Tourism: A Vehicle for Development? - Tourism and Development: Concepts and Issues - page 3

1 Tourism: A Vehicle for

Development?

Richard Sharpley

Introduction

Tourism is, without doubt, one of the major social and economic phe-
nomena of modern times. Since the early 1900s when, as a social activity, it
was largely limited to a privileged minority, the opportunity to participate
in tourism has become increasingly widespread. At the same time, distinc-
tions between both tourism destinations and modes of travel as markers of
status have become less defined; tourism, in short, has become increasingly
democratised (Urry & Larsen, 2011). It also now 'accounts for the single larg-
est peaceful movement of people across cultural boundaries in the history of
the world' (Lett, 1989: 277), an international movement of people that, in
2012, reached over 1 billion arrivals for the first time (UNWTO, 2013b). In
2013, international arrivals reached 1087 million, a 5% increase on the 2012
total (UNWTO, 2014). Moreover, if on a global basis domestic tourism trips
are also taken into account, this figure is estimated to be between six and 10
times higher.
Reflecting this dramatic growth in the level of participation, what has
long been referred to as the 'pleasure periphery' (Turner & Ash, 1975) of tour-
ism has also expanded enormously. Not only are more distant and exotic
places attracting ever-increasing numbers of international tourists - as noted
in the introduction to this topic, more than 70 countries, including Jordan,
Cuba, Peru, Chile, Costa Rica, Vietnam and Cambodia, now receive in excess
of 1 million international visitors each year - but also few countries have not
become tourist destinations. Even the world's most remote or dangerous
areas are attracting increasing numbers of visitors. For example, in 1997 some
15,000 tourists visited the Antarctic, a figure that had reached 37,552 by
2006-2007 (British Antarctic Survey, 2011), while, prior to the 2003 war,
Iraq was promoting itself as a tourist destination, ironically using the slogan
'From Nebuchadnezzar to Saddam Hussein: 2240 years of peace and prosper-
ity' (Roberts, 1998: 3). By 2009, tour operators were again officially escorting

3