Introduction

This book deals with sustainable tourism in many ways: it addresses theoretical aspects and gives case studies; it utilizes methods from different academic disciplines; it looks at activities from differing perspectives relative to officialdom; it is a multi-disciplinary collection which embraces holistic analysis, context-driven understandings, conceptual critiques, political complexities as well as practical solutions. The regional focus of the book is Europe, in particular the rural parts, an area of great variety, and one which has often experienced tourism in different forms over many centuries; as an indicator of the region’s continuing importance, it accounted for around just over half of all worldwide international tourist arrivals in 2008 (UNWTO 2009).