<![CDATA[Developing countries increasingly attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in tourism and hospitality to generate employment and reduce poverty. Yet wages in foreign-owned hotels often fall short of workers' livelihood needs, and how workers cope remains poorly understood. Drawing on the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach, this article examines the livelihood diversification strategies of workers in two foreign-owned hotels in Dili, Timor-Leste, using qualitative data from 16 workers in varied positions. The findings reveal two strategies. First, workers pursue subsistence entrepreneurship, leveraging hospitality skills, savings, household space, and social networks to establish small informal businesses. Second, migrant workers maintain urban–rural linkages that provide agricultural land and food from their home villages, functioning as social safety nets. The study extends the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach by framing foreign-owned hotels as transforming structures whose livelihood impacts are conditional, contributing to sustainable development only alongside decent wages.]]>
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