Pro-poor ethnic tourism in the Mekong : a study of three approaches in northern Thailand

If “pro-poor tourism” (PPT) is about changing the distribution of benefits from tourism in favour of poor people, it is not the same as ecotourism or community-based tourism, nor is it limited to these niches. In the area of the Greater Mekong Sub-region, six developing countries where ethnic minority peoples are poor have actively promoted ethnic tourism, initiated from local to international levels, since 1998. The research questions are: (1) Can ethnic tourism in the Mekong Region actually be made pro-poor? (2) What are the success and failure factors? This paper aims to examine whether PPT can be applied to differing policy approaches - top-down, intermediate and bottom-up - on ethnic communities. The research results show that PPT initiatives can involve non-government organizations in reducing poverty through volunteer tourism activities. The research findings suggest that ethical issues for PPT need to be addressed in order for pro-poor initiatives to succeed. The way tourism businesses do their business with ethnic communities needs to be reassessed and regulated with an inbuilt poverty reduction/community development programme. This paper affirms that the principles of pro-poor tourism must be sensitively and efficiently implemented - and not comprise no-more-than-convenient marketing rhetoric for top-down exploitative economic “development” of poor marginalized people.