Liu Shijun, Secretary-General of WTA: Tourism for Poverty Alleviation and Sustainable Development

As one of the fastest-growing industries, tourism provides a large number of job opportunities worldwide. It changes people’s lives, affects economic and social development, and takes on more important social responsibilities as well. Particularly noteworthy, tourism plays an important role in poverty alleviation. In 2018, WTA unveiled the Report on World Tourism Development 2018 – the Global Process of Tourism for Poverty Alleviation and Demands of the Times. According to this report, the role of tourism in the economic and social development system of poverty-stricken areas has developed from an auxiliary one to a key driving force. At the “WTA·Xianghu Dialogue” held in Hangzhou on September 19, 2019, WTA released the 2019 Report on World Tourism Development – Industry Implantation and Cultural Development of Tourism for Poverty Alleviation, further proposing to promote the in-depth development of poverty reduction through tourism through industrial implantation and cultural construction, thereby fostering sustainable development of poverty-stricken areas. We believe on good grounds that tourism has become a crucial force in driving sustainable economic and social development in poverty-stricken areas.

1.At the state level, tourism has developed into an important industry for some developing countries to promote economic growth and poverty reduction.

Currently, international tourists visiting emerging markets and developing countries account for 50% of the global tourism market. Tourism brings economic growth opportunities to these countries and regions. The report of the United Nations World Tourism Organization stated, to develop tourism is the most feasible and sustainable economic development option for many developing countries and LDCs, and also a major source of foreign exchange earnings for some countries. Among 48 LDCs, tourism is the first or second source of export earnings for 20 countries. In some developing countries, especially small island countries, tourism accounts for more than 25% of their GDPs. In Africa, tourism accounts for 8.1% of the continent’s GDP, providing more than 20 million jobs. In China, since 2011, village tourism has lifted more than 10 million impoverished people out of poverty in China, accounting for more than 10% of the impoverished population.

2.At the regional level, tourism development has made irreplaceable contributions to poverty alleviation in selected poverty-stricken areas.

Poverty of poverty-stricken areas is often a result of traffic congestion, blocked information, and cultural conservation. Many of them belong to ethnic minority and remote border areas. It’s difficult to achieve good results in developing traditional industries and agriculture in these areas, but tourism development may have certain advantages. Many impoverished areas, though traffic is blocked, have beautiful landscapes and good natural ecology; and preserved many traditional ways of life and various folk cultures despite blocked information and conservative culture. These are very attractive to modern tourists. On September 27, 2019, WTA held the “Roadshow of Poverty Alleviation through Tourism in China” and the “Picture Exhibition on Poverty Alleviation through Tourism in China” in Rome, Italy, headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). During these events, we shared the case of poverty alleviation through tourism in Congjiang County, Guizhou, China, where there are good natural and human resources suitable for tourism development. This is the basic condition for the success of poverty alleviation through tourism in Congjiang County.

Individually speaking, tourism, as a service industry, doesn’t require high professional skills in many positions, and thus can provide rich and multi-level job opportunities for local impoverished population. In particular, it has superiorities in creating employment for women, people with low academic qualification and local residents. Tourism development has provided a new path for many poverty-stricken areas and people to get rid of poverty and increase income. For example, WTA member–Airbnb has implemented a poverty alleviation through tourism pilot in some regions. This project has, based on Airbnb’s global network platform, connected scattered land and human resources of ethnic minority villages with global tourism market information in an orderly manner, and linked six tourism elements of “food, accommodation, travel, sightseeing, shopping and entertainment” to build the whole-chain product system of “tourism, agriculture and commerce”, create modern homestays with local cultural characteristics, and guide impoverished villagers to participate in homestay operation projects. Under its leading, demonstrative and driving effect, it has created employment opportunities for impoverished people, and effectively driven the return of labor to poverty-stricken areas and improved the population quality.

3. At the industry level, tourism has played a strong role in driving the development of related industries in poverty-stricken areas.

As a comprehensive industry with a high degree of industrial correlation, tourism can form wide correlation with primary, secondary and tertiary industries, and has a strong driving force for the formation of industrial chain and regional economic growth. Therefore, in many poverty-stricken areas, tourism is not only a source of revenue in itself, but also a strong impetus to the development of many other industries, becoming an important engine for economic development in poverty-stricken areas. For three consecutive years from 2018 to 2020, WTA joined hands with the World Bank and International Poverty Reduction Center in China in unveiling the WTA Best Practice in Poverty Alleviation Through Tourism. The three parties collected the cases of poverty reduction through tourism worldwide through respective channels according to the standards of quantifiable poverty reduction effectiveness, innovation, replicability and conformity with sustainable development concepts, etc. In past two years, we have identified 101 typical cases of poverty reduction through tourism. Although these cases were implemented by the government, enterprises and social organizations, they all took place in poverty-stricken areas, boosting the employment and industrial development of impoverished people through different modes.

Tourism development has also helped upgrade infrastructure in poverty-stricken areas, and improve local production and living conditions in addition to serving tourists. On the one hand, the visits of tourists provide a starting point for tourism development in poverty-stricken areas. In order to solve the accessibility of visitors and the issues of local life, the government and relevant organizations will give priority to the construction of infrastructure such as public transportation, water supply and drainage, electric power communication, garbage and sewage disposal. On the other hand, tourism development has provided a source of income to poverty-stricken areas, partially compensating the funds needed for infrastructure construction in poverty-stricken areas. Benefiting from infrastructure improvement, local residents can not only enjoy better living standards, but also more production possibilities.

The development of tourism in poverty-stricken areas also ushers in a new model for the development and upgrading of tourism itself. The WTA Best Practice in Poverty Alleviation Through Tourism includes many cases from Asia, Europe and Africa. Through tourism development in poverty reduction areas, many innovative models and patterns have taken shape. For example, as poverty-stricken areas in China place more emphasis on tourism development, the scale of village tourism continues to amplify, the business pattern is constantly enriched, and its connotation continues to expand. An increasing number of tourists are beginning to shift their attention from cities to rural areas. According to data from relevant Chinese departments, China’s leisure agriculture and village tourism industry has received more than 3 billion visits annually, with a revenue of more than RMB 800 billion. Objectively speaking, poverty reduction through tourism facilitates the adjustment and upgrading of the tourism industrial structure.

4.At a cultural level, tourism development propels the protection and innovation of traditional culture in poverty-stricken areas.

In many poverty-stricken areas, the value of many excellent cultural heritages can’t be appreciated and embodied because they are not well known. On the other hand, there is a lack of necessary funds for protection. Hit by marketization and globalization, many traditional customs, production and lifestyles, festivals, handicrafts, local opera performances, etc. are on the verge of disappearing. These excellent cultural heritages are one of the most important tourist attractions. The development of tourism makes people re-understand the value of these traditional cultures, brings a new life to them and drives their innovative development during interactions with tourists. In the newly-built tourist town in Danzhai County, Guizhou, China, 59 characteristic handicraft shops have been opened, better displaying and inheriting many intangible cultural heritages such as ethnic handicraft products and folk activities. In Lijiang, Yunnan, China, the ancient Naxi music, known as the “fossil of music”, was once in danger of being lost. Revitalized by tourism development, many tourists are attracted to listen to it.

5.At the social level, tourism development enhances family happiness and social harmony in poverty-stricken areas.

Developing countries around the world are faced with the task of advancing industrialization and urbanization. In this process, the closed and conservative social pattern of poverty-stricken areas has been broken, and the population is moving faster, gradually changing the original way of life and production, ideology and values of impoverished people. As their interest needs get increasingly diversified, a series of family and social problems emerge. Many poverty-stricken areas have entered a critical period of social transformation, showing a trend of population aging, hollowing out of villages and family discretization. For example, China experiences prominent “three left-behind” problems, that is, left-behind women, old people and children that emerge after the young labor force goes out to work, leading to family problems related to employment, pension, education, emotions, etc. As the smallest social unit, family is the cornerstone of society. Growing family problems in poverty-stricken areas directly affect social harmony and stability. Tourism development in poverty-stricken areas has created new job opportunities, and effectively attracted the return of human resources to their hometowns. The family reunion and increase in income have solved many family problems, enhancing family harmony and social stability. Tourists not only generate income for poverty-stricken areas, but also bring modern cultural and management concepts. In the process of tourism development, the degree of organization and modern awareness of residents in many poverty-stricken areas has been raised, and their governance level has also been greatly improved.

6.At the ecology level, tourism development can help improve the eco-environment in poverty-stricken areas.

Tourists not only enjoy sceneries but experience local environments. Fundamentally, tourism activities and ecological environmental protection are not in conflict. Moreover, with a growing number of tourists going out for leisure and vacation, a good ecological environment is more attractive to them. Therefore, as long as with moderate development and proper management, tourism development will not cause great negative impacts on the environment of the tourist destination, but will contribute to the improvement of the ecological environment. On the one hand, the revenue from tourism development has provided financial support for the protection and optimization of local ecological environment; on the other hand, tourism development helps local residents realize the value of ecological environment, and thus consciously become guardians of the ecological environment. From a bigger picture, tourism activities are conducive to enhancing people’s ecological awareness, and forming a social atmosphere favorable for ecological and environmental protection. Although many poverty-stricken areas are home to a generally superior ecological environment, due to poverty and backwardness, there are also a variety of problems that damage the ecological environment such as deforestation, excavating rocks, garbage piled up at will, direct sewage discharge and soil pollution. By developing tourism, these problems have been effectively solved. The concept that “Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets” put forward by President Xi Jinping profoundly expounds the interdependent and mutually unified relationship between tourism and the ecological environment.
From the comprehensive benefits of tourism development in poverty-stricken areas summarized above from six aspects, we can see that tourism can bring huge and profound changes to countries, regions, industries, cultures, the society and ecology, and promote sustainable development in these fields. Albeit series of problems and some unresolved contradictions in current tourism development, the momentum for tourism remains strong. WTA shoulders a mission of “Promoting Tourism for Peace, Development and Poverty Alleviation”, containing mankind’s unprecedented expectations on the responsibility and capacity of tourism to promote peace, development and poverty reduction. We have confidence and uphold the mission of rendering a more responsible tourism industry in a new era.