Tourism and Sustainable Development in Developing Countries. Food for Thought
Although affected in a number of ways by the tourist trade, developing countries receive little more than a quarter of the 898 million international tourists (2008). Tourism is dominated by the most affluent societies and a few cities in the newly emerging powers. However, recent trends in tourism have witnessed an unprecedented concentration of travellers on certain islands and coastlines. An analysis of such trends (characterized by the privatization and appropriation of limited resources) provides an interesting framework within which to study the limits of economic development based on unbridled competition, and the effects of tourism on the environment. Reflection on the issue in terms of sustainable development provides an opportunity to examine the struggle for power and the motives of the players involved; it also poses the crucial question regarding the real cost of tourist-derived income as well as revenue-sharing.