Abstract
Underpinned by sustainable livelihood thinking, this study investigated community stakeholders' perspectives on the impacts of tourism on food security in two rural tourism destinations: Debarq and Meket in Ethiopia. Semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions were conducted with a range of stakeholders to solicit their perspectives, revealing the complexity of the tourism and food security relationship. Although tourism had brought about some small changes to food availability, access and utilisation, there were limitations around its contribution to food stability. This was primarily due to the nature of tourism employment and lack of linkages between tourism and local agriculture. Tourism was not strong enough nor properly integrated with existing livelihoods to support the local communities' food security, generally only offering a minor contribution. This research highlights the challenges for tourism to contribute to local communities' food security, offering policy-relevant guidance for addressing the food security challenges of tourism destinations.
•The overall contribution of tourism to food security for destination community members is low.•Tourism has led to some changes to food availability, access and utilisation in the destination communities.•The nature of tourism employment and poor linkages with agriculture affect tourism's contribution to food stability.•Tourism needs to be better integrated with existing livelihoods in order to lead to community food security outcomes.