ABSTRACT
A great deal of the literature on tourism's contribution to development is devoted to either narrowly defined cost-benefit analyses, imprecise comments on the socio cultw:al effects of tourism, or more technical issues such as tourist flow predictions, factors determining hotel location, and the regional impact of tourist expenditw:es. Clearly such studies are important. However, most of this research has a common deficiency. Discussion over the impact of tourism is typically divorced from the historical and political reality of processes that have led to the condition of under development (de Kadt, 1979). Debate on the advantages and disadvantages of tour ism is conducted without regard to those theories of political economy concerned with widespread, persistent poverty, and the causes of increasing inequality between and within nations.
