strange because few tourists are actually looking for completely
new things. Tourists often look for recognizable facilities in an unfamiliar
environment, like well-known fast-food restaurants and hotel chains.

Loss of authenticity and staged authenticity
Adapting cultural expressions and manifestations to the tastes of tourists or even
performing shows as if they were "real life" constitutes "staged authenticity". As
long as tourists just want a glimpse of the local atmosphere, a quick glance at
local life, without any knowledge or even interest, staging will be inevitable.

Adaptation to tourist demands
Tourists want souvenirs, arts, crafts, and cultural manifestations, and in many
tourist destinations, craftsmen have responded to the growing demand, and have
made changes in design of their products to bring them more in line with the new
customers' tastes. While the interest shown by tourists also contributes to the
sense of self-worth of the artists, and helps conserve a cultural tradition, cultural
erosion may occur due to the commodification of cultural goods.

Creating molas, which are the blouses worn by Kuna women in
Colombia, is an art that began with designs that reflected the conception
of the world, of nature, and of the spiritual life of the Kuna Nation. Now
it is increasingly being transformed, through tourism, into a commercial
trade which causes loss of its spiritual value and quality. This is
changing the designs of the molas to correspond to the interests of the
tourists, while at the same time the Kuna women are losing their
knowledge of the old designs and the interpretations and meanings of the
mola designs.
Source: Eco-index

Culture clashes

Because tourism involves movement of people to different geographical locations, and
establishment of social relations between people who would otherwise not meet, cultural
clashes can take place as a result of differences in cultures, ethnic and religious groups,
values and lifestyles, languages, and levels of prosperity.

The result can be an overexploitation of the social carrying capacity (limits of acceptable
change in the social system inside or around the destination) and cultural carrying
capacity (limits of acceptable change in the culture of the host population) of the local
community.

The attitude of local residents towards tourism development may unfold through the
stages of euphoria, where visitors are very welcome, through apathy, irritation and
potentially antagonism, when anti-tourist attitudes begin growing among local people.

Cultural clashes may further arise through:

Economic inequality
Many tourists come from societies with different consumption patterns and
lifestyles than what is current at the destination, seeking pleasure, spending large
amounts of money and sometimes behaving in ways that even they would not
accept at home. One effect is that local people that come in contact with these
tourists may develop a sort of copying behavior, as they want to live and behave
in the same way. Especially in less developed countries, there is likely to be a
growing distinction between the 'haves' and 'have-nots', which may increase social
and sometimes ethnic tensions. In resorts in destination countries such as Jamaica,
Indonesia or Brazil, tourism employees with average yearly salaries of US$ 1,200
to 3,000 spend their working hours in close contact with guests whose yearly
income is well over US$ 80,000.

Irritation due to tourist behavior
Tourists often, out of ignorance or carelessness, fail to respect local customs and
moral values. When they do, they can bring about irritation and stereotyping.
They take a quick snapshot and are gone, and by so acting invade the local
peoples' lives.

In many Muslim countries, strict standards exist regarding the
appearance and behaviour of Muslim women, who must carefully cover
themselves in public. Tourists in these countries often disregard or are
unaware of these standards, ignoring the prevalent dress code,
appearing half-dressed (by local standards) in revealing shorts, skirts or
even bikinis, sunbathing topless at the beach or consuming large
quantities of alcohol openly. Besides creating ill-will, this kind of
behavior can be an incentive for locals not to respect their own traditions
and religion anymore, leading to tensions within the local community.
The same types of culture clashes happen in conservative Christian
communities in Polynesia, the Caribbean and the Mediterranean.

Job level friction
In developing countries especially, many jobs occupied by local people in the
tourist industry are at a lower level, such as housemaids, waiters, gardeners and
other practical work, while higher-paying and more prestigious managerial jobs
go to foreigners or "urbanized" nationals. Due to a lack of professional training,
as well as to the influence of hotel or restaurant chains at the destination, people
with the know-how needed to perform higher level jobs are often attracted from
other countries. This may cause friction and irritation and increases the gap

between the cultures.

Even in cases where tourism "works", in the sense that it improves local
economies and the earning power of local individuals, it cannot solve all local
social or economic problems. Sometimes it substitutes new problems for old ones.

Income Inequality in Taman Negara National Park, Malaysia
In Western Malaysia, the Taman Negara National Park is a privately
owned park and resort which can house 260 visitors at a time. The park
employs 270 people and 60% of the staff in the administrative
headquarters are locals. In 1999 these local staff earned about US$ 120
a month; for comparison, Malaysians living off the land at that time were
earning on average about US$ 40 a month.

Despite the positive effects of increased park employment, the difference
in income between the two local groups has led to social tension and
driven up boat fares and the cost of everyday goods. Little of the tourism
money generated by the park stays in Malaysia, and park employees
spend almost 90% of their income outside the region or on imported
goods. Thus local inhabitants, whose culture has been marketed to
attract tourists, benefit only to a very limited extent. Indeed, many have
taken to illegal hunting and fishing in the park, contrary to its protective
regulations.
Source: ILO report on human resources development, employment and
globalization in the hotel, catering and tourism sector, 2001

Physical influences causing social stress

The physical influences that the increasing tourism flow, and its consequent
developments, have on a destination can cause severe social stress as it impacts the local
community. Socio-cultural disadvantages evolve from:

Resource use conflicts, such as competition between tourism and local
populations for the use of prime resources like water and energy because of scarce
supply. Stress to local communities can also result from environmental
degradation and increased infrastructure costs for the local community - for
example, higher taxes to pay for improvements to the water supply or sanitation
facilities.

Cultural deterioration. Damage to cultural resources may arise from vandalism,
littering, pilferage and illegal removal of cultural heritage items. A common
problem at archaeological sites in countries such as Egypt, Colombia, Mexico and
Peru is that poorly paid guards supplement their income by selling artifacts to
tourists. Furthermore, degradation of cultural sites may occur when historic sites

and buildings are unprotected and the traditionally built environment is replaced
or virtually disappears.

Conflicts with traditional land-uses, especially in intensely exploited areas such
as coastal zones, which are popular for their beaches and islands. Conflicts arise
when the choice has to be made between development of the land for tourist
facilities or infrastructure and local traditional land-use. The indigenous
population of such destinations is frequently the loser in the contest for these
resources as the economic value which tourism brings often counts for more.

As an example of how local people can suffer from tourism development, in coastal areas
construction of shoreline hotels and tourist faculties often cuts off access for the locals to
traditional fishing ground and even recreational use of the areas.

Depriving local people of access
There are numerous examples where local residents have lost access to
local natural resources because of tourism development. On Boracay
Island in the Philippines, one quarter of the island has been bought by
outside corporations, generating a crisis in water supply and only limited
infrastructure benefits for residents. Similarly, in Bali, Indonesia, prime
agricultural land and water supplies have been diverted for large hotels
and golf courses, while at Pangandaran (Java, Indonesia), village beach
land, traditionally used for grazing, repairing boats and nets, and
festivals, was sold to entrepreneurs for construction of a five-star hotel
(Shah, 2000).
Source: Overseas Development Institute

Ethical issues

Partly due to the above impacts, tourism can create more serious situations where ethical
and even criminal issues are involved.

Crime generation
Crime rates typically increase with the growth and urbanization of an area, and
growth of mass tourism is often accompanied by increased crime. The presence of
a large number of tourists with a lot of money to spend, and often carrying
valuables such as cameras and jewelry, increases the attraction for criminals and
brings with it activities like robbery and drug dealing. Repression of these
phenomena often exacerbates social tension. In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, tourists
staying in beachside five star resorts close to extremely poor communities in
hillside "favelas" (shantytowns) are at risk of pickpockets and stick-ups. Security
agents, often armed with machine guns, stand guard nearby in full sight, and face
aggressive reactions from locals who are often their neighbors when they go
home. Tourism can also drive the development of gambling, which may cause
negative changes in social behavior.

Child labour
ILO studies show that many jobs in the tourism sector have working and
employment conditions that leave much to be desired: long hours, unstable
employment, low pay, little training and poor chances for qualification. In
addition, recent developments in the travel and tourism trade (liberalization,
competition, concentration, drop in travel fares, growth of subcontracting) and
introduction of new technologies seem to reinforce the trend towards more
precarious, flexible employment conditions. For many such jobs young children
are recruited, as they are cheap and flexible employees.

An estimated 13-19 million children and young people below 18 years of
age (10-15 per cent of all employees in tourism) are employed in the
industry worldwide. However, these figures take no account of the
number of children working in the informal sector in ancillary activities.

Child labour in tourism is common in both developing and in developed
countries. Many boys and girls below 12 years of age are engaged in
small business activities related to hotels and restaurants, the
entertainment sector or the souvenir trade, often as porters or street or
beach vendors. They are frequently subjected to harsh working and
employment conditions.
Source: ILO

For more information on child labour in the tourism industry, see Quick Money - Easy
Money? A Report on Child Labour in Tourism by Christine Plüss.

Prostitution and sex tourism
The commercial sexual exploitation of children and young women has paralleled
the growth of tourism in many parts of the world. Though tourism is not the cause
of sexual exploitation, it provides easy access to it. Tourism also brings
consumerism to many parts of the world previously denied access to luxury
commodities and services. The lure of this easy money has caused many young
people, including children, to trade their bodies in exchange for T-shirts, personal
stereos, bikes and even air tickets out of the country. In other situations children
are trafficked into the brothels on the margins of the tourist areas and sold into sex
slavery, very rarely earning enough money to escape.

The United Nations has defined child sex tourism as "tourism organized with the primary
purpose of facilitating the effecting of a commercial sexual relationship with a child".
Certain tourism destinations have become centers for this illegal trade, frequented by
paedophiles and supported by networks of pimps, taxi drivers, hotel staff, brothel owners,
entertainment establishments, and tour operators who organize package sex tours. At the
international level, there are agents who provide information about particular resorts
where such practices are commonplace. (See the ILO report on Human resources
development, employment and globalization in the hotel, catering and tourism sector.)

Although sexual exploitation of children is a worldwide phenomenon, it is more
prevalent in Asia than elsewhere. ECPAT, an organization that fights child sex tourism,
has started a campaign against child prostitution in Asian tourism. In 2000 ECPAT
international created a Certified Code of Conduct (CCC) for tour operators against child
sex tourism and this year initiated a follow-up project, the "Code of Conduct of the
Tourism Industry to protect children from sexual exploitation

Seeking socially responsible tourism

The leisure and tourism industry is one of the leading global economic activities, a multi-
billion-dollar industry with 664 million vacationers around the world. In 20 years, the
number of tourists will nearly triple to 1.6 billion. But today the negative social and
environmental impact of this mass tourism is being assessed, and a growing number of
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are calling on the tourism industry leadership -
and vacationers as well - to adopt a more responsible attitude.

To paraphrase, tourism is money. And big money at that. The income generated by
tourism in the form of export earnings is significant for many countries, generating some
US$455 billion in 1999, according to the World Tourism Organization. But there's more
than that. Tourism also generates jobs, and lots of them. According to another body
which studies tourism, the World Tourism and Travel Council, the travel industry
provided work for some 200 million people around the world in 1999.

But increasingly, this activity is seriously transforming the economies of many countries,
and is having a social impact which is far from totally positive.

Locally, tourism workers and managers are often "imported" by the large international
hotel and leisure chains (six of the seven leading multinationals of the sector are North
American), which pick up the major part of the profits.

By contrast, local populations benefit only from semi-skilled, poorly paid jobs (cooks,
maintenance workers, chambermaids, barmen, gardeners, bus drivers, etc.).

Low pay, hard work

According to a report recently submitted to a tripartite meeting of the International
Labour Organization, this sector is known for low pay (for example, in the European
Union, it is less than 20 per cent of the average salary), difficult working conditions
(irregular schedules, Sunday work, unpaid overtime), and many clandestine jobs.

It has also been established that in many countries, especially in the South, tourism
contributes to the exploitation of child labour. Children work as barmen, "fast food"

employees, domestics, cooks' assistants, gardeners, laundry workers, informal tour
guides, shellfish divers, roving beach vendors, artisanal souvenir makers, etc.

Around the world, some 13 to 19 million young people under 18 years of age work in a
profession tied to tourism 1. In India, for example, there are thousands of young people
working as domestics in hotels, children assisting bus drivers, or porters in train stations,
airports and hotels. According to a report by the Swiss NGO, Arbeitskreis Tourismus und
Entwicklung, there are also 66,000 children between the ages of 5 and 17 working in the
tourism industry in the Philippines 2.

Finally, the arrival of visitors with pockets full of dollars, and the relaxed atmosphere
generally attributed to exotic destinations, encourages the development of the sex trade,
and adult women are not its only victims; the coalition ECPAT (Coalition on Child
Prostitution and Tourism), based in Bangkok, has shown that tourism is a factor in the
accelerating sexual exploitation of minors. In Cuba, for example, most of the "jineteras"
(prostitutes) are minors, and just one "client" represents in dollars the equivalent of three
months of a teacher's salary. In Cambodia, more and more young girls are employed in
cabarets and "karaokes" frequented by Chinese and occidental visitors. In certain tourist
destinations (Cancun in Mexico, Fortaleza in Brazil, Pattaya in Thailand, Manila in the
Philippines, etc.), income from "sex tourism" benefits people engaged in an entire chain
of activities (managers of bars and cabarets, middlemen, guides, hotel staff, taxi drivers,
etc.). It is estimated that two million children in the world are victims of sexual
exploitation for profit, and that tourism is partly responsible for this.

More widely, the contact of rich tourists with the poor populations of developing
countries constitutes a social shock. The local culture succumbs to commercial gain.
Tourism brings about "dollarization" of trade, which impoverishes inhabitants who have
local money and drives them to profit from the tourist trade. In one Caribbean country,
the tripling of tourists in six years, along with a general condition of shortages, drove
qualified professionals (doctors, teachers) to leave their jobs to become unlicenced taxi
drivers - paid in dollars.

By speeding up the abandonment of traditional patterns of production, tourism also leads
to the abandonment of activities guaranteeing autonomy. New activities stimulate
activities that promote dependence. In Jerba, Tunisia (with 800,000 tourists per year),
the construction of a large number of hotels has rapidly reduced the amount of
agricultural land, to the point where the island produces only 10 per cent of its food
requirements. And this is far from an isolated example.

Environmental impact

Tourism also affects the economies of the host countries to the extent that they directly
incur infrastructure costs (for airports, roads, water mains, electricity, etc.) and the cost
of waste treatment. Tourist complexes generate tons of rubbish (a single cruise ship
produces 70,000 tons of trash every year, according to the United Nations Environment
Programme).

Tourism also has disastrous effects on the natural environment, especially when natural
resources are already insufficient. Showers, swimming pools and watering of lawns can
destroy water reserves, and often tourists ignore the fact that the local populations lack
water for their personal use and for irrigation.

The artificial implantation of golf courses has been a disaster in several countries (the
Philippines, Indonesia, etc.) intensifying the shortage of water, leading to the
expropriation of small peasant farms and deforestation, to the point where it has given
rise to an international resistance movement, the "Global anti-golf network" 3.

Also, the chaotic invasion of hotel construction has often modified the balance of nature,
and the erosion of the coastline has become critical in a number of countries (Tunisia,
India, the Philippines). Even the rapid development of "eco-tourism" conceals ambiguous
realities; it sometimes contributes to financing the preservation of protected rural zones
and the subsistence of local populations. But it also has perverse effects when it leads to
demographic pressure and high maintenance costs in a region which cannot afford it,
which is the case, for example, of the fragile Galapagos Archipelago in Chile.

The French association, Transverses, which campaigns for responsible tourism,
estimates that tourism cannot further sustainable development if it only responds to the
needs of tourists, and ignores local repercussions. "Actually, the introduction of tourist
activities results from agreements between the States and tourism industry leaders, but
the local populations are never consulted," explains Dora Valayer, the head of
Transverses.

The association cites, for example, the expulsion of the Masai tribe from their lands in
Tanzania to create a place for safaris. Similarly, the association, Equations 4, denounces
the eviction of fishermen from a coastal zone of Kerala, India, in order to establish a
mega tourist complex using 47 million litres of water per day, and producing 58 tons of
daily trash. "Not only should the populations be consulted in advance, but they must
become true actors in sustainable local development," pleads Transverses 5.

Yet, there are signs of change. A growing number of NGOs are campaigning for a
tourism "ethic", demanding that the professionals respect indigenous populations and the
environment, use ecologically friendly transportation, respect social rights, boycott
totalitarian countries (notably Myanmar), and inform travellers about this (organizations
such as Earthwise Journeys, the International Bicycle Fund, Partners in Responsible
Tourism, the Responsible Tourism Network, or the Sustainable Tourism Research Interest
Group).

In 1995, a "Charter of Sustainable Tourism" was also published in Lanzarote, Canary
Islands, Spain, primarily at the initiative of the World Tourism Organization and
international organizations.

Globalization in the hotel, catering and tourism industry:
From finding jobs in the off-season
to dealing with secondhand smoke

GENEVA - Issues ranging from creating jobs in the off-season, to dealing with food
safety, secondhand smoke and HIV/AIDS were brought up at a tripartite meeting on
human resources development, employment and globalization in the hotel, catering and
tourism (HCT) sector held on 2 to 6 April 2001.

Participants also discussed the impact of globalization on the HCT sector both for
developed and developing countries and the need for cooperation between them as well
as the social partners to ensure that the benefits of sectoral globalization brought a
maximum of benefits to all.

Participants called on the ILO to take the following measures:

• Gather data on human resource policies, the international movements of workers and
the impact of migrant labour, in order to determine if any measures should be taken to
assist in the integration of migrant workers and to combat discrimination.

• Publish targeted reports on a regular basis.

• Collect and disseminate good practices and benchmarking methodologies for the
sector.

• Design a system for training and skill development for the sector, particularly for the
benefit of developing countries.

• Assist, in cooperation with UNAIDS, member States to develop training programmes
for the sector on HIV/AIDS prevention and strategies for the social integration of
workers affected.

• Continue to develop the labour accounting system as a supplement to tourism satellite
accounts;

• Conduct a comparative study on measures to promote employment in the HCT sector
during the low season, including vacation programmes for senior citizens, and to assess
the impact of such programmes on different types of tourism.

• Produce data on workers' health in order to identify the risks associated with the sector
(e.g, secondhand smoke, alcohol consumption, drug use, HIV/AIDS), and to produce
information on nationwide or local measures implemented in certain countries, or by
certain employers, to deal with the specific hazards.

The issues in this sector, which were highlighted in the background report prepared by
the Office, in the discussions in the plenary sessions and in the panel discussions on

socially sustainable tourism development, gender questions and social dialogue, make
this sector an ideal candidate for addressing decent work issues. The issues of gender
(women make up 70 per cent of the labour force in the sector), youth employment (half
the workers in the sector are up to 25 years old), migrant labour, child labour
(particularly one of the worst forms - child sex tourism), the high and increasing rate of
subcontracting and outsourcing with its potential implications for the conditions of
employment of the workers concerned, the high rate of part-time, temporary or casual
and seasonal employment, issues of socially sustainable tourism development and the
very low rate of unionization in the sector, are at the heart of the decent work agenda.
The HCT sector's high potential for growth and for employment creation, and its
importance in the economy of so many countries, developed, transition and developing,
was recognized. It is now up to the Office to follow up on these very important
conclusions and resolutions.

Report on the Tripartite Meeting on Human Resources Development, Employment and
Globalization in the Hotel, Catering and Tourism Sector, 2-6 April 2001.

Many small associative structures in Hong Kong themselves propose small-scale
equitable and sustainable tourist activities. They generally include fair payment of local
benefits, an opening to local realities and exchanges with the inhabitants, and the
financing of a local social or environmental project. This is the case of the associations
Djembé in France, Global Exchange in the United States (travel based on social and
cultural themes. URL: www.globalexchange.org) the Annapurna Conservation Area
Project, which uses its trekking fees to protect the environment of Nepal, or the Namibian
Community Based Tourism Association, which promotes tourism respecting the local
communities of Namibia.

So "alternative" touristic offers are spreading, but real change will come with an
awareness of the tourist himself, so that he will demand social guarantees on the part of
the tour operators. "One sees, for example", recalls Transverses, "trade unionists who
campaign all year long to improve working conditions, then go on vacation abroad in
hotels where the employees are exploited." The association concludes that only truly
informed citizens can make their vacations an "individual thoughtful act", instead of
being satisfied to be simple "buyers of dreams".

- Bénédicte Manier is a journalist based in Paris, specializing in social rights.

***

DEPLETION OF NATURAL RESOURCES

Tourism development can put pressure on natural resources when it increases
consumption in areas where resources are already scarce.

Water resources

Water, and especially fresh water, is one of the most critical natural resources. The
tourism industry generally overuses water resources for hotels, swimming pools, golf
courses and personal use of water by tourists. This can result in water shortages and
degradation of water supplies, as well as generating a greater volume of waste water..

In dryer regions like the Mediterranean, the issue of water scarcity is of particular
concern. Because of the hot climate and the tendency of tourists to consume more water
when on holiday than they do at home, the amount used can run up to 440 liters a day.
This is almost double what the inhabitants of an average Spanish city use.

Golf course maintenance can also deplete fresh water resources. In recent years golf
tourism has increased in popularity and the number of golf courses has grown rapidly.
Golf courses require an enormous amount of water every day and, as with other causes of
excessive extraction of water, this can result in water scarcity. If the water comes from
wells, overpumping can cause saline intrusion into groundwater. Golf resorts are more
and more often situated in or near protected areas or areas where resources are limited,
exacerbating their impacts.

An average golf course in a tropical country such as Thailand needs
1500kg of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides per year and
uses as much water as 60,000 rural villagers.
Source: Tourism Concern
Local resources

Tourism can create great pressure on local resources like energy, food, and other raw
materials that may already be in short supply. Greater extraction and transport of these
resources exacerbates the physical impacts associated with their exploitation. Because of
the seasonal character of the industry, many destinations have ten times more inhabitants
in the high season as in the low season. A high demand is placed upon these resources to
meet the high expectations tourists often have (proper heating, hot water, etc.).

Land degradation

Important land resources include minerals, fossil fuels, fertile soil, forests, wetland and
wildlife. Increased construction of tourism and recreational facilities has increased the
pressure on these resources and on scenic landscapes. Direct impact on natural resources,
both renewable and nonrenewable, in the provision of tourist facilities can be caused by

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