The Local Gaze: Social Inhibitors to Engagement in the Maldivian Tourism Industry

Abstract

Advocators of tourism development in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) promote tourism in policy agendas on the grounds that it can enhance the lives of local people through the creation of employment and income streams. However, empirical research conducted in the Maldives, a SIDS in the Indian Ocean, highlighted an array of social, human resource, economic, institutional and religious factors that inhibit the participation of the local community in the Maldivian tourism labour market. This paper specifically examines the findings related to the social factors that were identified as: negative images of the industry, proximity to home and work, social isolation, parental influence, effect on family life while working away from home island, role of woman as mother, the lack of awareness of tourism jobs, social problems at workplace, disinterest in tourism employment, tourism industry being male dominated, and issues with safety and security at workplace. A number of these findings are discussed, as is the role of tourism operators and the government in addressing the social inhibitors to tourism employment in the Maldives.