ABSTRACT
The relationships between 'tourism and the environment' have recently attracted a great deal of academic interest, with significant publications by Richard Sharpley, Tourism Development and the Environment and John Urry, Climate Change and Society being notable examples. Key themes include: sustainability, globalisation, impacts on both rural and urban environments, environmental planning and management, social tourism and ethics, disasters, climate change, and the growing interest in diverse forms of mobility. Forthcoming publications include Andrew Holden and David Fennell's edited volume, the Routledge Handbook of Tourism and the Environment and Susanne Becken and John Hay's Climate Change and Tourism. The World Leisure Commission on Tourism and the Environment (WLCTE) has been developed to serve as a mechanism to advocate for policies and programmes within the World Leisure Organization that interface with tourism and the environment. WLCTE liaised with the International Social Tourism Organisation (ISTO, formerly BITS) to develop a shared understanding of developments in social tourism research.
