World poverty, along with climate change and terrorism, is one of the most important international issues facing the world in the 21st century. Global population is 6.6 billion, yet more than 1.2 billion people live in ‘extreme consumption poverty’, 2.7 billion people earn less than US$2 a day, and more than 800 million suffer from malnutrition.

Tourism can yield high levels of employment and income for the poor, particularly in rural communities, yet tourism’s role in alleviating poverty has not been recognised, to any substantial degree, by national tourism administrations. Historically, the success of many developing countries’ national tourism authorities has been based on attracting higher numbers of international arrivals, and inward investment for major hotel and resort developments to maximise foreign exchange earnings, often to finance developing countries’ debt.

This report seeks to provide an introduction to the issues involved in tourism and poverty alleviation, providing an overview of the organisations and initiatives that are working in this field internationally. It also aims to examine the potential benefits that have already been identified for how both the public and private sectors can make a real difference to alleviating poverty through adopting sustainable ‘pro-poor’ business practices.