The tourism sector can contribute to poverty reduction both in a direct manner (employment in tourism enterprises; supplying goods and services to tourists and tourism enterprises; establishing/running micro, small and community-based tourism enterprises by people living in poverty), and in an indirect manner (using income generated tourism-related taxes and fees for poverty reduction purposes; voluntary giving by tourists and tourism enterprises to initiatives addressing poverty reduction; investments in infrastructure stimulated by tourism development from which people living in poverty in a destination also benefit).
The achievement of SDG 1 through the lenses of tourism requires commitment from governments and the private sector at a national and local destination level, with relevant policies and tools; and interventions can best be adopted to support poor and vulnerable communities, with particular attention to women, minorities, disabled people, and the elderly and young people – all of whom can engage effectively in the tourism sector .
There are five targets within SDG 1 that are deemed to have a stronger and direct link for tourism to contribute to poverty eradication. These targets have been selected to base the potential project indicators.
TARGET 1.2
BY 2030 REDUCE AT LEAST BY HALF THE PROPORTION OF MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN OF ALL AGES LIVING IN POVERTY IN ALL ITS DIMENSIONS ACCORDING TO NATIONAL DEFINITIONS.
Poverty has many dimensions, including lack of income and productive resources sufficient to ensure sustainable livelihoods. It is often related to hunger and malnutrition, poor health, limited or lack of access to education, homelessness and many more. Tourism is a labour-intensive and diverse sector, and it can be linked with national poverty reduction strategies and entrepreneurship. It is, thus, well-positioned to tackle poverty at all levels. The low skills requirement and local jobs offered by the tourism sector are more accessible by and benefit more the poor and vulnerable, particularly youth and women.
Potential indicators in this target are grouped by the following Theme and sub-theme:
Employment / Recruitment of persons from vulnerable groups
Business development / Entrepreneurship
Education and training / Capacity building
TARGET 1.3
IMPLEMENT NATIONALLY APPROPRIATE SOCIAL PROTECTION SYSTEMS AND MEASURES FOR ALL, INCLUDING FLOORS, AND BY 2030 ACHIEVE SUBSTANTIAL COVERAGE FOR THE POOR AND THE VULNERABLE
Target 1.3 recognizes the need to implement appropriate social protection systems (SPS) for all and sees it as key to improve living conditions. The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the need to build universal social protection systems to provide income security and health protection and the crisis has not only revealed large gaps in coverage, adequacy and comprehensiveness of social protection systems, it also yields the growing urgency and commitment on part of countries to build universal social protection systems. In this regard, the myriad of tourism workers who are mostly classified as working in the informal sector, part of MSMEs or belonging to vulnerable groups such as immigrants, should benefit from the available systems. Tourism’s contribution to this target is through its role as duly enforcing application of SPS for the benefit of those working in the sector.
Potential indicators in this target are grouped by the following Theme and sub-theme:
Inclusion / Social protection system (SPS)
TARGET 1.5
BY 2030, BUILD THE RESILIENCE OF THE POOR AND THOSE IN VULNERABLE SITUATIONS AND REDUCE THEIR EXPOSURE AND VULNERABILITY TO CLIMATE-RELATED EXTREME EVENTS AND OTHER ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, AND ENVIRONMENTAL SHOCKS AND DISASTERS.
Tourism can be an engine to build resilience, reduce exposure and vulnerability to climate-related extreme events and other economic, social and environmental shocks and disasters. Tourism can promote and integrate disaster risk management approaches throughout the industry, given the often heavy reliance on tourism as a key economic driver. Thus, contributing to Target 1.5, which calls for building resilience to environmental, economic and social disasters. The resilience of the sector needs to be harnessed especially in periods of recovery after natural disasters caused by climate change, for example, earthquakes and tsunamis. Although most measures adopted for this target will benefit the entire population, particular attention should be paid to vulnerable groups and populations in poverty, as these are more likely to be marginalized or lack access to the prevention or management instruments. Therefore, all indicators proposed below should be read as targeting in particular the poor and/or vulnerable.
Potential indicators in this target are grouped by the following Theme and sub-theme:
Crisis management / Crisis strategies and plans
Crisis management / Risk Management Policies
Crisis Management / Disaster risk reduction
Crisis Management / Crisiscommunication strategy
Education and training/ Capacity Building
TARGET 1.a
ENSURE SIGNIFICANT MOBILIZATION OF RESOURCES FROM A VARIETY OF SOURCES, INCLUDING THROUGH ENHANCED DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION, IN ORDER TO PROVIDE ADEQUATE AND PREDICTABLE MEANS FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, IN PARTICULAR LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES, TO IMPLEMENT PROGRAMMES AND POLICIES TO END POVERTY IN ALL ITS DIMENSIONS.
Tourism can be a resource for the implementation of programmes and policies to end poverty or build resilience for vulnerable communities. Many Least Developed Countries (LDCs), Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are dependent on tourism and hold on to the importance of aid and cooperation in tourism development. This can take many forms such as initiatives supporting the creation of social inclusion and poverty reduction programmes, tourism-related social businesses, tourism income (e.g., taxes) allocated to poverty reduction or social inclusion programmes, ensure tourism income remains in the destinations and benefit the local communities. It should be noted that the measurement of tourism development to this target depends on the country’s governance structure or the monitoring instruments available.
Potential indicators in this target are grouped by the following Theme and sub-theme:
Tourism value chain / Tourism operations
Partnerships / Collaborative dialogues
Investment / Financial Investment
TARGET 1.B
CREATE SOUND POLICY FRAMEWORKS AT THE NATIONAL, REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL LEVELS, BASED ON PRO-POOR AND GENDER-SENSITIVE DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES, TO SUPPORT ACCELERATED INVESTMENT IN POVERTY ERADICATION ACTIONS.
Tourism’s contribution to this target is twofold – by mainstreaming pro-poor and gender-sensitive issues in tourism development strategies and through investments, and regular consultations with national governments to place tourism as a driver for national legislations on pro-poor and gender development strategies. As a sector, tourism has the potential to place pro-poor and gender sensitive policy legislation at the forefront.
Potential indicators in this target are grouped by the following Theme and sub-theme
Legal Frameworks, policies and rule of law / Tourism policies and strategies
Women´s empowerment / Gender responsive policies
Investment / Financial investment
