For a government desperately searching for quick relief from economic ills, mass tourism appears as the irresistible solution. And when bankers, developers, hoteliers and transporters present the government with the impressive statistics which show that mass tourism earns foreign currency, that it stimulates a stagnant economy by creating employment, any government would find it very hard to hold back. The promoters can show how tourism gets roads and airports built, how electricity, telephone and sewage services multiply like magic. Moreover the whole deal has that element of glamour which appeals to politicians — especially where the leaders identify more with their counterparts in rich countries than with their own impoverished people.

Tourism can be lucrative. In 1970 there were nearly 200 million internal tourists, who spent more than $20,000 million. So it is understandable we find developing countries committing themselves to mass tourism — nearly doubling their share of the market in recent years.

A graphic example of a developing nation finding the package deal of tourism irresistable has been Fiji. Fiji hopes to solve at short notice its economic troubles by this means.