For many decades, Western European countries have undertaken diverse pathways in tourism development and planning. Most have experienced fast or even unlimited growth, resulting in overtourism and, now, the introduction of policies that respect the limits of communities and the sustainability of their resources. Focusing exclusively on tourism development, planning and policy, this book draws together new voices to discuss issues across Belgium, Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Germany, Greenland, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the UK. An invaluable collection for policy-makers, researchers and academics, this book is also an insightful source of engaging contemporary case studies for use in the classroom.

Written by leading international tourism researchers, this book examines the key trends in European tourism planning and organisation. It introduces a theoretical framework to tourism planning and organisation using a procedural and structural approach. It also identifies leading and emerging practices and offers a new vision for European tourism planning.

This publication contains the proceedings of two UNWTO conferences on "Tourism: a Tool for Sustainable Development in Transitional Economies", held in Belgrade on 20-21 June 2005, and "Impact of European Union Enlargement on Tourism Development in Europe", held in Vilnius, on 1-2 March 2006. There is an overlap between economies in transition and the group of countries that joined the European Union in 2004 and, from the perspective of tourism development, a large group of European countries share similar challenges and opportunities. While Europe is the region that receives the largest number of international tourists and registers the highest amount of receipts from international tourism, there is a great difference between traditional destinations with a long history of tourism development and the countries that recovered independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Some countries already undertook major reforms in their political and economic spheres while others are still addressing structural issues inherited from the past. Tourism contributes positively to European integration and at the same time its success depends on the development and modernisation of several economic and social sectors.

This report aims to identify actions which might achieve more sustainable and environment-friendly tourism development. It contains an overview of the situations in Europe but the bulk of the publication lists the replies from individual countries to a questionnaire. The topics covered were: the positive and negative impacts of tourism, plans and policies to achieve sustainable development, the organisation of tourism, tourism development, successful measure that had been taken to attain sustainable development and environmental training.

This book provides a systematic, country-by-country analysis of tourism policy, planning and organisation in the EU. Its main objective is to explore 21st century policy responses to the global challenges shaping tourism planning and organisation systems in the EU. The book offers a new critical approach to comparative policy analysis of EU member states and focuses on six key themes: territory, actors and structures, economics, policy, methods and techniques and vision. The book is designed primarily for undergraduate and postgraduate tourism students and researchers. The book will also be useful for industry practitioners who would like to engage in the theoretical principles and the conceptualisation of planning and organisation systems.