Pro-Poor Tourism at Samui Island, Thailand: A Case Study of Local Governance

Abstract

To many nations, especially developing ones, tourism is an important industry that contributes significantly to their economic growth, while simultaneously providing both direct and indirect income and employment opportunities to many. Pro-poor tourism as a concept is a means for improving the livelihoods and socio-economy of the stakeholder communities. In recent years, it is increasingly applied to developing countries with the aim to alleviate poverty, while simultaneously maintaining a balance and linkage between tourism businesses and the local people. One strategy is through the active involvement of the local people with the business sector either through formal and informal employment, or supporting micro-entrepreneurship for them. Rather than focusing on the economic aspect of pro-poor tourism studies as they are frequently implemented, instead this paper places more emphasis on the sociocultural aspect of the concept. It aims to explore and discuss the patterns of community involvement in pro-poor tourism project initiated by the local government at Samui Island, Thailand. This study targeted street-vendors,abundantly found throughout the study area, who maintain their livelihoods by selling foods and other goods to tourists. This study describes the manner in which the local government, employing the pro-poor tourism concept, involved the people in the local tourism development. Both quantitative method through questionnaire survey and qualitative methods through focus group discussion and key informants interview were employed. Results of the study shows the confusing used of the PPT concept by local government. This leads to poor application of PPT based on problems identification in the study area. Meanwhile, this study provides lesson learn for other tourist destinations that willing to apply PPT.