Social enterprises in tourism (07/2023)

Sustainability is on everyone's lips, including in the tourism industry. However, the issue of inclusion and participation of disadvantaged groups often falls by the wayside. Yet the tourism sector offers a wealth of opportunities for inclusion and participation. It is not for nothing that the saying goes, “Tourism is a people’s business.” The pertinent question therefore is who exactly is included in the business.

Social enterprises play a pioneering role in this respect. They show how targeted tourism initiatives can contribute to reducing economic and social inequalities through enabling the participation of disadvantaged groups. The South African organisation !Khwa ttu, for instance, offers indigenous San people the opportunity to pass on their cultural heritage through tourism training and jobs, allowing them to live sustainable livelihoods. Our example from Nepal, in turn, shows how female human trafficking survivors have found ways to regain agency in tourism while sensitizing travelers to the horrors of human trafficking. These examples paint a hopeful picture for tourism. But the pressing question remains: can social entrepreneurial engagement also bring about change in the industry as a whole? More on this in our interview with Professor Claudia Brözel, founder of the Social Entrepreneurship Competition in Tourism.