This dissertation research evaluates the successes and challenges of tourism integration and expansion as both a broad human development strategy and a catalyst for local populations to achieve greater economic and social opportunities. The country of Nicaragua serves as the primary case study for such an evaluation due to its relatively recent promotion and expansion of tourism through government led incentives and oversight. As a case study, Nicaragua is a country whose tourism industry remains nascent, yet commands great economic potential and influence, which can serve as an example for future tourism development initiatives for developing countries in the region and elsewhere. Unlike its neighbors, tourism emerged here in the 1990’s alongside structural adjustment policies implemented by the International Monetary Fund and administered by the United States Agency for International Development, which favored privatization and severely reduced state control over businesses and citizen welfare (Babb 2004, Reyes 2011). This dissertation argues that while successful policies have taken place to encourage tourism development in the country, overt authoritarian control has resulted in narrow marketing initiatives and a failure to expand tourism beyond the Pacific coast. Furthermore, international isolation, negative publicity, and shortcomings within the actual building of tourism infrastructure further complicates Nicaragua’s potential success in becoming a tourism destination. Therefore, development through a tourism lens remains at best haphazard and erratic while both national and foreign developers suffer from poorly executed and articulated tourism planning. By examining Nicaragua’s tourism sector and investigating the realities of those with direct and indirect stakes in the tourism industry across all Nicaraguan society, we can understand the challenges and potential which tourism poses as an economic and social strategy to uplift poorer countries around the world.
","abstract_html":"<p>This dissertation research evaluates the successes and challenges of tourism integration and expansion as both a broad human development strategy and a catalyst for local populations to achieve greater economic and social opportunities. The country of Nicaragua serves as the primary case study for such an evaluation due to its relatively recent promotion and expansion of tourism through government led incentives and oversight. As a case study, Nicaragua is a country whose tourism industry remains nascent, yet commands great economic potential and influence, which can serve as an example for future tourism development initiatives for developing countries in the region and elsewhere. Unlike its neighbors, tourism emerged here in the 1990’s alongside structural adjustment policies implemented by the International Monetary Fund and administered by the United States Agency for International Development, which favored privatization and severely reduced state control over businesses and citizen welfare (Babb 2004, Reyes 2011). This dissertation argues that while successful policies have taken place to encourage tourism development in the country, overt authoritarian control has resulted in narrow marketing initiatives and a failure to expand tourism beyond the Pacific coast. Furthermore, international isolation, negative publicity, and shortcomings within the actual building of tourism infrastructure further complicates Nicaragua’s potential success in becoming a tourism destination. Therefore, development through a tourism lens remains at best haphazard and erratic while both national and foreign developers suffer from poorly executed and articulated tourism planning. By examining Nicaragua’s tourism sector and investigating the realities of those with direct and indirect stakes in the tourism industry across all Nicaraguan society, we can understand the challenges and potential which tourism poses as an economic and social strategy to uplift poorer countries around the world.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Silveira, Cody J."],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Matthew Taylor"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2024,"date_issued":"2024-06-15T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2024-06-15T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:01:48Z","subjects":["Development","Latin America","Tourism","Central American Studies","Geography","Human Geography","Social and Behavioral Sciences"],"languages":["English (eng)"],"rights":["Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
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