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Critically Analyse And Evaluate The Relationship Between Tourism And Development & Illustrate Your Arguments With Practical Examples From A Variety Of Destination Areas.

Critically analyse and evaluate the relationship between tourism and development & illustrate your arguments with practical examples from a variety of destination areas.

In order to be able to understand the relationship that exists between tourism and development, it is important primarily to understand what is meant by the term ‘development’. One important point is that if development is linked to economic progress, then the majority of third world countries are currently not in a developmental stage at all. Sharpley et al (2002:25) state therefore that development should be classified as “the reduction of widespread poverty and unemployment”. However, this solely relates to third world countries, as poverty, whilst existing to some extent, is an extremely remote issue in developed countries such as England and France. Therefore, development should be seen as “the continuous and positive change in the economic, social, political and cultural dimensions of the human condition” (Sharpley et al, 2002:27). Tourism plays a dominant role in the socio- economic development of particular regions and is the principal economic sector of, for example, many of the islands within the Mediterranean area (Andriotis, 2003:23). Despite the obvious positive results of developing a resort for tourist’s consumption, Reid et al (2003) clarify that tourism can also result in negative impacts upon a destination, for example overcrowding of a resort. This essay will attempt to clarify, and then analyse, the effect that development has on selected destination areas, and link this to specific literature in order to understand the relationship that exists between tourism and development.

Tourism is “reputed to be the world’s largest industry with estimated revenues of US$3.5 trillion in addition to hiring one worker in nine worldwide in 2004” (Theobald, 2005:172). In addition, Lanza et al (2005:1) state that “since 1980 global tourism receipts increased at an annual rate of nearly 8...