The Business of Poverty in Africa

Inside the Travel Philanthropy System

Amy Scarth, Marina Novelli

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Hardback

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English

Routledge
30 April 2025

Development studies; Tourism industry; Hospitality industry; Sustainability

Series: Contemporary Geographies of Leisure, Tourism and Mobility

This timely and thought-provoking book critically explores key theories, concepts and contemporary issues associated with the travel philanthropy phenomenon and within the debates of sustainable development in Africa. Since the Band Aid era in 1984, and alongside the rise of the international aid and NGO sector, global travel and tourism has considerably expanded into the African continent and with it, face-to-face philanthropy too.

By drawing on the authors’ extensive experience in the field of sustainable development and the African continent, and by using empirical evidence from case studies in Uganda, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe, a systems approach is employed to explain the complexity of travel philanthropy as a growing exchange economy within tourism in Africa and the importance of considering the influence of multi-stakeholder perspectives. Through an interdisciplinary lens framed by a critical realism philosophy, this book provides a thorough investigation and new understanding of travel philanthropy as a system, challenging myopic views of gift-giving and gift-receiving practices in Africa.

Key system outputs reveal emerging moral dilemmas within gift-giving, leading to a call for adequate policy and practice interventions for the advancement of sustainable development. Incorporating observable and unobservable phenomena as matters of causality, a new conceptual model is presented, which redefines how impacts of travel philanthropy may be conceptualised and approached. By doing so the analysis offers significant insight into the real-world complexity of gift-giving and aid interventions through tourism, and how it differentiates from other forms of aid. The research presented in this book provides a solid basis to inform strategies for more effective and ethical pathways to gift-giving/receiving engagements, responsible tourism business management practices in Africa, and contributes to wider debates concerning international aid and donors’ intervention implications in African contexts.

This book is a valuable resource for the tourism industry, policy makers, development professionals, students, researchers, academics in tourism, geography, business and management, economics, international development studies, anthropology, sociology, area studies, and applied ethics.

By: Amy Scarth, Marina Novelli
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm,
Weight: 820g
ISBN: 9781032806501
ISBN 10: 1032806508
Series: Contemporary Geographies of Leisure, Tourism and Mobility
Pages: 342
Publication Date: 30 April 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Primary
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Amy Scarth (PhD, MA, BA Hons) is an applied social scientist and independent consultant specialising in socio-economic development impact and the sustainability of biodiversity in sub-Saharan Africa. Her expertise lies understanding real-world complex systems that private, non-profit and public sectors are embedded, the intersection of humans, nature and politics in Africa's protected areas, as well as global and local tourism strategies. Combining an advanced academic foundation with extensive practitioner experience, Dr Scarth also has a background in multi-stakeholder engagement amongst last-mile populations in fragile contexts of the world. Leadership roles across private industry, NGO, social enterprise, academia, and consultancy, have enabled thought leadership in diverse fields. Marina Novelli (PhD, PGDip Panning, PgDipEd, BSc Hons Economics) is Director of the University of Nottingham's Sustainable Travel and Tourism Advanced Research Centre and Professor of Marketing and Tourism at The University of Nottingham Business School, UK. She is a globally renowned authority in the field of tourism for sustainable development, with an extensive track record of leading impactful research, consultancy and advisory services for international organisations such as the World Bank, the EU, various UN institutions, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the Commonwealth Secretariat, the British Council and National Ministries. She is an Africa specialist, having travelled and worked in 27 countries and over 50 destinations on the continent. She has publishing extensively on issues related to the continent and amongst her many recognitions, she is the recipient of the 2022 Africa Impact Champion, the 2018 Africa Tourism Leadership Award and the 2018 Top 50 Awesome Scholars in Tourism.