Introduction

Sustainable Tourism 2012 is the fifth meeting organised in this successful series. The first was held in Segovia, Spain (2004); followed by Bologna, Italy (2006); Malta (2008) and the New Forest, UK (2010). Tourism has become a major international industry, with many countries all over the world relying on the income it produces. Its economic advantages as a major source of finance and employment leads to its active promotion by governments and other institutions, independent of the consequences on the environment, ecology and social structure of affected regions.

The demands of tourism can contribute to the destruction of the natural and cultural environment upon which it depends. The natural and cultural landscape’s capacity to accommodate the local and worldwide effects of tourism, the typology thereof and its implications for human economy and society constitute very important study objectives. The development of tourism includes degradation of the natural landscape, caused by this industry associated with the phenomenon and paradoxically, it is also associated with the high appraisal the tourist makes of places free of human presence.

Sustainable Tourism 2012 aims to find ways to protect the natural and cultural landscape through the development of new solutions which minimise the adverse effects of tourism. This can be achieved through the development of new strategies involving the active collaboration of society as a whole. Such solutions ought to cope with the continuous growth of tourism impacts on the country including culture and society.