Developing sustainable tourism through public-private partnership to alleviate poverty in Ghana

Abstract

Encouraging sustainable tourism is an essential aspect of driving economic growth, social responsibility and safeguarding the ecology. This study, therefore, aimed at examining how Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in sustainable tourism development helps eradicate poverty in tourism host communities. A qualitative design was employed by using a semi-structured interview to collect primary data from experts from diverse backgrounds using both purposive and snowball sampling techniques. The findings were thematically analysed and discussed by focusing on general issues related to sustainable tourism and how PPP implementation in the tourism sector has impacted on the economic, social and environmental conditions of the tourism destination areas in Ghana. The findings indicate that the potential of PPP development for long-term economic infrastructural needs of tourism destination have not been sufficiently realized. We suggest that the sole involvement of the private sector and a poor commitment from government has led to a failure to create enough jobs to improve prosperity among the local people in these tourism host communities. Nonetheless, PPP development and implementation have improved the preservation of traditional values, cultural heritage and inter-cultural tolerance in the tourism destination areas. As a result, tourism host communities have seen a positive impact on intercultural interaction, business activities, entrepreneurial development and economic empowerment to eradicate poverty in the host communities. Commitment and the poor involvement of the tourism host communities can have long-term negative effects on poverty eradication in the locales.