Comparative social impacts of tourism on developing and developed countries

Abstract

The synthesized major factors influencing tourism impacts on host communities include the type of tourism activities, the features of the host communities, and the nature of the interaction between tourists and host communities. The international tourism flows mainly feature tourism mobilities among the developed countries and from the developed countries to the developing countries. Given the economic and sociocultural differences between the developed and developing countries, it is deemed that the social impacts of tourism in the developing countries will be greater than in the developed countries, and more attention should be given to the host communities in the developing countries. Yet, no comparative social impacts of tourism are reported between the developed and developing countries. This study attempts to address this gap and alert people to the negative social impacts of tourism in developing countries.