ABSTRACT
Amongst the laudable aspirations of the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, the challenge of Local Agenda 21 (LA21) required local government globally to find ways of framing policy goals which would incorporate the central tenets of sustainable development and would also draw communities into a participative, collaborative policy making process. In assessing the extent to which we have realised these objectives, it is clear that tangible evidence is required that sustainable tourism as a policy goal can be translated into implementable policies, which will transform conceptually robust and well-rehearsed theory into action. More specific questions in the current context are whether LA21 is being adopted as such a policy mechanism, and to what extent it is impacting on tourism and generating community involvement.
