Question 1. Do you think poverty alleviation can be seriously addressed as touris

1. Do you think poverty alleviation can be seriously addressed as tourism develops? What examples can you give based on what you have seen in your own country regarding tourism development and poverty alleviation?

2. Identify concrete activities local government units can initiate and support to address poverty alleviation
through tourism development.

3. Identify paradoxes and problems that must be negotiated as poverty alleviation and tourism development are considered. How can these paradoxes and problems be managed and converted into opportunities to ensure that marginalized individuals get the support they need?

Those questions should be answered based on the Below case study.

C A S E S T U D Y

Governance and Pro-Poor Tourism: The Case of Marikina City in the Philippines

(Because of space constraints, this case has been reduced; however, you may contact Dr. Rodriguez for the full version.)

Come and visit the city of Marikina, in the National Capital Region of the Philippines, to examine the

incredible example of how a city can successfully adopt a governance and pro-poor tourism program.

Pro-poor tourism was chosen as a major theme for this case because of the following:

• As tourism takes center stage in developing countries, the tourism sector is increasingly perceived as

being able to contribute to the proliferation of economic activities, which if managed in a specific way,

can address poverty alleviation issues.

• Ashley asserts that community-based tourism projects are not necessarily pro poor because the

revenues derived from tourism activities can be confined to serve the interests of relatively well-off stakeholders.

1. The proliferation of books and articles related to pro-poor tourism makes it an interesting topic especially for the academe and the poor. The presentation and exchange of data on the planning and implementation of pro-poor tourism especially in Asian countries can help inform many stakeholders who are interested in understanding the contribution of tourism development in poverty alleviation.

Marikina City as a Tourism Site

Twenty years ago, Marikina was an unremarkable town littered with trash and where sidewalk vendors ruled the streets. Marikina now wants to be known as “the shoe capital of the Philippines. ”Located near the city of Manila, it is believed to be where the shoe industry in metro Manila started. Many residential villages within the municipality were formerly farms used for agricultural crops until these were converted to provide housing for migrants from other provinces seeking work in the metropolis.

Marikina in the late 1980s was not considered a popular tourism destination. An election in the early 1990s catapulted a local executive who introduced radical changes in governance. This led to the emergence of Marikina as a model city. To date, many visitors are pleasantly surprised to see thoroughfares free of clutter and vendors and a municipal hall that enforces its own definition of order. As a result of these changes, Marikina has garnered and continues to garner many awards that generated interest among other cities’ executives eager to learn from its experience. This started the ball rolling for domestic tourism despite the fact that Marikina has few tourism assets. Marikina has no beach resorts and no first-class hotels and places of interests are limited to the city proper.

Now, however, Marikina is hailed as a model city for tourism development, and the interesting thing is that many of the tourists are other cities’ municipal officials who have come to see for themselves just how a city should be governed. Tourists, along with the other municipalities’ officials, enjoy the city’s attractions: Sentrong Pangkultura: Built in 1887, this historical edifice, which was the actual home of Kapitan Moy, the recognized father of the shoe industry, takes tourist’s down memory lane of rustic Spanish villas and airy capiz windows.

Teatro Marikina: The city’s commitment to the arts is manifest in the modern arts facility for plays, concerts, shows, seminars, exhibits, and conventions.

World of Butterflies: A 2000-meter expanse of lush gardens that is home to 20 species of butterflies.

The Marikina River Park: The Marikina River Park is a 10-kilometer-long riverside park of 220 hectares. The river park is for all citizens and tourists to enjoy as a sports and recreational park—even for fishing in the river.

The Shoe Museum and Shoe Industry: Former First Lady Imelda Marcos’s 4,000 pairs of shoes had to be housed somewhere, so why not the shoe capital of the Philippines? Shoes of other notables are also on display. The shoe industry in Marikina has long been unable to compete with imported Chinese shoes, but has discovered a captive market niche of tourists and excursionists. Individuals and groups go on field trips to Marikina and are brought to small shoe factories to watch how shoes are produced using labor-intensive methods and are encouraged to buy finished products.

How It Happened

In three words: leadership and governance. Take, for example, the mayor’s presentation to the Asian Development Bank: “Our targets and goals are clear; our performances are properly measured. We are challenged and motivated to continuously meet our productivity and excellence. Public order and safety are excellent;

the police force is cited as the most outstanding in the region. Taxes due are collected—something that does not often happen in the Philippines—this facilitates the budgeting process and avails the city of funds for the many social programs that citizens and tourists can enjoy.”

World Bank executives were so impressed after touring the city and its Marikina River Park, Homeowners Drive Settlements site, Marikina Public Market, and bikeways. The bikeways network is a recipient of a US$1.3 billion grant from the Global Environment Facility of the World Bank. Additionally, the World Bank named Marikina City one of the model cities in the world.

Poverty Alleviation

The city’s approach to poverty alleviation is multipronged, addressing the health, housing, education and livelihood, and values of our people. Tourism helps poverty alleviation by providing employment opportunities; by bringing new money into the city for the “multiplier effect” to happen; by producing tax revenues for community services, infrastructure, and education. In fact, the city is so well run that many other cities are sending officials to see how they do it, resulting in a boost to tourism.

Ashley emphasizes the value of supply chains, enterprise linkages, nonfinancial partnerships, and capability building and translates these into specific activities that can be planned and implemented at the level of local government officials.2 An investigation of the Marikina government unit in this study focuses on the context of tourism development as an alternative source of livelihood and the manner in which the tourism office is managed, including the leadership style of the local executive directly responsible for the promotion of tourism. The problems were as follows:

1. What are the tourism-related programs, projects and activities that are being done at the level of Marikina’s local government units?

2. What insights on governance can be generated from the investigation of tourism-related portfolios of this local government unit to link tourism to pro-poor concerns?

Data obtained given the variables enumerated by Ashley are shown in Table5–1.

The data presented in Table 5–1 are not exhaustive in the sense that there may be other programs/projects that are operating but that were not observed and sourced using secondary documents. A comparison of data shows the diversity of what can be considered pro-poor projects in Marikina.

Table 5–1 Comparative Data on Marikina Using Ashley’s Matrix

Is there government to: City of Marikina

Boost local inputs into the tourism supply Local government unit (LGU) manages tours that

chain? This question addresses the presence showcase local cuisine and manufactured products. It

of leakages of tourism earnings. It emphasizes manages museums, one of which displays the famous

the importance of local sourcing that opens “shoes of Imelda Marcos.”Conscious efforts are also

more opportunities for marginalized groups. exerted to source materials and local manpower for

festivals sponsored by the local government unit.

(Source: MCTTIPO brochure)

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