Is tourism beneficial to developing countries?

Encyclopedia of Opinion

Question: Is tourism beneficial to developing countries?
Position1 of 2›: Yes, tourism is beneficial to developing countries
Argument‹2 of 4›: Tourism increases quality of living

More tourism means more money for resources and improved living conditions.

The argument

Quality of life has a huge impact on the inhabitants of a country. Excellent education, accessible roads and improved healthcare can all work to create and stimulate an independent economy — which is to say that these are not only benefits in themselves but inputs to everything a developing economy subsequently builds. Tourism is valuable on this argument because it funds precisely those inputs. The revenue brought in through tourism allows the overall quality of life within these countries to increase. It allows the people to "improve local conditions such as roads, transportation and access to modern conveniences." It also permits an improvement in the quality of education, healthcare, and even decreases the mortality rate. What matters about this list is that none of the items is exclusive to visitors: a road built because tourists need to reach a site is used by everyone who lives along it, and a clinic funded from tourism revenue treats the resident population year-round. The spending is captured locally and the resulting infrastructure stays. The longer-term argument is about what that infrastructure makes possible. An increase in the quality of life within countries in the process of development allows the creation of more businesses and stimulates an independent economy. A better-educated, healthier population with working transport can sustain enterprises that had no foundation before, and those enterprises need not have anything to do with tourism. This is what distinguishes the case from a simple claim about export earnings. The country may eventually grow to the level in which they are not solely reliant on tourism for their income — so the benefit is not merely the revenue while it lasts, but the transition it finances toward an economy that does not depend on it.

Premises

[P1]Improvements in infrastructure, education, and healthcare raise a country's quality of life and stimulate an independent economy. [P2] Tourism revenue funds exactly these improvements in roads, transportation, education, and healthcare in developing countries. [P3] A higher quality of life enables new businesses to form, reducing long-term reliance on tourism itself. [C] Therefore, tourism benefits developing countries by raising quality of life and seeding broader economic development.

Counter-arguments

There is always the chance that the revenue brought in from tourism will not be used to improve the lives of those that live there. If living conditions do not improve but tourists continue to come into the country, the people are being exploited and used purely for the government's purposes.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] Tourism doesn't necessarily decrease quality of life.