1. Dr Thomas Bauer, School of Hotel and Tourism Management,
The Role of Tourism in Economic Development and Poverty Alleviation
Dr Thomas Bauer, School of Hotel and Tourism Management,
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

2. Economic Perspective
From an economic perspective, the growth of tourism provides countries with increased employment opportunities as well as additional tax and foreign exchange revenues.
If leakages can be kept to a minimum international tourism can also play a significant role in diversifying the economies of countries.

3. World Tourism Growth
million
Speedy recovery at 6.7%, compared with the drop of 4% in 2009
2010: 935 million
2009: 877 million -> 2010: +58mn
2008: 913 million -> 2010: +22mn
Data source: UNWTO (various years)

4. World Tourism Growth vs. Forecast
Source: Kester, J. (2011)

5. Tourism Contribution to World Economy
2011 Estimates
2021 Forecast
GDP
Direct contribution
US$ 1850 bn (+4.5%)
US$ bn
(annualised +4.2%)
(in constant 2011 price)
Percentage to GDP
2.8%
2.9%
Total contribution
(% to GDP)
US$ bn(9.1%)
US$ bn(9.6%)
Employment
Direct employment (%)
99,048,000 (3.4%)
120,427,000 (3.6%)
Total employment (%)
258,592,000 (8.5%)
323,826,000 (9.7%)
Visitor export
US$1,162.7bn (5.8%)
US$1,789.2bn (4.7%)
Investment
US$652.4bn (4.5%)
US$1,487.9bn (4.6%)
Data source: WTTC (2011)

6. Total Contribution of Travel and Tourism to World GDP
Source: ©WTTC (2011)

7. Tourism in Central Asia

8. UNWTO Statistics on CASs’ Tourism, 1995-2009
Year
Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Tajikistan
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan
Arrivals
(,000)
Receipts (US$ Mn)
Arrivals (,000)
1995 ..
155 36
218 92
1996
202
258 42 4
217 13
173 15
1997
284
350 87 7
257 46
253 19
1998
454 59 12
300
272
1999
394 48 18 2
...
487
102
2000
1474
403 20 3
302 63
2001
1845
502 99 32 5
345 72
2002
2832
680
140 11
332 68
2003
2410
638
342 62 8
231
2004
3073
803
398 9
262 57
2005
3143
801
319 94 10
242 28
2006
3468
973
766
189 6
560 43
2007
3876
1213
1656
392 16
903 51
2008
3447
1255
2435
569 24
1069 64
2009
3118
1184
2147
459
[1] Arrivals stand for tourist arrival which exclude same-day visitors and cruise passengers in UNWTO’s statistical terms. Shaded data refer to total number of visitors as no separate data for same-day visitors and/or cruise passengers are available for those specific years.
[2] Tourism receipts include receipts on travel and receipts on passenger transport. Shaded data refer to receipts on travel as no aggregated data are available for those specific years.
[3] No available data.
[4] Data provided by the country to UNWTO which do not appear in the International Monetary Fund data.

9. International Tourist Arrivals at the CASs, 1995-2009
‘000
Year
Data source: UNWTO (various years)

10. CASs’ Basic Economic Indicators
Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Tajikistan
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan
2010
2010
2010
2010
2010
GDP:
US$ 131 bn
GDP:
US$ 4.4 bn
GDP:
US$ 5.8 bn
GDP:
US$ 28 bn
GDP:
US$ 38 bn
Per capita:
US$ 12,800
Per capita:
US$ 2,200
Per capita:
US$ 2,000
Per capita:
US$ 7,400
Per capita:
US$ 3,100
Unemployed:
≈6.5%
Unemployed:
18% (2004)
Unemployed:
2.2% (2009)
Unemployed:
60% (2004)
Unemployed:
1.1% (+20% underemployed)
GINI Index:
26.70 (2009)
GINI Index:
30.30 (2003)
GINI Index:
32.60(2006)
GINI Index:
40.80 (1998)
GINI Index:
36.80 (2003)
Data source: CIA World Factbook (2011); World Bank (2011)

11. Tourism Contribution to CASs’ Economy
2009
Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Tajikistan
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan
Tourism receipt
US$ 1184 mn
US$459 mn
US$20mn
US$46 mn (1997)
US$64 mn (2008)
% of total exports
2.45%
20.5% 2% ..
Travel services, % of commercial service exports
22.25%
12.41% (1997)
Total economic impact (WTTC’s 2011 estimates)
5.3% of GDP
6.0% of GDP
Total contribution to employment
(WTTC’s 2011 estimates)
386,000 jobs (4.8 %of total)
118,000 jobs (5.2% of total)
WTTC’s world relative ranking , 2011 (out of 181)
143
131
WEF tourism competitiveness index, 2011 (out of 139) 93
107
118
Data source: WEF (2011); World Bank (various years); WTTC (2011)

12. Tourism Establishments in CASs
Kazakhstan
Hotel: 370 (2005)
Travel firms: 430 (2005)
Uzbekistan
Hotels: 267 (2010)
Travel firms:
Over 500 (2006)
Kyrgyzstan
Hotels: 172 (2005)
Travel firms: 293 (2005)
Data source: Kantarci (2007); Shamsiev, A. (Personal Communication, January 24, 2010)

13. Alleviating Poverty- what role can tourism play?13

14. Poverty Alleviation through Tourism
Tourism is on the increase but benefits are not evenly spread across many countries and ways have to be found to rectify this unequal distribution of benefits.
The power of sustainable tourism to assist in alleviating poverty in rural or peripheral areas needs to be harnessed.
This requires government appropriate government policies, strategies, planning and implementation

15. Pro Poor Tourism Strategies
Tourism designed and developed for the poor and the alleviation of poverty
The major difference between a market- led and a pro-poor tourism development agenda is that the latter uis designed to counter the problem of poverty, inequality and marginality

16. Types of Products
A range of products can conceivably be developed including attraction, tours, packages, shopping, entertainment, information provision etc.
Products can be developed from two perspectives:
1. by involving the poor in the development and management of the product and
2. by developing products based on the assets of the poor (culture, way of life etc.)

17. Thank You for listening