Sustainable Nature based Tourism, Involvement of Indigenous Women and

Development: A Case of North East India Paper Presented in the conference on Social Work and Social Development:

Action and Impact, 2012 held in Stockholm during 8-12, July, 2012

Utpal kumar De

Department of Economics

North Eastern Hill University

Shillong, 793022, IndiaPhone: +91-3642723182 (O), +91-3642726182 (R), +91-9436102066 (M)

Email: utpalkde@gmail.com; de_u@yahoo.com

Web: www.nehu-economics.info/

Background

Nature based tourism: Wettest place, scenic beauty of waterfalls, forest- flora and fauna, limestone caves, jungle and hill trekking etc are the main attractions

Preservation of natural beauty is the main task for the growth and prospect of tourism - other than the extraction and damaging activities

Contribution to employment and income across the gender and class

At the tourist sites women who are from the indigenous communities are mostly involved - though men are also involved in various tourism related activities like social, cultural, hospitality and transport, promotion etc.

Indigenous women works mostly in and around the tourist sites and sell- Handicraft products prepared from the minor non-timber forest products, Consumption articles collected from forest, Handloom products of indigenous design and Items of traditional culture as well as local food and beverages

Objective:To explore how a substantial section of indigenous population of North-East India especially the women earn their livelihood from the growing nature based tourism activities through the maintenance of nature itself. Relative position of women vs men in employment and income in the nature based tourism related activities

Khasi Women Selling handicraft and Handloom Products at Elephant falls

Brief Review

Author (s), year Remarks

John, 1974; Attanayake et al, 1983

Role of tourism in the generation of employment and income

Chopra, 1991 Estimated economic, socio-cultural, environmental and political.

Shah and Gupta, 2000 Sectoral impact of tourism through linkage effect

Elkan, 1975; Farver, 1984; Wilkinson, 1989; Blake, 2001; McCatty and Serju, 2006; Marcouiller, 2007

Contribution to economic development across various countries

McGranahan, 1999; Marcouiller, Kim & Deller, 2004

Distributional impact in the rural society

UNED-UK, 1999 Impact on women

Mings, 1978; Wilkinson, 1989 Effect on social, moral and family life

Riley and Szivas Creation of new jobs by tourism devt. does not lead automatically to the creation of wealth for the indigenous population

Blake et al, 2008 Questioned returns of tourism to skilled workers

Materials and MethodsPrimary survey: 256 sample respondents from three major tourist sites - Lady Hydari Park , Shillong Peak and CherrapunjeeHotel owners – 48Heads of Restaurants – 36Heads of fast food stalls – 24Street food stalls – 20Vendors – 68Tourist taxi/vehicle – 40Local taxi/small vehicle – 20

Analysis and Presentation: Descriptive and tabular: Seasonal variation in visit rate and employment and income is considered Estimation of Employment and income multiplier

Observation

Table-1: Distribution of the Surveyed Respondents According to their Gender

Category Male Female Total

Hotel 42 (87.50) 6 (12.50) 48 (18.75)

Restaurant 30 (83.33) 6 (16.67) 36 (14.06)

Fast Food stall 8 (33.33) 16 (66.67) 24 (9.38)

Street Food stall 12 (60.00) 8 (40.00) 20 (7.81)

Tourist Taxi 40 (100) 0 (00) 40 (15.63)

Local Taxi 20 (100) 0 (00) 20 (7.81)

Vendors 10 (14.71) 58 (85.29) 68 (26.56)

Total 162 (63.28) 94 (36.72) 256 (100)

Source: Field Survey by the researcher during 2009–10.Note: Figures in the parentheses represent percentage to total.

A clear glass ceiling is observed where the indigenous women are mostly engaged in comparatively inferior occupation in terms of job status and earning scope

Majority of the highly educated people engaged in tourism and hospitality sector in Meghalaya are male and most of them are involved in hotel and restaurant business, Some middle level or low educated male were found in driving, fast food stalls and even in vending

Majority of the low educated people in the tourism and hospitality sector in Meghalaya are female and majority of them are in vending or various food stall business

Frequency of establishment with larger employment increased in the peak season and that was mostly observed in case of hotel and restaurants as well as vending businesses.

Moreover percentage of male in the first two categories increased more in proportion while that of female increased in more proportion in case of third category.

In all the categories increased requirement of labour during peak season has been met by employing casual/daily labourer.In terms of employment females were highly benefitted and that was in the category of informal sector and relatively inferior occupation; while men who were mostly in relatively better occupation and organised sector were also benefitted.

Around 29% were in the Rs 30000/- or less and 6% in the Rs 30001-60000/- in the lean season It changed to 7% and 24% in the peak season

Around 27% and 19% of respondent male enterprises were in the monthly income group of below Rs 30001 and Rs 30001-60000 during lean season and that changed to 5.47% and about 24% during peak season

Majority of the informal female dominated activities belong to the low earning groups and benefitted in terms of rising earning due to expansion of tourism in the peak season. While males were mostly benefitted through their organised tourism related activities that was flourished in the peak tourist season.

Comparison of variation in employment and income of both male and female and the variation in tourists visited them.

Overall restaurant was the largest beneficiary and followed by vendors and Least benefitted were the street food stallsIn the restaurant/food stalls and vending females were benefitted mostFemale employment have been increased more proportionately than their male counterpart in the low status jobs e.g., sweeper, vegetable processor, helper of cooks etc. Employment Elasticity (0.27): Male = 0.25, Female = 0.29Income Elasticity (0.37): Male = 0.30, Female = 0.57

Concluding Remarks

Nature based tourism as an alternative to resource extraction based activities-preservation vs damaging-sustainable vs unsustainable.Significant impact on employment and incomeGlass ceiling / segregation of tourism and hospitality activities across gender. Poor educational status and special entrepreneurial skill are the reasons behind differential job status.Benefit of Indigenous women in terms of employment is marginally higher than men, whereas income effect is significantly higher through multiplier effect of tourist arrivals in these matrilineal societies.

Limitations and suggestions

Investment multiplier is not estimatedQuality and status of job for female is questionableSuggestion is for steps towards promotion of nature based tourism, ecotourismEducational/technical skill, diversification of activities are essential for creating better job in tourism sectorFemale dominated informal tourism related activities may be formalized to improve their financial strength and further earning scope.

Steps to be taken to stop deterioration of natural treasure for tourism, economic and social sustainability

Thank You