I own two guesthouses and a hoteli, which is what we call a small restaurant. One guesthouse is prepared for foreign tourists, while the other is used by local travellers.
The difference between them is clear. The tourist guesthouse is cleaned every day. The beds have fresh sheets and blankets, and the bathroom is larger and kept to a higher standard. The local guesthouse is much more modest.
I also changed my restaurant when bigger tourist groups began arriving. I enlarged the space and added more windows because visitors do not like eating in a dark room. Everybody travelling through the Cultural Tourism Programme stays or eats with me, so adapting the business was worthwhile.
Tourism did not only bring me more customers; it changed the way I prepare the rooms, the light, the cleaning and even the food I prepare.
Tourists and local guests do not usually order the same meals. Local people are satisfied with rice, beans and beef. For visitors, I prepare a wider variety of vegetables, including cabbage and carrots. Those meals cost a little more because they require more ingredients and preparation.
The extra business spreads beyond my own door. Tourists buy bottled water from nearby shops and beer from the bar. I purchase more ingredients at the market, so traders sell more food. I have also employed somebody to collect firewood because I no longer have enough time to do it myself while cooking for larger groups.
A meal served to one visitor creates work for the market seller, the shopkeeper and the person who now collects my firewood.
I have not noticed a shortage of firewood in the area, although I know that increased use is something we should continue to watch. Growth brings income, but it also means using more of what the surroundings provide.
For me, tourism has been good for business. It encouraged me to improve one guesthouse and expand the restaurant. At the same time, the two guesthouses show a difference that is difficult to ignore: visitors and local people sleep under the same ownership, but not at the same standard.
My business has grown by learning what tourists expect, and each improved room or fuller plate shows both the opportunities tourism brings and the unequal standards it can create.