Pastoralism and Rangeland Management on the Tibetan Plateau in ...

Source: Bureau of Statistics Damxung County 2010
Figure 4: Rural labour structure in Namtso, 2002–2009
3.2 The expansion of the market has promoted employment of
pastoralists
Tourism is a labour-intensive industry. According to studies of the Organization
for Economic Cooperation <strong>and</strong> Development (OECD), each dollar made
in tourism sees an output-worth of 4.3 dollars in related industries. For each
person employed in the tourism sector, five or six jobs will be added to the rest
of the society (Gao 2008). To practitioners, tourism has a relatively low skill
requirement for employees, <strong>and</strong> therefore has a unique advantage of providing
employment to pastoralists. It has been proven that significant employment
opportunities can be created by satisfying the needs of tourists in terms of food,
shelter, transportation, travel, shopping <strong>and</strong> entertainment, as well as a variety
of other products <strong>and</strong> services.
The development of the Namtso Scenic Area has stimulated an upgrading of
the industrial structure in Namu Village <strong>and</strong> the surrounding area, prompting
the rise of the second <strong>and</strong> tertiary industries, <strong>and</strong> absorbing the surplus
labour force in most pastoral areas. Catering, transportation <strong>and</strong> other service
industries have sprung up to engage surplus labour in the pastoral areas, thus
creating more employment opportunities. The leading industry in Namtso
Village is animal husb<strong>and</strong>ry. Since the village is located in the Namtso Scenic
Area, tourism has brought many benefits to the local pastoralists. In 2009, we
found more than 200 restaurants <strong>and</strong> lodges <strong>and</strong> 43 souvenir stalls on Tashi
Duo Isl<strong>and</strong>. Only two of the stalls were run by pastoralists from Dabney Village,
<strong>and</strong> the rest were run by outsiders. There were 20 people selling prayer
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