The poverty alleviation potential of tourism employment as an off-farm activity on the local livelihoods surrounding Kibale National Park, western Uganda

Abstract

Over the past decade, several scholars have argued that livelihood diversification in terms of off-farm activities is key for rural households to escape from poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Although the continuous growth of tourism in many SSA countries has created an additional off-farm income activity, empirical evidence is lacking to substantiate the poverty alleviating impact of tourism employment as being consistent and universal at the household level. Using the case of Kibale National Park in western Uganda, the aims of this paper are (1) to analyze the actual income composition of different types of rural livelihood strategies by means of cluster analysis, and (2) to compare the financial impact of tourism employment with alternative off-farm income activities. Results show a large differentiation in income compositions of households around Kibale National Park. In general, households engaged in off-farm income activities have higher levels of overall household welfare. Tourism employment generates low incomes compared to alternative off-farm activities, but still enables households to strengthen livelihood strategies by investments in on-farm or alternative off-farm activities.