With tourism rapidly increasing in developing nations there is an emerging focus on integrating pro-poor tourism into both the international tourism and aid agendas. Following a brief review of the pro-poor tourism literature, this article argues for the explicit creation of tourism and agriculture linkages to achieve pro-poor tourism objectives. To understand both the potential and the problems associated with linking the two sectors, we present an in-depth case study of tourism and agriculture in Cancun, Mexico. The case study draws on the perspectives of Cancun hotel chefs, who control hotel food purchasing, and Quintana Roo farmers, who have attempted to supply the tourism industry, to provide a unique thorough examination of the challenges and potential for such linkages in a mass tourism resort.

The notion that tourism can contribute significantly to poverty reduction strategies is attracting great interest from multilateral institutions, tourism bodies, donors and other organizations around the globe. Tourism is certainly a major contributor to economic development in many small island developing states (SIDS) and often it is the only industry in these countries to consistently demonstrate growth in recent years. However, the growth of tourism in SIDS is by no means synonymous with poverty reduction, in fact, in some cases it entrenches existing inequalities. If tourism is to contribute significantly to the reduction of poverty in SIDS, a broad approach that values social sustainability as well as the more popular environmental sustainability and economic growth will be necessary. In addition, governments need to establish an effective policy environment and play a stronger regulatory role if sustainable, equity-enhancing tourism is to emerge. The paper suggests effective ways in which national planning can both encourage private sector actors to support poverty reduction and facilitate the involvement of wider sectors of society in tourism development. It is not sufficient for governments to simply promote tourism development in line with neoliberal growth-orientated policies.

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