Tourism constitutes one of the major economic forces of the world. UNWTO statistics since mid-1970s up to today indicate that tourism is a leading sector in terms of economic development, wealth creation and employment and therefore has become a significant factor in economic growth, development and in global, national, regional and local economic relations. The role of tourism in both international and national economies has made governments, stakeholders and academicians to develop economic indicators to measure the impacts: the number of visitor arrivals, receipts from international visitors, visitor expenditure when traveling abroad, and its contribution in both international and national export earnings. In the last decade concepts of sustainable tourism development and pro-poor tourism have emerged to see that tourism is used as a tool to alleviate poverty and create wealth for the poor, disadvantaged and vulnerable groups.
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