Tourism in rural Bangladesh: Unlocking opportunities for poverty alleviation?

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the nexus between tourism development and the alleviation of poverty in the context of rural Bangladesh. Three quarters of the population of Bangladesh live in rural areas where poverty levels, as measured by income and calorie intake, are extreme. Forms o...

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Main Authors: Islam, Faridul, Carlsen, Jack
Format: Journal Article
Published: Centre for Tourism Research and Development 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/19877
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author Islam, Faridul
Carlsen, Jack
author_facet Islam, Faridul
Carlsen, Jack
author_sort Islam, Faridul
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description The purpose of this paper is to investigate the nexus between tourism development and the alleviation of poverty in the context of rural Bangladesh. Three quarters of the population of Bangladesh live in rural areas where poverty levels, as measured by income and calorie intake, are extreme. Forms of tourism that maximize benefits for the poor through providing opportunities for income and employment generation are explored. However, a number of barriers exist for poverty alleviation through tourism, including inadequate support from government, nongovernment and financial organizations, dominance of tourism by intermediaries and wealthy elites, lack of awareness and/or ability of traditional farming communities to participate in tourism opportunities and inadequate training and technical support. A single embedded case study involving government, tourism industry and non-government organizations (NGOs) in Bangladesh investigates these barriers. The potential for tourism-related micro-enterprises is then discussed as well as the need for industry, government and NGOs to work with micro-credit organizations to unlock opportunities for poverty alleviation through tourism in rural Bangladesh.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-198772017-03-08T13:31:56Z Tourism in rural Bangladesh: Unlocking opportunities for poverty alleviation? Islam, Faridul Carlsen, Jack tourism poverty alleviation Bangladesh rural The purpose of this paper is to investigate the nexus between tourism development and the alleviation of poverty in the context of rural Bangladesh. Three quarters of the population of Bangladesh live in rural areas where poverty levels, as measured by income and calorie intake, are extreme. Forms of tourism that maximize benefits for the poor through providing opportunities for income and employment generation are explored. However, a number of barriers exist for poverty alleviation through tourism, including inadequate support from government, nongovernment and financial organizations, dominance of tourism by intermediaries and wealthy elites, lack of awareness and/or ability of traditional farming communities to participate in tourism opportunities and inadequate training and technical support. A single embedded case study involving government, tourism industry and non-government organizations (NGOs) in Bangladesh investigates these barriers. The potential for tourism-related micro-enterprises is then discussed as well as the need for industry, government and NGOs to work with micro-credit organizations to unlock opportunities for poverty alleviation through tourism in rural Bangladesh. 2012 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/19877 Centre for Tourism Research and Development restricted
spellingShingle tourism
poverty alleviation
Bangladesh
rural
Islam, Faridul
Carlsen, Jack
Tourism in rural Bangladesh: Unlocking opportunities for poverty alleviation?
title Tourism in rural Bangladesh: Unlocking opportunities for poverty alleviation?
title_full Tourism in rural Bangladesh: Unlocking opportunities for poverty alleviation?
title_fullStr Tourism in rural Bangladesh: Unlocking opportunities for poverty alleviation?
title_full_unstemmed Tourism in rural Bangladesh: Unlocking opportunities for poverty alleviation?
title_short Tourism in rural Bangladesh: Unlocking opportunities for poverty alleviation?
title_sort tourism in rural bangladesh: unlocking opportunities for poverty alleviation?
topic tourism
poverty alleviation
Bangladesh
rural
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/19877