Page 206 - sustainable tourism-- Dr.Aya

International tourists end up participating in

the process of ‗economic leakage‘ as they

purchase goods and services, the profits from

which go to foreign owners as opposed to

local beneficiaries. Hence, a tourist may have

the best intention of contributing to the local

economy, knowingly or unknowingly, the

maximum expenditure that he would make,

notably on air travel and ac-accommodation

may actually leak to economies in the

developed world. Hence, the power does not

really translate to the local community. The

inclusion and empowerment of the local

community or government certainly requires

their participation as stakeholders and

beneficiaries of the tourism product

development and service provision. In this

context, domestic tourism may hold a much

better position with respect to empowering the

local economy and transferring the stake to

local communities and businesses. Do the

local communities have the ability to decide

on the course of developing sustainable tourist

destinations is another debatable issue, as

illustrated by the following example. What is

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