The development of tourism may catalyse a vast array of impacts, social, cultural, socioeconomic, environmental or political. In ethnic minority communities and regions, impacts are potentially greater due to the pre-existing social, cultural and even sociopolitical constructs. Tourism, as a global phenomenon, is confined to operating within the local context. This is certainly the case in ethnic minority communities of China's southern peripheries. Tourism development is a differential process of formal and informal sector development. Formal sector development is generally capital intensive and relatively highly organised. In contrast, the informal sector involves many small vendors and family or community run businesses. The sectoral dichotomy may also be applied, in a general sense, to the types of tourists utilizing accommodation and services provided by these two distinct sectors. As the balance between the two sectors changes over time and across space, there is a commensurate shift in the type and scale of impacts generated by tourism in host communities. It is this that makes the sectoral paradigm so relevant to the role (or indeed lack of role) of ethnic minorities in tourism development in their local areas and communities. Apart from economic impacts, there are sociocultural and even socioenvironmental impacts on host communities. As with socioeconomic impacts, sociocultural impacts are also influenced by the differential development of the formal and informal sectors over time. Furthermore, particularly in ethnic minority areas, socioeconomic and sociocultural impacts are tightly integrated and one impact realm cannot adequately be considered in isolation.