The tourism industry has established itself as one of the world?s major industries, one that offers significant opportunities for employment creation, local economic development and integration in to the international market. Millions of poor people live in places that are also tourism destinations. But many tourism companies claim that poverty reduction is not their business. This brief explains why poverty does matter to tourism businesses and describes what companies ? both in the originating and destination countries ? can do to contribute to the global effort on poverty reduction.
This policy briefing paper is based on the report Pro-Poor Tourism Strategies: Making Tourism Work for the Poor by Caroline Ashley, Dilys Roe and Harold Goodwin (April 2001). Findings are based on six case studies of pro-poor tourism initiatives in South Africa, Namibia, Uganda, Nepal, St Lucia, and Ecuador.
Pro-poor tourism briefing No 2.March 2002 http://www.propoortourism.org.uk
