Community Based Tourism in Arslanbob and Sary-Moghul, Kyrgyzstan: An Alternative to Labour-Migration?

Abstract: This research studies the perceptions of Community Based Tourism (CBT) workers towards labour-migration in the two mountainous southern Kyrgyz villages of Sary Moghul and Arslanbob. The qualitative data collected through semi-structured interviews from 28 CBT workers and four key stakeholders reveal four Ideal Types of labour-migration amongst the CBT workers: i) CBT workers who wish to labour-migrate but have yet to have done so; ii) CBT workers who have labour-migrated and returned; iii) CBT workers who are circulatory labour-migrants; and finally iv) CBT workers who have never labour-migrated and currently have no motivation to do so. Qualitative analysis reveals participants from Ideal Type 1 migrating for sociocultural factors, whereas Ideal Types 2 and 3 labour-migrate due to economic factors. Ideal Type 4, a group predominantly composed of individuals with no interest in labour-migration reveals both social and economic factors as the determinants of labour-migration. It is found that in general CBTs have dis-incentivised labour-migration for all the Ideal Types with the exception of Type 4 which by definition does not seek labour- migration. Ideal Type 2 perceives CBTs dis-incentivising labour-migration both socially as well as economically, whereas Ideal Types 1 and 3 perceive the CBTs as dis-incentivising labour-migration purely socially.