Responsible tourism is thus a “sustainable approach to the practice
of tourism” (Sharpley, 2013:383) that can be characterised by an
emphasis on the need to: change mainstream tourism; monitor and report
on outcomes; be accountable for actions; develop in response to
market forces; enable community involvement; involve the private sector
in reducing poverty through business activity rather than just alleviating
it through philanthropy; and use a ‘pro-poor tourism approach’
(Goodwin, 2011). The pro-poor tourism approach parallels ‘pro-poor
growth’, i.e. economic growth in which the poor benefit disproportionately.
Thus, pro-poor tourism is defined as tourism that generates net
benefits to the poor, i.e. benefits are greater than costs (Bennett et al.,
1999), and reflects a range of strategies in responsible tourism development
which focus specifically on unlocking opportunities for the poor,
for example by creating employment and market access for local
businesses.