ABSTRACT
Tourism faces new and increasingly complex challenges. That fact is indisputable. How tourism adjusts and reacts to these challenges will determine whether tourism flourishes or withers in the next century. The nature of these challenges and of the initial responses to them are beginning to be identified. This identification process must move ahead rapidly because it is clear that tourism cannot continue to do business as it has in the past. The nature of tourism and the role of research are considered first. Then the research directions suggested in the papers that comprise this edition will be summarized. These ideas will be examined within a total context for tourism research. The need for close cooperation between researchers and users of research will be stressed. A concluding section will attempt to develop an outline of future research needs and to suggest the political and economic environment in which this research will take place.
