Pro-poor tourism: residents' expectations, experiences and perceptions in the Kakum National Park Area of Ghana

Abstract

This paper examines Ghana's evolving tourism policies with special reference to its spatial and pro-poor impacts. Using a sample of 182 respondents around the Kakum National Park in Ghana's Central Region, an area which is rich in tourism assets but economically poor, it examines residents’ expectations, experiences and perceptions about tourism development in the area. While some expectations were too much, others had been met, if only somewhat. Residents’ experiences in terms of direct socio-economic benefits were modest. But largely on account of indirect gains from a range of pro-poor interventions, the majority had a fairly positive perception of tourism in the area. Respondents of communities beyond the Park's reception area had gained more from associated interventions rather than from tourism. Age and place of birth were also found to be key variables that influenced residents’ perspectives on tourism development in the area. Nevertheless, residents’ overall perception suggests that sustainable tourism development requires an approach that simultaneously improves the tourism product and enhances residents’ livelihood options. The need for residents to be involved in decision-making if pro-poor tourism is to be successful was underlined.

旅游扶贫: 嘎纳Kakum国家公园里的居民期望, 经历和看法

该文章探讨了嘎纳一直变化的旅游政策对空间规划和扶贫的影响。研究对在嘎纳中心区域的Kakum国家公园里做了182份调查。该地区旅游资源丰富, 但经济贫困。文章讨论了当地居民的期望值, 经历和对旅游发展的看法。当一些期望太高的同时, 另一些期望或多或少地被实现。居民们对直接社会经济收益相关的经历并不多, 但间接收益相关的扶贫活动介入却很多。大部分居民对当地的旅游发展有比较正面的态度。在除公园前区以外的社区里的居民回复者表示, 他们得到更多的收益是从旅游以外的产业中来的。年龄和出生地也被发现是影响居民对旅游发展看法的重要因素。不论如何, 居民的总体看法态度说明了可持续性旅游发展需要一种同时发展旅游产品和加强居民生活选择的方法。另外, 文章也强调了在决策过程中包括居民参与对扶贫旅游发展是非常需要的。

Keywords:

• pro-poor tourism
• Ghana
• livelihoods
• expectations
• experiences
• perceptions

Keywords:

• 扶贫旅游
• 嘎纳
• 生活区
• 期望
• 经历
• 看法

Acknowledgements

Thanks are given for the funding of this study by the Norwegian Council of Universities Committee for Development Research (NUFU) which sponsored a collaborative project titled The New Faces of Poverty in Ghana (2003–2007) between the following: Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway; the then Department of Geography and Tourism, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana; and the Department of Geography and Resource Development, University of Ghana, Legon, Greater Accra Region, Ghana. I am also grateful for the useful comments by the journal's referees and editors.

Notes

^a Multiple responses.

^b Facilities available in various degrees as of November 2008.

1. Grasscutters or cane rats (Thryonomys spp.) are widely bred in west Africa to produce meat.

2. A full copy of the questionnaire can be found in the Web-based version of this paper.