Tourism As A Development Strategy In The

Tourism As A Development Strategy In The Third World Essay, Research Paper INTRODUCTION AND DEFINITIONS 1.1 – INTRODUCTION International tourism is playing an increasingly important role in the world economy, and is progressively being adopted by many Third World countries striving for development. Faced with the severe restrictions of underdevelopment, the decision to encourage tourism is being made more and more by Third World governments. In studying the wide ramifications tourism has on the areas and people concerned, it is feasible to analyze its success in the Third World as a development strategy. As a relatively new phenomenon, the literature is continually expanding, as more areas of this field are developed and more studies are carried out. The aims of this piece

of work therefore, are to study the growth of tourism as a means of development in the Third World, considering current literature; to study the ways in which the chosen case study of Oaxaca State, Mexico is approaching its rapidly growing tourist industry; to collect information on tourism in Oaxaca, both in and out of the field; to analyze the information in a suitable way so as to ascertain if tourism is the best agent for development for Oaxaca, and hence the Third World. My choice to carry out a dissertation on an aspect of Third World development was made as this is where my main interests lie within geography and it would very much complement other courses. My choice of Mexico came about due to my knowledge of Spanish and also due to a useful contact I had in Oaxaca. In

addition to this, I am very interested in this increased pattern of tourism as a strategy for development in the Third World. Chapter 2 will introduce tourism as an global industry and indicate its growing importance in Third World countries. With reference to the current literature in this field, the economic, social and environmental impacts of tourism on these countries will be discussed, which form the basis of any discussion on successes or failures in the industry. In Chapter 3, the methodologies are laid out, leading into Chapter 4, the case study. After a brief introduction to Oaxaca State, tourism in two specific regions is described, establishing the methods used to attract tourists. In Chapter 5, an attempt is made to determine the successes of these methods, and

finally in Chapter 6, a conclusion is sought as to whether tourism is a legitimate strategy for development, in Oaxaca and hence in the Third World. 1.2 – DEFINITIONS A few clarifications are first necessary, as words or concepts, such as tourism, Third World and development, are often taken for granted but can, however be defined in various different ways depending on the context in which they are used. Tourism is generally understood as a temporary, voluntary movement of people, travelling to a chosen destination outside of their normal places of work and residence for pleasure, business or education (fundamentally pleasure). The trip is a non-recurrent round-trip, the duration ranging between a few days and a year. The concept of the Third World also causes confusion. Since

the 1950’s, the term has been used to define, “…those nations apparently outside the First (advanced-capitalist) and Second (state-socialist) Worlds. `Third World’ is a loose term which is frequently used even more loosely to denote underdeveloped countries…especially those in Latin America, Africa and Asia.” (Johnston, 1994, p. 623) In this study, this definition is satisfactory, although it must not be ignored that this characterisation is no longer so simple, with the emergence of Newly Industrialising Countries (NIC’s) and the dynamism of the global economic order. The notion of the Third World implies separation between the different Worlds and between countries, but such clear-cut boundaries are misleading; even on a smaller, say national scale, such divisions