Professor Francesco Frangialli, former Secretary General of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), current President of the UNWTO Sustainable Tourism for Elimination of Poverty (STEP) Foundation and Honorary Professor of the SHTM, gave a special lecture on "Tourism for the Least Developed Countries and Very Poor Regions – 10 Years of Experience" to SHTM students on 23 September 2011.

According to UNWTO's Brussels Programme of Action, "Tourism is one of the few economic sectors through which the least developed countries (LDCs) have managed to increase their participation in the global economy. It can be an engine of employment creation, poverty eradication, ensuring gender equality and protection of the natural and cultural heritage".

Professor Frangialli observed that between 2000 and 2009, international arrivals in the LDCs increased by 11% annually – twice the rate of other developing and emerging countries and three times the world average. The LDCs have also narrowed the gap in terms of receipts, with annual growth in excess of 12% – twice the world average. Over the past 10 years, tourism has helped to lift many human communities out of poverty. During that time, knowledge of the complex mechanisms that link sustainable tourism development with poverty reduction has been refined. UNWTO's STEP Initiative has undoubtedly contributed to this process.

Tourism offers considerable potential for mobilising the resources of developing countries and contributing to the achievement of the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals to halve global poverty by 2015. Professor Frangialli noted that the United Nations Secretary General, Mr Ban Ki Moon, recently expressed a similar point of view, that "when approached in a sustainable manner, tourism can help drive economic growth and alleviate poverty. In fact, tourism has proved to be one of the leading ways for the least developed countries to increase their participation in the global economy".