Conclusion: Tourism and Development - Tourism and Development: Concepts and Issues - page 466

Sen (1999) reminds us, at a global level, problems of persistent poverty and
unfulfilled elementary needs, famines and widespread hunger, violations of
political freedoms and basic liberties, neglect of the interests and agency of
women, and increasing threats to the environment and the sustainability of
economic and social welfare continue to face both rich and poor nations.
Collier (2007: 3) refers to The Bottom Billion , stating that 'the countries at the
bottom coexist with the twenty-first century but their reality is the four-
teenth century: civil war, plague, ignorance'. He goes on to state that the
challenges for the bottom billion are critical to those who are better off. 'It
matters to us. The twenty-first-century world of material comfort, global
travel, and economic interdependence will become increasingly vulnerable to
these large islands of chaos. And it matters now. As the bottom billion
diverges from an increasingly sophisticated world economy, integration will
become harder, not easier' (Collier, 2007: 3-4).
The question posed in this topic is what role can tourism play in trying
to bring development to a region ? While no single industry can be expected
to bring a solution to the development problems identified by Sen (1999) or
Collier (2007), tourism has been selected by many governments to help gen-
erate income. In order to understand the role of tourism, it is important to
understand the nature of the tourism industry. Whether the public or the
private sector or NGOs control the industry, it is fundamentally an industry
which seeks to make a profit. From large multinational corporations to small
agritourism operators, all businesses seek to make a profit. The industry is
defined by a series of power structures which can extend across local, regional
and national boundaries. The industry is increasingly being asked to incor-
porate CSR into their operations as well as being pro-poor. Human rights
violations in tourism have been the focus of NGO campaigns and the indus-
try is under increasing scrutiny in this area. Those who are in control of the
industry can dictate what happens to the benefits of the industry. The scale,
type of tourism selected and speed of development will also have an impact
on the degree to which tourism can be a successful agent of development.
From large-scale resort complexes to remote ecotourism lodges, a diversity of
tourism initiatives has the potential to contribute to the development of the
destination. What forms and scales of tourism development are more suitable
to different destinations and development objectives is open for debate. The
tourism literature has moved well beyond the argument that small-scale
tourism was seen as somehow being more sustainable or able to provide
greater linkages to the local community than large-scale or mass tourism.
The focus now is on how to make all types of tourism contribute to broader
notions of development (social, economic and environmental). How the
industry operates, however, can either enhance or exploit the region. If the
industry is successfully integrated into the local economy with strong part-
nerships and backward economic linkages, more people will benefit from
tourism. Both the formal and informal tourism sectors will respond to