Sustainable Tourism VII contains papers presented at the seventh in a series of meetings on the topic organised by the Wessex Institute. The papers included in the book address problems, including social costs and ecological impacts that have arisen as tourism has become an important component of development. Many ancient local cultures have practically lost their identity as their economies have become solely oriented to the tourism industry. Both the natural and cultural – rural or urban – landscapes have also paid a high price for certain forms of tourism. These problems will persist to the point of being ruinous if economic benefit is the only target. It is also a grave error to disregard the increasing cultural and environmental standards that visitors demand nowadays.

Natural ecosystems are now a rarity on the planet and ecologists talk today about ‘socio-ecosystems’. Natural changes are inherent in the Earth’s ecosystem. Technological and social changes are inherent to mankind, and are now becoming widespread. Cities are growing rapidly and industry requires increasingly larger areas. Many traditional rural areas are being abandoned. Tourism should play an important role in this context. Thus, interestingly, many historic agricultural districts have maintained, or even recovered, their local population numbers through intelligent strategies of tourism focused on nature and rural culture. Natural landscapes and biodiversity are becoming increasingly appreciated. The tourism industry must be able to respond to these aspirations.

The papers in the book present new solutions to protect the natural and cultural landscape by minimizing the adverse effects of tourism.