Is tourism beneficial to developing countries?

Encyclopedia of Opinion

Question: Is tourism beneficial to developing countries?
Position‹2 of 2: No, tourism is detrimental to developing countries
Argument‹4 of 4: Prices inflate

Massive inflation makes some things unattainable for locals.

The argument

This argument holds that tourism raises local prices and distorts the local labour market, and that in a developing country those two effects together do more harm than the income does good. The price effect is presented as a general feature of popular places. As seen in places like Los Angeles and New York, the more popular an area is, the more expensive items become. In a developing country the same dynamic is reinforced by what visitors believe they are doing: sellers are generally able to sell their items at significantly higher prices, thanks to the general tourist mindset that they are supporting the local economy. A visitor willing to accept a high price does not experience it as a high price, so there is little downward pressure on it. The labour-market effect follows from the first. Tourists are indeed supporting the local economy, but sometimes this will mean that these jobs make more money than socially crucial jobs, such as doctors or teachers. Where selling to visitors pays better than medicine or teaching, the incentive runs against the professions a population depends on, and the result is a lack of professionals to provide for the locals. The two effects then compound. Prices that have risen to what a visitor will pay are set against incomes far above local ones, so residents face an inflation of money in which not much is affordable, while the services that might have compensated — health, education — are short of staff. Proponents describe the end point as impoverishment and collapse. Because the gains are captured by those positioned to sell to visitors while the costs fall on everyone else, the argument concludes that tourism becomes detrimental, only helpful to a few and not all, and is therefore bad for developing countries.

Premises

[P1]The more popular a location becomes with tourists, the more expensive its goods and services become. [P2] Tourist-facing work can pay more than socially crucial professions like medicine or teaching, drawing workers away from those fields. [P3] This inflates local prices and creates a shortage of essential professionals, harming the wider population while benefiting only a few. [C] By inflating prices and distorting the local labour market, tourism is detrimental to developing countries.

Counter-arguments

This may not be the case for all countries. This argument does not take into consideration the nature of people. Sure, some may be greedy and take the job that provides more, but there will always be those who want to be selfless and provide. People are not inherently focused on just themselves.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P2] This will not necessarily make people not want to enter socially important professions.