ABSTRACT
Introduction Tourism may be regarded as an environmental and social imposition, an accepted reality or an economic opportunity. Tourists have the potential to benefit a place, and also the destructive potential to ruin it. Whatever the opportunities it offers, some truisms of the tourism industry must also be considered: the first is the wellestablished fact that tourism is volatile, unstable by nature, fashion driven and plagued by political conflict, natural disaster and perceptions of security. Second, tourism is a consumer of natural environments, historic buildings, urban spaces and local culture, all of which, once they have been spoilt by overcrowding and overdevelopment, face the danger of being abandoned in favour of fresh and unspoilt destinations. A common cycle occurs in tourism: from discovery of a destination to subsequent tourism development; success, followed all too often by oversupply and overcrowding, ‘visit it before it sinks’ (Venice) or ‘visit it before it is spoilt’ (Dubrovnik) attitudes, and a lower and less profitable class of tourist taking advantage of the lower prices of oversupply. Not only parts of the Spanish coast, but entire islands have been consumed and reduced to nothing while their communities are left with few alternatives for their livelihood. There is a delicate balance between sustaining environmental quality and maximising tourism potential and benefit.
