Sustainable Tourism As A Factor Of Local Development

As the tourist industry becomes increasingly important to communities around the world, the need to develop tourism sustainably has also become a primary concern. This collection of international case-studies addresses this crucial issue by asking what local communities can contribute to sustainable tourism, and what sustainability can offer local communities. Individually these investigations present a wealth of original research and source material. Collectively the book illuminates the term 'community', the meaning of which, it is argued, is vital to understanding how sustainable tourism development can be implemented in practice.

With the exponential rise in leisure mobility, tourism has increasingly become of great economic significance. Cultural heritage, such as museums, churches, historical landscapes, urban parks, and exhibitions attract many visitors and countries, regions and cities which house such historic-cultural amenities have seen increasingly large waves of tourists. While an avalanche of tourists has a positive impact on the local economy, such modern mass tourism also brings about negative externalities such as congestion, decline in quality of life, low access to cultural amenities and loss of local identity; to the extent that the sustainability conditions of a locality might be endangered. This tourism dilemma is particularly pronounced in cities with a rich cultural past, such as Venice, Naples and Amsterdam. Bringing together an interdisciplinary team of leading scholars from North America and Europe, this book examines the interface of local cultural resources and modern mass tourism from a sustainability perspective. It puts forward innovative methodologies and best case practice for future cultural conservation policies.

Distinguishing between sustainable development and sustainable tourism, the authors examine whether, and in what form, tourism can contribute to sustainable development and growth. Focusing on different types of tourism appropriate to particular situations, the team of leading contributors draws on examples from around the world - Canada, USA, Spain, Belgium, UK, Australia - to explore tourism's contribution to the economic, social, political and environmental advancement of developing countries and the importance of tourism in industrialised nations. This book examines the new policies and initiatives established by both the private sector and the state to pursue sustainable tourism growth and identifies the opportunities and challenges inherent in achieving it.

Tourism, internationally, is the largest economic sector both in terms of earnings and number of people employed. Understandably, the economic advantages have led to the active promotion of tourism by governments and other institutions, often independent of the consequences on the environment. The challenge is to balance the need for a low impact on the environment and local culture, while helping to generate income, employment and the conservation of local ecosystems. Sustainable tourism has to be both ecologically and culturally sensitive. This book contains papers presented at the Third International Conference on Sustainable Development, held in Malta. The Meeting focused on empirical work and case studies from around the world, and the book offers new insight and best practice guidance for supporting sustainable tourism. Adopting a multi-disciplinary approach, this book examines the practice of sustainable tourism from global travel trends through to destination and site management. Of interest to scientists, practitioners and policy makers, the topics covered in this volume include: Art, culture and nature; Climate change and tourism; Coastal issues; Community involvement; Ecological issues; IT and tourism; Modelling and estimates; Risk and safety; Rural tourism; Tourism and protected areas; Tourism as a factor of development; Tourism as a tool of urban development; Tourism impact; Tourism strategies.

A burning global issue, the achievement of sustainable tourism, can never ignore the global south or developing regions of the planet where tourism is rapidly growing. The readership of this book will be taken through a fascinating and comprehensive collection of writings on sustainable tourism, which brings together a compilation of profound conceptual and empirical research findings from diverse socio-economic and environmental settings in the developing South. The contributions of expert and new researchers review and interpret ideals and multiple realities concerning the concept of sustainability in the tourism development process. The categorization of the book into three parts – community, environment and management experience – encompasses the different flavours of sustainability in tourism, catering to the tastes of readers with different perspectives. Detailed accounts of the community component of sustainable tourism bring forth fascinating insights relating to its many facets, such as community capacity and participation, community empowerment, community integration, and community perceptions of tourism. The comprehensive nature of the book, and its diversity, provides a holistic picture of sustainable tourism in the global South today.

Sustainable tourism, or tourism that respects the environment, is one of the most hotly debated issues in today's study of travel. Based on years of research and extensive case studies, this book examines groundbreaking Scandinavian projects from award winning travel firms. Lars Aronsson then poses these projects as models for tourism in other regions of the world and for the future of sustainable tourism.

Some researchers perceive tourism as a process which creates dependency and causes loss of socioeconomic and environmental control, and is harmful to traditional sociocultural structures. For others it is clearly an opportunity for development and convergence among societies. The main consequences of tourism are economic, sociocultural and socio-ecological ones. These directly affect the natural and cultural landscape, as well as the inhabitants of the destinations. ‘Proper management’ can unite the local community; strengthen the historical memory and promote the recognition that the landscape is a legacy worth preserving. If local people can learn to appreciate the need for regulation and careful development of cultural tourism then it is possible to have an alternative to the strategies of convenience, based upon the view of tourism only for profit. Designing tourism to serve heritage and local sustainable development not only helps to conserve the resources that make it possible, but also complies with the ethical duty to guide social perception towards awareness and respect, which in turn will lead to sustainability. By means of case studies and theoretical developments, the authors attempt to present methods designed to minimise the impacts of tourism and encourage its positive effects. Some ideas in the book discuss the role of local communities, their participation in development management, the singularities of community tourism, planning, local governance and the relationship between socio-economic benefits and impacts.