The Short Version
Well-documented evidence from UN/UNCTAD data and multiple academic sources confirms that tourism "leakage"—where profits flow to multinational hotel chains, airlines, and tour operators rather than staying local—is a significant and widely observed feature of mass tourism, with leakage rates commonly ranging from 40% to 80% depending on the destination. However, the claim slightly overgeneralizes: leakage is most acute in small developing economies and all-inclusive models, and local communities can still benefit through wages, taxes, and local procurement even where profit repatriation is high.