Research on the social effect of pro-poor tourism

Pro-poor tourism is regarded as a strategy to counter poor in China. The core of this strategy is to improve the benefits of poor in the development of tourism industry. Thus the social effect induced by pro-poor tourism is more important than the direct economic effect along with the development of tourism. This paper emphasized on the social effect of pro-poor tourism and made analysis from three aspects. As to the personal development in depressed regions, pro-poor tourism would make for the poverty population out of psychological poor, knowledge poor and power poor, to change their mind and improve personal quality. As to the social development of depressed regions, pro-poor tourism would make for alleviating the situation of labor surplus, promoting outward cultural communication and improving the civilization degree. As to the whole society, pro-poor tourism would promote the realization of social equity in larger scope, narrowing the gap among different regions, promoting the horizontal economic corporation and outward opening, and setting up harmonious tourism ecological system. The social effect analysis of pro-poor tourism strategy would serve as the reference for policy makers.