Essay: Livelihood – LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 Overview
This chapter looks at the related literature on this research topic. It covers the definition of the term livelihood, livelihood diversification, highlights the indicators of livelihood, constraints of rural livelihood, and explains in detail what rural tourism is and rural tourism product and activities. It also examines the impacts of rural tourism to rural livelihoods.
2.1 The Concept of Livelihood
The concept of livelihood was influenced by early development approaches (WTO, 1996). It was established, with growing legitimization, through several major international forums. The Brundtland Commission in 1987 first introduced Sustainable Livelihoods as an approach to enhance productivity, ownership, and accessibility to resources and income earning activities, ensuring adequate stocks and flows of food and cash to meet basic needs. In 1992, Agenda 21 of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) expanded the concept by advocating ‘sustainable livelihoods for all’ as its priority theme.
A livelihood denotes the means of gaining a living. It also refers to employment and income-generating activities, seems to be synonymous with, and sometimes overlaps, concepts associated with terms such as employment and work. But, the concept of livelihood describes more complex and diverse strategies for living than what is meant by employment (Chambers & Conway, 1991). Indeed according to Haan & Zoomers (2003), a livelihood is about individuals, households, or groups making a living, attempting to meet their various consumption and economic necessities, coping with uncertainties, and responding to new opportunities.
In the current study, livelihood comprises the capabilities, assets (including both material and social resources) and activities required for a means of living hence livelihood is sustainable when it can cope with and recover from stress and shocks and maintain or enhance its capabilities and assets both now and in the future, while not undermining the natural resource base (Chambers & Conway, 1991)
2.2 Livelihood Diversification
According to Ellis (1997), defined livelihood diversification as the process by which families construct a diverse portfolio of activities and social support capabilities in their struggle for survival in order to improve their standards of living. Such diversification can have many advantages and tourism can become; a means to enable income accumulation, for consumption and investment; a means to help spread risk. In addition, tourism can be an adaptive response to longer-term declines in income entitlements, due to serious economic or environmental changes beyond local control; means to take pressure off fragile lands and increase household incomes for purchase of additional food or payment of school fees. The last advantage features a non-farm livelihood pattern, using human as labour through employment related to tourism, assets as a means to improve the financial and economic asset base (Hussein & Nelson, 1998; UNDP & Wanmali, 1999).
Livelihood diversification provides local people with greater opportunity to determine what they can do with and without tourism on their land. As Smith (1996) stressed, local people cannot be separated from their natural and cultural contexts. Appropriate involvement in tourism, desired by the involved indigenous populations, will bring changes in uses and values of resources and activities. It is important that local communities can have the opportunity to evaluate their own resources (human, physical and economic), to assess their past, present and future needs, and resources, and to identify their strengths and weaknesses before evaluating any decision to become involved in tourism. Only when communities understand themselves and their abilities in their own terms can they begin to evaluate decisions relating to external features such as tourism.
2.3 Indicators of Livelihoods
Indicators are specific/explicit verifiable measures of change or results brought about by social action or activity. They are standards against which to measure, assess show progress and change over time (Titi, 1995). When trying to evaluate whether the results of the project meet the goal of sustainable livelihood it would be useful to have a set of indicators with which to measure the results by. The following are indicators of rural livelihood.
2.3.1 Food Security
From a household livelihood perspective, food security is a function of whether food is available on-farm or in the market, whether households have access to the food, and whether patterns of food utilization, including intra-household distribution, are such that the nutritional needs of all household members are met. In essence, a livelihood analysis of food security at the impact level assesses the quantity and quality of food available to households throughout the year and the distribution of food among all household members. Often, food security is effectively measured by a household’s capacity to cope with stress periods, either seasonal or inter-annual (Sarah & Mehrul, 2004).
Similarly, the World Food Summit (1996) defined food security as existing when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life. Commonly, the concept of food security is defined as including both physical and economic access to food that meets people’s dietary needs as well as their food preferences. Also food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life (FAO, 2002).
2.3.2 Nutritional Security
Nutritional security is a livelihood outcome closely related to food security, particularly the food utilization component. The conventional components of nutritional security are child and maternal nutritional status (Sarah & Mehrul, 2004). According to Benson (2004) household achieves nutrition security when it has secure access to food coupled with a sanitary environment, adequate health services, and knowledgeable care to ensure a healthy life for all household members.
2.3.3. Economic Security
Although economic security is intimately related to household livelihood security, the economic status of poor households is notoriously difficult to measure directly. Household income among poor families is often derived from multiple informal sources, and labour is sometimes compensated in non-monetary units (such as food). (Sarah & Mehrul, 2004).
According to Wolfe & Tucker (1999), economic security is the availability of a steady and reliable source of income to sustain daily living for oneself and one’s family and to allow planning. To increase economic security for victims of sexual assault, dating, and domestic violence, and stalking, a coordinated, interdisciplinary, and multilevel response is required. For more women to be free from the constraints of violence, access to real economic options must be available. Such options include affordable and safe housing and childcare, adequate employment opportunities, financial assistance when necessary, and comprehensive, affordable health services including mental health services.
2.3.4 Health Security
Several components of health security are considered to be critical in livelihood security assessment. The first is the frequency of illness among all household members. In highly vulnerable households, illness episodes can severely compromise the productiveness of family members, reducing already-low levels of incomes and production, thereby affecting food and nutritional security. The second component is access to primary health care. The health security of rural families is directly related to their level of access to appropriate medical care (Sarah & Mehrul 2004).
2.3.5 Educational Security
This livelihood category is comprised of several components, including the overall level of education of the household, gender differences in educational access, and the overall literacy rates of adults in the household (Sarah & Mehrul, 2004).
2.4. Livelihood Approach
The term livelihood attempts to capture what people do in order to make a living, the resources that provide them with the capability to build a satisfactory living. It also involves the risk factors, the institutional and policy context that either helps or hinders them in their pursuit to improve living (Ellis, 2003). According to Ellis (2003) resources are referred to as ‘assets’ or ‘capitals’ and are often categorized between five or more different asset types owned or accessed by family members: human capital (skills, education, health), physical capital (produced investment goods), financial capital (money, savings, loan access), natural capital (land, water, trees etc.), and social capital (networks and associations).
The asset categories are admittedly a little contrived, and not all resources that people draw upon in constructing livelihoods fit neatly within them. Nevertheless, they serve a useful purpose in distinguishing asset types that tend to have differing connections to the policy environment. For example, human capital connects to social policies (education and health), while natural capital connects to land use, agricultural and environmental policies.
The SL framework describes what development dedicated to poverty reduction should focus on to create sustainable livelihoods for the poor (ibid.). The first basic principle is that development work has to focus on people — which means that we have to focus on what matters for the poor, how people and their cultures are different, and how this affects the way they understand and appreciate livelihoods. Another principle is that the poor themselves have to be key actors in identifying the important aspects of their own livelihoods. The poor know what matters to them, and outsiders have to listen to their priorities instead of assuming that their own values and ideas are as good as, or better. It is also a principle that the role of the donors is to be process facilitators that help the poor to be aware of their priorities and analyze their own surroundings for resources. This means that participation and partnership become two very essential factors in development work, and by actively being part of the development work, the poor will be empowered instead of being dependent on outsiders to help them all the time.
The framework also emphasizes the principle that there has to be a strong link between macro and micro politics, since these are interdependent. The macro politics are responsible for the main structures and processes in an area and the poor have to adapt to and try to enhance their livelihoods through these. The last basic principle is that development has to have a long-term focus — it is important that the way an area is developed now, will make it sustainable in the future as well (ibid.)
Figure 1: Sustainable livelihood model
Also the framework comprise of vulnerability context which describes the external environment that the poor people live in. This includes critical tends, such as technological trends or population trends. It also includes shocks such as natural disasters or economic inflation, and seasonality which refer to the way prices, employment opportunities and production might shift with the seasons. All of these factors will affect the assets that people have and thereby the sustainability of their livelihoods. (DFID 2000)
The sustainable livelihoods framework is build on the belief that people need assets to achieve a positive livelihood outcome. People have different kind of assets that they combine, to help them achieve the livelihoods that they seek. Transforming structure and process includes the institutions, organizations and policies that frame the livelihoods of the poor, and they are found on all levels — from the household to the international level. These processes and structures determine the access that people have to different kinds of assets, and therefore the importance cannot be overemphasized. Examples of processes are international agreements, ownership rights and laws to secure the rights of the individuals, whereas structures might be the existence of ministries, banks that give credit to the farmers or self-help groups in the local community. Livelihoods strategies are the way that people act in order to achieve their desired livelihood. The access that people have to different kinds of assets affect the strategies that they employ, and the structures and processes in a given society also creates possibilities and constraints on the strategies that people are able to use. Finally Livelihood outcomes are the achievements of people’s livelihood strategies. Outcomes should be described by the local people themselves, since these include much more than income. For outsiders it can be difficult to understand what people are seeking because this is often influenced by culture, local norms and values (ibid 2000.).
2.5. Constraint of Rural Livelihoods
These are factors that hinder the local community in obtaining their livelihoods. It include:-
2.5.1. Seasonality
Seasonality is an inherent feature of rural livelihoods (Chambers et al., 1981; Sahn, 1989; Agarwal, 1990). In economic terms, seasonality means that returns to labour time i.e. income that can be earned per day or week worked vary during the year in both on-farm and off-farm labour markets. On-farm returns vary by comparing periods of peak labour such as cultivation and harvesting required in order to achieve farm outputs with periods when little, if any, activity can be usefully undertaken on the farm. Off-farm returns vary as temporary labour markets spring into being, for example, to harvest a grain or tree crop, or to move recently harvested produce from farms into stores or distribution centers. Therefore invoking the farm household model, seasonality causes changes in occupation to occur as labour time is switched from lower to higher return activities (Alderman & Sahn, 1989).
2.5.2. Risk Strategies
Many researchers consider risk to be the fundamental motive for livelihood diversification (Bryceson, 1996). When definite outcomes in relation to income streams are replaced by probabilities of occurrence, the social unit diversifies its portfolio of activities in order to anticipate and to ameliorate the threat to its welfare of failure in individual activities (Alderman & Paxson, 1992). However, there are many different strands to the risk argument; and there is a lot of room for confusing risk arguments with coping arguments, and voluntary decisions with involuntary actions (Dercon & Krishnan, 1996).
Income diversification as a risk strategy is taken to imply a trade-off between a higher total income involving greater probability of income failure, and a lower total income involving smaller probability of income failure (Walker & Ryan, 1990; Blare1 et al., 1992). The same is true of many types of off-farm and non-farm diversification. For example, wage work in the agricultural slack season may both diversify and raise total household income, and the same applies to the exercise by different household members of different skills in different labour markets.
2.5.3 Labour Markets
Labour markets also offer non-farm opportunities for income generation differentiated by other considerations such as education, skills, location, and gender. The economic motivation for diversification, in relation to seasonality, applies more generally. When the marginal return to labour time in farming for any individual falls below the wage rate or the return to self-employment attainable for that person off the farm, then, ignoring intra household distributional issues, the household as a unit is better off switching that individual into off-farm or non-farm activities. Work opportunities vary according to skills, education and by gender. Economic considerations of labour allocation may be overlaid and modified by social rules of access both within the family and in the community. These rules may result in the “social exclusion” of individuals and households from particular income streams (Davies & Hossain, 1997).
2.6 Rural Tourism
2.6.1 Definition Rural Tourism
According to Gannon (1994), rural tourism includes a range of activities, services, and amenities provided by farmers and rural people to attract tourists to their area in order to generate extra income for their businesses. OECD (1994) asserts that rural tourism should be located in rural areas, functionally rural, built upon the rural world’s special features; small scale enterprise, open space, contact with nature and the natural world, heritage, traditional societies and traditional practices, rural in scale- both in terms of buildings and settlements and therefore, small scale. It should also be traditional in character, growing slowly and organically, and connected with local families.
Rural tourism should be sustainable in the sense that its development should help sustain the special rural character of an area, and in the sense that its development should be sustainable in its use of resources. Rural tourism should be seen as a potential tool for conservation and sustainability, rather than as an urbanizing and development tool. It should also be of many different kinds, representing the complex pattern of rural environment, economy, and history (OECD, 1994)
2.6.2. Rural Tourism Activities
Rural tourism is a kind of rural activities and its characteristics is natural and humanistic. It includes customs, scenery, landscape (about local country and agricultural), and other attractions. Its types of attractions are leisure, sightseeing, experience, and learning, and so on (Jingming & Lihua 2002; Deqian, 2006; Holland, et al., 2003). Rural tourism or rurally located tourism can also include campsites, lodges, safari drives, craft markets, cultural displays, adventure sports, walking trails, heritage sites, musical events and any tourist activity-taking place in a rural area. Similarly, according to Nilsson (2002), rural tourism is based on the rural environment in general whereas farm tourism is based on the farm and farmer. This means that within the framework of rural tourism, farm tourism enterprises are more closely related than other tourism operations.
However Reid et al.(2000) stated that rural tourism can be categorized into agri-tourism which includes a range of activities, services and amenities provided by farmers and rural people to attract tourists to their area in order to generate extra income for their businesses and farm tourism which is a form of tourism activity conducted in a rural farm area, which may include tending to farm animals, planting, harvesting, and processing of farm products. The core activity is in the wider rural area (walking, boating) but the vast majority of visitors are accommodated on farms, either working farms or farms converted to accommodation facilities. (Tugba & Gulen, 2012). Also Cultural tourism which is defined in the government’s white paper on the development and promotion of South Africa as cultural aspects which of interest to visitor and can be marketed as such, including the customs and traditions of people, their heritage and way of life. An important aspect of cultural tourism is visiting cultural villages (Deat, 1996). Cultural villages are purpose-built structures intended for visiting by tourists or, in some cases as museums (Veuren, 2004). In general, a cultural village is situated near an established tourist route in a rural area. It usually consists of a homestead to show living arrangements, an arena for dance, music and other cultural displays, a restaurant and a craft/souvenir outlet. Additional features of a cultural village include a game enclosure, museum display, historical video or visit to a real homestead located nearby (Hughes, 2005).
Visitors to the cultural villages are taken on a guided tour through one or more reconstructed traditional homesteads. (Veuren, 2004). The guide generally explains a number of traditional customs, which are demonstrated by the cultural workers. The tour is followed by the performance of a traditional dance. Various cultural villages offer different types of cultural experiences. In most cases, indigenous cultures are depicted as they existed in the 19th or early 20th centuries. Some villages display a depiction of early building styles or present-day cultures. Several villages offer a traditional meal or overnight accommodation, and some have a craft or curio shop.
2.7 Impacts of Rural Tourism on Rural Livelihoods
The impacts of tourism development can be categorized negative and positive impacts. It includes economic, socio-cultural and environmental impacts.
2.7.1 Economic Benefits of Tourism
The economic benefits of tourism development include:-
2.7.1.1Alternative Income from Tourism
One of the most common features of rural tourism offered to farmers as an incentive to consider starting a tourism business is its ability to generate an alternative income stream (USTTA, 1995; Hill et al., 1996; WTO, 1997; Hall, 1997). This income can come at times that supplements income during seasonal fluctuations as farmers are looking for alternative income that does not impact or interfere with their ‘real’ business (DOT, 1995; UWS – Hawkesbury, 1998).
2.7.1.2 New Business Opportunities
Tourism generates new opportunities for industry (Long et al., 1994; USTTA, 1995; WTO, 1997; EC, 1997; Hall, 1997). Even those rural businesses not directly involved in tourism can benefit from tourist activity through developing close relationships with tourist facilities where local foods can be used as part of the tourism offering in a locality (Telfer et al., 1996). Therefore, rural tourism facilitates expansion of complementary businesses such as service stations and new businesses are created to cater for tourist needs for hospitality services, recreational activities, and arts/crafts (DOT, 1995; ATSIC, 1996).
2.7.1.3 Opportunities for Youth
The employment theme is extended to include specific opportunities for young people within rural communities in the hope that tourism may provide an incentive for them to remain (USTTA, 1995; Oppermann, 1996; EC, 1997; WTO, 1997). In addition, tourism industry is promoted as an exciting and growing industry suited to the energies and enthusiasm of young people (DOT, 1995). Thus, career options are enhanced with the opportunities for training and direct involvement in running tourism businesses, especially those within small communities (ATSIC, 1996).
2.7.1.4 Opportunities for Diversification
Rural communities have been forced to try many different agricultural activities to try and survive the problems of rural downturn, drought and diminishing returns at the farm gate for their produce. Tourism is promoted as one way of diversifying their economic base via the alternative “crop” that tourism can represent to rural communities (Betz, 1993; USTTA, 1995; NSWTC, 1995; DOT, 1995; Hill et al., 1996; Streckfuss, 1997; EC 1997). For example, the structural changes brought about by development of the European Common Market have meant that farming communities are looking for opportunities for diversification (Dolors Garcia-Ramon et al, 1995).
Diversification into rural tourism tends to stimulate new developments and enterprises within a rural community enabling locations in decline to take control of their economic destiny (Long et al., 1994; DOT, 1995). Therefore, rural tourism development eventually diversifies the resident population of a community along with the product offerings of the region (Huang et al., 1996).
2.7.1.5 Creating Jobs and Wealth
Travel & Tourism is the world’s largest industry and creator of jobs across national and regional economies. Jobs generated by Travel & Tourism are spread across the economy – in retail, construction, manufacturing and telecommunications, as well as directly in Travel & Tourism companies. These jobs employ a large proportion of women, minorities and young people; are predominantly in small and medium sized companies; and offer good training and transferability. (WTTC 1995)
2.7.1.6 Providing Infrastructure
Tourism necessities help in creation of infrastructure utilities and amenities, which are not only used by the visitors but become valuable to the local population as well. The economic importance of tourism in national economy can be appreciated with reference to its contribution in infrastructure development (Mathieson & Wall, 1982).
To a greater degree than most activities, Travel & Tourism depends on a wide range of infrastructure services – airports, air navigation, roads, railheads and ports, as well as basic infrastructure services required by hotels, restaurants, shops, and recreation facilities (e.g. telecommunications and utilities). (WTTC 1995).
2.7.1.7 Helpful in Reduction of Poverty
Almost all the developing countries are trapped in vicious circles of poverty with low per capital income and low national incomes. Tourism activities can reduce the poverty through the increase in national income, employment generation; foreign currency earnings, regional development, promotion of local handicrafts and many more (Mill & Morrison, 1992)
2.7.1.8 Increase in the Standard of Living
Due to numerous economic benefits of tourism and its potential growth it helps in the increase of standard of living of the people by offering new and better jobs, which in turn helps them to improve the quality of life and their families. (Mansour& Mahin 2013)
2.7.1.9 Improvement in Health and Family Welfare
Tourism helps in the improvement of health and family welfare by adopting the direction of the advance countries in providing health conference, convention, seminars, exchange of views of the leading experts “helps in this” regard. (Mansour& Mahin 2013)
2.7.1.10. Contribution of Tourism to National Income
Tourism gives impetus to national income. International tourism and domestic tourism both have the same effect on the national income (Mill, 1990). Tourism has to pay for different types of services and goods in the host country. So tourism constitutes a demand for services and that of consumer goods.
The construction of accommodation, urbanization for tourist purpose, infrastructure installation, increased tourist transport and equipment etc. are the examples of how tourist transport encourages investment opportunities within the state. When tourists pay for goods and services in another country, these amounts are reflected as national travel receipts for such country. (Mansour& Mahin 2013)
2.7.2. Social Cultural Benefits of Tourism
The social-cultural benefits of tourism development include:-
2.7.2.1 Rural Tourism and Revitalization of Community Pride
Where rural tourism is involved, tourism is cited as keeping traditional culture strong and that communities feel pride in community tourism achievements (ATSIC, 1996). Tourism encourages conformity to an ideal image of community, which can result in growth of personal ties and community solidarity. Thus the basis for community solidarity shifts from shared cultural background to shared image (Huang et al., 1996).
Amenities play a fundamental role in shaping a community’s identity and pride and so the potential of tourism for improvements to facilities and amenities has positive implications for community pride, particularly rural museums as an important repository of rural culture (Betz, 1993; Prideaux et al., 1997). The involvement of women in rural tourism in Spain for example resulted in stronger sensitivity to their environment and heightened interest in maintaining the aesthetic values of their region (Garcia-Ramon et al., 1995).
2.7.2.2 Preservation of Rural Culture and Heritage
Proponents of tourism (usually governments), state that it facilitates cultural exchange, transformation, and social contact and then promote its capacity to preserve rural culture and heritage (NSWTC, 1991; WTO, 1993; Healy, 1994; USTTA, 1995; ATSIC, 1996; WTO, 1997). However, this may represent a paradox, but tourism does have a capacity to provide the impetus for preservation of cultural heritage while it acts as a vector for cultural exchange. In rural tourism, the ‘sense of place’ is a fundamental element in both the tourists’ and host community’s feelings of what makes the area attractive to visit and live in. This sense of place is maintained partly through rural museums that play a vital role in preserving heritage (Macbeth, 1997; Prideaux et al., 1997).
2.7.2.3 Cultural and Social Exchange
The motivation for farm hosts engaging with tourism is as much a social driver as an economic one, and meeting and socializing with people is the main reason for remaining in the tourism business (WTO, 1993; Williams, 1995; Oppermann, 1996; Huang et al., 1996; EC, 1997; WTO, 1997). For example German farming families who offer vacations on the farm experience, social relationships with tourists that transgress touristic encounters and exchanges so that meaningful relationships, and often friendships, result from the interaction with tourists (Bendix, 1994).
These meaningful social exchanges are in part dependent on the nature of the rural lifestyle and the low numbers of tourists (Macbeth, 1997). Indigenous tourism operators often cite teaching aboriginal culture to visitors and the opportunities for cultural exchange and to meet new people as the most valuable aspects of being in tourism. (DOT, 1995; ATSIC, 1996).
2.7.2.4 Development of improved lifestyles and local life.
Local communities can mix with people from diverse backgrounds with different lifestyles which through ‘demonstration effect’ may lead to the development of improved lifestyles and practices from the tourists’ examples.
There can be an improvement in local life through better local facilities and infrastructure (developed to sustain tourism) which could lead to better education, health care, employment opportunities and income. (Mansour& Mahin 2013)
2.7.3 Environmental Benefits of Tourism
The environmental benefit of tourism development include:-
2.7.3.1 Conservation and Protection of Important Natural Areas
Tourism can help justify and pay for conservation of nature parks, outdoor recreation and conservation areas as attractions which otherwise might be allowed to deteriorate ecologically (Leonard & Carson, 1997). Sunlu (2003) stated that tourism can significantly contribute to environmental protection, conservation and restoration biological diversity and sustainable use of natural resources. Because of their attractiveness, pristine sites and natural areas are identified as valuable and the need to keep the attraction alive can lead to creation of national parks and wildlife parks.
2.7.3.2 Conservation of Archaeological and Historic Sites
Tourism provides the incentive and helps pay for the conservation of archaeological and historic sites (as attractions for tourists) which might otherwise be allowed to deteriorate or disappear (Leonard & Carson, 1997).
2.7.3.3 Improved Environmental Management and Planning
Sound environmental management of tourism facilities and especially hotels can increase benefits to natural areas. It requires careful planning for controlled development, based on analysis of the environmental resources of the area. Planning help to make choices between conflicting uses, and find ways to make them compatible. By planning early for tourism development, damaging and expensive mistakes can be prevented, avoiding the gradual deterioration of environmental assets significant to tourism.
Cleaner production techniques can be important tools for planning and operating tourism facilities in a way that minimizes their environmental impacts. For example, green building is an increasingly important way for the tourism industry to decrease its impact on the environment. Because waste treatment and disposal are often major, long-term environmental problems in the tourism industry, pollution prevention and waste minimization techniques are especially important for the tourism industry (UNEP, 1995, 1997, 1998; WTO, 1995).
2.7.3.4 Environmental Awareness
Tourism has the potential to increase public appreciation of the environment and to spread awareness of environmental problems when it brings people into closer contact with nature and the environment. The tourism industry can play a key role in providing environmental information and raising awareness among tourists of the environmental consequences of their actions. Tourists and tourism-related businesses consume an enormous quantity of goods and services; moving them toward using those that are produced and provided in an environmentally sustainable way, could have an enormous positive impact on the planet’s environment (UNEP, 1992).
2.7.3.4 Financial Contributions
Tourism can contribute directly to the conservation of sensitive areas and habitat. Revenue from park entrance fees and similar sources can be allocated specifically to pay for the protection and management of environmentally sensitive areas. Special fees for park operations or conservation activities can be collected from tourists or tour operators. Some governments collect money in more far-reaching and indirect ways that are not linked to specific parks or conservation areas. User fees, income taxes, taxes on sales or rental of recreation equipment, and license fees for activities such as hunting and fishing can provide governments with the funds needed to manage natural resources. Such funds can be used for overall conservation programs and activities, such as park ranger salaries and park maintenance (WTO, 1997; 1998).
2.7.4 Negative Impacts of Rural Tourism Development
The negative impacts can be categorized as economic, environmental and social-cultural impacts.
2.7.4.1 Negative Economic Impacts
According to Page (1995), tourism development can be associated with rage of costs, which include: the potential of over-dependence on one particular form of activity; seasonality in the consumption and production of tourism infrastructure and services leading to limited returns on investment; leakages of tourism expenditure from the local economy and inflationary costs in the local economy as new customers enter the area and potential increases in real estate prices as the tourism development cycle commences and tourism competes with other land uses.
2.7.4.2 Negative Environmental Impacts
Rural tourism operates within sensitive natural environments. Some of the most attractive tourism destinations have the most sensitive environments. These include sea and lake shorelines, wetlands, high mountain areas, and polar areas. Many studies have highlighted the threats which tourism has already brought to the environment.
Intensive skiing has destroyed vegetation and encouraged land-slips; climbing erodes rock faces, and, with modern equipment, destroys their natural condition; walking and riding wears out paths in heavily used areas; noise and litter drive out and injure wild creatures; existing farming practices are upset by fire, dogs and competition for labour. The peace, quiet and authentic nature of the countryside can be seriously compromised. All these issues can be tackled to some extent by the skilled management of the countryside; management of the order required is as yet rarely available (OECD, 1994).
2.7.4.3 Negative Social-Cultural Impact
Just as the influx of large numbers of visitors can disrupt the natural world, so also can visitors impinge upon the small scale, static, and well-ordered socio-cultural world of the rural community. Earnings patterns change, success/failure relationships are altered, and power structures are challenged. More fundamentally, sociologists have long recognized that the impact of “advanced” cultures on “traditional” cultures usually brings change to the traditional culture and not in the other direction (OECD, 1994).
Similarly, Pearce (1989) cited a range of negative social and cultural impacts resulting from tourism including the migration from rural areas to urbanized tourism resort areas to secure employment in service industries due to higher income levels. This can modify the population structure in destinations, putting resources on services; changes in social values, with greater levels of community turnover; increased levels of crime when special events and hallmark events, such as the Olympics and potential negative effects related to the increase in prostitution and gambling to meet visitor needs.
2.8. Conceptual framework
Livelihood assets consist of Natural, Physical, Social, Human, and Financial forms of capital (DFID, 1999). Assets are fundamental to the poor. These are the basic livelihood building blocks. Poverty analyses have shown that people’s ability to escape from poverty is critically dependent on their access to assets (Booth et al., 1998). Both quality and quantity of assets matter, along with the options to convert assets into productive activities.
Tourism development was established with the aim to diversify community livelihood strategies by extending the ways in which communities make a living (pastoralism), improving community well-being and reducing poverty (outcomes), and decreasing community vulnerability to external factors (climate change, drought). Diversification of livelihoods and reducing poverty and vulnerability are supported by strengthening the livelihood building blocks; that is, livelihood capitals or assets. (Rita et.al 2015)
Human capital consists of knowledge, skills and education that support livelihoods. Social capital relates to community pride and identity, and formal and informal relationships, including networks and partnerships. Buildings, health and education infrastructure, water supply machinery, or crops and livestock supporting livelihoods constitute the physical capital, and the employment opportunities, income and benefits that are available to individuals and communities comprise financial assets. Lastly, tourism development aimed at changing the relation between the way people make a living and the natural environment, and biodiversity conservation. (ibid 2015)
Figure 2 Conceptual Framework
Source: (Rita et.al 2015)
2.9 Summary of the literature review
Tourism is cited as keeping traditional culture strong and that communities feel pride in community tourism achievements. Proponents of tourism (usually governments), state that it facilitates cultural exchange, transformation, and social contact and then promote its capacity to preserve rural culture and heritage. Tourism can help justify and pay for conservation of nature parks, outdoor recreation and conservation areas as attractions which otherwise might be allowed to deteriorate ecologically. Tourism can contribute directly to the conservation of sensitive areas and habitat. Revenue from park entrance fees and similar sources can be allocated specifically to pay for the protection and management of environmentally sensitive areas. Special fees for park operations or conservation activities can be collected from tourists or tour operators. Some governments collect money in more far-reaching and indirect ways that are not linked to specific parks or conservation areas. The tourism industry can play a key role in providing environmental information and raising awareness among tourists of the environmental consequences of their actions.
Tourism development can be associated with rage of costs, which include: the potential of over-dependence on one particular form of activity; seasonality in the consumption and production of tourism infrastructure and services leading to limited returns on investment; leakages of tourism expenditure from the local economy and inflationary costs in the local economy as new customers enter the area. Intensive skiing has destroyed vegetation and encouraged land-slips; climbing erodes rock faces, and, with modern equipment, destroys their natural condition; walking and riding wears out paths in heavily used areas; noise and litter drive out and injure wild creatures; existing farming practices are upset by fire, dogs and competition for labour. The peace, quiet and authentic nature of the countryside can be seriously compromised.
2.10 Literature gaps
Based on the findings of the literature, little is done on the extent to which tourism development contribute to rural livelihoods in various destinations with diverse resources and popular tourist attraction centres. The assumption has been that any tourism development will eventually benefit the poor through the “trickle down “effect and that it will lead to poverty reduction, however, benefits derived from tourism fail to benefit the local community because of corruption, mismanagement of funds among other factors. Therefore, in order to elucidate the involvement of tourism development in diversification of rural livelihood, this study was conducted in Mara Triangle to determine the contribution of tourism development to the livelihoods of the local community.