ABSTRACT
Many of the previous chapters have examined how the members of the tourism industry manage and develop their businesses to produce a product or experience for a tourist. In this chapter the consequences of these actions in terms of tourist consumption are considered in relation to destination areas. This requires an understanding of the visitor as an agent of change in destinations due to the impacts induced directly or indirectly by their actions. Quite simply, it discusses where, why and how such impacts occur and with what effects. Promotion and advertising by the tourism sector (i.e. tour operators, NTOs and other promotional organizations) assist in generating tourism demand as a consumptive activity, which culminates in both positive and negative effects for the places it affects. These effects often coexist, making policy-making, planning and management problematic owing to the tendency to create beneficial and undesirable impacts simultaneously. For this reason, this chapter will focus on some of the tools and approaches used in tourism studies to understand how tourism generates impacts, how these can be managed and the lessons that can be learned.
