Tourism and poverty alleviation in Fiji: comparing the impacts of small- and large-scale tourism enterprises

Abstract

This paper explores the pro-poor tourism literature's proposition that businesses “at all levels and scales of operation” can contribute to poverty alleviation, and questions the view that small-scale “alternative” forms of tourism development are preferable in delivering wide-ranging benefits to the poor. Based on research in Fiji, it uses the multidimensional view of poverty modelled on Zhao and Ritchie's integrative research framework for “anti-poverty tourism” that identifies three determinants: “opportunity”, “empowerment” and “security”. The paper reveals that both small- and large-scale tourism make positive contributions to revenue generation, job creation and community development, but there is considerable potential for local procurement and labour conditions to improve. Poverty has increased in Fiji, despite rising tourism arrivals, but this problem is complex and is linked to agricultural decline. An underlying concern is that tourism policy in Fiji encourages development of large, foreign-owned resorts, while indigenous businesses often do not receive the support they require to be successful in the long term. Thus, indigenous Fijian participation in the tourism sector is predominantly as employees or as recipients of lease monies, and rarely as those directly involved in tourism planning and development, therefore limiting the pro-poor potential of the sector in Fiji.