Tourism Development: A Geographical Perspective

Abstract

This paper represents an effort to conceptualise tourism and development, and their interlinking features, within the broad geographical perspective. It suggests that, as an industry, tourism has evolved along the development path of dominant development theories; Modernisation, Dependency, Neo-liberalism and Alternative development. The findings suggest that, by utilising the frameworks of these development theories, one could analyse and evaluate dynamic tourism processes, a necessity in understanding how tourism works.