Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/80064 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2012
Series/Report no.: 
WTO Staff Working Paper No. ERSD-2012-24
Publisher: 
World Trade Organization (WTO), Geneva
Abstract: 
Pro-poor tourism is arguably one of the best green options for addressing LDC poverty, employment and economic diversification initiatives. Although often neglected as a serious policy option - and consequently most of its potential still remains untapped - tourism is the leading export for at least 11 LDCs, and the 2nd or 3rd largest export for another 11 or more. It is also a major source of new employment, especially for women, youth and the rural poor in general. While difficult to measure accurately, tourism's pro-poor impacts are directly related to the achieved level of inter- and intra-sectoral linkages. Taking export diversification, employment generation and the green economy in turn, the working paper analyzes feasible LDC alternatives, reaching the conclusion (within the limits of data availability) that - in contrast with the current overemphasis on agriculture and manufacturing - green tourism is demonstrably one of the areas of greatest current comparative advantage and development potential for the majority of LDCs, via its extensive upstream and downstream linkages/multiplier effects, employment-generating and poverty alleviation capacities, opportunities for export test marketing of new products, sustainability, and largely untapped export opportunities. An economy wide, primarily private-sector approach is an essential element for maximizing tourism benefits - including its multiple linkages with agriculture and manufacturing - together with a significant coordinating governmental role to minimize negative externalities. Unfortunately, there is no automatic guarantee that expanding tourism will significantly increase poverty alleviation or local employment generation: the necessary mechanisms must be explicitly included in tourism planning and implementation.
Subjects: 
LDCs
LDC Graduation
Export Diversification
Development
Comparative Advantage
Employment Generation
Green Economy
Green Tourism
Pro-poor Tourism
Tourism Linkages
Cluster Analysis
Value Chain Analysis
Poverty Alleviation
MDGs
Gender Issues
FDI
GATS
Africa
Istanbul Programme of Action (IPoA)
Rio+20
JEL: 
F13
F18
H54
H77
I38
J16
J21
J24
K39
L52
L83
O14
O19
O24
P45
Q26
Q54
Q56
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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