Enclave tourism: a friend or a foe for small island destinations? A social perspective Perunjodi Naidoo University of Technology, Mauritius, pnaidoo@umail.utm.ac.mu Key words: Community wellbeing, enclave resort, island, tourism, Mauritius Introduction Earlier studies have stimulated much debate regarding enclave tourism development in developing countries (Britton 1982). However, it is increasingly being acknowledged that despite criticisms, all forms of tourism have the potential to contribute to community wellbeing (Naidoo & Sharpley, 2016) and sustainable development. Research on wellbeing in the tourism industry have mostly examined the wellbeing of tourists and it is only in recent years that the interconnectedness between tourism development and community wellbeing have gained attention (See Andereck et al., 2011; Nawijn & Mitas, 2012; Kim et al., 2013 ; Moscardo et al. 2013; Moscardo, 2016; Naidoo & Sharpley, 2016; Naidoo et al., 2017). Community wellbeing has been associated in the tourism literature with the sustainable tourism development paradigm and is often used interchangeably with the concept of quality of life, happiness and life satisfaction. Wellbeing is a concept difficult to quantify since it consists of both objective and subjective elements. Individuals incorporate personal feelings and perceptions about their environment in their definition of wellbeing (Dissart & Deller, 2000) and these subjective components are fundamental to understand the needs and aspirations of the locals and hence the resources which should be made available them to enhance their quality of life and empower them. It has also been argued that community wellbeing provides a more contemporary approach to understanding the relationships between tourism and destinations and identifies in more detail how tourism detracts from or contributes to sustainability for destination regions (Moscardo et al., 2013: 534). From a sustainable development perspective, tourism development in destinations should provide the resources to meet the aspirations of the community (Moscardo, 2008) but it is concerning to note that communities are often perceived as resources for tourism development
and the later results in the depletion of a destinations resources mainly in fragile ecosystems such as small islands. Islands represent significant challenges in terms of sustainable development and tourism policy (Bardolet & Sheldon, 2008; Twining-Ward & Butler, 2002; Moscardo & Murphy, 2016) and need to be investigated in their own context. Aim of study The market for enclave tourism has rapidly expanded in small island developing states such as Mauritius which has in the past few decades experienced a buoyant tourism industry (Naidoo & Sharpley, 2016; Naidoo & Ramseook-Munhurrun, 2016) largely based on enclave resorts which are perceived by the government as a viable option for current and future tourism development. In this study, enclave tourism refers to resorts with self-sufficient infrastructure and amenities which provide tourism services in a closed environment, such as large hotels and Integrated Resort Schemes. They provide tourists with facilities required during their holidays, such as accommodation, food and beverage, entertainment, shopping and leisure (Naidoo et al., 2017). This study assesses the extent to which enclave tourism, which is the focus of the tourism development strategy in Mauritius, is perceived to contribute to sustainable development in terms of community wellbeing from the perspective of the social domain. It is important to note that no study specially examines the social aspects of community wellbeing and its potential for tourism planning and marketing. Methodology The study adopts an emic approach to research where qualitative data with the use of in-depth interviews are conducted with key stakeholders groups of the tourism industry namely government officials, business operators, and the host community to determine their perceptions about the contributions of enclave to community well-being. A list of semistructured questions was set as a guide for the interview. The participants were asked about the positive and negative social contributions of enclave tourism to community well-being in Mauritius. The interviews were recorded with the permission of the respondents, transcribed verbatim and manually analysed. Findings The results reveal that the socio-cultural and socio-economic domains are important themes which emerged in relation to community wellbeing. The findings reveal that opportunities and
linkages, cost of living, community pride, public services and corporate social responsibility, social interaction, and culture and social spaces were important determinants of community wellbeing in Mauritius.
References Andereck, Kathleen L., and Gyan P. Nyaupane (2011) Exploring the nature of tourism and quality of life perceptions among residents. Journal of Travel Research 50(3): 248-260. Bardolet, E., & Sheldon, P. J. (2008). Tourism in archipelagos: Hawai i and the Balearics. Annals of Tourism Research, 35(4), 900-923. Britton, S. G. (1982). The political economy of tourism in the Third World. Annals of tourism research, 9(3), 331-358. Dissart, J. C., & Deller, S. C. (2000). Quality of life in the planning literature. CPL bibliography, 15(1), 135-161. Edensor, T. (2001). Performing tourism, staging tourism (Re) producing tourist space and practice. Tourist studies, 1(1), 59-81. Jenkins, C. L. (1982). The effects of scale in tourism projects in developing countries. Annals of Tourism Research, 9(2), 229-249. Kim K., Uysal M. and Sirgy M. J. (2013) How does Tourism in a Community Impact the Quality of Life of Community Residents? Tourism Management. 36: 527-540. Moscardo, G. (2008). Sustainable tourism innovation: Challenging basic assumptions. Tourism and Hospitality Research, 8(1), 4-13. Moscardo, G., Konovalov, E., Murphy, L., & McGehee, N. (2013). Mobilities, community well-being and sustainable tourism. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 21(4), 532-556. Moscardo, G., & Murphy, L. (2016). Using destination community wellbeing to assess tourist markets: A case study of Magnetic Island, Australia. Journal of Destination Marketing & Management, 5(1), 55-64. Naidoo, P. (2014) Stakeholders perceived contributions of agritourism and enclave tourism to community well-being in Mauritius, PhD Thesis, University of Technology Mauritius. Naidoo, P., & Ramseook-Munhurrun, P. (2016). Enclave Resorts in Mauritius. In The World Meets Asian Tourists (pp. 127-147). Emerald Group Publishing Limited Naidoo, P., & Sharpley, R. (2016). Local perceptions of the relative contributions of enclave tourism and agritourism to community well-being: The case of Mauritius. Journal of Destination Marketing & Management, 5(1), 16-25. Nawijn J. and Mitas O. (2012) Resident Attitudes to Tourism and Their Effect on Subjective Well-Being: The Case of Palma de Mallorca, Journal of Travel Research. 51(5): 531-541. Naidoo, P., Pearce, P., & Sharpley, R. (2017). The Contributions of Enclave Tourism to Community Wellbeing in Mauritius: Host Community Perspective. In Balancing
Development and Sustainability in Tourism Destinations (pp. 179-188). Springer Singapore.