ABSTRACT
Tourism research typically centres on topics related to the social, ecological and economic impacts of the tourism industry. Social impact studies involve an analysis of how the industry has affected local people and their lifestyles, whereas ecological studies have emphasised how the industry has transformed the physical nature of local and regional landscapes. Such studies seem to be in contrast to tourism economic research, which in most cases illustrate the income-generating power of the industry at many scales. Given that impact research is quite voluminous, it is not the purpose of the following discussion to provide a complete overview of research in these areas. Instead, this chapter focuses most extensively on issues related to ecological impacts, carrying capacity and, less specifi cally, on social impacts. Economics and marketing in ecotourism are the topic of the next chapter.
