Social Capital Key to Development-Led Tourism?

As the importance of community groups in local development increases, calls for communities, markets and states to be complements rather than substitutes in development-led tourism are becoming more significant. However, would incorporating small tourism firms (STFs) from the informal sector into the state-regulated sector maximise their contribution to tourism development?

Now, a new paper by Michael Ngoasong (OU) and Albert Kimbu (University of Surrey), published in the Elsevier journal Tourism Management, adds to the debate, sharing findings that have important policy implications if community organisations and private businesses are to become active partners with state agencies.

Informal Microfinance Institutions and Development-Led Tourism Entrepreneurship examines the relationships between the direct and indirect effects of informal microfinance institutions (IMFIs) on development-led tourism in Cameroon. Drawing on resilience and social capital as central concepts, the authors argue that social capital shapes the form of collective action found in IMFIs and collective action in turn enables IMFIs and the STFs they support to adapt to the threat of operating in the informal sector.

Although the main objective of IMFIs is not to develop the tourism industry per se, the findings suggest that they promote a development and banking logic through 'social prescriptions' that guide members' behaviour and thereby enable development-led tourism entrepreneurship. Thus, any attempt to regulate IMFIs and the STFs they support must include the provision of social competence and resiliency training if they are to adapt to the challenges of operating in the formal sector.

If you would like to read Informal Microfinance Institutions and Development-Led Tourism Entrepreneurship, please request a copy through Open Research Online (ORO) or by emailing Michael Ngoasong direct.