Resumo: Tourism constitutes a key sector for the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals within the framework of Agenda 2030. The benefits brought about by this activity in traditional destinations are unquestionable. Nevertheless, there are no guarantees from the perspective of emerging destinations. The purpose of this research is to analyze the potential of tourism in emerging destinations and its effects on socioeconomic development within the framework of the 2017 International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development and the Agenda 2030. To do this, several hypotheses have been formulated to be tested in 152 emerging destinations. These include 43 out of 48 Less Developed Countries (LDCs) that are characterized by having a tourism activity that represents one of their main sources of exports. Pearson´s correlation coefficient has been used to validate the hypotheses. The methodology used is based on a four-dimensional model considering: 1) poverty conditions and territorial inequalities; 2) the degree of tourism development; 3) the commitment of public institutions to tourism and 4) the direct access of the local population to the benefits brought about by tourism. The findings call into question whether tourism development is the cause of the development of a destination or, on the contrary, contributes to its underdevelopment.
