Tourism, Development, and Inequality: The Case of Tanzania

For most of the post-WWII era, scholars have attempted to understand, define, and measure development. A large and growing body of work has, in fact, investigated its causes and the consequences and has dissented as to whether tourism represents a proper determinant of growth and development. Yet, while scholars have started investigating the contribution that tourism can make to economic growth and development from the 1970s onward, considerably less attention has been paid to assessing whether tourism-induced growth is pro-poor or not—that is, whether tourism-induced growth and development contribute to the reduction of poverty and income inequality. Building on data collected from several institutional sources and on the insights gathered in the course of several interviews with the officials from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, we wish to investigate the relationship between the development of the tourism industry, economic development, employment and income inequality in Tanzania.