ABSTRACT

This chapter explores the principles of sustainable development, the implications for tourism and the evolution and progress in developing practices that address social and environmental agendas in local and global contexts. In tourism, sustainable development principles are translated into a field of interest known as sustainable tourism, which focuses on minimizing negative impacts while maximizing the more positive aspects of tourism activity that can help to sustain human and natural resources over the longer term. The chapter turns to the context of sustainability and the evolution of environmental perspectives to help position contemporary practice and ways of thinking, to illustrate the principles, ideas and origin of this mode of thinking. Our understanding of sustainability in the twenty-first century has a long and fascinating developmental history. It is often believed that sustainability is a recent invention but the roots of concern about the human impact on the environment can be traced back to ancient civilizations.