Amina, co-founder and co-owner of the Wasini Guide and the Blue Monkey Beach Cottages, today shares here views how, by supporting locally owned businesses tourist visitors actually support the local population. Enjoy the read!
Do you want to support conservation of the local natural resources while traveling – and this without spending any extra money?
You can easily do this by traveling “responsibly”, i.e. by choosing as far as possible locally owned and managed touristic services, be it the restaurant, the hotel, the tour operator, etc.
It is obvious and well-known that protecting nature without local participation is a vain enterprise. The economic benefit has to be felt locally to gain a local support. So the question is: How can you enjoy your travels while, at the same time, making sure that your money benefits the local community?
In 2010 and 2011, a long-term study has been conducted on Wasini Island, and a paper with its findings has been published in 2013: “Links between nature-based tourism, protected areas, poverty alleviation and crises—The example of Wasini Island (Kenya)” by Hubert Job and Ferdinand Paesler from the Institute for Geography and Geology, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Germany.
Prof. Dr. Hubert Job with students in Kisite Mpunguti National Marine Park © Wasini Boat Operators
Results show that in the case of local enterprise, nearly half of the tourist receipts remain on Wasini Island (46%), whereas the internationally owned business reports a leakage rate of 92%, the greater part of which flows outside the country (70%). The reason is that the internationally managed enterprise relies to a much smaller extent on local services and local resources.
Furthermore the study found amongst other, that the owner of the local restaurant pays his 34 workers, all from Wasini village, an average salary of US$54.5. The 64 workers of the international business, 18 of them Wasini village residents, earn an average of only US$ 44.4 per month, which is about 82% of the salary earned by the employees of the locally owned restaurant. (The complete scientific paper can be purchased at www.sciencedirect.com)
Please keep in mind when traveling to Wasini – or elsewhere: to support conservation, choose best local businesses and also visit the community based conservation projects.
Wasini’s Coral Garden – a Community Conservation Project © wasini.net
By Amina, co-owner of Wasini Guide & Blue Monkey Beach Cottages, www.wasini.net
