ABSTRACT

As an introduction to the handbook this chapter provides an overview of studies that examine tourism impacts. The majority of studies on the impacts of tourism are grounded in the principles of sustainable tourism that emanate from the concept of sustainable development; the concept generally focuses on the meaning of development and the conditions necessary for sustainability, where development implies a process which raises the standard of living of people, and the future impacts of the development. This introduction also provides an overview of the theoretical frameworks that are used to provide a better theoretical explanation of the impacts of tourism, such as social exchange theory, tourist area life cycle, irridex model, intrinsic/extrinsic framework, identity theory, social representation theory, growth machine theory, and theory of planned behavior/theory of reasoned action. This introduction also provides an overview of the chapters and topics included in this handbook.