Pro-poor Tourism: a critique

By D. Harrison. Tourism, tradition and culture: a reflection on their role in development, 2008

207 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract Tourism's role as a development tool has increased over the past three decades. Its contribution to poverty alleviation was first noted in the 1970s, but this focus was increasingly blurred in theoretical debates over ‘development’ in the 1980s and 1990s. It resurfaced at the end of the 1990s with the emergence of ‘pro-poor tourism’ (ppt), defined as tourism which brings net benefits to the poor. In this paper the emergence of ppt is described, its main features outlined, and several conceptual and substantive criticisms are discussed. It is concluded that, while ppt is based on a worthwhile injunction to help the poor, it is distinctive neither theoretically nor in its methods, and has become too closely associated with community-based tourism. Rather than remain on the academic and development margins, it should be reintegrated into and reinform mainstream studies of tourism and development, and focus more on researching the actual and potential role of mass tourism in alleviating poverty and bringing ‘development’.

Subfields: Demography, Geography, Planning and Development, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/387dc1a6a6f522adbd6ed3952d56918d69c0f139

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Demography

1. M. Russell
2. R. Lapeyre
3. R. Scheyvens
4. C. Michael Hall
5. B. Boonabaana
6. H. Tucker

In Geography, Planning and Development

1. M. Russell
2. R. Lapeyre
3. R. Scheyvens

In Sociology and Political Science

1. M. Russell
2. R. Lapeyre
3. R. Scheyvens
4. D. Meyer
5. A. Spenceley
6. C. Michael Hall
7. B. Boonabaana
8. H. Tucker

Citations in the corpus

• Tourism and poverty alleviation in Fiji: comparing the impacts of small- and large-scale tourism enterprises (2012, background): “While in the past there was a tendency to see tourism as predominantly a private sector activity where market forces rule, today there is growing attention to the comprehensive role states must assume if tourism development is to meet the goals of sustainability and poverty reduction (Harrison, 2008”
• Community-based tourism as a sustainable solution to maximise impacts locally? The Tsiseb Conservancy case, Namibia (2010, background): “The critical literature has extensively discussed the socioeconomic impacts of tourism activities in developing countries, in particular CBT activities (Scheyvens, 1999; Harrison, 2008; Simpson, 2008).”