Accelerating locally-led responsible rural tourism entrepreneurship for gender equality and sustainable development in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Nepal

Agenda

About the event

The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and South Asia Women’s Network (SWAN) have broadly agreed to set up a strategic collaborative partnership to co-design and co-develop a pilot initiative in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Nepal (BBIN). This initiative aims to promote responsible rural tourism for gender equality and sustainable development through south-south community connection and collaboration in the BBIN. The details of the scope for the initiative and collaborative partnership are being explored and discussed with key relevant organisations representing government agencies, private sector, and civil society organisations in BBIN. It will cover high mountain and low land areas of BBIN, which have great scope for responsible rural tourism entrepreneurship for gender equality and sustainable development.

This consultation will gather insights from potential collaborative partners responsible for and contributing to accelerating locally-led responsible rural tourism entrepreneurship.

Objectives

• Explore and identify the scope for integrating gender equality and sustainable development for responsible rural tourism entrepreneurship
• Discuss and identify innovative entrepreneurial solutions and enabling environment for strengthening the entrepreneurial ecosystems
• Discuss, identify, and recommend collaborative actions to accelerate responsible rural tourism entrepreneurship, spurring innovative investment and partnerships

Output

• Rich and comprehensive knowledge and insights to co-design and co-develop the pilot initiative
• Way forward and plan of action to guide the co-design and co-development of the pilot initiative
• Potential partners identified to drive pilot initiative through south-south community connection and collaboration

Background

Tourism is one of the fastest growing sectors and the major service industries contributing to the national economies of BBIN in South Asia. BBIN receives a high number of international, regional, and domestic tourists. Furthermore, tourism has the potential to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs underscore the pivotal role of tourism in advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment under SDG 5. Tourism is one of the largest employers of women workforce. The sector empowers women by providing opportunities for workforce participation, entrepreneurship, and leadership, which are significant to drive households, businesses, and rural economies. Such collective force of tourism is crucial to narrow the gender gap and in achieving gender equality. The recent gender gap report ranks South Asia the second lowest in achieving gender parity. Of particular concern is the widest gender gap in the field of economic participation and opportunity.

Responsible tourism, which works in harmony with community and ecosystems, has great potential to contribute to tourism led sustained economic growth, and restores and regenerates resources in rural region. Such growth holds great potential for achieving gender equality and sustainable development in the rural regions of the BBIN. However, economies of BBIN are struggling to integrate rural tourism as a positive force of change to achieve this dual goal. While women and their entrepreneurship within the tourism have been recognised, there remains several gaps, including barriers to full participation, labour market segregation and gender-based violence, informality and small-scale nature of SMEs and their scaling. Addressing these underlying gender inequalities and bringing economic, societal, and political transformations, are the pressing need to fully harness rural tourism’s potential in the BBIN.