As defined by the World Tourism Organization (WTO), tourism comprises the activities of persons travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business, and other purposes. Key concepts of sustainable development and sustainable tourism, values and ethics of sustainable tourism and the needs of sustainability in all form of tourism shall be discussed in this essay.
2.1 Sustainable Tourism
Since World War II, tourism has developed from a relatively minor activity to the world's largest industry. The travelling within more developed countries as well as from more developed countries to less developed countries generally increased. It also consists of the majority of middle classes travelling among less developed countries but also to the more developed countries.
The term sustainable tourism emerged from a broader discourse on the idea of sustainable development (Bramwell and Lane, 1993). It aims to obtain economic, socio-cultural and environmental benefits and helping to conserve the environment. Tourism which is developed and maintained in an area (community, environment) in such a manner and at such a scale that it remains viable over an indefinite period and does not degrade or alter the environment (human and physical) in which it exist to such a degree that it prohibits the successful development and well-being of other activities and processes (Butler 1993 in Wahab and Pigram 1997, p44).
According to Jafari, the global tourism sector has been influenced and described by a few model platforms, 'advocacy', 'cautionary', 'adaptancy' and 'knowledge-based' platforms. At the later stage, Macbeth (2005) rethought the model and proposed the other 2 models, 'sustainable' and 'value full' platforms. These distinct perspectives provide a useful structure for understanding the outgrowth and development of sustainable tourism.
However these platforms do not represent a pure type
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