The first tourist destinations were primarily consolidated in the early twentieth century. Since then, tourism has undergone significant changes in its economic and social components. Over time, many tourist destinations have come to represent 'mass tourism' and are the subject of many studies on the impacts of tourism and competitiveness policies. The conclusions of these studies point to the need for new perspectives and strategies ranging from adaptation to new contexts to a radical change in targets.
Management of these innovations should include among its aims environmental education, orienting visitors towards awareness and respect for sustainability even outside their leisure time. To this end, the tourist needs to be made aware of all those involved and their commitment to managing the destination; enjoying the territory should be based upon minimizing the socio-ecological impacts of tourism, and on motivating nature conservation and participation of local populations in both these goals, as well as in the economic benefits obtained. The challenge entails the destination finding a good balance between economic and cultural benefits, landscape conservation and tourist satisfaction.
"Tourism as a Challenge", the fifth volume of the Tourism Today Series, presents a collection of papers addressing how to manage these types of uses at a variety of destinations and in multiple contextual realities. These edited papers were selected from those presented at different international conferences organized by the Wessex Institute of Technology. They address important issues related to tourism as a tool for development which will give a better understanding of some of the current challenges.