Responsible Tourism: Concepts, Theory & Practice

Tourism is one of the worlds biggest industries. Responsible tourism is concerned with the effects of tourism on people, ecology, and communities, and seeks to ameliorate these impacts by providing tourism which benefits host communities, improves working conditions, involves the local community, promotes cultural heritage, and benefits the environment. Simply put, responsible tourism is tourism that creates better places for people to live in, and better places to visit. It generates greater economic benefits to local people and enhances the wellbeing of local communities. It also makes positive contributions to the conservation of natural and cultural heritage, and maintenance of the worlds diversity. This book discusses responsible tourism as a whole, including the politics, policy and planning behind it, and the major subject sub-topics, such as poverty reduction, the environment, transport, governance, wildlife tours and heritage. It is suitable for university libraries, policy makers and researchers in responsible and sustainable tourism. Responsible tourism is an approach to the management of tourism, aimed at maximising economic, social and environmental benefits and diminishing costs to destinations. A responsible tourism approach aims to achieve the triplebottom line outcomes of sustainable development. The distinguishing characteristic of the approach is the emphasis on the duty of role-players in the tourism sector, and destinations in general, to take action to accomplish sustainable tourism development.