Poverty Alleviation through Tourism Development: A Comprehensive and Integrated Approach

The book offers a comprehensive and integrated approach to the topic of tourism development and its contribution to the fight against poverty. Tourism development is credited to be a powerful source of regional development and improvement in developing countries, and the focus of the book is on the world’s poorest areas and how tourism connects to the poor and unlocks opportunities to escape the poverty trap.

This book takes a comprehensive and unique approach by combining a decade of research on the effects of tourism development on poverty reduction in Latin America. The book explores poverty and its impact on development at the macro and micro levels. Then, it goes on to focus on tourism development and its effects on growth, inequality, and poverty reduction and how these dynamic relationships affect the most vulnerable groups of society. The research also documents on how the poor perceive tourism development on their lives and if they see it as an important vehicle to help them escape from poverty. Lastly, the authors map the conditions under which tourism can reach the poor and how tourism can offer opportunities for impoverished areas and their residents.

Combining tourism dynamics, development economics, poverty reduction, business practices, and a sustainable perspective, the book takes a broad look at this important issue. The book will be informative and valuable to a higher educational audience, including academia and researchers, as well as practitioners, policymakers, and international organizations, and graduate students.

Dr. Robertico Croes currently serves as the Chair of the Tourism, Events & Attractions department as well as the Associate Director of the Dick Pope Sr. Institute for Tourism Studies at the Rosen College at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida. Dr. Croes has published two recent books, titled The Small Island Paradox: Tourism Specialization as a Potential Solution and Anatomy of Demand in International Tourism. Both books investigate tourism dynamics and the opportunities spawned by tourism specialization in small island destinations. Additionally, he is a contributor to several books.

Dr. Croes has lectured and made presentations throughout the world, including Armenia, the Netherlands, Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Aruba, Curacao, the Bahamas, Jamaica, Malta, Ecuador, Barbados, Puerto Rico, and Mexico. His research has also been presented in predominant industry and research conferences around the world including South Africa, South Korea, Malaysia, Cyprus, Spain, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Turkey, Taiwan, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Manuel Rivera, PhD, is currently Assistant Professor at Rosen College of Hospitality Management at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida. Dr. Rivera’s industry experience expands to companies such as Aramark, Chartwells, Pizza Hut, Starbucks, Java City, Pollo Tropical, Subway, Burger King, McDonalds, and Sbarro. He had also the opportunity of working with institutions such as Florida International University, Saint Thomas University, Nova Southeastern University, Florida Memorial College, the Miami Dolphins Training Center, and the Kovens Convention Center.

Dr. Rivera also has served as a researcher consultant for the Puerto Rico Convention Bureau, Puerto Rico Hotel Association, the Cámara de Turismo de Nicaragua, the Consejo Provincial del Guayas in Ecuador, the Curaçao Tourism Bureau, the Aruba Tourism Authority, Coca-Cola’s Latin Center Business Unit, and the Kissimmee CVB among others. Dr. Rivera also has extensive experience working with music festivals in the Caribbean, more specifically the Curacao North Sea Jazz Festival, the Aruba Soul Beach Music Festival, and the Aruba Electric Festival.