INTEGRAL PROGRAM FOR FAMILIES IN REMOTE PLACES
Tourism is a major economic force throughout the world. As an essential component of many countries' service exports, it has the capacity to bring in substantial domestic and international revenues that can be directed toward the basic global priority of minimizing poverty in local families. The importance of tourism in job creation and poverty reduction cannot be overestimated. Today, tourism is increasingly seen as an important source of economic growth, particularly in poorer countries.
The initiatives of the tourism movement with programs aimed at improving the poverty situation of families have been carried out for more than a decade in different regions of the world, due to the fact that millions of poor people live in places that are potential tourist destinations and that tourism is considered a determining factor for developing countries to improve their economy.
Remote families in conditions of poverty exercise their will to survive every day, but without the support of governments or social foundations, or the possibilities of climbing the ladder of current opportunities. Imagine how far their own efforts could take them if that ladder of tourism were in place. At JUAN DE DIOS EN LA TIERRA INC we have as a socio-economic organization the collective responsibility to put that ladder there.
Tourism with a social and humanitarian approach generates greater net benefit to low-income families because the benefits are greater than the costs, it is not considered a specific product, but a strategy for tourism development and management. Its purpose is to improve the links between tourism businesses and local families or surrounding communities in order to contribute to poverty reduction and enable the lower income population to participate effectively in the development of tourism products.
Our main mission is to generate direct and indirect employment through the development of family enterprises, taking into account the full range of possible benefits and seeking to diversify the life of the tourism center in favor of remote families through additional complementary livelihoods for individual and family sustenance.
There are many strategies that we can develop as a company focusing on the development of the local economy, in the period of stay of tourists and the links that are established for local community development. For it to really work, strategies must be integrated in favor of the surrounding communities, the successful development of the entire tourist destination, the commitment of local tourism companies already established with the communities, and initiatives to develop capacities or skills for a sustainable business, through small training courses and training perhaps in primary informal tourism, while remaining commercially viable by providing added value.
Among our fundamental principles as JUAN DE DIOS EN LA TIERRA INC is to consider tourism as an opportunity that allows the participation of the community in decision making by involving them in discussions to develop tourism products that provide social and economic benefits. In addition, to favor the favorable growth of other disadvantaged populations inserted in the informal sector, as well as in rural areas with remote families with few options for growth. However, it must be recognized that the involvement of the most vulnerable population in the tourism activity may present many obstacles such as: lack of education and training, high quality requirements and tourism specialization, as well as lack of economic and social capital.
That is why we are designing strategies to balance these deficiencies through social programs that together with other social foundations, public and private institutions, NGO'S, and private companies of the countries or regions we visit participate; for example, in our charity program for remote families.
As you have already been able to evaluate in our vision as JUAN DE DIOS EN LA TIERRA INC. we propose that tourist destinations be planned in order to maximize their contribution to the surrounding populations, foster self-sustainable development and in this way progressively eradicate poverty. Developing social programs of interventions in different regions with key aspects necessary to obtain the benefits of tourism for remote families; as well as strategies that strengthen the means of subsistence, creation of new jobs and opportunities for the development of micro businesses or family enterprises.
Programs in which we initiate the primary approach of visits to the communities and their remote families, with the purpose of visualizing their social and economic needs, daily development, current income conditions, employment situation, conformation of the family nucleus, educational level, access to public services, etc... developing plans that allow minimizing to the maximum, in the first contact, the most extreme emergency needs. Then successively facilitate the family's access to the tourism market, maximize links in the local economy by minimizing leakages, take advantage of and complement current livelihood strategies, evaluate tourism initiatives for their contribution to local economic development and impact, be able to demonstrate and measure the impact on the income of the family group, because benefiting poor people and disadvantaged groups is a matter of balance, not multipliers, so the projects must be scalable or progressive.
Comments