Most resorts secure favorable tax deals directly from the central governments before they invest, accompanied by public announcements in the media about success of government in attracting international investments.
So no tax the locals. During the construction phase there is some legitimate economy uplift (similar to datacenters). But after that nothing.
> Most resorts secure favorable tax deals directly from the central governments before they invest, accompanied by public announcements in the media about success of government in attracting international investments.
is this just pure old corruption. govt not working for ppl stuff.
This happens, publicly, in the US, all the time. Megacorps like Amazon regularly pit cities and states against each other for what you're calling plain old corruption.
Tax revenue, local jobs, and the possiblity for entrepreneurs to build businesses around that possibility of tourists leaving the premise.
With all that being said, I still think that overreliance on tourism is bad for a place in principle. Those places fossilize, the wealth of tourists overwhelmes local culture, it will create wrong incentives, draw in junk vendors, pick-pocketers, and AirBnB vultures making life more miserable for the locals. One can also be certain that the local hospitality operators will try to pass the least possible amount to locals by finding even cheaper employees from god knows where.
The Netherlands prides itself on its coastline and dunes but by the time mass tourism arrived the country was already rich.
The secret ingredient is always money. Spain looks the way it does because that country was desperate for foreign currency and jobs in the 60s and 70s. Economic development is hard and Albania does not have much going for it unfortunately.
Exactly, it’s why tourists flock to Manhattan, while the city isn’t getting dominated by that industry. Your trip doesn’t outcompete locals, but the local economy makes it a rather expensive trip.
"Big money" tends to extort the same sort of tax deals that American sports stadiums get: they get huge tax breaks and while the registers at the stadium look like they're charging sales tax, that money goes directly to the stadium owners, not the government. Sometimes these deals are called "special economic zone".
I challenge you to find a single example anywhere on earth where redistribution of foreign tax revenue significantly improved the economic standing of the existing general population.
So no tax the locals. During the construction phase there is some legitimate economy uplift (similar to datacenters). But after that nothing.