ESTUDIOS Y ANÁLISIS: DOCUMENTOS DE TRABAJO

LDC Export Diversification, Employment Generation and the “Green Economy”:
What roles for tourism linkages?

“Pro-poor” tourism is arguably one of the best green options for addressing LDC poverty, employment and economic diversification initiatives.

Although often neglected as a serious policy option — and consequently most of its potential still remains untapped — tourism is the leading export for at least 11 LDCs, and the 2nd or 3rd largest export for another 11 or more.  It is also a major source of new employment, especially for women, youth and the rural poor in general.  While difficult to measure accurately, tourism's pro-poor impacts are directly related to the achieved level of inter- and intra-sectoral linkages.

Taking export diversification, employment generation and the “green economy” in turn, the working paper analyzes feasible LDC alternatives, reaching the conclusion (within the limits of data availability) that — in contrast with the current overemphasis on agriculture and manufacturing — green tourism is demonstrably one of the areas of greatest current comparative advantage and development potential for the majority of LDCs, via its extensive upstream and downstream linkages/multiplier effects, employment-generating and poverty alleviation capacities, opportunities for export “test marketing” of new products, sustainability, and largely untapped export opportunities. 

An economy wide, primarily private-sector approach is an essential element for maximizing tourism benefits — including its multiple linkages with agriculture and manufacturing — together with a significant coordinating governmental role to minimize negative externalities.  Unfortunately, there is no automatic guarantee that expanding tourism will significantly increase poverty alleviation or local employment generation:  the necessary mechanisms must be explicitly included in tourism planning and implementation.

 

N°: ERSD-2012-24

Autores:

Dale Honeck, WTO

Fecha de redacción: diciembre de 2012

Palabras clave:

LDCs, LDC Graduation, Export Diversification, Development, Comparative Advantage, Employment Generation, Green Economy, Green Tourism, Pro-poor Tourism, Tourism Linkages, Cluster Analysis, Value Chain Analysis, Poverty Alleviation, MDGs, Gender Issues, FDI, GATS, Africa, Istanbul Programme of Action (IPoA), Rio+20.

Código JEL:

F13, F18, H54, H77, I38, J16, J21, J24, K39, L52, L83, O14, O19, O24, P45, Q26, Q54, Q56  

volver al principio

Declinación de responsabilidad 

Este es un documento de trabajo y se refiere, por consiguiente, a un estudio en curso. Refleja las opiniones personales de funcionarios o especialistas invitados y es el resultado de trabajos de investigación profesionales. No pretende reflejar la posición o las opiniones de la OMC o de sus Miembros ni la posición oficial de ningún funcionario. Los errores que puedan existir son responsabilidad de los autores. Pueden obtenerse ejemplares de este documento de trabajo en la Secretaría de la División, en la dirección siguiente: División de Desarrollo y Estudios Económicos, Organización Mundial del Comercio, rue de Lausanne 154, CH-1211 Ginebra 21, Suiza. Sírvanse indicar en su solicitud el título y el número del documento.

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