Introduction to tourism development - issues and challenges

Tourism development is an elusive term which means different things to different people. In this book four separate sections attempt to cover an array of tourism development issues. After the ''Introduction'' (section 1), section 2 ''Tourism development - System and Trends'' informs the reader how the system is structured and what are the trends affecting tourism development including where we are headed, what are the new tourism markets, and what new tourist types are appearing as a force to be considered. The next book section ''New ventures in Tourism Development'' discusses how climatology and climate change relate to tourism, how web based geographic information services (WebGIS) are changing tourism and what kind of new growth opportunities space tourism will bring. Then, the last book section on ''Tourism Development Case Studies'' examines particular issues in depth; from community development to stakeholder conflicts in Europe, Africa and Latin America; from the birth of hotel development in China to regeneration of old destinations in Spain, as well as from image and political instability in Central African countries to sport tourism development in British Columbia.This book is intended to give the reader some insights into new paradigms, new issues, and old problems that are affecting the quality of life for host communities and the experiential nature of tourism. It is our hope that those directly involved in tourism development will be able to use this book for new ideas, issue avoidance, and new approaches to the problem of how do we make money yet protect our environment and culture. This, as the reader recognizes, is the sustainability argument. In this book insights into how to develop in a more sustainable manner are part of the offering.