Tourism turning real estate: how to deal with residential tourism investment in the Global South?

Abstract

Key points - Incentivising residential tourism and real estate investment in the South [of: in developing countries] may compromise long-term inclusive and sustainable development: shortterm tourism is often preferable from a socioeconomic and environmental point of view. - Specific residential tourism projects can be sustainable and responsible; however, the long-term process of landbased speculative development should be viewed with scrutiny. - Besides causing direct displacement of people from their land, residential tourism can trigger broader processes of land-based exclusion, especially through land price inflation. - Donors should be careful in supporting real estate and land-based development disguised as tourism, particularly in socially and environmentally vulnerable contexts. - Institutional reform and capacity building of local governments and institutions is urgently needed to improve the implementation and control of land and environmental regulations that safeguard sustainable development. - Civil society and local communities should be guaranteed a strong say in all matters related to residential tourism development. In many countries, however, their influence is limited, especially since the central government and private sector increasingly recentralise and privatise the control of natural resources.