Tourism as a Driver of Economic Diversification in Emerging Markets

Abstract

Tourism has become one of the key strategies for economic diversification, with the potential to create job opportunities, attract investments, and drive overall development. For most of the developing economies, particularly small island developing states have struggled to break free from dependency on narrow sectors like farming or fishing. This research focuses on the role of resort tourism and emergence of digital nomads in economic resilience of island economies. With the emphasis on Maldives, Mauritius, and Seychelles, the research is conducted in the form of qualitative case study and is justified by Tourism-Led Growth Hypothesis and core-periphery theory. The information is taken out of governmental publications, tourism boards publications, and scholarly articles. The results indicate that it is possible to rely on tourism to attract diversification with favorable policy and planning. Nevertheless, challenges like environmental strain and ownership by foreigners still exists. Recommendations and future research on the long-term impacts of digital nomadism on tourism-based economies were also provided in this paper.