ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses how the linear growth of tourism was first challenged by the concept of sustainable tourism, how the challenge went largely unheeded, and how only now, thirty years on, is the industry beginning to fear an unsustainable future. Tourism has had a long history. Some commentators place its origins in mediaeval pilgrimages, some in the Grand Tours of the eighteenth and nineteenth century, and others in the railway age world of the spa and seaside resort. In the mid-to late-1980s the concept of Sanfter Tourismus broke out of its German speaking heartland and spread across the wider world. Governments have been shy to encourage or require change in the tourism sector beyond basic safety regulations. Governments have traditionally practised boosterism towards tourism. The fundamental reason is the recognition that climate change is happening, that its consequences could be seriously damaging, and that a series of changes are required in our existing life styles.
