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set out the steps for the achievement of that future state. In short, develop-
ment can be thought of as a philosophy, a process, the outcome or product
of that process, a plan guiding the process towards desired objectives.
More broadly, development is also considered to be synonymous with
progress, implying positive transformation or 'good change' (see Thomas,
2000). In this sense, development is neither a single process nor set of events,
nor does it suggest a single, static condition. Therefore, although development
is most commonly discussed in the context of the developing world, it is a
concept that 'relates to all parts of the world at every level, from the indi-
vidual to global transformations' (Elliot, 1999: 10). A society that is 'devel-
oped' does not cease to change or progress; the nature or direction of that
change may, however, be different to changes in less developed societies.
Generally, then, development may be seen as a term 'bereft of precise
meaning. . .[and] . . .little more than the lazy thinkers catch-all term, used to
mean anything from broad, undefined change to quite specific events'
(Welch, 1984). Its ambiguity is compounded by different uses of the term in
different contexts and disciplines and, furthermore, the concept of develop-
ment has evolved over time. Where at one extreme planners once adhered to
'the myth of development as progress', at the other extreme they denounce
it as regression (Goulet, 1992: 468). Nevertheless, as McGillivray (2008: 21)
observes, 'without a definition of this term we cannot determine whether a
country is achieving higher levels of development, or whether it should be
considered developed, developing or underdeveloped', while, for the specific
purposes of this topic, it is vital to have a working definition of development
as the goal of or justification for developing tourism.
The evolution of the development concept
Traditionally, development has been defined in terms of Western-style
modernisation achieved through economic growth (Redclift, 1987). That is,
as the national economy grows, the national productive capacity increases
and, as long as output grows at a faster rate than the population growth rate,
then development is assumed to be the inevitable consequence.
This perceived 'primary role of economic forces in bringing about the
development of a society has often been taken as axiomatic, so that devel-
opment and economic development have come to be regarded as synony-
mous' (Mabogunje, 1980: 35). Indeed, throughout the 1950s and 1960s,
the path from under-development to development was seen to lie along a
series of economic steps or stages (Rostow, 1960) and, as a result, develop-
ment came to be defined according to economic measurements, such as
gross national product (GNP) or per capita GNP, or according to economic
structural criteria. Implicitly, as the economy grows - typically at an
annual rate of 5-7% (Todaro, 2000: 14) and as social, economic and poli-
tical structures modernise (according to Western parameters - see
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