Abstract
Effective tourism strategies of a developing country can create revenue generating opportunities (tax revenues) and provide sustainable employment for semi-skilled or unskilled workers. Such tourism development strategies require systemic thinking and comprehensive investment portfolio strategies regarding the tourism industry as a whole, i.e. going beyond investing in hotels, but also including transportation infrastructure, catering, restaurants, safe water, financial system etc. In other words, the destination countries need to review their tourism value & supply chains and identify structural impediments to the full utilization of their tourism assets and facilities. This chapter shows how Least Developed Countries (LDCs) can define their tourism sector development and suggests a framework which can be used by a LDC to assess its tourism development potential. It can also be used by potential investors interested in investing in an LDC's tourism sector who need to understand the broader context of doing business in LDCs.
TopGlobal Hospitality And Tourism Business Landscape
Main message: Tourism is an important contributor to GDP, employment and international appreciation of a country and its culture – regardless of its level of development. Tourism can also serve as driver for increased demands for other products and services in the countries and trigger quality improvement and upgrading of their supply chain and related value creation. Tourism creates opportunities for both, the destination country, especially the LDCs and private sector tourism operators/investors of developed countries.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Tourism Development: Planning and implementation of strategies with the objective to develop the tourism sector.
Least Developed Countries: Countries that, according to the United Nations, exhibit the lowest indicators of socioeconomic development, with the lowest Human Development Index ratings of all countries in the world.
Leakage: Negative economic impacts of tourism in the local economy
Tourism Backward and Forward Linkages: Intersectional forward and backward relationships between tourism sector and the non- tourism industries.
Supply Chain: Sequence of processes involved in the production and distribution of a commodity.
Business Strategy: Means by which it sets out to achieve its desired objectives). It can simply be described as a long-term business planning.
Inter-Ministerial Coordination: Co-ordination and co-operation among ministries and numerous policy actors. It is crucial to ensure coherence and complementarity in trade policy making and implemention.
Value Chain: Process or activities by which a company adds value to an article, including production, marketing, and the provision of after-sales services
Investment: Action or process of investing money for profit.