Despite the significance of tourism to the economic, social and environmental structures of Central and South America, little has been documented in the English literature about tourism in this sub-region, which in terms of population size, ranks fourth in the world with 652 million inhabitants. The first of its kind, this book focuses exclusively on tourism development, planning and their impacts in a wide number of Central and South American countries. It covers experiences, challenges, successful and unsuccessful stories, specific cases, and other tourism related issues of twelve countries in total. Each chapter is authored by scholars who have done extensive research on tourism in the countries covered.

This text explores the role of tourism as a potential contibutor to socio-economic development in destination areas. Establishing a link between tourism studies and development studies, it considers what is meant by development, the processes through which development may be achieved and, in particular, a number of fundamental issues related to the use of tourism as a development agent. In so doing, it challenges conventional thinking about the relationship between tourism and development.

This book provides the reader with guidelines and approaches in the development of tourism that respond to community desires and needs. Planning techniques applicable to both developed and underdeveloped countries address tourist attractions, urban tourism, large resorts, and limited special interest tourism.

Tourism has huge significance as a global economic and social phenomenon, and given the growing reliance on the industry by service-dependent economies around the world, the lack of focus on tourism planning and development in South Asia is surprising. Current issues including social, environmental and cultural aspects underpinned by security challenges have defined the tourism development narratives in many South Asian countries over the last decades and lead to fluid demand and supply patterns. The appetite for and reliance on tourism growth is seen regardless of the numerous challenges faced by the region. Despite a rich and steady history of tourism and demand driven by numerous pull-destinations, most South Asian countries have not invested or benefitted from global tourism growth trends.

Academically complex and challenging to apply, development and planning are increasingly relevant to the growing tourism industry. This collection contains critical studies on tourism development and planning, and calls for proactive, holistic and responsible thinking. It addresses conceptual and contemporary issues in development and planning research including political trust, innovation networks, sustainability, moral encounters, enclavisation and evolutionary economics. It argues that recognition of the contextual and historical dimensions around tourism development and planning is essential to help both researchers and practitioners better understand destination and place-based decision-making. In addition, it will lead to improvements in stakeholder relations, and explains how tourism best works with localities and localities with tourism. This book was originally published as a special issue of Tourism Geographies.

The intersection of community development, tourism and planning is a fascinating one. Tourism has long been used as a development strategy, in both developed and developing countries, from the national to local levels. These approaches have typically focused on economic dimensions with decisions about tourism investments, policies and venues driven by these economic considerations. More recently, the conversation has shifted to include other aspects – social and environmental – to better reflect sustainable development concepts. Perhaps most importantly is the richer focus on the inclusion of stakeholders. An inclusionary, participatory approach is an essential ingredient of community development and this brings both fields even closer together. It reflects an approach aimed at building on strengths in communities, and fostering social capacity and capital. In this book, the dimensions of the role tourism plays in community development are explored. A panoply of perspectives are presented, tackling such questions as, can tourism heal? How can tourism development serve as a catalyst to overcome social injustices and cultural divides? This book was originally published as a special issue of Community Development.

Tourism Impacts, Planning and Management is a unique text, which links these three key areas of tourism: impacts, planning and management. Tourism impacts are multi-faceted and therefore are difficult to plan for and manage. This book looks at all the key players involved - be they tourists, host communities or industry members - and considers a number of approaches and techniques for managing tourism successfully. Divided into four parts, this text discusses: * The growth, development and impacts of tourism * Tourism planning and management: concepts, issues and key players * Tools and techniques in tourism planning and management: education, regulation and information technology * The future of tourism planning and management: issues of sustainability and the future Up-to-date, international case studies are used, for example the impacts of 9/11 and terrorism in Bali, to illustrate and provide a real-life context for the theories discussed. Exercises are also included to consolidate learning.