ABSTRACT

Chapter 8 summarises and refl ects upon the main points made in the book, with the overall aim of evaluating the potential of pro-poor tourism to contribute effectively to poverty alleviation. Tourism, as is regularly noted, is a unique industry for developing countries as it brings consumers to the places occupied by the producers of the products and services they are buying. As a service industry it is also labour-intensive, offering many incomeearning opportunities. This offers great potential for economic growth and job creation as well as providing an incentive for protection of the unique environments and support of the cultures which often attract tourists to developing countries. Yet despite all of this, and despite the fact that poorer countries have experienced higher rates of growth in tourist arrivals than many wealthier countries, the evidence that tourism contributes directly to poverty alleviation is sporadic and often tokenistic, and there is much contradictory information to consider.