Master Thesis Development of a Pro-Poor Tourism Industry in Mwanza, Tanzania Anjelle Rademakers (3688763) Supervision: dr. Henk Huisman December 2011 Prologue In an increasingly globalised world, the lives of people who live half the world’s distance away from each other become intertwined more and more. Tourism is one of the contributors to globalism and through the years it has proved to bring benefits to the local community but can also do a lot of harm. Pro-poor tourism is a strategy or tool to turn any kind of tourism, whether small-scale or mass-tourism, into an industry that generates income and other benefits for the local community and even the poor. Critics have argued that pro-poor tourism does not attend the need for structural change. It does not encourage processes that will change the status quo of the present capitalist world (Harrison 2008). Just as other advocates of pro-poor tourism, I believe that old forms of tourism did not consider the needs and rights of the local community enough. Without contesting the idea that structural change is needed in the long term, advocates of pro-poor tourism argue that already change can be achieved by the introduction of certain standards and aims in tourism right now. Po-poor tourism delivers the needed tools that could mean a change of thousand of lives in the short term. During this study I have been focussing on the question how a pro-poor tourism industry could be created in one of the largest cities in Tanzania; Mwanza. Mwanza lies only a couple of hours away from one of the largest attractions of Africa: Serengeti National Park. However, the large flow of tourists that enter Tanzania every year, do not come near the borders of Mwanza region as they all tend to follow the crowd and stick to the beaten path of the Northern Circuit. Therefore Mwanza misses out on possible income generated by the tourism industry. SNV Netherlands Development Organization gave me the assignment to make an inventory of the existing and potential attractions and tourism routes in and around Mwanza City. With the right management and the right interventions, Mwanza might become a blooming tourist destination in which the local people, including the poor, come first. Many people have helped me during my research and the writing of this thesis, both in Tanzania and the Netherlands. I’d like to start with my supervisor of Utrecht University, dr. Henk Huisman, who I’d like to thank for his guidance through the whole process of writing a research proposal, doing the actual research and writing the thesis. My supervisor in Tanzania, Rinus van Klinken (portfolio coordinator SNV) and Sophie Boshouwers (young professional SNV) have helped me in Mwanza and have guided my research in the right direction. I’d also like to thank Ambokile, the SNV driver, who had to bring us to and pick us up from so many places time and time again. Furthermore, I am grateful for the rest of the SNV team in Mwanza for always showing interest in the work and whereabouts of Alban Jagueneau and Jes Halim Nauckhoff have been pleasant co-workers during the entire process and I really appreciated the work we’ve done together and all the discussions we had on what strategy to follow. Special thanks go to Dulla, Ally and Eric. Dulla has been the centre of my research and I really appreciated his endless enthusiasm and ability to cope with all my demands throughout my stay in Mwanza. He could arrange anything, both for myself but also for my visitors, and except for being a great guy to work with I’ve really come to appreciate him as a friend who I’d very much like to see again some day. ii Ally was always willing to help me with my research and answer all my questions even though he sometimes had his doubts about what it would bring to the table for him. With a nice cup of Tanzanian porridge we tried to find all the ins and outs of the tourism industry or other subjects like school systems and politics. I’d like to thank Eric of the Saint Augustine University, for all the times he joined me on my field trips and interview rounds, and functioned not only as a translator but as a very useful interview partner who complemented my questions and filled in the gaps. He was a very pleasant guy to work with. Dulla, Ally and Erick, I wish you all the best with your careers in tourism. Tuko pamoja kama samaki na maji ;) I will miss you! Amani na upendo. I’d also like to thank Jane, Anderson, Frank, Uwesu, Anne and Hassan for their time and help in trying to get the full picture and complexity of tourism in Mwanza. I’d like to thank the other students from Utrecht University: Bob Jan, Frederieke, Ilse, Jes, Joost and Kleoniki. They have been great friends to me and made sure the trip – besides being a learning experience – also was a great time with amazing people, fun weekends and booming parties. They even provided some visitors who could test the design of our village tour. I’m very thankful that my mother, sister and friends came to visit me and joined me on the pilot village tour in Nyegezi and gave their feedback on the whole project. I wish to thank my father, Bart Rademakers, my mother Ingrid Lezwijn, my boyfriend, Roderick Knipsael and my good friend Tessel Stabel for their reviews of the chapters of this thesis, for correcting my sentences and removing all the flaws they could find. Extra thanks go to Roderick, as he had to cope with all my mood swings during the writing of this thesis and helped me through what at times seemed to be an endless writing process. Finally I’d like to thank all those people I have met in Mwanza, who made my time there one I shall never forget: Manuela, Fraser, Wiljo, Maguzu, Juve, Jan Willem, Joseph, Jan, Henko, Alex, Kaisa and Sakari, Danny, Musa, Tony, Mark, Major, Frits, Rose, Paresh, David, Jacques, little Chad, Dancan in Moshi, Deo, Iri and the Tunza crew. Asanteni sana! Anjelle iii Abstract Mwanza Region in northern Tanzania is one of the poorest regions of the country. The economy of this region is mainly dependent on two industries: fishing and mining. Since both of these industries are confined in nature and won’t last forever, the city’s economy is in need of an additional industry that will provide the inhabitants of Mwanza with enough job opportunities for the city to sustain itself and hopefully develop further. Since Tanzania’s main export product is tourism and Mwanza lies only two hours away from the most visited safari attraction of the country: Serengeti National Park, tourism would be a good option. If managed in the right way, tourism could even create opportunities for the poorest of the poor, such as the street children and lepers in Mwanza. Up till now Mwanza has been missing out on the benefits of the thousands of tourists coming to Tanzania every year. So far Mwanza has not been able to compete with booming tourist destinations like Arusha and Zanzibar but within the city and its surroundings lay great opportunities for Mwanza to become one of the top tourist destinations in Tanzania. However, tourism does not only bring benefits to the local people. It can also do a lot of harm to the community, its culture and the environment. Examples from other countries and cities show us that revenues from tourism attractions often leak back to developed countries and only a very small percentage stays in the hosting country. There are examples to be found of tourism leading to cultural and economical deprivation. Therefore, it is important that the development of the tourism industry of Mwanza is guided in the right direction, in a way that makes sure the local people, including the poor, benefit first. During this study research has been conducted regarding the opportunities and obstacles that can be found in Mwanza City and its direct surroundings in respect of pro- poor tourism. The main research question has been: Which steps have to be taken to create a pro-poor tourism industry in Mwanza City and Mwanza Region? For the larger part the research has been an exploratory study so necessarily qualitative in nature. In depth interviews and observations have been used in order to get an image of the existing situation in Mwanza and the main opportunities and obstacles the tourism industry is facing. A number of case studies provide an insight in the lives of stakeholders of tourism in Mwanza. For the quantitative part short questionnaires have been used in order to find out the capacity of the attractions and facilities and the demand of the tourists. It has been found that the tourism industry in Mwanza, though still in its infancy, already holds the basis for a variety of attractions that could be developed into pro-poor tourist attractions. Moreover, there are a significant number of stakeholders present in Mwanza who are eager to change the situation. In this study a intervention-oriented roadmap has been developed that focuses on the creation of networks between stakeholders, improvement of education and training of stakeholders, revision of existing supply chains, innovation and development of new pro-poor attractions and routes, lobbying for governmental change, improvement of the regional infrastructure and building of a tourist friendly and pro-poor reputation.