| Summary: | In the last decade, commitment to tourism as a
development strategy for the developing world has
gained a renewed interest by governments and
development organizations in the fulfillment of the
Millennium Development Goals. This was
established as a major priority by donors,
governments, NGOs, national and international
tourism bodies, bilateral and multilateral
institutions, like the United Nations World Tourism
Organization (UNWTO). The purpose of this paper
is to identify the main determinants that should be
integrated in the international cooperation for
development programs that use tourism as a tool
for poverty alleviation. By way of a case study it is
analyzed the role played by the
UNWTO.Volunteers Program in this context
examining if it integrates the determinants
previously identified in the literature review. To
accomplish the research objectives, data collection
included: documental analysis, participant
observation, and semi-structured interviews with
UNWTO participants. While no evidences exist yet
due to the recent implementation of the
UNWTO.Volunteers, the findings suggest that if
these programs manage to have a positive influence
on all, or at least in some of the dimensions, then it
is possible that it responds to some of the main
determinants for poverty alleviation in order to
reinforce the local communities capacity-building.
|
|---|