ABSTRACT

In 2000 United Nations adopted the Millennium Development Goals (UN MDGs), committing the member nations to a new global partnership to reduce extreme poverty and setting out a series of specific targets with a deadline of 2015. Related to the UN MDGs, tourism is increasingly seen as a promising tool for poverty reduction, ensuring environmental sustainability and developing a global partnership for development, for example. Thus, the industry has become an important policy tool for community and regional development in many developing countries and the expectations for tourism and its social and economic outcomes have evolved to a high level. However, there are still many challenges to overcome in the relationship between tourism industry, development and poverty reduction.

This book aims to discuss the promises, challenges and outcomes of tourism in development with a specific aim of drawing together research related to tourism and UN MDGs. The papers discuss what lessons can be learnt and conclusions drawn from the utilisation of tourism for development and poverty reduction. What emerges from this collection is a set of interesting results and notions which both support and challenge the connections between tourism and development and the new role of tourism in global development.

This book is an extended version of a special issue published in Current Issues in Tourism.

chapter 2|16 pages

The UN Millennium Development Goals, tourism and development

The tour operators' perspective

chapter 3|14 pages

The Grootberg lodge partnership in Namibia

Towards poverty alleviation and empowerment for long-term sustainability?

chapter 8|26 pages

Pro-Poor Tourism

From Leakages to Linkages. A Conceptual Framework for Creating Linkages between the Accommodation Sector and ‘Poor' Neighbouring Communities

chapter 9|17 pages

Tourism Chains and Pro-poor Tourism Development

An Actor-Network Analysis of a Pilot Project in Costa Rica

chapter 11|19 pages

Balancing people and park

Towards a symbiotic relationship between Cape Town and Table Mountain National Park