Members of the community Nuevo Horizonte show tourists how they survived in the rainforest during Guatemala's civil war. Photo by Angela Pereira

These words can be music to the ears of someone who has just exchanged a blustery winter of snow and shoveling for a peaceful getaway of sun and sand.

Many northerners are now able to take advantage of increased leisure time, more disposable income and cheaper flights to journey around the world and soak up what their southerly neighbours have to offer. Think about it: the hot sun, the cool beach, the mouth-watering food, and the thrilling adventure of it all.

According to the World Tourism Organization, over 80 per cent of international tourists come from just 20 countries in the North. Seventeen of these countries are in Europe plus the United States, Canada and Japan.

Yes, they are heading south in ever increasing numbers, according to the World Tourism Organization. Many tourists are no longer just going south to lie on a beach , they are also looking for different experiences in less traditional tourist destinations. Tourist arrivals in developing countries grew by eight per cent in 2007, which was higher than the international average of six per cent. International tourist arrivals in the world’s 50 least developed countries increased by 11 per cent and growth is forecasted to continue.

“A lot of people always want to go somewhere new and different,” says Julia Harrison, an anthropology professor at Trent University specializing in tourism. “Being well-traveled is a credential in our society.”

This flow of tourists has attracted its share of praise and criticism since countries in the Global South are among the world’s most vulnerable and tourism can have dramatic political, social and economic effects.

Proponents say tourism provides incentives for stable government, cross-cultural interaction, and protection of the local environment. Critics say tourism weakens government sovereignty, erodes local cultures, and degrades the environment.

The tourism debate becomes truly polarized around the issue of economic development. Tourism has been touted as an economic solution to the development woes of the Global South, while at the same time it has been criticized as a new form of economic dependency. Bridging this debate is not an easy task, but communities in the Global South are taking it upon themselves to use tourism as a way to meet their needs on their own terms. 

Economic Opportunity or Colonial Continuation

It is argued that tourism generates employment, hard currency, and foreign investment in struggling states around the world.  Tourism can also have positive ripple effects into other areas of a country’s economy and help diversify markets that were traditionally dependent on the export of an agricultural product.

Globally, the numbers look good.

In 2007, travel and tourism demand was expected to generate just over $7 billion U.S of economic activity internationally. Employment in the industry was estimated to represent 8.3 per cent of total employment worldwide, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council, an international agency of travel industryexecutives.

Harrison says that when global tourism levels dropped after 9/11, the effects were most dramatically felt by developing countries that relied on income generated by the tourism industry.

But there are a growing number of people who think economic opportunities are overstated.

“It really is a different form of colonization,” says David Fennell, a professor at Brock University specializing in tourism ethics. “It’s a different way of setting up systems to exploit.”

According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), only $5 stays in a developing country’s economy out of every $100 spent.  The majority of this money ends up back in the pockets of foreign-owned tour operators, airlines, hotels, and food and drink importers.

Fennell says community reaction to a new tourist project is usually “euphoric” at first, but the optimism fades when economic benefits aren’t reaped.

UNEP outlines other possible economic disadvantages of tourism: more demand for services and goods from tourists can hike prices for locals, governments use precious tax dollars to fund infrastructure that supports tourism while neglecting local needs, and employment in tourism is often seasonal, unstable and low-paid.

“You can leave … But those people are left with the basket and there is nothing left in it,” says Fennell. “As tourists we don’t understand at what cost these experiences come.”

Nick Kontogeorgopoulos, a professor of international political economy at the University of Puget Sound, says these criticisms are valid but not the whole story.

“Without tourism, things (in developing countries) would be a lot worse. What we actually need is a call to action to make things better instead of just saying it shouldn’t be done.”

Struggling to find the right solution

Forms of tourism that appear to be answering this call are on the rise.

Ecotourism, a type of tourism that strives to be ecologically sustainable and beneficial to local communities, has been gaining popularity.  In 2004 it was growing three times faster than the global tourism industry as a whole, according to the International Ecotourism Society.

Although Fennell says he considers himself a tourism critic, he does think ecotourism has potential to improve the economic development of communities in the Global South.

Costa Rica is often held up as a poster-child for ecotourism.  The small Central American country has used its varied natural resources to drive a strong ecotourism industry that brings in about $1 billion a year U.S, according to Costa Rica’s State Department. According to a 1998 study, 75 per cent of all licensed tour agencies were owned by Costa Ricans and they provided significant employment to the country’s population.

It is also estimated that eco-tourists generally spend more money in local economies than standard tourists. According to statistics gathered by an eco-tour operator in Costa Rica, eco-tourism generates about $1,000 per visitor in the Costa Rican economy.

Ecotourism operators are also supposed to employ as much of the local population as possible in all aspects of the business; including suppliers, marketers and other business partners.

“Eco-tourism is obviously a better model because it plugs more people into the supply chain,” says Fennel. 

Kontogeorgopoulos says local context determines the impact of ecotourism. He studied sea-kayaking companies in southern Thailand that brought money and employment into an area where little other opportunity was available.  The prosperous nature of the business also provided an incentive to keep the area clean.  On the other hand, there were few regulations in place to stop larger companies from coming in to imitate the successful operation, which could threaten the positive impacts gained.

Despite possible drawbacks, the vast majority of people in the communities he studied consider tourism to be a positive influence on their lives, says Kontogeorgopoulos.

But as companies recognize the economic value of being seen as green and socially responsible, people are becoming skeptical about whether operations advertising as ecotourism really fit the bill.

“It all comes down to whether they practice what they preach,” says Fennell. “Precious few are actual examples of responsible tourism.”

Grounding in local needs

Harrison says she too is skeptical of the ecotourism model and says improving tourism should be completely focused on the principle of sustainability.

The Worldwatch Institute defines sustainable tourism as a practice that meets the needs of both the tourist and host region while protecting and enhancing opportunities for the future.

A tourism endeavour can only be truly sustainable if it is locally driven, says Harrison.

Harrison says the view of tourism as a colonial tradition is “paternalistic” while unquestioned belief in its economic benefits is “troubling.”

 “There needs to be a middle ground determined by the local community,” says Harrison.  “It has to be wanted by the community.”

Harrison says the Maasai of Kenya are an example of a community that has decided to use tourism to its benefit. In 1974, many Maasai were removed from their land to create a game reserve that caters to wealthy tourists.  After years of watching foreigners enter their traditional lands while being excluded, the Maasai decided to partner with tour operators and run their own tourism ventures. 

In Botswana, the Bushmen people were also removed from traditional lands to create game reserves.  The majority were moved to overcrowded and substandard settlement areas. In 1994, a San community decided to purchase land in the Kalahari Desert to manage its own venture that combines commercial game farming with tourism in order to generate skills, employment opportunities, and money for their community.

These community-driven initiatives are springing up all over the world.

In Guatemala, a group of former guerilla combatants decided that their government's foreign-driven development strategy wasn't benefiting their community.  They decided to begin their own collective, using tourism as a way to generate employment and income for the community while also teaching visitors about the country's turbulent history and the importance of conserving local rainforests.

If communities in the Global South are determining how to use tourism to their own advantage, Harrison says northern tourists need to reconsider how they travel and be more aware of how their temporary visit will impact the people who call that destination home.

“Yes you will bring economic well-being to the place but in what way are you bringing that?”