Formalization of Urban Poor Vendors and their Contribution to Tourism Development in Manila, Philippines

Abstract

The growth of tourism and tourism development affects the urban poor both positively and negatively. Positively, they have more opportunities to find jobs in the tourism sector or increase their income when their jobs are related to tourism. They can also be the beneficiaries of pro‐poor tourism projects. Negatively, they are viewed as an obstacle to tourism development where clean and modern images are sought. This study looks at park vendors (a type of urban poor) in Rizal Park, Manila, Philippines. This group is unique because it is not treated as a hindrance to tourism development and the vendors are considered as the beneficiaries of pro‐poor tourism projects. They are active contributors to tourism development. When a government agency formalized their businesses, vendors' safety and pride increased. This study provides a case in which a shift from the informal sector to the formal sector contributed to the increased welfare of the urban poor. The shift was possible because of a national tourism drive generating favorable conditions, and the vendors' struggle to obtain the right to work in the park. In this paper, I discuss how the vendors achieved a legal status and show current conditions of their work and their relationship with a government agency after obtaining the right. Data for this study were collected between 2005 and 2008.

Informal microfinance institutions and development-led tourism entrepreneurship

“…Microfinance institutions operating both in the formal and informal sectors have come under scrutiny in terms of whether they offer a sustainable solution to small business finance (Banerjee & Duflo, 2011;WTO, 2005). Similarly, questions are being asked about whether STFs operating in the informal sector should be incorporated into the formal (stateregulated) sector to maximize their contribution to tourism development (Spring, 2009;Yotsumoto, 2013). Our results reveal that those IMFIs that have successfully mobilized social capital are resilient and are successfully adapting and succeeding in promoting development-led tourism entrepreneurship.…”

“…Our focus is on microfinance institutions (MFIs) and some STFs that operate in the informal sector, widely acknowledged as the norm among the poor (Slocum et al, 2011;Spring, 2009;Yotsumoto, 2013). While the internal operations of formal MFIs are well researched (Banerjee & Duflo, 2011;Woolcock, 1999), there is a relative neglect of IMFIs.…”

Legacies of Place and Power: From Military Base to Freeport Zone

“…Indeed, Garrido () specifies that the elites’ exclusive spaces—upscale shopping malls, residential communities, and business centers—are seen as “modern” and “rational,” a “model” that serves as a direct contrast to the “disorder” of the rest of Manila. This differentiation of space by morality and order also extends to Manila's public parks (Yotsumoto ).…”

Measuring the size of the informal tourism economy in Thailand

“…Recent research in tourism studies concerning the informal economy focuses on the new issues and approaches such as the resilience of informal tourism enterprises to natural disasters (Biggs et al, 2012), street vendors' contribution to tourism development (Yotsumoto, 2013), tourism financing systems and networks (Ngoasong & Kimbu, 2016), coopetition among the informal tourism service providers (Damayanti et al, 2017), informal women entrepreneurs' role in ethnic tourism (Trupp & Sunanta, 2017), street vendors' perspectives on tourism and poverty alleviation (Truong, 2018), informal business tourism (Rogerson, 2018) and the tales of informal tourism enterprises (Pécot, Gavilanes, & De Viteri, 2018). Given the importance of entrepreneurship for the welfare of a local community in general and for tourism stakeholders in the informal tourism economy in particular, two very recent articles (Çakmak et al, 2018, 2019) examine the informal tourism entrepreneurs' capital possession and how the tourism stakeholders use these forms of capital in determining their position in the tourism field and beyond.…”