ABSTRACT
Nowadays, tourism is viewed as one of the most important forces influencing the environmental, social and economic development of its host destinations. As the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has determined, as an export category at the global scale, tourism ranks fourth after fuels, chemicals and automotive products. UNWTO also demonstrates a virtually uninterrupted growth in international tourist arrivals, from 25 million in 1950, to 277 million in 1980, to 435 million in 1990, to 675 million in 2000, and 940 million in 2011. It seems that over 13 per cent of the world's population are now international tourists. In addition the contribution to employment made by tourism is high, estimated to be in the order of 6 to 7 per cent of all available jobs worldwide (direct and indirect; UNWTO, 2011: 2).
