Reconsidering tourism as a facilitator for economic growth in less developed countries

Abstract: Influence of tourism as a catalyst for global economic growth is conventionally viewed as an unquestionable fact.Observation suggests that this idea is appraised without being subjected to more holistic analysis and organizational contributions. The research seeks to evaluate the impact of tourism through considering related international growth approaches and recognizes prospective growth theories in connection to challenges that tourism is facing regarding its role as a facilitator for economic growth in less developed countries. The complicacy of economic growth theories postulated in extensive researches leaves tentative option to assume a simple approach towards direct impact of tourism on economic progress in less developed countries.The research sets out to assess the correlation between tourism and growth theories as well as the impacts of indicators like Geographical Zone, Gross National Product (GNP) per capita as an indicator of General Standard of Living in a Country and Economic Classification of a country. The data suggest that tourist exchange process is considerably intense among countries that are located in the same geographical zone or in nearby zones and also among countries with close recorded Gross National Product (GNP) which lie under the same Economic Classification.