Tourism, Poverty and Development

This book provides a holistic, explicit and detailed introduction to the relationship of poverty and tourism development within the context of developing countries. The book is divided into three distinct sections, progressing from an evaluation of the key concepts, the causal factors of poverty and how tourism is being implemented in policy and practice to reduce poverty, to the relationship of tourism and poverty in the future. The theoretical framework inherent to the text is inter-disciplinary, incorporating tourism, geography, politics, economics, environmental studies, development studies, sociology and history literature to provide the reader with a range of perspectives from which to explore the key issues of the tourism and poverty relationship. It integrates examples and original case studies from varying geographical developing regions including Latin American, Asia and Africa to show practical insights into tourism’s role in poverty alleviation. To encourage reflection on the main themes addressed and critical thinking, ‘Think points’, discussion questions and links to further reading are included in each chapter.

Poverty alleviation is high on the global policy agenda, its importance being emphasised by its place as the first of the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals. As a potentially significant source of economic growth in developing countries, tourism may also play a major role in poverty reduction and alleviation under the right circumstances. The incorporation of tourism into development policy and Poverty Reduction Strategies has special poignancy for those Least Developed Countries where natural resources exist to support a tourism industry and there are limited development alternatives.

This book offers a holistic, explicit and detailed introduction to the relationship of poverty and tourism within the context of developing countries. The book is divided into distinct sections, progressing from an evaluation of the key concepts of poverty, tourism and development; to the causal factors of poverty; to the mechanisms of how tourism is being implemented in policy and practice to reduce poverty and finally to an analysis of the relationship between tourism to poverty alleviation in the future. The adopted analytical approach of the key themes is multi-disciplinary, incorporating tourism studies, human geography, political economy, economics, development and environmental studies. It integrates examples and original case studies from varying geographical developing regions including Africa, South Asian and East Asia and the Pacific, to lend practical insights into tourism’s role in poverty alleviation.

The text will be of particular interest to higher education students from tourism studies, geography, political economy, environmental and development studies, and sociology backgrounds. It will also be of relevance to government and policy makers, alongside those who have a more general interest in poverty alleviation.