The archetypal tourist is at present slowly evolving towards a cultural model in which human labour, on one hand, and nature and landscape, on the other, constitute the most important attractions with regard to his trip and stay in a given place. Classical mass tourism remains as the most relevant source of income in most tourist destinations and for the powerful industry associated with transport and with the destination itself, but it is interesting to observe that, once the mere need for holidays has been satisfied, many people set themselves objectives typical of more cultured societies. These circumstances constitute a serious environmental problem, as far as mass tourism is concerned, which is interesting from the perspective of the new objectives, and many ecology scientists, economists and anthropologists are considering the situation for study.

This volume contains papers presented at the third International Conference on Sustainable Tourism held in Malta, 2008, which explored issues concerned with achieving environmental, social and economic sustainability of tourism alongside the governance mechanisms needed to support sustainable tourism. The papers have been divided into the following topics: Tourism Strategies; Community Involvement; Tourism as a Factor of Development; Climate Change and Tourism; Tourism Impact; Tourism and Protected Areas; Rural Tourism; Risk and Safety.