Least Developed Countries (LDCs) have made progress in socio-economic fields but remain suppressed by poverty and malnutrition, high unemployment, conflict, food and energy crises and the financial crisis. LDCs can draw on a range of policies to drive an agenda of structural transformation and decent work. As part of the UN Steering Committee on Tourism for Development (SCTD), the ILO participated in a Joint Tourism Special Event on Promoting tourism for sustainable development & poverty reduction at the Fourth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC-IV), held in Istanbul from 9-13 May, 2011. The Committee’s objective is to engage in an efficient manner towards a new decade of international support for sustainable tourism development for Least Developed Countries (2011-2020). The event featured Hotels, Catering and Tourism (HCT) as one of the fastest-growing economic sectors worldwide which can significantly contribute to social and economic development as well as to poverty reduction in LDCs. A fact sheet on Poverty reduction through tourism has been prepared in the context of ILO's contribution to the LDC-IV.