ABSTRACT
The previous chapter was based upon issues of the relationship tourism has with culture. This chapter concentrates upon the relationship tourism has with the physical environment. This relationship can be viewed as being especially important, given that the resources and attractions of nature are the raison d’être of much of tourism. Tourism’s interaction with the environment is complex: it can help conserve resources, have negative impacts, and can itself be threatened by human-induced changes in the environment. Using a definition of the environment as the non-human surroundings of the world that we inhabit, this chapter subsequently discusses the positive and negative interaction of tourism with nature, drawing upon some of the key concepts that have emerged within the multi-disciplinary area of environmental studies to enhance our understanding of this relationship.
