The Rise of eTourism for Development

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The Rise of eTourism for Development

Alessandro Inversini*, Isabella Rega*, Isabella Nunes Pereira** and Roberto Bartholo**

*Bournemouth University, UK

**Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

ainversini@bournemouth.ac.uk, irega@bournemouth.ac.uk, inunesp@gmail.com, bartholo.roberto@gmail.com

http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk, http://www.ufrj.br

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Tourism and Development

• Tourism is considered as potential strategic factor for economic growth (Sinclair and Stabler, 2002).

• Tourism has a general positive impact on the development of rural economies (Cánoves and Blanco, 2004)

• Tourism generates new businesses, improves infrastructures and services, fosters preservation of the natural environment/ landscapes and helps with economic diversification (Herrero and San Martín, 2012; Wang and Pfister, 2008).

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Tourism vs Development

Leopard Beach Resort - Kenya

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Tourism vs Development

Rocinha Cable Car– Rio De Janeiro

ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 5Hostel Rocinha – Rio De Janeiro

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Tourism and Development

• Tourism is an economic driving force in many developing countries as it substantially contributes to the GDPs of many emerging economies (Sireyjol, 2010).

– from the roughly 9% in Ethiopia or Senegal – to 25% in Mauritius

BUT what is the real contribution of tourism to development and especially to socio-economic

development?

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Tourism and Development

• Tourism has a controversial effect on natural resources and hosting communities’ exploitation (e.g. Deller, 2010)

• Tourism can generate a general exploitation of the working poor by the rich (e.g. Marcouiller, 1997)

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Tourism and Development

Tourism in developing and emerging countries is often seen as an imperialist and post-colonial phenomenon(Nash, 1989; Pastran, 2014)

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How this vision can be challenged?

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Issues at Stake

The nature of the Tourism Industry

Community Based Tourism

SMTEs as unit for Socio Economic Development

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ICT + Tourism ICT + Development

Information and Communication Technologies

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eT4D conceptualization

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Tourism and Development

• Exploitative tourism was historically challenged (Krippendorf, 1987) and alternative forms thus arose with a renewed focus on local sustainability and community development.

• growing demand for products and services that are more sustainable, pro-poor, and less harmful to local environments and communities (Callanan & Thomas, 2005).

• Community Based Tourism (Murphy 1985; Simpson, 2008) that is a bottom up approach to involve community in the creation and execution of tourism products (Sebele, 2010).

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Tourism and ICT

• The advent of the internet produced a paradigm shift in the industry thanks to the convergence among informatics, communication, and multimedia (Buhalis 2003).

• The access to these peripheral areas is often problematic both physically and electronically (Hall and Page 2006).

• SMTEs needs to develop their “virtual size” thus marketing and selling their services to the global markets (Spencer et al., 2012).

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Development and ICT

• Information and Communication for Development is a relatively new field of study (Unwin, 2009; Heeks, 2010)

• The underpinning is that access to digital technology can promote social and economic development (Rega et al., 2013).

• Micro-small and medium size enterprises as unit of analysis (Heeks, 2010), in order to understand the role of ICT in development (Kleine and Unwin, 2009).

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eTourism 4 Development

• The Community Base Tourism perspective (Murphy, 1985; Simpson, 2008; Sebele 2010) where tourism is driven by the local community with a bottom up approach leading to socio-economic development (Lea, 1988);

• The disruptive rise of ICTs and the internet in the field of tourism and its the impact on the marketing (Buhalis, 2003) and selling power (Law 2009) of the travel and tourism operators;

• The increasing importance of technologies within development studies field (ICT4D – Unwin 2009), which are operating as a paradigm shift also at micro and small firm level (Heeks 2010).

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Case Study: Rocinha

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ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 22Rocinha - The Community Perspective

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Case Study Research Questions

• RQ1: to what extent Small and Medium Tourism Enterprises are enhancing the socio-economic conditions of local communities?

• RQ2: what is the importance of tourism technologies in disadvantaged settings?

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Interviews topics

1. the use and the role of technologies for SMTEs

2. skills development

3. clients typologies

4. reasons to be a touristic entrepreneurs

5. the relation between Rocinha and tourism

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The impact of tourism on Rocinha

“The choice of tourism was a matter of social justice more than driven by personal motivations. […] I saw that the exploitation of external entities [i.e. travel agencies] was not converted in a social return for the slum,

and this made me decide [for tourism] (Rocinha Original Tour).

Main Impacts•employment of new people •using products bought locally •tourists spend their money

Most importantly tourism is helping in fostering relation between tourists, the environment and the local community

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The impact of tourism on Rocinha

“Clients love it [Rocinha], they post in facebook that they love it because they feel at home. […] In Rocinha tourists love these things, the culture, the place, our welcoming attitude […]and

tourists when arrive here feel welcomed by the local people.[…] Here is plenty of human warmth.” (Hostel Rocinha)

“[Tourism] is good for the local economy, but also because you can meet people from other countries. You, without travelling

outside the country, are meeting and knowing a bit of each person [coming], of each place in the world, and this is interesting.” (Hostel

Rocinha)

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Web Presence and Digital Literacy

“This business could not work without internet. There is no way. Clients would not climb the steps and come

until here. Without internet, we would have only 1 or 2 guests, but not the majority of them. Without internet the

conditions to have this place would not exist.” (Hostel Rocinha)

“I think there is no way of doing this job without internet. There is no way, how people would know that this hotel

exist? It wouldn’t be possible.” (Hotel Boa Viagem 2)

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So…

• Tourism can be considered also a socio-economic driving force

• Digital technologies can be helpful to make CBT firms visible.

• eT4D can become a new research field – Technology adoption– Professional Use & disintermediation– Professional training– […]