Around the world, ecotourism has been hailed as a panacea: a way to fund conservation and scientific research, protect fragile ecosystems, benefit communities, promote development in poor countries, instill environmental awareness and a social conscience in the travel industry, satisfy and educate discriminating tourists, and, some claim, foster world peace. Although "green" travel is being aggressively marketed as a "win-win" solution for the Third...

The authors challenge the notion of sustainability and its relationship to contemporary tourism in the developing world, then discuss alternative channels of tourism development and the impact of tourism policies at local, national and global level.