TOURISM AND THE GENERAL AGREEMENT ON TRADE IN SERVICES: DEBATES, PROGRESS, AND IMPLICATIONS FOR THE AFRICAN CONTINENT.

The adoption of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) more than a decade ago represents an important pinnacle in a prolonged process of international state-led trade liberalization. There is not much consensus on what the implications of GATS are for tourism development. Two viewpoints dominate; the first that the GATS presents a major opportunity for tourism growth, and the second that dependency, inequity, and unsustainability are likely to emanate from the scheme. This article examines the content of the GATS, the degree to which it has been implemented on the African continent, and what some of the prospects are that GATS holds for tourism development in Africa. As in many other developing regions, several difficulties are experienced in African countries to apply the GATS, and the scheme has been put into practice to a limited and fragmented degree. Factors related to the nature of tourism in Africa, structural economic and political deficiencies, and limited understanding of the complex provisions of the GATS, create a complicated environment. There is the potential that the GATS may be counter to an emergent regime of environmental protection in tourism and other practices of sustainable tourism development. There is, however, sufficient potential in the GATS for growth, particularly within the intra-African frame. Serious consideration should be given to the utilization of GATS to foster intra-African tourism trade and investments that are beneficial for all African states. At the same time African states should attempt to obtain more favorable negotiation positions in existing multilateral fora such as the World Trade Organization, to enhance their gain from tourism liberalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]