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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Tourism, Poverty Reduction and the Political Economy: Egyptian Perspectives on Tourism's Economic Benefits in a Semi-RentierState

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Abstract Tourism's potential as a tool for poverty reduction in developing countries is still part of an endless controversy. This paper argues that one of the main problems of the debate is rooted in a missing nexus between micro- and macro-perspectives. The result is a lack of an adequate consideration of local socio-political power structures and their influence on development issues. Macro-perspective paradigms – like dependency or neoclassic theory – tend to argue from a Euro-centric perspective and largely ignore local political conditions. On the other hand, micro-perspectives – like the alternative development paradigm – emphasize local conditions, but tend to underestimate superior structures on the national level. On the contrary, this paper aims to demonstrate, that even if economic benefits of tourism are undoubted, the same benefits do not necessarily have equal beneficial impacts on development. By discussing the Egyptian example, the paper demonstrates how tourism connects economic and poli...