Links between nature-based tourism, protected areas, poverty alleviation and crises—The example of Wasini Island (Kenya)

Published Date
June 2013, Vol.1:18–28, doi:10.1016/j.jort.2013.04.004

Author 

Hubert Job ^,

Ferdinand Paesler

Institute for Geography and Geology, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany

Received 24 January 2013. Revised 8 April 2013. Accepted 9 April 2013. Available online 4 May 2013.

Abstract

Nature-based tourism in protected areas of low-income countries can contribute to regional economies, reduce poverty, and help to develop rural areas. This study analyses the situation on Wasini Island, a peripheral island neighboring the Kisite Marine National Park on the southern coast of Kenya. An economic impact analysis was undertaken for the two island settlements of Mkwiro and Wasini village. Firstly, the difference in the participation in nature-based tourism is striking. For Wasini village, the results show an increased income from tourism, which has led to population growth and improved standards of living. Secondly, the comparison of two main tourism enterprises operating in Wasini village shows that tourism per se does not necessarily contribute to poverty-reduction; it is the tourist businesses' ties with the local economy that matter. Thirdly, the study finds that tourism has made other livelihoods, such as small-scale fishery and subsistence agriculture, nearly redundant. This paper also considers the impact of crises emanating from outside the island. In such a situation local economies can be more resilient if the local population can revert to earlier subsistence based modes of production.

Management implications

• Focus on a close relationship with the local population and participatory development of management options.
• •
  Install fair institutional arrangements.
• •
  Facilitate the opportunities of nature-based tourism with essential training in business skills, guiding and production of local goods and handicraft.
• •
  Encourage community members to avoid a total dependence on nature-based tourism by maintaining a subsistence economy for times of crises.
• •
  Communicate that locally embedded tourism development takes time and is unlikely to improve local economy immediately.

Keywords

Nature-based tourism

Protected areas

Poverty alleviation

Crises

Land-use change

Kenya

---

Fig. 1.

Fig. 2.

Fig. 3.

 Table 1

Table 1.

 Table 2

Table 2.

 Table 3

Table 3.

Fig. 4.

Fig. 5.

• ☆
  A draft version of this paper was presented at the 32nd International Geographical Congress, Cologne 2012 during a session held by the International Geographical Union Commission on Tourism, Leisure and Global Change.

• ⁎ 
  Corresponding author. Tel.: +49 931 31 85552; fax: +49 931 31 85556.

For further details log on website :
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213078016300433