Tourism planning - A Third Way?

The left/fight divide in late 20(th) and early 21(st) century politics acts as a metaphor for the debates surrounding aid-funded tourism masterplanning where the traditional fight, framed by the values of neoliberalism, sees market forces as providing the only alternative. On the other hand, modern world problems have emerged that go far beyond the assumptions upon which the left was founded. This paper takes Anthony Giddens' proposals for a Third Way in politics and applies them to tourism in the context of the developing world. Giddens' framework, which goes beyond liberal democracy, reveals that a Third Way approach could help resolve social issues that have been largely neglected by "masterplanning" approaches to tourism. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.