Doctoral Thesis Tourism and Poverty Alleviation in Nature Conservation Areas: A Juxtaposition between Japan and Vietnam Nguyen Van Hoang Division of Integrated Arts and Sciences Graduate School of Integrated Arts and Sciences Hiroshima University September 2019 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to express my most sincere gratitude to my primary supervisor, Prof. Carolin Funck for accepting to supervise me, her high responsible guidance and constructive advice were invaluable. Special thanks and appreciation also go to my co- supervisors, Prof. Junyi Zhang, Prof.
Koki Seki, Prof. Toshihisa Asano, and Prof. Itaru Nagasaka for their insightful feedback. I would also like to thank all the staff of Taoyaka Program and Graduate School of Integrated Arts and Sciences for their responsibility and support during my study in Hiroshima University.
I specially acknowledge Taoyaka Program, Hiroshima University for providing a full scholarship, without which my study could not have been possible. I appreciate all the people who helped me during the fieldwork in both case studies of Japan and Vietnam, without their support and cooperation, my study could not have been fulfilled. I am also thankful to my colleagues in the seminar at Hiroshima University, and whom in my working place at University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ho Chi Minh City for their companion during my PhD journey. Last but not least, I am indebted to my wife and daughter, without their unconditional love and sacrifice, my study in Japan could not have been completed.
ii ABSTRACT This research examines the interrelationship between the tourism and poverty nexus in two countries, Japan and Vietnam, particularly focused on nature conservation areas. It argues that although tourism has often been linked with poverty through the concept of pro-poor tourism (PPT), limited research has investigated this from different perspectives of developed and developing countries where may suffer different types of poverty, that could be absolute or relative poverty. On the one hand, tourism may contribute positively to poverty alleviation, on the other hand, it may impact negatively to inequality of income distribution during its growth process. Little is also discussed about the perspectives of local people with regard to tourism in nature conservation areas, whose voices may influence the success of conservation outcomes.
This is particularly important for both developed and developing economies such as Japan and Vietnam which are suffering with different types of poverty issues. Taking two case studies – Yakushima, a natural world heritage site (NWHS) and Cu Lao Cham, a marine protected area (MPA) as the two particular nature conservation areas, this research seeks to answer three main questions: (1) How do local people perceive tourism’s impact on poverty alleviation in the case of Cu Lao Cham? (2) How do local tourism enterprises perceive tourism’s impact on income distribution and spatial tourism development in the case of Yakushima? and (3) What are the barriers for poverty alleviation or mitigation of income inequality in Japan and Vietnam? This research utilized both qualitative and quantitative methods for data collection and analysis. A survey was administered with 205 local people in Cu Lao Cham. Interviews were conducted with 32 and 41 local tourism enterprises in Yakushima and Cu Lao Cham, respectively.
It indicated that the people in both cases perceived positively the impact of tourism to their lives and the local economies. In the case of Cu Lao Cham, locals’ perceptions regarding tourism and poverty alleviation are more clearly reflected. However, in the case of Yakushima, tourism growth may not necessarily contribute to equal income distribution and is perceived as creating a gap between tourist villages and non-tourist villages. At the same time, the people in both case studies also felt the inequalities of income distribution not only between local tourism stakeholders on the islands but also between locals and non-locals who come from the mainland.
In addition, in the case of Cu Lao Cham, tension and disagreements with iii regard to uneven tourism benefit distribution happened among various tourism participants. In terms of barriers to tourism participation, local people in Cu Lao Cham also faced a number of critical challenges in which the lack of knowledge and skills, insufficient financial capital, and market access appear as the most critical obstacles. Furthermore, the research findings in both cases are consistent with the aim of PPT concept that tourism is not only generating economic benefits but also creating effects from social and cultural aspects (i., lifestyle aspect in the case of Yakushima and gender aspect in the case of Cu Lao Cham). Above mentioned insights of those people (both positive and negative ways) may have an effect on the conservation outcomes of the two case study areas as there is a strong relation between tourism growth and its impacts on local people residing with (in) these nature conservation areas.
This research also confirmed again the importance of local people’s perceptions regarding not only tourism and poverty alleviation overall as some previous research supported but also in the relation to tourism and conservation goals. Once the insights of local people have been deeply understood and their attitudes tended to support tourism development in nature conservation areas, the goals of sustainable tourism development in these special settings are more likely to be achieved. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE. iii LIST OF TABLES.
x LIST OF FIGURES .xi PAPERS PUBLISHED FROM THIS RESEARCH .1 Background of the research .5 Structure of thesis .1 The brief evolution of poverty concept .2 Poverty in absolute terms .3 Poverty in relative terms .4 Poverty approached in this study .3 Tourism for poverty alleviation: a positive perspective .4 Tourism for poverty alleviation: a critical perspective .5 Tourism in nature conservation areas.6 Perceptions of tourism and poverty alleviation. 21 TOURISM DEVELOPMENT AND POVERTY SITUATION .2 Tourism development and Poverty in Vietnam .1 Tourism development: an overview .1 History of tourism development .2 Tourism development in nature conservation areas .2 Poverty in Vietnam .3 Tourism policies and poverty alleviation.3 Tourism development and Poverty in Japan .1 Tourism development: an overview .2 Poverty in Japan .3 Tourism policies in Japan .1 The development of tourism policies in Japan.2 The framework of tourism policy in Modern Japan .3 Case study approach .1 An overview of case study approach .2 Criteria for selecting the study sites .4 Data collection methods .3 Semi-structured interview .1 Quantitative data analysis .2 Qualitative data analysis. 66 CASE STUDIES OF YAKUSHIMA AND CU LAO CHAM .2 Yakushima - the case study area .1 Overview of Yakushima .3 Economic situation in Yakushima .4 Regulations of NWHS in Yakushima .3 Cu Lao Cham - the case study area .1 Overview of Cu Lao Cham .3 Economic situation in Cu Lao Cham .4 Regulations of MPA in Cu Lao Cham. 95 RESULTS – INTERVIEWS IN YAKUSHIMA.2 Interview respondents’ profiles .3 Perceptions of tourism’s impact.4 Perceptions of income distribution .5 Perceptions of spatial differences of tourism’s impact.
108 RESULTS – QUESTIONNAIRE SURVEY AND INTERVIEWS .2 Results from the questionnaire.1 Survey respondents’ characteristics .2 Respondents’ living conditions.3 Perceptions of the importance of tourism .4 Perceptions of barriers to tourism participation .5 Satisfaction level of tourism development .6 Perceptions of tourism as a tool of poverty reduction .7 Additional statistical test .3 Results from the interviews .1 Interview respondents’ demographics .2 Tourism’s contribution to respondents’ lives and the local economy .3 Tourism income distribution and disagreements .4 Barriers to tourism participation. 153 A COMPARISON OF TWO CASE STUDIES’ RESULTS.3 Perceptions of tourism’s contribution .4 Perceptions of tourism and income distribution .5 Barriers to tourism participation and poverty alleviation .6 Creating a new concept of pro-poor tourism. 160 CONCLUSION AND FUTURE RESEARCH .2 Summary of research findings .3 Contribution of this research .4 Limitations of the research. 185 ix LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1 The development of poverty concept and its measurements.2 Vietnam’s poverty rate by residence and by region 2006-2016 .3 Tourism development policies, strategies, and plans .1 List of interviews will be provided in Chapters 6 & 7 .1 Trends in GDP in Yakushima 2004-2014 .2 Trends in Population Working by Industry .3 Trends in Poverty Rate between Kagoshima and Nationwide .4 The Distribution of Residents, Households and Tourism facilities by Village .5 Outline of the policies surrounding the Yakushima World Heritage Area .6 Zones in the Cu Lao Cham MPA management structure .7 Prohibited activities within the Cu Lao Cham MPA and associated zones .8 Comparing case studies: Yakushima and Cu Lao Cham .1 Interview respondents’ profiles .1 Survey respondents’ characteristics .2 Barriers to participation in tourism services .3 Respondents’ tourism related jobs .4 Difficulty in participating in tourism services .5 Living condition changed since participating in tourism .6 Satisfaction of the outcomes of the livelihood change project of MPA .7 Perceptions of tourism as tool of poverty reduction .8 Five most responses of perceived poverty .9 Four most recommendations for tourism development .10 Crosstabulation between gender and current job of respondents .11 Pearson Chi-square test results .12 Crosstabulation between respondent group and the reason of more income .13 Crosstabulation between respondent group and the reason of not allowed .14 Crosstabulation between respondent group and the reason of tourists increase .15 Crosstabulation between respondent group and local people’s desire .16 Full breakdown of interviewees’ demographics.17 Summary of perceived impacts of tourism to respondents’ lives .18 Summary of perceived income distribution and disagreements .19 Summary of perceived barriers to tourism participation.
148 x LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1 Map of Vietnam .2 International Arrivals to the North region of Vietnam, 1960-1975 .3 Tourist arrivals to Vietnam, 1980-1989 .4 Vietnam’s tourism arrivals (thousand) receipts (trillion VND) 2000-2018.5 Map of Japan .6 Changes in Inbound and Outbound tourism in Japan (1964-2018) .7 Changes in relative poverty rate in Japan (1985-2015).1 Research design and research methods .1 Map of Yakushima.2 Yakushima’s Tourist Arrivals 2000–2017 .3 An accommodation located in Anbo town.4 An accommodation located in Hirauchi village .5 A souvenir shop located in Kusugawa village .6 A tea shop located in Nagamine village .7 A souvenir shop located in Miyanoura town .8 A car rental office located in Koseda village .9 Population and households differences by village in Yakushima 2015 .10 Location of Cu Lao Cham Island .11 Tourist arrivals Cu Lao Cham 2005-2018 .12 The change of number of labors and households in tertiary sector .13 Local tourism businesses in Cu Lao Cham from 2008 to 2016 .14 A signboard of homestay at Bai Ong village .15 A signboard of homestay at Bai Lang village .16 Souvenir shops at the tourist market .17 Dried seafood sellers along the commune road .18 Tourist pier in Cu Lao Cham .19 Tour operator coming Cu Lao Cham .20 Motor bike taxi service .21 A signboard of coral watching service.22 Regulated zones of protection of Cu Lao Cham MPA .1 Average monthly personal income and current jobs of respondents .2 Respondents’ self-assessment of living conditions .3 Five most important income sources.4 Respondents’ occupation before and after the establishment of MPA .5 Reasons for changing occupation.6 Living condition changed since changing jobs .7 Perception of the importance of tourism .8 Three main beneficiaries of tourism.9 Local people’s desire to participate in tourism .10 Local people’s desire to get support to participate in tourism.11 Length of respondents’ participation in tourism services .12 Tourist map of Cu Lao Cham. 143 xi PAPERS PUBLISHED FROM THIS RESEARCH Nguyen, V. Tourism’s contribution to an equal income distribution: Perspectives from local enterprises. Tourism Planning & Development.
DOI: https://www.com/doi/full/10. Tourism and poverty: Perspectives and experiences of local residents in Cu Lao Cham MPA, Vietnam. Tourism in Marine Environments (Accepted manuscript).