Transcript Tourism as an alternative to banana production

The Challenges for Tourism in a
failing agricultural economy: the
case of the Windward Islands
Patsy Lewis
Sir Arthur Lewis Institute for Social and
Economic Studies, Mona, Jamaica
July 2003
2
Introduction
Aim of presentation
Assess some of the challenges inherent in
attempts to transform agricultural
economies to services, with special
emphasis on tourism.
Declining agriculture as context for increasing
tourism’s intake
3
Introduction
Focus of presentation:
Windward Islands – Dominica, St. Vincent,
St. Lucia (banana producers) – who are
experiencing a decline in the agricultural
sector in the wake of the adverse WTO
ruling on the EU’s banana regime.
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Introduction
Manifestation of decline
 Mass exodus of farmers
Dominica (1990-2000) – 64% (from 6,675 to
2,410)
St. Vincent (1990-1997)-- 17%
St. Lucia 49%
 Declining income
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Introduction
What accounts for exodus?
 Efficiency programme introduced in banana
sector
 Fluctuating prices
 General instability
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Introduction
Impact of industry’s decline
High levels of unemployment (1995)
Dominica
23.1%
St. Lucia
16.2%
SVG
19.8
Source: UN Development system for the Eastern
Caribbean, 2000.
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Introduction
Impact of industry’s decline
 High levels of poverty, particularly in rural areas
 Dominica: 33% poor
 St. Lucia: 25.1% poor; 7.1% indigent
 St. Vincent: 37.5% individuals poor, 25.7 indigent
Concentration of poor in rural agricultural sector
Source: Kairi poverty reports for Caribbean
Development Bank
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Introduction
Characterization of W.I. banana industry
 small farms, five acres and under
 Low productivity
 Low technology/mechanisation
 High cost
 Middle-aged farmers
 Primary school education
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Introduction
Governments’ approach to ailing agricultural
sector is to attempt to focus on developing a
service economy
 Tourism
 Services
Decline of agriculture presents specific
challenges for any development strategy,
including one embracing tourism
10
Introduction
Challenges of developing a tourism strategy to
address problems of ailing agricultural
sector
 Absorbing displaced farmers
 Increasing government’s earnings
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Windward Islands’ economies
Agriculture’s contribution to WI economies
Employment
Agriculture (and fisheries):

Dominica (1997) – 31.4%

St. Lucia (1999) -- 21.7%

SVG (1999) -- 24.8%
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Windward Islands’ economies
Since those figures, however, there has been a
general decline in agriculture’s contribution
to employment: 2000-2001
 Dominica – 11.4% drop
 St. Lucia -- 24.37% drop
 St. Vincent – 7.24% drop
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Windward Islands’ economies

Tourism (hotels and restaurants)
 Dominica (1997) – 3.8%
 St. Lucia (1999) – 9.5%
 SVG (1999) – 4.0%
Tourism is largest contributor to export
earnings but figures less in employment
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Windward Islands’ economies
Agriculture’s and tourism’s contributions to
GDP – 1997
Agriculture
Tourism
Dominica 20.3%
2.51%
St. Lucia 11%
11%
SVG
10.8%
2.57%
Source: (UN Dev. Sys for the EC, 2000)
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Windward Islands’ economies
Promotion of tourism as strategy has to take account
of:
1. weaknesses that exist in the sector
2. Attitudes among farmers toward the industry
Weakness identified in OECS tourism sector (OECS
Human development Report, 2002):
 Vulnerability to external and natural shocks
 Over reliance on foreign airlines
 High import content leading to leakage
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Windward Islands’ economies
Weaknesses in tourism cont’d
 Insufficient hotel rooms
 Lack of integrated approach to tourism that
balances economic growth and human and social
development
 Inefficiency in generating foreign exchange
 Weak backward and forward linkages with other
productive sectors
 Limited opportunities for meaningful participation
by nationals
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Attitudes among farmers
toward the industry
Data -- random survey of 450 farmers
involved in banana production between late
1998 and early 1999:
210 from St. Lucia (produces over half of
Windward Islands production);
121 from St. Vincent; and
119 from Dominica.
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Response to tourism
‘Do you see employment in the tourism industry as a
realistic alternative (for yourself) to banana
production?’
Little support across WI.
 Only 30.5% of entire sample
Levels of rejection:
 Dominica -- 81.8%
 St. Vincent -- 73%
 St. Lucia -- 60.3%
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Response to agricultural
diversification
Do you think agricultural diversification away from bananas is a
realistic option?
Yes: half the sample (51.4%)
Significant relationship between country response and support for
diversification
St. Lucia – 63%
St. Vincent– 52%
Dominica 33%
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Explaining responses
Tourism
Women -- more resistance than men:
20.8% of female sample supporting it as opposed to
32.7% of men (strong statistical relationship)
Agricultural Diversification
•Men and women showed similar levels of support for
diversification although support was lower among
women (52% as opposed to 47%)
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Explaining responses

Farmer is
not/interested/equipped/educated/doesn’t see a
role for himself in the industry – main reason in all
 Banana industry provides better earning potential
and employment opportunities than tourism is the
second most important reason for Dominica and
the third for St. Vincent and St. Lucia
 Farmer’s too old -- St. Vincent and St. Lucia
 Tourism holds few opportunities for rural people
St. Vincent and Dominica
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Explaining responses

Tourism is vulnerable/not viable was the
second most popular reason for St. Lucian’s
rejection of the industry(22.4%)
 7.3% of Dominicans rejected it on this basis
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Explaining responses
Possible explanations for resistance to the
industry
 underdeveloped state of the industry in
Dominica and St. Vincent
 Resistance to change which goes beyond
changing jobs reflected in:
– farmer’s transformation from
Independent producer to wage labourer.
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Explaining responses

rejection of a different way of life and the
likelihood of different types of social
relationships than they have experienced as
independent agricultural producers.
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Challenges for tourism
Challenges given farmers’ response:
 Forge greater linkages with agriculture –
high food import bill
 Increase tourism’s contribution to GDP
 Ensure broader distribution of sector’s
earnings
 Increase local population’s stake in the
industry
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Models of Tourism
Models of tourism available
Cruise ship
All inclusive
mass tourism
‘Sun-lust’
Special interest
Eco-tourism
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Models of Tourism Segmentation
Special interest tourism
 Agro-tourism
 Community-based tourism
 Health tourism
 Adventure tourism
 Heritage/cultural
Eco-tourism closely related to all of above
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Models of Tourism Segmentation
Agri-tourism
 Treating agricultural production as a
tourism product – already begun but limited
 Integrating with community tourism
 increasing industry’s sourcing of food
locally -- Reduce high food import bill
Eco-tourism -- Dominica
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Models of Tourism
Mass Tourism: All inclusives
 adopting an ‘all-inclusive’ rather than the
exclusive approach of the ‘all-inclusives’ in
order to increase spread of earnings –
Features of the model:
 Shielding of tourists from ills of society –
high poverty, low-employment, reflected in
high levels of tourist harassment
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Models of Tourism

Tendency to marginalize groups already
involved in the industry – vendors, taxi
operators, small hoteliers
 Possibilities for the marginalisation of entire
communities leading to potential conflicts.
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Models of Tourism
Limitations of the all-inclusive model in small
societies
 Special relation of population to the sea -- free
access to beaches
 Small physical space making it more difficult to
shield tourists
 Problems of conflict over land utilization –
agriculture vs. tourism.
 Greater and more obvious impact of
unemployment and poverty
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Challenges to agricultural
diversification
Agricultural diversification
 provides a real possibility for giving displaced
banana farmers a stake in the tourism industry
Challenges of agricultural diversification strategy -relying on displaced banana farmers to be motor
of diversification strategy
 Continued limited access to resources
 Absence of support structures available to banana
producers
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Challenges to agricultural
diversification

Continued issues of quality and cost
competitiveness -- vital to national market
as it is to export agriculture.
 In other words, hotels are unlikely to rely on
low-quality, high-cost, irregular suppliers.
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Challenges to agricultural
diversification
Possible strategies for overcoming these
difficulties
 partnership between agricultural sector -hotels and farmers.
 easier access to credits and farming support
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Conclusions

Tourism is unlikely to and should not be perceived
as displacing agriculture.
 Agriculture remains the mainstay of Windward
Islands’ economies, especially given their social
structure – small urban centers, large rural farming
communities
 It has played a role in alleviating rural poverty and
in generating economic stability given its role in
supporting significant sections of the labour force.
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Conclusions

Government must work to revitalize
agriculture while diversifying the
economies by strengthening tourism and
manufacture.
 The banana industry has the potential to be
explosive because of its role in the lives of
so many – St. Lucia 1990s, Dominica 2002
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Conclusions

Finally, tourism plans should involve local
communities, taking into account their
reservations and perceptions. As P.E. Murphy
notes: “Tourism … relies on the goodwill and
cooperation of local people because they are part
of its product. Where development and planning
do not fit in with local aspirations and capacity,
resistance and hostility can … destroy the
industry’s potential altogether.” (Tourism: A
Community Approach, 1985:153. Quoted in
Dallen Timothy, ‘Participatory Planning: A View
of Tourism in Indonesia’, Annals of Tourism, vol.
26 (2), p. 373)