Exploring the impacts of tourism on the livelihoods of local poor: the role of local government and major investors

Abstract

This study identifies the impacts of tourism development on the living conditions of local poor and examines the role of local government and major investors in this process. A village in southern China was chosen as the research site. Because of tourism development, the villagers had all been relocated and initially, it was thought that their housing conditions had improved. Nevertheless, the relocated houses were later criticized as being small and of low quality. The traditional local means of livelihood also changed, from farming and fishing to mainly being employed in paid work. Yet, because of the high cost of living, the villagers' actual living standards had not greatly improved. This study claims that, since the municipal government took a developmental approach and investors followed market logic, the interests of the local poor were sacrificed to tourism development. This suggests that if tourism development is to reduce local levels of poverty, the interests of the local community should be front and center. Particularly in cases when tourism development tends to cause the transformation of local means of production, supportive initiatives and proper supervision and management strategies are needed in helping the poor adapt to new conditions.

Keywords:

• Change of living conditions
• investor
• land recruitment
• local government
• the tourism-poverty nexus

Notes

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 The latest national poverty line of China, defined in 2011, is 2300 RMB per year as the minimal household income. By this standard, the country still has around 70 million poor people residing in rural areas at the time.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Xianrong Luo

Xianrong Luo, PhD, Associate Researcher in Tourism Management, School of Tourism Management, South China Normal University, the University Town Campus, University Town Waihuan Xi Road, Guangzhou, China. She is also in charge of a research project, which is managed by School of Tourism Management, Sun Yat-sen University. Xianrong Luo’s research interests include tourism behavior, backpacker tourism, tourism community relationship and the research methods in tourism and hospitality.

Jigang Bao

Jigang Bao, PhD., Professor in Human Geography and Tourism, School of Tourism Management, Sun Yat-sen University, No.135 Xingang Xi Road, Guangzhou, China. Jigang Bao’s research interests mainly relate to tourism geography and tourism planning