Pro-Poor Tourism: A Driving Force for Job Creation and the Fight Against Poverty in Ivory Coast

The purpose of this article is to highlight the impact of international tourism expenditure on informal employment over the period 1995-2023, on the one hand, and to show the real impact of inbound tourism and domestic tourism on poverty reduction in the Ivory Coast over the period 2015-2022, on the other. Given the short period covered by our second objective, we used the Denton method to convert our annual data into quarterly data. In terms of results, our ARDL model estimates indicate that domestic tourism plays a significant role in poverty reduction, whereas inbound tourism does not, although it may be potentially more important in terms of revenue. In terms of economic policy, domestic tourism should be promoted because it encourages entrepreneurship among all social classes in sectors such as crafts and local catering, develops infrastructure linking tourist areas, promotes local talent, and facilitates their entry into the sector.