Abstract: In this paper we discuss the implications of globalisation on sustainable
tourism development.
The ability of tourism to generate foreign exchange revenue, create
employment, and absorb unemployment has provided it with a political and social
legitimacy. The economic benefits of tourism are however, the results of a
fundamental process by which expressions and forms of environmental and
cultural capital are traded. Environmental heritage, in terms of natural resources
and more intangible aesthetic constructs of landscape and built heritage is clearly
recognized as a platform for tourism development. The conflicts over the
exploitation, over-usage, and contested use of the environment for tourism
purposes will be further pronounced by the introduction of globalisation with its
transcontinental flows, patterns of social interaction, and so-called global mass.
The concept of globalisation is examined identifying key positions in
favour of, and against sustainable tourism. Basic concepts of sustainability are
reviewed as an attempt to outline a critical approach of the potential effective
“cooperation“ of sustainable tourism development and the globalisation.
Sustainability implies permanence, so sustainable tourism includes
optimum use of resources, minimization of ecological, cultural and social
impacts; and maximization of benefits to conservation and local communities.
In conclusion, globalization with its transcontinental flow patterns of
global mass has given to the tourism industry free reign to develop throughout
the world undermining the environmental and socio-cultural resources of local
cultures. We summarize that in a globalised world, the potential dimension to make tourism a form of Sustainable Development, in a few years should be
viewed as a part of larger policy framework designed, to be achieved a
sustainable society.