ABSTRACT
Society's concerns after the Second World War rested primarily with rebuilding the damaged national economies in Europe and Japan and environmental priorities were subsequently low. By the late 1960s, as the effects of the pursuit of economic growth upon the environment became more evident, environmental issues began to gain more prominence. Besides agriculture, there was a growing body of evidence that industrial growth and economic progress did not come free of environmental cost. Recognition of the problems that could be caused by tourism led the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to establish in 1977 a group of experts to examine the interaction between tourism and the environment. Negative effects on the environment from tourism such as the loss of natural landscape, pollution, and the destruction of flora and fauna were already being noted.
