HolidaypackagetourismandthepoorintheGambia.pdfVIP

Article accepted for publication in: Development Southern Africa Volume 24, Number 3 (September 2007) Holiday package tourism and the poor in the Gambia 1 Jonathan Mitchell Jojoh Faal This paper analyses the tourism value chain in order to understand and encourage pro - poor grow th of the tourist sector in The Gambia. The central finding is that about 14 per cent of the Gambian part of the chain flows directly into the hands of poor people –a much larger pro -poor outcome than the authors expected. This is due to well-developed local linkages in the destination country that allow poor people to access tourist discretionary expenditure – supported by concerted action from civil society and donor organisations. Pathways from tourism to the poor are, in descending order of importance, craft markets, the food supply chain, non-managerial staff in hotels, excursion guides, and taxis. To increase the benefits from tourism to the poor, the paper recommends increasing both the size of the slice that accrues to them and the size of the tourist cake itself. 1. INTRODUCTION The potential for tourism to accelerate economic growth and reduce poverty in poor countries is beginning to be acknowledged by a small group of development practitioners and a larger group of policy makers in developing countries. Like most economic activities, international tourism is concentrated in rich countries. However, about one third of international tourists arrive in a developing country. In the developing world, middle income countries capture the lion’s share of this market. Though small in terms of global market share, international tourism has a disproportionate economic impact on very poor countries (Roe et al., 2004). 1 Respectively, Researc