This innovative and thoroughly interdisciplinary book discusses the environmental impact of tourism and recreation. These issues are not observed in a vacuum, but rather in the holistic context of the relationships and interactions between other non-tourist factors that also shape the ecosystem. Environmental Issues of Tourism and Recreation is divided into three parts: environmental impacts on tourism and tourists; the positive and negative impact of tourism on the natural environment; and suggestions on how to minimize the unfavorable effects of tourism on nature in the attempt at making tourism environmentally sustainable. Contents: Environmental Impacts on Tourism and Tourists; External (Nontourist) Human Impacts on Natural Environment as Part of the Tourism Product; The Positive Impacts of Tourism and Recreation on Natural Environment; The Negative Impacts of Tourism and Recreation on Environment: Parameters, Agents, and Factors of Overdevelopment; The Negative Impact of Tourism and Recreation on Elements of the Environmental System; The Negative Impact of Tourism and Recreation on Ecosystems; The Issue of Carrying Capacity; The Search for Environmentally Sustainable Tourism; Environmental Planning and Management of Tourism and Recreation; Ecotourism as a Form of Alternative Tourism; Conclusions.
