Community Based Tourism
Finding the Euilibrium in the COMCEC Context
7
Box 1. UNWTO’s Criteria Set for ST-EP Projects
 Employment of the poor in tourism enterprises.
 Supply of goods and services to tourism enterprises by the poor or by enterprises employing
the poor.
 Direct sales of goods and services to visitors by the poor (informal economy).
 Establishment and running of tourism-related enterprises by the poor - e.g. micro, small and
medium sized enterprises (MSMEs), or community based enterprises (formal economy).
 Tax or levy on tourism income or profits with proceeds benefiting the poor.
 Voluntary giving/support by tourism enterprises and tourists.
 Investment in infrastructure stimulated by tourism also benefiting the poor in the locality,
directly or through support to other sectors.
Over the last decade, a significant growth in tourist arrivals, foreign exchange revenues,
and tourism jobs identified tourism as the leading export industry and the main source of
foreign exchange revenues for the LDCs (Honeck, 2008; UNCTAD, 2007). Therefore,
according to UNWTO reports, tourism is growing fastest in poorest countries. Tourist
arrivals and tourist receipts in the LDCs have been growing more than double of those
worldwide; however, despite this fast growth, tourism in the LDCs is still about 1% of the
world market share in terms of international tourist arrivals and international tourism
receipts (UNWTO, 2006). The most recent data on tourist arrivals and receipts recorded in
some LDCs and percent change are provided in Table 2. As can be seen from the table, the
lack of data is an obstacle to an accurate assessment of the growth in tourism in many of
these countries. However, from the available data, it is clear that tourism has a significant
growth potential that was achieved in some of these countries and still waiting for
attention in many others.
Table 2. Recent Tourism Statistics for Some LDCs (2010-2011)
International Tourist Arrivals Int. Tourism Receipts
LDCs 2010
(1000s)
2011
(1000s)
%
Change
('10/'09)
% Change
('11/'10)
2010
($ mil)
2011
($ mil)
Angola 425 - 16.2 - 719 -
Bangladesh 303 - 13.4 - 81 -
Benin 199 - 4.7 - 133 -
Bhutan 27 37 14.7 39.2 35 48
Burkina Faso 274 - 1.8 - 72 -
Burundi 142 - -33 - 2 -
Cambodia 2,399 2,882 17.3 20.1 1,180 1,683
Cent. African Rep. 54 - 2.7 - 6 -
Comoros 15 - 35.4 - 35 -
Ethiopia 468 - 9.6 - 522 -
Gambia 91 - -35.7 - 32 -
Haiti 255 - -34.1 - 167 -
Kiribati 5 5 19.2 12 - -
Lao PDR 1,670 - 34.8 - 382 406
Lesotho 414 - 29.5 - 34 -