Introduction

Abstract

Tourism has been examined by economists on both the left and the right, geographers, political scientists, sociologists, and anthropologists. There are more than a dozen journals in English alone dedicated to tourism research, most which have been established since 1990 (Pearce, 1999: 2). The World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, other area banks, and the United Nations are among the bodies that have sponsored research on tourism and funded tourism projects throughout the underdeveloped world in general and Latin America in particular (Jenkins, 1999: 55; Clancy, 2001: 41, 53; Lumsdon and Swift, 2001: 34), For example, the Inter-American Development Bank lent US$800 million to Brazil in 1994 to develop tourism in the Northeast, then US$150 million in 2004 for the development of tourism in the South; a total of US$34.1 million to Argentina to develop tourism in the province of Salta; and US$300 million to Mexico in 1993 to develop its tourism infrastructure. It has also approved loans for tourism development in Bolivia, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Panama, and Peru and has proposed loans for this industry for Guayana, Honduras, and Paraguay (Inter-American Development Bank, 2004). The theoretical works on tourism that I have perused tend to utilize a cost benefit analysis when examining the effects of the tourism industry. As might be expected, neoclassical approaches?those that welcome ''globalization'7? underscore the benefits of tourism, whereas neo-Marxist and dependency approaches?which view globalization as a new form of imperialism?focus on its costs. Unfortunately, most studies neglect regional differences within the same country. Some locales are indeed the recipients of benefits, at least to a point, while others?perhaps most?are impacted negatively. In most places there are both positive and negative impacts, though this black-and-white distinction overlooks shades of grey. For example, the increased employment opportunities provided by tourism development help to solve unemployment and under employment problems, but many of the jobs created are relatively unskilled, low-waged, and lacking in opportunities for advancement, similar to the jobs in hotels, restaurants, and maintenance work held by Mexican immigrants to the United States. Furthermore, the negative (and the positive) impacts should be assessed in relation to the impact of possible alternatives to tourism in any development program or balance-of-payments initiative. For example, would industrial development have more positive or more negative impacts than tourism development?