Sustainable Tourism Law

72 SUSTAINABLE TOURISM LAW of tourism on these destinations ” 62 . Therefore “ Sustainable Tourism grew out of an emerging unease about the impacts of tourism.While tourism was a capable economic development tool, it had strong negative environmental, cultural and social impact ” 63 . All these facts, connected with modern mass tourism, have generated a new approach to tourism, that we now call “Sustainable Tourism”. “Sustainable Tourism” tries to determine and create a balance between mass tourism, exploitation and ecology 64 . Sustainable Tourism: a definition and a path The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) hence simply defines Sustainable Tourism as “ Tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities ” 65 . And again: “ Sustainable Tourism development guidelines and management practices are applicable to all forms of tourism in all types of destinations, including mass tourism and the various niche tourism segments. Sustainability principles refer to the environmental, economic and socio-cultural aspects of tourism development, and a suitable balance must be established between these three dimensions to guarantee its long-term sustainability ”. In light of the above, Sustainable Tourism should: “ 1) Make optimal use of environmental resources that constitute a key element in tourism development, maintaining essential ecological processes and helping to conserve natural heritage and biodiversity. 2) Respect the socio-cultural authenticity of host communities, preserve their built and living cultural heritage and traditional values, and contribute to inter-cultural understanding and tolerance. 62 Antonino Mario OLIVERI – Stefano De CANTIS, Introduction , in Analysing Local Tourism: a Statistical Perspective , McGraw-Hill, Maidenhead, 2013, page 1. 63 Bernard LANE, Thirty Years of Stainable Tourism: Drivers, Progress, Problems and the Future , in AA. VV., Sustainable Tourism Futures. Perspectives on Systems, Restructuring and Innovation , Stefan GOSSLING, C. Michael HALL and David B. WEAVER Editors, Routledge, 2009, page 21. 64 The bibliography on Sustainable Tourism has increased as time went by, and is nowadays quite impressive. Among others AA.VV ., Tourism and Developments. Issues and Challenges ,Tanja MIHALIC –WilliamC. GARTNER, Editors, NOVA Publisher, New York, 2013. In Italian see Marco CONFALONIERI, Il turismo sostenibile , Giappichelli Editore, Torino, 2008; AA.VV. , Turismo e sostenibilità. Principi, strumenti, esperienze , Manuela De CARLO – Raffaella CASO Ed., Franco Angeli, Milano, 2007. 65 Tourism More Sustainable: A Guide for Policy Makers. (2005). Available from http://sdt.unwto.org/en/ content/about-us-5.