Taking a holiday has become an expected part of lifestyle for many people living in economically advanced societies. However, with the number of international tourism arrivals now surpassing 800 million people per annum and expected to reach over 1.6 billion by 2020, tourism has consequences for the natural environments and communities it comes into contact with. This book offers an integrated account of the problems and opportunities this migration of people presents for nature and communities. The second edition of Environment and Tourism reflects changes in the relationship between tourism, society and the natural environment in the first decade of the new century. Alongside the updating of all statistics, environmental policy initiatives, examples and case studies, new material has been added. This includes two new chapters: one on climate change and natural disasters; and the other on the relationship between tourism and poverty. These themes have direct relevance not only to tourism but are reflective of the wider relationship between nature and society, a thesis that contextualizes the book.

Tourism is also analysed as an interconnected system, linking the environments of where tourists come from, with the ones they go to. Further issues addressed in the book include tourism's interaction with nature; economic opportunities for conservation; market failure that causes tourism to create environmental problems; environmental management and planning for tourism; environmental ethics; sustainable tourism and ecotourism; poverty and tourism; climate change, natural disasters and tourism. The book is original in taking a holistic view of the tourism system and how it interacts with the natural environment, illustrating the positive and negative effects of this relationship, and importantly how tourism can be planned and managed to encourage natural resource conservation and aid human development. It will be useful to those studying Human Geography, Tourism and Environment Studies. Book jacket.