The Changing Meanings of Sustainable Tourism

Abstract

Conventional meanings of sustainable tourism arose out of the convergence of two streams developing in the late twentieth century. One stream arose from the growth of tourism itself and the rising attention society placed on its positive and negative impacts. Another stream originated in the emergent field of international development where a variety of governmental, intergovernmental and non-governmental agencies strove to enhance developing countries’ economies. In both streams, this concern evolved into a focus on the environmental and social impacts of development, which lead to the convergence of both streams into the notion of sustainable tourism. And while sustainable tourism involved a conventional meaning, fundamental changes occurring at the very end of the twentieth century and beginning of the twenty-first century have caused us to rethink whether that conventional meaning is still appropriate and useful.