TY - JOUR
T1 - Land use regulations and small tourism enterprises
AU - Sharma, Amit
AU - Messerli, Hannah
AU - Lin, Michael S.
N1 - Funding Information:
In addition to providing land for lodge development and access to wildlife, in some instances, communal conservancies had sufficient financial resources to invest in lodge ownership. However, such equity partnerships with the communal conservancies were unusual. As a legacy benefit, Lodges also had access to ‘softer’ grant funding from international development agencies. While in initial stages of their development these softer sources of financing provided the much-needed financial support for the development of Lodges, over time it was being viewed as a safety net for underperforming lodges. Addressing this required demonstrating to the commercial lender that Lodges were financially viable, could generate sufficient profits to meet external financial obligations, and provide a satisfactory return for investors versus the business risks. However, the sentiment outside the communal conservancies and private sector operators was different. The following quote captures the essence of these sentiments from one of the executives of a non-governmental agency working closely with the communities and the lodges:
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2023/5
Y1 - 2023/5
N2 - Land use regulation, while critical for economic development, is complex to implement, and can lead to unintended consequences. Despite the importance of land use in tourism, there remains scarce discussion on the micro-level impact of land use regulations on tourism development. Within the regulatory impact assessment framework, this study assesses the impact of land use regulations on the economic competitiveness and growth of small tourism enterprises. Through our empirical study, we argue that despite expanded access to land use rights, the economic impact on tourism enterprises may not be entirely positive due to their increased risks, and unclear benefits to local economic development, bringing into question competitiveness and growth potential of tourism enterprises impacted by such regulations.
AB - Land use regulation, while critical for economic development, is complex to implement, and can lead to unintended consequences. Despite the importance of land use in tourism, there remains scarce discussion on the micro-level impact of land use regulations on tourism development. Within the regulatory impact assessment framework, this study assesses the impact of land use regulations on the economic competitiveness and growth of small tourism enterprises. Through our empirical study, we argue that despite expanded access to land use rights, the economic impact on tourism enterprises may not be entirely positive due to their increased risks, and unclear benefits to local economic development, bringing into question competitiveness and growth potential of tourism enterprises impacted by such regulations.
KW - Access to financing
KW - Community-based tourism
KW - Land use regulation
KW - Namibia
KW - Regulatory impact assessment
KW - Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85150380414&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.annals.2023.103550
DO - 10.1016/j.annals.2023.103550
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85150380414
SN - 0160-7383
VL - 100
JO - Annals of Tourism Research
JF - Annals of Tourism Research
M1 - 103550
ER -