Is tourism the new panacea for eradicating poverty in developing countries?
In some forms, it could be a powerful economic driver (bringing in foreign currencies, creating jobs, improving the balance of trade, stimulating investments, supporting local services, benefiting natural and cultural resources, etc.). Nonetheless, the countries in the North (airline companies, tour operators and hotel chains) most often remain the main beneficiaries and only a small minority of the local population gains from it. The positive effects are sometimes largely set off by considerable negative, destructuring effects (exploitation of the local workers, pressure on fragile eco-systems, particularly coastal, competition for use of rare resources, in particular water, etc.). Confronted with these reports, many people and organizations have asked about the conditions of tourism as a driver for development for local populations, and have given rise to the notion of fair and solidarity tourism. Unlike the dominant procedure of cut prices and of last minute decisions, this type of
