ABSTRACT
The idea of distributing tourism benefits to the poor has basically derived from mainstream development theories. Consequently, as development theory has shifted over the decades, so too has the thinking on the role of tourism in development (Clancy 1999; Turegano 2006). Reflecting shifts in dominant development thinking from modernization to neoliberalism, for instance, the concept of pro-poor tourism (PPT) has emerged as a market-based approach to a more equitable distribution of tourism benefits (Kabeer 1994; Bennett et al. 1999; Chok et al. 2007). However, PPT has been criticized for mainly serving to maintain the status quo (Mowforth and Munt 2003; Harrison, D. 2008; Goodwin 2010). The benefit of tourism for the poor has not been evident and support for PPT may repackage conventional development approaches rather than offer a solution to the unequal relations inherent in market-based exchanges. As Mowforth and Munt (2003: 273) have argued, “in the long run. . . the cumulative effect of supporting (through multilateral and bilateral aid programs) the expansion of capitalist relations . . . may undercut ‘sustainable livelihood’ and exacerbate, rather than alleviate, poverty.”
