Photo: Ulrike Cokl

Travelling all over the globe has become much easier during the last century. Tourism as one mode of global movement involves different conditions and motives. Some people travel for recreational reasons, others are curious about different parts and cultures of the world. However, in any case certain pre-conditions have to be there (e.g. time, money, etc).
While tourism may be beneficial for some people it can be disastrous for others. Consequences of tourism in general, and in formerly quite remote places in particular, have already become of focal interest to concerned disciplines. The complicated relationship between tourists and their "hosts", embedded in different intersecting contexts, has led to growing attention by scholars and the emergence of vast amounts of literature dealing with this issue.
In developing countries, tourism is of economic importance if it increases the chances for local people to generate some income. Tourism can stimulate traditional handicraft, lead to new small scale business and advocate cultural affirmation. In this sense sustainable and responsible tourism also contributes to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals as a means to reduce poverty. At the same time, mass tourism raises questions regarding balance of power, loss of cultural identity, exploitation of people and/or the "corruption" of traditions, and the establishment of new dependencies.
Consequently, new concepts labeled "ecotourism", "community-based tourism", "fair tourism", or simply "alternative tourism" have popped up. These are forms of tourism which try to turn away from mass tourism and which are supposed to be consistent with natural, social, and community values. They also partially correlate with today's approaches in the field of development cooperation, which focus on sustainability, participation, collaboration and conservation of (natural) resources.

Photo: Photocase, User: Hi-Fi

Interview with Karin Chladek

Karin Chladek works for RESPECT (The Institute for Integrative Tourism and Development) as press and public relations officer and is chief editor of Integra - journal for integrative tourism and development.
We talk about different aspects of fair tourism.

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Photo: Marina Beck

Community Based Tourism in Bhutan

As an example for sustainable tourism Ulrike Cokl writes about community based tourism in Bhutan.
Ulrike Cokl is a social- and cultural anthropologist with focus on the Himalayan region, specifically Bhutan. Currently she is working for the Commission for Interdisciplinary Ecological Studies at the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

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