Project Report &

Reflection Essay
Case Study: East Timor

SCI401

October, 2011
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Contents

Executive Summary...........................................................................2
Introduction........................................................................................4
Literature Review Summary...............................................................4
Difficulties in defining poverty........................................................4
Effectively measuring and managing poverty................................5
What is PPT?...................................................................................5
PPT as a strategic tool to alleviate poverty....................................6
Description of the Field Program........................................................7
Activities Undertaken......................................................................8
Places Visited..................................................................................9
Sources of Information....................................................................9
Results/Findings from the Field Program..........................................10
Poverty in East Timor....................................................................10
How is tourism & PPT style approaches to tourism implemented in
East Timor?...................................................................................11
Benefits of tourism/PPT to the poor..............................................12
Issues for developing tourism in East Timor.................................13
Measurement and Management of Tourism/PPT...........................15
Discussion........................................................................................16
Conclusion.......................................................................................18
Summary of findings discussed in previous sections....................18
Implications of this study on tourism development in East Timor 18
Implications of this study on the theoretical field studied in the
Literature Review..........................................................................19
Recommendations........................................................................19
References.......................................................................................20

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Executive Summary
Pro-Poor Tourism (PPT) is not a type of tourism but an approach to
tourism. It is a tool that can be used to benefit the poor and
effectively break the poverty cycle. The purpose of this report is to
find out how PPT can be used as a tool to alleviate poverty. The
information found is sourced from literature as well as a case study
of East Timor which involved travelling to East Timor, observing
tourism, and discussing tourism with a number of relevant people.

The literature review aimed to answer the question how can PPT be
used as a tool to alleviate poverty? In doing so it brought light to
the different ways of defining poverty - whether by income or by
what deprivations constitute the living conditions of the poor; the
best way of measuring and managing poverty; the ways in which
PPT can help to alleviate poverty such as empowerment of people
and economic growth which encourages investment in
infrastructure, education and health; and also, the flaws in PPT as a
tool to alleviate poverty.

On the 13th to the 27th of August the Author took part in a field
program to East Timor with the aim of finding out more information
about tourism in East Timor, as well as to gather first-hand
knowledge through observations and meetings with relevant people
to answer the same question, how can PPT be used to alleviate
poverty?. The field program involved travelling to a number of
destinations; being a tourist and experiencing tourism the East
Timor way; as well as meeting a number of people who are involved
in tourism or implementing tourism to achieve other objectives,
such as environmental conservation or infrastructure development.

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The main field program findings were that PPT does benefit poor
communities via an improved economy, empowerment, and
development of infrastructure to name a few. However, PPT also was
hindered by a number of issues such as culture (for example social
jealousies and unreliability due to the issue with saying no); lack of
resources to cater to the needs/wants of tourists; and the lack of
necessary skills and access to training. Findings also showed that
measuring and monitoring whether PPT is helping or harming the
community is vital to ensure its success.

The overall analysis of findings showed that the literature lacked

acknowledgement or even recognition of flaws that were present
when implementing PPT in East Timor. However, both the findings
on the field program and in the literature review supported the
ability of PPT to benefit the poor. The information in this report can
be used by the East Timor government and tourism companies to
recognise the issues that hinder the ability of tourism to alleviate
poverty. The Author recommends that tourism should not be used in
East Timor as a primary source of income due to the sheer number
of issues against its success. However, it is highly recommended to
be used in conjunction with community-based tourism principles,
whilst combining its income with other sources such as agriculture
to minimise the severity of failed investment risk.

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Introduction
Pro-Poor Tourism (PPT) is not a type of tourism but an approach to
tourism. It is a tool that can be used to benefit the poor and
effectively break the poverty cycle. The purpose of this report is to
find out how PPT can be used as a tool to alleviate poverty. The
information found is sourced from literature as well as a case study
of East Timor which involved travelling to East Timor, observing
tourism, and discussing tourism with a number of relevant people.
The reports aim is to analyse the information trends in the literature
in comparison to lessons learned and observations from the East
Timor field program. The report will start by summarising the
information found in the literature review that was completed prior
to the trip. It will then go into a description of the field program
including where the author and her fellow students went, what they
did and who they spoke to. The report will explain the findings in the
results section and discuss those findings in comparison to the
literature review trends in the discussion. To conclude the Author will
summarise the report; talk about how the report findings are
important to the development of tourism in East Timor; make note
of gaps in the literature and recommend whether PPT is appropriate
to use as a tool to alleviate poverty.

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Literature Review Summary

Difficulties in defining poverty

The literature expresses that poverty can be defined two ways
economically and multi-dimensionally.
The economic way of defining poverty deals strictly with
economic conditions (ESCAP, 2003) and the multi-
dimensional way of defining poverty acknowledges that
deprivations of very different kinds (Sen, 2000) make up
poverty. Poor economic conditions are just one of those
deprivations; other deprivations include education; security;
maternal health and health in general; gender equality; and
access to food and clean, drinkable water.

Effectively measuring and managing poverty

Trends in the literature on poverty show that measuring and
managing poverty using economic factors was how it
originally was approached and a lot of organisations still do
that today.
However, the literature explains that the deprivations within
poverty are interconnected (United Nations Development
Programme, 2010), this means that poverty needs to be
managed and eradicated synergistically. If the deprivations
are not given equal attention and eradicated almost
simultaneously, accelerations in eradicating one deprivation
can fast-track the worsening of another deprivation (United
Nations Development Programme, 2010). For example; an
improved economy can mean fast-tracked inequality. This
means that measuring and managing poverty multi-
dimensionally is far more effective than measuring and

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managing poverty economically or even uni-dimensionally for
that matter.
A newly developed way of measuring poverty multi-
dimensionally is using the Multi-dimensional Poverty Index
(MPI) (Alkire & Santos, 2010) which is designed to measure
how deprived households are within each of the main
dimensions/deprivations. The results of the MPI would reveal
not only how many people are poor but the composition of
their poverty which is useful information to know when trying
to alleviate poverty and when measuring if PPT is actually
working or making poverty worse (Alkire & Santos, 2010).
Literature notes that when economic poverty is alleviated it
means that everyone is above the US $1.25 a day poverty
line, and when multi-dimensional poverty is alleviated the MPI
will show that all households are not deprived within any of
the ten dimensions (Alkire & Santos, 2010).

What is PPT?
Trends in the literature show that tourism in general has
positive and negative impacts on the poor (Ashley, Boyd, &
Goodwin, 2000; Shah, 2000).
Literature defines PPT as being an approach that seeks to
utilize tourism as a strategic tool to alleviate poverty (Centre,
2006) and to enhance the positive impacts of tourism and
eliminate the negative impacts of tourism (Ashley, Boyd, &
Goodwin, 2000). In other words, the main aim of PPT is to get
the poor involved in tourism.

PPT as a strategic tool to alleviate poverty

For the income deprived trends show that tourism can
produce extensive economic and employment benefits not
just in the tourism industry but in many related sectors such

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as construction, agriculture and telecommunications (United
Nations World Tourism Organisation, n.d.).
For the education deprived the income that comes from
tourism can be just enough to put one or two children in a
household through school (Ashley, Boyd, & Goodwin, 2000).
For those deprived of good health and health services and
facilities, tourism can catalyse improvements in hygiene and
generate funds for investment in health (Ashley, Boyd, &
Goodwin, 2000) via the tax revenue the government receives
(Moscardo, 2008).
Security deprivation is one of the deprivations of poverty that
tourism is limited by how it can actually help. The literature
says that only a minority can achieve employment security in
tourism and that a major hindrance to tourism succession is
poor land tenure laws which are out of the control of tourism
(Ashley, Boyd, & Goodwin, 2000).
Empowerment can be achieved by tourism to help those who
are power deprived. PPT will not work unless the poor
participate in tourism decisions so that their livelihood
priorities are reflected in the way tourism is developed. Having
a role in tourism gives people power through self-worth which
is important for well-being (Scheyvens, 2002).
Overall trends show that PPT is a new concept that has a lot of
potential to reduce poverty in the different dimensions
simultaneously. However, small flaws have been recognised
which prevent it from being absolutely successful in the long-
term and as a result it is currently still being perfected by its
creators (Ashley, Boyd, & Goodwin, 2000) and other
academics and organisations (Cole, 2008; Centre, 2006; Hall &
Brown, 2006; Scheyvens, 2002; United Nations World Tourism
Organisation, n.d.).
The flaws of PPT include dependence on tourism, loss of
access for locals to some tourism areas, overburdening of
infrastructure (Ashley, Boyd, & Goodwin, 2000), and the
presence of foreigners may demonstrate alien and what is

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perhaps worse, unattainable life-styles and values (de Kadt,
1979).

Description of the Field Program

On the 13th August 2011 to the 27th August the Author and her
fellow students completed a field program in the country of East
Timor. Information about tourism development in East Timor was
collected in a variety of ways whether by observation, participation
or via meetings with a variety of different stakeholders.

MAP 1
Places visited in East Timor

Activities Undertaken
In Dili:
Stayed at the Venture Hotel
Visited the Christo Rei
Swam at the Beach

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Went to the Tais Market
Had meetings with Maria, Shirley and staff of the Haburas
Foundation
In and around Loi-Huno:
Stayed at Hotel Wailakurini
Hiked up Mt Mundo Pedido with Cisto, a walking guide
Took part in a traditional Timorese cooking class with a small
group of local women
Did a walk up and into the Lekirake Cave with Niquo, the guide
Swam in the River
Had meetings with the owner and staff of Hotel Wailakurini
and with the Chefe do Suco (town leader) of Loi-Huno
Visited the Viqueque Markets
Went to the beach at Beaco (South Coast)
Drove back to Dili in a Toyota Troopy 4WD via Bacau
On Ataro Island:
Caught a ferry over to Beloi
Half the time stayed at Rogerios Place (accommodation set-
up by one of the employees at Tua-Koin whilst it is closed)
Half the time stayed at Barrys Place (Ecolodge) in Beloi
Went swimming at the beach and played cricket
Caught a boat (outrigger) to Acrema (Duartes village) and
Duarte gave us a tour and introduced us to his family
Went to the womens cooperative Jewellery Shop and Craft
Shop in Bonecas and bought souvenirs and gifts
Hiked up over the ridge line from Vila to Miquele to visit
Lorenzo and his family and caught a boat back
Played a basketball match with local school kids.
Visited the markets at Macadarde and saw women weaving
traditional Timorese mats.
Took part in an overnight homestay at Biquele a Fishing Village
at Augustino & Ritas House
Had meetings with staff at Roman Luan NGO, a few local
Chefes and with a small selection of local people who are
stakeholders in tourism on the island.
Went snorkelling on the reef off Beloi
Caught a dive boat back to Dili

Places Visited
(refer to Map 1)
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Dili
Loi-Huno via Bacau (Stopover) with a day trip to Viqueque
(the markets) and Beaco (the South Coast of East Timor)
Atauro Island to villages such as: Acrema (Duartes village),
Beloi (Barrys Place), Villa-Beloi (Rogerios Place), Villa (Tua-
Koin & Roman Luan), Bonecas (Womens Cooperative Craft
Shop & Jewellery Shop), Miquele (Lorenzos Place), Biquele
(homestay with Augustine and Rita), and Macadarde
(markets).

Sources of Information
With the group:
Rik Thwaites Lecturer (CSU Albury)
Pete Barrett Assistant (CSU Adventure Ecotourism Graduate
+ Ex-Volunteer Worker with Hotel Wailakurini)
From Dili:
Maria Eco-Discovery Tours (Director)
Shirley Timor Adventures (Part-Owner)
Meabh Haburas Foundation (Volunteer Worker from Ireland)
Leah Haburas Foundation
Dill Haburas Foundation (Community Organiser at Maubisse
Village)
From Loi-Huno:
Falur Hotel Wailakurini (Land Owner + War Hero/Freedom
Fighter during the Resistance)
Miguel Chefe do Suco of Loi-Huno (Town Leader)
Brian Monahan Hotel Wailakurini (Hotel License Owner)
Jos Quintas Hotel Wailakurini (Hotel Manager)
From Ataro Island:
Duarte Tua-Koin Ecolodge (Manager) - a project of Roman
Luan NGO
Avelino Roman Luan Non-Government Organisation (NGO)
(Director)
Gabrielle Samson Roman Luan NGO (An Australian Business
Volunteer [ABV])
Marselo Roman Luan NGO (Project Manager)
Lorenzo Roman Luan NGO (Chairman of the Board)

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Kim Mitchel (CSU Parks, Recreation & Heritage Graduate +
Volunteer Worker with Roman Luan/Tua-Koin)
Barry Barrys Place Ecolodge (Owner)
Ken A developer staying at Barrys Place buying land off local
people to build his own lodge

Results/Findings from the Field Program

Poverty in East Timor

From observation and speaking to people, poverty in all of its
dimensions is seen all over the country in East Timor. Easy access to
clean, drinkable water is limited in most villages, for example on
Atauro Island the water is really salty and people have to walk up
into the mountains to get water daily, as well as having to boil it
before drinking. Most people cook using firewood as fuel; electrical
infrastructure is unreliable, black-outs are common in Dili, and in
other district villages there is no electrical infrastructure at all;
school attendance is poor, if they can afford to go; and economy,
although improving is limited by the reliance on the private sector to
train people, and cultural hindrances such as social jealousies.

How is tourism & PPT style approaches to tourism

implemented in East Timor?
In general
Like Maria, Shirley (Pers. Comm., August 14, 2011) said
village tourism and community-based tourism is the primary
economic strategy so both companies take their tours into
the districts outside of Dili.
Maria involves the communities in the tourism that her
company brings to the districts by getting their help to look
after the tourists. They trust her and encourage her to bring

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tourists because they reap the benefits and are involved with
the visitors.

The Haburas Foundation Tourism Programs

In 2002-3 the Haburas Foundation looked at the benefits of tourism
and decided to develop community-based tourism to encourage
environmental conservation, economic growth and improvement of
living conditions in district communities. In 2004 they looked where
tourism might develop well, such as Tutuala, Jaco Island and Atauro
Island. In Tutuala they discussed with the community the benefits of
tourism via a translator from that village (so the community is more
likely to trust and understand the tourism concept). To be able to
communicate with the village they had to go through the local
Chefe, and to communicate with the village women they had to ask
permission from their husbands; as a result, the process was time-
consuming. When the project was started they explained to the
community what tourists want, what materials to use when building,
what hospitality is, and that they need to conserve the environment
so they can continue to benefit from tourism in the future.

The sixty-six families that chose to participate, split into groups of

four and rotated getting one week of work in tourism every four
weeks. In the first six months the families made US$8000. After
each 4 weeks they decide how much will go towards developing
tourism (e.g. savings to buy a car to be able to transport more water
for tourists) and how much they will put towards environmental
conservation, the rest is split between the sixty-six families evenly.
These earnings may not seem very much but Haburas has taught
them to combine their income from tourism with their income from
other sources such as agriculture to earn more. At present the
families from Tutuala are pretty much self-sufficient and do not
require much more help from the Haburas Foundation. The Haburas
Foundation has started another similar tourism program in Maubisse

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of which will hopefully be opened to tourists next month (November,
2011). In the future, the Haburas Foundation hopes to take some
families from Tutuala to Portugal, Bali or Jakarta so they can learn
what is like to be a tourist, get ideas and therefore improve their
own tourism enterprise.

Benefits of tourism/PPT to the poor

Money and pride especially for women because they are
generally better in the hospitality industry (Shirley, Pers.
Comm., August 14, 2011).
Marias tour company offers tours to the districts outside of
Dili to attract tourism out there where it is needed most
(Maria, Pers. Comm., August 13, 2011) rather than just
tourism in Dili.
I see the benefits that people in the district villages receive
from being involved in tourism it is the biggest source of
employment in the districts of which encourages them to
invest their money into their homes and infrastructure to
attract more tourists (Maria, Pers. Comm., August 13, 2011).
Tourists bring a different cultural perspective and therefore
new ideas which can give East Timorese a more well-rounded
view on certain things (Maria, Pers. Comm., August 13, 2011).
They can learn from you (tourists), and you can learn from
theme (East Timorese people) (Brian, Pers. Comm., August
18, 2011).
Tourism can be used as a social enterprise which means it
benefits everyone. Once the enterprise has paid its way,
profits can be invested into resources such as infrastructure
(Shirley, Pers. Comm., August 14, 2011).
Falur (Pers. Comm. Via translation from Pete Barret, August
16, 2011) believes his hotel and tourism development in his
village helps to preserve the history of the area (Loi-Huno) and
improve the local economy.

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Miguel (Pers. Comm. Via translation from Duarte, August 18,
2011) said we eat and live simply and sleep on bamboo mats
and tables with pigs running around underneath, and tourism
will help these living conditions very slowly.
Brian (Pers. Comm., August 18, 2011) said there is a unique
niche tourism in Timor which if marketed correctly can be very
popular with eco-tourists.
The training we give our guides includes giving them pride in
their culture and living conditions (Maria, Personal
Communication, August 13, 2011).
On Atauro Island the Tua-Koin Ecolodge benefits the whole
community in a variety of ways one, it has stimulated
economic growth in the local community; two, the tourists
coming has encouraged the development of related enterprise
(the Womens Cooperative Craft and Jewellery shops; and the
Took-Tooks which are taxi motorbikes with trailers); and three
provides jobs and income for local people.

Issues for developing tourism in East Timor

If community members dont see the benefits of tourism
straight away some just give up like in Tetutala (Meabh, Pers.
Comm., August 15, 2011).
Brian (Pers. Comm., August 18, 2011) said the interaction
between tourists and the community must be obviously
beneficial (economically) otherwise it wont stick.
Dill (Pers. Comm. Via translation from Meabh, August 15,
2011) said that without an active and involved community
there is no one to drive the process and keep it going and that
is when tourism fails.
How tourism evolves is the biggest issue (Shirley, Pers.
Comm., August 14, 2011) for example, will East Timor become
like Bali and attract mass tourism which will deliver very little
return to the East Timorese people and cause the sacrifice of
East Timorese cultural values; or will it aim to attract only

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eco-tourists who take interest in the East Timorese people,
respect their values and beliefs, and do not expect reliable
service and reliable electricity.
Maria (Pers. Comm., August 13, 2011) said the government
budget allocated to tourism is small therefore, the
government relies on the tour companies and the private
sector to train the East Timorese people.
Skill development is poor (Shirley, Pers. Comm., August 14,
2011).
Sometimes we cannot source enough food to feed everyone
on the tours (Shirley, Pers. Comm., August 14, 2011).
The Tutuala community has to walk a long way to get water
for themselves let alone for tourists (Meabh, Pers. Comm.,
August 15, 2011)
Maria (Pers. Comm., August 13, 2011) said what local people
dont understand is that people dont come to Timor to stay at
5 star resorts, they come to see how people live, their toilets,
their homes, and their families. As a result of this they lack
pride in their living conditions which means they dont have
faith in it being able to attract tourists.
Miguel (Pers. Comm., August 18, 2011) said myself and my
community were embarrassed because it is dirty and there are
pigs running around however, since Pete came I now
understand that if I went to Australia I would want to see what
an Australian house looks like so tourists must want to see
what our houses look like, and now I am happy to use tourism
as income for my community.
Our tour guides are male because it is culturally
unacceptable for women to go away for long periods of time
with strangers (Maria, Personal Communication, August 13,
2011).
There is not a great influx of tourists (Maria, Personal
Communication, August 13, 2011).

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When my company pays a hotel for our clients to stay in, it is
hard to be certain that the money will be given to East
Timorese people (Shirley, Pers. Comm., August 14, 2011).
It is common for East Timorese people to be unreliable as they
find it hard to say no, especially if a tourist asks for something
that isnt available they say yes until the tourist figures out
that it is just not going to happen after waiting for an hour
(Shirley, Pers. Comm., August 14, 2011)..
It is common for East Timorese people to struggle following
through with a hierarchal organisational structure (Brian,
Pers. Comm., August 18, 2011), in Australian culture more
responsibility means a higher income but in East Timor they
get jealous and want to be paid equally, and as a result no
one person has the responsibility, so decisions dont get made
unless I (Brian) am here (Brian, Pers. Comm., August 18,
2011).
The East Timorese people need help developing tourism for
themselves rather than to have it done to them (Gabrielle,
Pers. Comm., August 20, 2011).
There are aspects of the culture that are and are not
appropriate for tourism such as their inability to say no that is
not possible, so if community does want tourism they will
have to compromise some aspects of their culture to ensure
tourisms survival/succession (Gabrielle, Pers. Comm., August
20, 2011).
There will always be a compromise on culture for tourism to
work, although on the other hand, the East Timorese people
have to build pride in their culture for tourism to be
successful (Gabrielle, Pers. Comm., August 20, 2011).

Measurement and Management of Tourism/PPT

The benefits and non-benefits of tourism are perceived
differently so it is hard to determine what is positive and what
is negative, for example; what tourists think is positive and

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negative is different to what local people think is positive and
negative, such as building cement houses rather than bamboo
houses cement means better insulation for local people but
less aesthetically pleasing for tourists (Rik Thwaites, Pers.
Comm., August 25, 2011).
To measure the success of tourism within the community a
research study was undertaken which interviewed people and
observed the changes in the community, such as supermarket
growth, vehicle count, salary increases, peoples value of $1
do they spend $1 on a Took Took rather than walking for half
an hour? (Gabrielle, Pers. Comm., August 25, 2011).
Monitoring and evaluation is an important thing that needs to
happen if tourism companies want to see if they are
successful at helping or harming (Shirley, Pers. Comm.,
August 14, 2011).
Meabh said they made US$8000 in the first six months
which is an economic measurement of success.

Discussion
In the findings from field program and in the literature PPT has
proven that it can bring many benefits to a poor community,
however it is also proven that PPT has many flaws or issues that
prevent it from being successfully implemented or implemented at
all. Findings in the field and in the literature show that PPT:
Brings money, jobs, income and stimulates local economy and
the development of other money-making enterprise. However,
for PPT tour companies it is sometimes hard to know whether
the money paid for accommodation is going to the local
people.
Encourages the East Timorese to have pride in their culture
and living conditions and also empowers people through
involvement in tourism planning, development and
employment especially women in hospitality.

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Encourages investment in infrastructure and in community
members homes.
Encourages exchange of ideas, knowledge and cultural
perspective from having tourists visit which can be positive
and negative depending upon personal perspective. For
example; de Kadts (1979, p. x) theory said the presence of
foreigners demonstrate alien life-styles and values but to
Miguel (Chefe De Suco of Loi Huno) culture will always change,
old people used to wear loin cloths and now they wear
clothes!; Maria said that foreigners/tourists have the capacity
to bring new ideas and education which is not a bad thing in
her opinion. Brian said they can learn from you and you can
learn from them, for example, the Timorese have a strong
sense of community, they help each other complete tasks, like
building a house, and that sense of community is interesting
to learn about as a tourist.

The literature and field program findings both say that the an issue
that hinders the implementation of PPT is that there is a lack of
resources such as food, water, emergency/health services, and
general infrastructure when trying to support the East Timorese
people already, let alone a significant amount of tourists as well.
The field program brought light to a number of other flaws and
issues in/for PPT that the literature analysed in the literature review
failed to recognise, such as:
If community members do not see the benefits of tourism
straight away they give up on it.
There is a lack of relevant skills and training in/for East
Timorese people to start tourism enterprises independently.
The basic problem is that not many people have the
opportunity to be a tourist which means the majority of people
lack understanding about what tourists want and need.
The number of cultural hindrances in the East Timorese
culture, including it being inappropriate for females to be tour

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guides and spend long periods of time with strangers; the
unreliable nature of the a lot of East Timorese people due to
the fact they do not like to say no, I cannot/wont do that for
you; and the social jealousies that make them struggle to
follow through with a hierarchal organisational structure of
which is necessary for decision-making and development of a
successful enterprise.
Tourism must be marketed to the most appropriate tourists
such as eco-tourists to ensure that tourism evolves toward
ecotourism, sustainable tourism or community-based tourism
rather than mass tourism.

The literature and the field program findings both express the
necessity of measuring whether tourism is harming or
helping/successful or unsuccessful. The findings on the field
program support the literature in saying that measuring success
economically is still used but in most cases is supported by
measuring success from the multi-dimensions/deprivations of
poverty. In East Timor they do not exactly use the Multi-Dimensional
Poverty Index (MPI) to measure and manage, but similarly use
observations of success, such as visual village growth/development,
and interviews of people who are benefiting or not-benefiting from
the tourism to see whether their living conditions are improving or
worsening.

Conclusion

Summary of findings discussed in previous sections

Overall, the field program proved there are more flaws to PPT than
what was expressed in the literature. Although, these flaws may just
apply to implementation of PPT in East Timor which has a uniquely
recent and tragic history that has had such a severe impact on the
countrys economy and peoples living conditions that it is a
struggle to get back on their feet.
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Combining the findings from the literature review and field program
proved that PPT has potential to be implemented successfully and
benefit the poor in a number of poverty dimensions; however long-
term success cannot be promised due to the sheer number of issues
and flaws that are against its success.

Implications of this study on tourism development in

East Timor
This study brings light to the cultural sacrifices that must be made
to ensure the success of PPT. It also brings like to all the other issues
that prevent PPT from being implemented. If the East Timor
government read and understood those issues they will understand
what they can do to help tourism become a successful industry in
their country and therefore help to alleviate poverty. People hoping
to start a tourism enterprise in East Timor (or people who have
already and are struggling) would find the information presented in
this report very useful in the way it suggests successful ways of
implementing PPT and provides a background of all the issues that
they need to plan around and prepare for.

Implications of this study on the theoretical field

studied in the Literature Review
There were a number of new flaws in PPT that were uncovered.
These flaws should be recognised by academics especially the
creators of PPT - Ashley, Boyd & Goodwin (2000) and be the topics
of further research to help alleviate poverty in countries like East
Timor.

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SCI401
Recommendations
From the findings in the field program and in literature, the Author
does not believe PPT can be a reliable primary source of income.
However, for community-based PPT the investments of money in
tourism is spread across a whole community, and so are the profits,
and by combining the profits from tourism and agriculture the risk of
losing money is nothing compared to the benefits a community can
receive.

References
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Ashley, C., Boyd, C., & Goodwin, H. (2000). Pro-poor Tourism:
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Overseas Development Institute.

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SCI401
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