Can nature's beauty lift citizens from poverty?
Using nature's beauty as a tourist draw can boost conservation in China's valued panda preserves, but it is not an automatic ticket out of poverty for the humans who live there, a unique long-term study shows. This study can also have relevance here in South Africa, where there are many projects to assist local communities in benefiting from local tourism attractions.
Often those who benefit most from nature-based tourism are people who already have resources. The truly impoverished have a harder time breaking into the tourism business, according to the paper, 'Drivers and Socioeconomic Impacts of Tourism Participation in Protected Areas,' published in the 25 April edition of PLoS One.
The study looks at nearly a decade of burgeoning tourism in the Wolong Nature Reserve in Southwestern China. China, like many areas in the world, relies on tourism over farming for economic viability, while attempting to preserve fragile animal habitat.