People in the beating heart of the Amazon : The impact of indigenous tourism on local community members and their natural environment in the interior of Suriname
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2011-02
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en
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Abstract
Tourism to the interior of Suriname is relatively new. It started 15 years ago and the local industry is
still growing. The tours take place in a unique natural setting and in villages with Maroon and Native
American people. As tourism in the region becomes more popular, cultural and natural problems
probably arise. For instance, due to tourism cultural traditions change and the amount of garbage
produced increases. Nature and cultural aspects should therefore already be taken into account in
tourism policies. In addition there is an economic aspect that needs attention.
Tourism to the interior is often organized in package tours, and these are, in general,
organized in Paramaribo. They take 3 to 5 days in which tourists visit different villages. Sometimes
tourists stay at a lodge, owned by local owners, while in other cases they visit the more luxurious
resorts owned by tour operators in Paramaribo. A value chain analyses follows the money spend by
the tourists. Applied in this research suggests that there is not much difference between what local
people may earn in the first situation, i.e., local people own a lodge, as compared to the second one
of the luxury resort (that often claim to be ecotourism and have local employees) in the hands of the
Paramaribo tour companies. There is also not much difference in how local people perceive tourism
around these two kinds of accommodations. In spite of this local people want to participate in
tourism and even see a lot of opportunities in this sector, but ultimately many members within the
community hardly profit. However, local people are concerned that tourists profit economically by
the photographs they take and supposedly sell.
In order to accomplish a more fair division between the local community and Paramaribo,
between communities and between community members tourism must become more pro-poor and
community based (at least more driven by local people). This first of all means a rise in knowledge
and spread of realistic ideas for local community members. Second, tourists need to be informed
about the situation in the tourism business to make better informed choices, and third, the tourism
industry itself needs to make a fairer division between the profits between local communities and
the tour operators in Paramaribo. Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and (semi-) government
institutions could channel these activities and provide support to achieve this goal.
How to improve the local situation is dependent on the local setting (in this case the interior
of Suriname), however solutions for improvements can always, in every setting, be found when
taking into account all the actors involved in tourism and their role in the industry. The economic,
socio-cultural and natural impacts described above are often interconnected. Improvements of these
impacts are thus also interconnected. For example, the behaviour of tourists can be improved if
tourists get information on the local economic benefits, cultural and social circumstances and natural
surroundings and economic benefits may improve because sustainable tourism is becoming more
popular.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen