Tourism and Development: Concepts and Issues (Aspects of Tourism) - Tapa blanda

The development of tourism is frequently justified on the basis of its potential contribution to the broader socio-economic development of destination areas. Indeed, tourism is generally considered an effective vehicle of development, yet the meaning and objectives of `development', and the extent to which it can be achieved through tourism, is rarely questioned. Moreover, the relationship between tourism and development remains an under-represented area of study and research. This book addresses this gap in the literature by challenging many of the widelyheld assumptions about tourism's developmental contribution. In the first part, a theoretical link is established between the discrete yet interconnected disciplines of tourism studies and development studies. More specifically, the meaning of development and successive development paradigms are considered within the context of tourism. This provides a conceptual foundation for the second part of the book, which addresses a number of fundamental issues related to tourism's potential contribution to development. These include issues of economic development, regional development, socio-cultural development and environmental development. Finally, the third part focuses upon barriers to tourism-induced development, arguing that a new political economy of tourism, the consumption of tourism and the dominance of the sustainable development paradigm represent significant counterpoints to overly simplistic models of tourism's potential contribution to development.

Richard Sharpley is Reader in Travel and Tourism Management at the University of Northumbria, UK. His principal research interests include rural tourism development, the sociology of tourism, tourism in island micro-states with a particular emphasis on Cyprus, and tourism and international development. He has written a number of books and articles in all of these areas. David J. Telfer is an Associate Professor in the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies at Brock University, Canada, and is the Co-ordinator of the Bachelor of Tourism Studies Degree. He teaches in the areas of tourism planning and heritage tourism. He has researched and published in the areas of the relationship between tourism and development theories, economic linkages of tourism with host communities,strategic alliances and rural tourism.