Throughout the years, tourism has had a growing economic and social significance especially in Belize and other developing countries. The promotion of tourism in developing countries as a growth sector resides in its perceived potential to accelerate growth in GDP; to create employment; to increase foreign exchange earnings; and to attract capital investment. Developing countries have thus recognized its importance and introduced tourism as a major part of their national development strategies.
Since developing countries tend to import more and their exports hold only a small portion in the international trading market, it was discussed that as small economies, these developing nations have very limited financial resources, so capitalizing on tourism remains their best alternative to maintain a growing economy. We saw that Belize, like many developing nations, is characterized as a dependent economy in which most of its important economic activities are geared towards the production and export of a few commodities. In this regard, tourism offers countries like Belize the opportunity to compete fairly and with greater profits, because people are always traveling and even more so today with the opening up of markets, easier access to countries, and more cost efficient and less time consuming ways to travel. Thus, the efficient utilization of the abundant endowment in their pristine natural resources, which are lacking in the developed nations, presents the gateway for these developing nations to capture financial gains and balance off from the areas where they lack such gain.
The export orientation focus of the Belizean economy had long limited both the scope of economic diversification and the development of strong, inter-sectoral linkages between tourism and the rest of the economy. It was predominantly for this reason that the industry, in many developing countries, has become highly import dependent. Although being the fastest growing sector in Belize, the high import content of the tourism industry meant that a
80
significant portion of foreign exchange earnings from tourism is accrued abroad in imports for construction; imports of consumer goods; repatriation of profits; overseas promotional expenditures; and amortization of external debt incurred by the industry.