Critical success factors for tourism in developing countries: A critical reflection

The idea of using tourism as a tool for development has been established as a major priority by multilateral institutions, donors, governments, non-Governmental Organizations (NGO), national and international tourism bodies. Nevertheless, only few studies have analysed the factors that have had major impacts in such initiatives in developing countries. In order to overcome this gap, the main aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive reflection about the critical factors that determine the success of the tourism development strategies adopted by developing countries. To accomplish this aim a literature review was conducted. The theoretical discussion suggests that there is a set of factors that should be evaluated when tourism is used as a tool for development. Despite the context in which this process takes place, the main focus of a tourism development strategy should necessarily approach a capacity-building reinforcement of the communities it strives to help. It will be postulated that these factors are essential to guarantee that the targeted communities are in full control and are the main beneficiaries of the whole development process. ; A ideia de usar o turismo como estrategia de desenvolvimento tem constituido uma prioridade por parte de diversas organizacoes multilaterais, doadores, governos, Organizacoes nao Governamentais (ONG) e diversas organizações de turismo nacionais e internacionais. No entanto, poucos estudos se tem debrucado na analise dos fatores que maior impacte exercem sobre as iniciativas adotadas nos paises em desenvolvimento. No sentido de colmatar esta lacuna, o principal objetivo deste artigo e propor uma reflexao abrangente sobre um conjunto de fatores criticos que podem determinar o sucesso das estrategias de desenvolvimento adotadas nos paises em desenvolvimento. Para atingir este objetivo, a metodologia adotada neste estudo assentou numa extensa revisao da literatura. A discussao teorica efetuada sugere que existe de facto um conjunto de fatores que deveriam ser considerados ...