‘Pro-poor tourism’ takes issue with what it rightly sees as ‘a defensive or
protectionist approach’ on the part of some ecotourism projects, an approach
that seeks to ‘preserv[e] local culture’ in the name of sustainable tourism (DfID,
1999: 2). Pro-poor tourism seeks to expand opportunities. It also sees itself as a
broader approach than community based tourism, because it also prioritises the
links between the poor community and the formal sector. As such, pro-poor
tourism has much to be said for it as an approach to tackling rural poverty. Yet its
attempts are likely to be equally limited in their vision. Rather than any attempt
to help people liberate themselves from their environment, they are instead
organised around it. Worthy, perhaps, but hardly an inspiring vision of what
might be possible