The Evolution of Development Theory and Tourism - Tourism and Development: Concepts and Issues - page 70

many in the developed world facing poverty and hardship. The market is still
a major force, yet the role of state and non-state actors is also changing; they
are adopting wider roles, as are regional and global initiatives. Commenting
on the after-effects of the 2008 economic crisis, Nederveen Pieterse (2010)
suggests neoliberalism is past, Keynesianism is back, financialisation has to
be brought under control and America has faded as the world's leading econ-
omy. 'Clearly, the current era signals a new development epoch, more multi-
polar, with a greater role for developing countries and a greater importance
to south-south relations' (Nederveen Pieterse, 2010: 219).
Many of the challenges associated with global development relate to the
fact that it is such a relatively new paradigm. Whether new global organisa-
tions will succeed is yet to be seen. There may be conflicts over how these
various organisations are formed and operated and what control they have,
as well as who has control within these organisations. Clearly there are
issues of global importance, such as climate change, that need to be dealt
with. However, it remains to be seen how much international cooperation
there will be.
Global Development and Tourism
As the political infrastructure has yet to be built for global development,
it is difficult to predict how this new evolving paradigm will influence tour-
ism, yet its beginnings can be seen. Certainly, there are a number of global
organisations in tourism, such as the UNWTO and tourism NGOs, that focus
on the global industry as well as identifying specific issues and destinations
impacted negatively by tourism. It is clear the events causing the shift in
development thinking towards global development have had significant
impacts on tourism. The 2008 financial crisis, climate change, conflict over
resources, war and pandemics have all influenced the way the industry oper-
ates (see Chapter 14). Knutsson (2009) outlines some of the global initiatives
that, in part, support the notion of global development and some of these
initiatives have links to tourism. A key step in this direction of global develop-
ment has been the establishment of the UN Millennium Development Goals
in the year 2000 with a target date of 2015. Several studies have investigated
the role of tourism in contributing to those goals (see Novelli & Hellwig,
2011). The UNWTO has a programme 'ST-EP' (Sustainable Tourism -
Eliminating Poverty) and they have also released an interactive magazine on
the internet entitled Tourism and the Millennium Development Goals (UNWTO,
2010). Hettne (2010b) posed the question of a global ethics and the study of
ethics has increasingly been incorporated into the study of tourism
(Fennell, 2006). The UN General Assembly adopted the Global Code of Ethics
for Tourism on 21 December 2001. A related example cited by Knutsson
(2009) is the UN Global Compact, where businesses commit to aligning their