• Tourism

Tourism

This paper discusses the role of sustainable tourism in enhancing growth in developing countries. It argues that sustainable tourism can bring higher and faster economic development, decreasing poverty and increasing the standard of life, especially in long term. The paper identifies seven mechanisms for enabling poverty reduction through tourism:

• employment of the poor in tourism enterprises
• supply of goods and services to tourism enterprises by the poor or by enterprises employing the poor
• direct sales of goods and services to visitors by the poor (informal economy)
• establishment and running of tourism enterprises by the poor - e.g. micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs), or community based enterprises (formal economy)
• tax or levy on tourism income or profits with proceeds benefiting the poor
• voluntary giving/support by tourism enterprises and tourists
• investment in infrastructure stimulated by tourism also benefiting the poor in the locality, directly or through support to other sectors

These seven mechanisms are identified as "pro-poor" strategies, which focus specifically on unlocking opportunities and generating net benefits for the poor through tourism. However, it is necessary to combine these strategies with general strategies for tourist development in order to achieve optimal effects. Sustainable tourism cannot automatically eliminate poverty on its own. There should be a focused tourist policy as well as development plans in which eliminating poverty is a primary goal. Cooperation between all stakeholders is also necessary for tourism to be an efficient means for eliminating poverty.

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