Smart Tourism Investment: Planning Pathways to Break the Poverty Cycle

Abstract

The aim of this article is to highlight how the smart tourism investment (STI) threshold can be used to break the poverty cycle in Egypt. Tourism investment is a major source of economic growth, especially in poor communities. How it can simultaneously be a force to break the poverty cycle is the theme of this study. The global emergence of destination slums poses questions for tourism-led poverty reduction (TLPR) studies and development planning initiatives. Employing exploratory and interpretative modes of enquiry and analyzing the al-Darb el Ahmar destination slum illuminates how slums' sources of production deterioration, traditional investing methods, and adverse planning approaches may prevent inhabitants from snatching economic opportunities offered by geographic proximity to tourism development zones, to eventually break the cycle of generational poverty. This study offers a valuable approach to STI-led growth and elucidates planning pathways through which poverty traps can be broken. Findings reveal that STI's role in poverty eradication, in close cooperation with other Egyptian social sectors, is crucial and depends on the ability of stakeholders to maintain the productivity of slum resources and capital. The article concludes that the planned STIs for poverty closure programs should have an effective, positive impact if appropriately intervened in, channeled, and monitored.