is building a bridge for local community part of good tourism?

[Anne de Jong]

Hi @ruth-nattabi , absolutely yes. Supporting local communities one way or the other is a form of charity from your tourism business and therefore a good tourism practice.

In the end, the naming doesn’t matter that much. The actions that actually take place is much more important! Where are you building a bridge?

[Marinel]

Hi, Anne – though I agree actions matter significantly and are pivotal in the essence of one’s work, how we play the role of an outsider forging some type of relationship with the local community DOES MATTER. We need to be more conscious and mindful of the role we play – for instance to label the effort as charity or with such notion in our minds we may end up creating a partnerships that is rooted in a begging culture and co-dependency of local people on tourism. Semantics and words do matter especially when the tourism industry has been built on elements of colonialism in many destinations that we market today.

[Anne de Jong]

Hi Maribel, thank you for your comment and interesting point of view. You’re right that we should avoid creating partnerships that are rooted in a begging culture. How would you approach this specific case of building a bridge for a local community?

[Joseph]

I think charity hand outs of direct physical money to the local people may be the main problem driving local people to beg from tourists. but I would l think charity in terms of solid projects like building a bridge or constructing a bore hole for safe drinking water wouldn’t directly turn local people to beggars but rather inspire them to preserve or protect what ever it is that made some one gift them with a life saving project in their community. when we start giving direct money to people on a trip they become lazy, some may even think the ‘dirty’ dress and shirt could be the main attraction to getting such handouts!

[Anne de Jong]

Yes absolutely Joseph! There is a clear distinction between the two. I agree that it’s important to always look at the circumstances and type of charity before we can decide it’s ‘good tourism’.

[Ruth]

@anne-de-jong im building it near the rwenzoris in kasese