Executive summary. It is ten years since the British government’s Department for
International Development (DFID) commissioned a discussion paper on Tourism and
Poverty Elimination; since then the language has weakened to reduction and then
alleviation. The development of the pro-poor tourism approach over those ten years
is discussed and is differentiated from ecotourism and community-based tourism.
The paper concludes with the identification of some of the key principles and lessons
learnt, case studies which provide guidance about different approaches, and some
evidence of what can be achieved.