New directions in tourism for third world development

Abstract

The Third World tourism industry has grown rapidly, but has also encountered many problems common to other outward-oriented development strategies, including: excessive foreign dependency, the creation of separate enclaves, the reinforcement of socioeconomic and spatial inequalities, environmental destruction, and rising cultural alienation. To avoid such problems, institutional mechanisms need to be created to encourage active state and community participation in tourism planning. Appropriateness of tourism strategies ought to be measured according to the changing conditions and interests of each host community; and tourism-led development should always conform to the long-term interests of the popular majority instead of the short-term goals of an elite minority.