ABSTRACT
The Earth Summit in Rio, held in 1992, was referred to in Part 1. This crisis meeting sought to address world problems which threaten us to the level of extinction. Tourism, which is well on the way to becoming the world's largest industry, was not on the agenda. Shortly before the Summit opened Desmond Balmer, Travel Editor of The Observer newspaper, reported: 'Tourism is not on the agenda of the Rio Earth Summit. Politicians already run the risk of doing too little too late on global pollution, yet they will not even be talking about a problem that threatens to be as significant.' 1
In this book, an attempt has been made to suggest what matters should be featuring on an agenda for appropriate cultural tourism. Throughout the discussion, the endeavour has been to make clear that, if we are to manage cultural tourism appropriately, it is no use just opening a site to the public without thought and then complaining if it is misused. We need to evaluate carefully the likely needs of a site and decide how to meet them appropriately or, where necessary, how to discourage inappropriate use.
