Sustainable Tourism in Island Destinations (Book with DVD)

Tourism has been instrumental in the development of peripheral, remote, and insular regions, like islands, which are commonly characterized by peripherallity, isolations, fragility, scarcity of resources, limited labor force and transportation cost, all being competitive disadvantages. Especially, in the last decades, with the developments in the infrastructure and the introduction of new air and sea connections, islands became easier accessible and more favorable by tourists. It is the reason, that makes islands, and particularly small islands signi cantly depended on tourism and as such, tourism has greater
economic, socio-cultural and environmental impacts on them than on the mainland. Smallness has an important e ect on the structure of tourism on islands. In particular, a small island usually implies a less diverse natural resource base. Their special geographical situation and their natural and cultural heritage richness make them unique for visitors, but at the same time, confront them with a number of challenges and vulnerabilities. Particularly Small Islands Developing States (SIDS) vary greatly in their economic and social performance and their level of international visitor arrivals but many demonstrate
a high level of dependence on tourism in terms of exports and contribution to GDP.