Tourism and Sustainable Community Development

As the tourist industry becomes increasingly important to communities around the world, the need to develop tourism in a sustainable manner has also become a primary concern. This impressive collection of international case studies addresses this crucial issue by asking what local communities can contribute to sustainable tourism, and what sustainability can offer these local communities in return. The role of the community in environmental, cultural and economic sustainability is highlighted in an extraordinary variety of contexts, ranging from inner-city Edinburgh to rural northern Portugal and the beaches of Indonesia.

Individually, the investigations in this text present a wealth of original research and source material, while collectively, they illuminate and clarify the term 'community' - the meaning of which, it is argued, is vital to understanding how sustainable tourism development can be implemented in practice.

Derek Hall is Head of the Leisure and Tourism Department at the Scottish Agricultural College and has a personal chair in regional development. He has particular interests in welfare issues in tourism and in the role of tourism in restructuring processes in central and eastern Europe.

Greg Richards is Lecturer in Tourism Management at Tilburg University and is co-ordinator of the European Association for Tourism and Leisure Education (ATLAS). He has directed a number of ATLAS projects for the European Commission on topics including sustainable tourism.