Social Business for Community Tourism

THE globally acclaimed concept 'social business' of Prof. Dr. Muhammad Yunus, can be linked with the community tourism development of Bangladesh. The social business concept helps in tourism product diversification, employment generation, tourism promotion among the local community. One of the key issues for sustainable tourism development is community benefit. Local community through social business can easily be involved in different activities of community tourism development like handicrafts production and promotion, local food production in hygienic manner, cultivation of fruits and flowers, etc. Linking the social business in the overall tourism activities can augment national tourism and help benefits cascade down to the local community.

If we can properly relate social business concept with the community tourism development activities, it will need less investment or, in some cases, no investment as whatever the skills and assets available are the main investment for entrepreneurship development. A small scale micro-credit to the local people can be provided for handicrafts production, promotion of local recipe and training the local unemployed youth like tour guides, ushers, souvenir sellers etc. It would yield a good result within a short period. It would also help women becoming self-dependent. The PKSF may come forward in implementing this concept as it can easily exert the local NGOs in implementing the micro-credit activities.

Visit to some heritage sites of Bangladesh – Paharpur, Mahasthagarh, Kantajeu Temple and Sixty-domed Mosque, has revealed an immense potential of community tourism development through social business. One found here some local women selling their products. Even women bargain for prices with the picnic parties for helping cook food. Some of the local women run tea stalls at these heritage sites. Tourists as well as local people buy necessary items from these tea-stalls.

Involving the local people in any project formulation and implementation of community tourism development is essential. Sometimes, it is hard to involve local community in community tourism projects formulation and implementation, as awareness level of local people in this sector is yet low and they are not much aware about the future benefits. Here, social business can be an effective tool to involve local people in community tourism development, as social business is easy for them to understand. Community tourism development synchronization with social business may be incorporated in the national tourism policy.

The writer is Deputy Manager of BPC. He can be reached by ziabpc@gmail.com