ABSTRACT
From merely uttering statements of intent, the acceptance of sustainability principles and urging businesses and tourists to adopt good environmental practices, there is a growing recognition that the attainment of sustainable tourism must move forward to the setting up of the requisite organisations and management structures, derivation and implementation of appropriate instruments and introduction of monitoring devices and procedures. However, while there is evidence of a number of initiatives by tourism bodies, trade associations and businesses (World Travel and Tourism Council 1991; Hotel Catering and Institutional Management Association 1991; Dingle 1995), the process of putting in place effective mechanisms and systems has hardly begun, the impression being that action is piecemeal and almost haphazard (Stabler and Goodall 1997). This is unsurprising given the absence of coherent and coordinated direction by international bodies, governments and environmental agencies. Furthermore, although the environmental consequences of tourism development for destinations have been recognised for several decades and there has been support for involving host communities in such development decisions, there is little evidence that community participation has become widespread practice or been effective in influencing the nature and scale of development in most tourist destinations.
