Tourism and poverty alleviation in the Global South: Emerging corporate social responsibility in the Namibian nature-based tourism industry

The tourism industry represents one of the main income sources for many countries in the Global South, including Namibia. In general, tourism is used for economic growth, employment, promoting conservation, sustainable nature resource management and community development. As a result, the industry is increasingly regarded as a prospective tool for poverty alleviation in rural and marginalised communities. In this respect, the capacity of tourism to work for communities and poverty alleviation has been recently highlighted in relation to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which were adopted in 2015. The SDGs define the agenda for global development to 2030 by addressing pertinent challenges such as poverty, inequality, climate change and environmental degradation. Furthermore, the World Tourism Organisation launched the United Nations International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development in 2017, which provides a unique opportunity to advance the contribution of the tourism sector to the three pillars of sustainability: economic, social and environmental. These pillars are similar to the aims of responsible tourism development that aim at social welfare, local economic benefits and environmental natural resources protection. Responsible tourism focuses responsibility towards individuals, organisations and businesses. According to Bramwell and Lane, the essence of responsible tourism is identifying tourism-related actors and attempting to alter industry behaviour towards more sustainable development through the assumption that ethical responsibility will supersede self-interest. In this context, the idea of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been highlighted in tourism-community relations and poverty alleviation strategies. While the development potential of tourism and CSR has been promoted in international policy discussions, there are also critical questions concerning tourism operations’ capacity to contribute to poverty alleviation and create community resilience towards environmental change, for example, through CSR.