Tourism has become increasingly important for developing countries,
accounting for 70% of exports from the Least Developed Countries (LDCs). It is
the principle foreign exchange earner for 83% of developing countries and in the
40 poorest countries, tourism and oil are the two top foreign exchange earners.4
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CESD: Global Trends in Coastal Tourism
Over the last decade, tourism has been “the only large sector of international
trade in services where poor countries have consistently posted a surplus