Prikaz knjige pod naslovom Etički i odgovorni turizam: Upravljanje održivošću na lokalnim turističkim destinacijama

458 pages, Publisher: Routledge, Year: 2020

Sažetak

In the last forty years, a lot has been written on sustainability, responsibility and ethics in tourism, but there still seems to be the lack of on the ground knowledge. The monograph Ethical and Responsible Tourism: Managing Sustainability in Local Tourism Destinations has filled the void and addressed challenges of practitioners. It focuses on the management of local tourism destinations. In well organised parts and chapters, it comprehensively presents practices used to manage the environmental impact of tourism on local communities, and explains the methods recommended for the management of tourism destinations. Carefully chosen case studies address some practical examples from a global range of examples including sites  in Europe Union countries, North America and South America, Central America, Japan and Australia. More than forty authors contributed to the book edited by Marko Koščak, currently an Associate Professor at the University of Maribor, who in the past 30 years has worked as an Advisor on sustainable tourism initiatives in the South East Balkan countries, and Tony O’Rourke, who works with Green Lines Institute for Sustainable Development in Portugal. Throughout the book, many challenges are emphasised, one of them, pointed out in the Introduction by the editors, is the following: “Tourism often provides an attractive methodology to improve income flows and maintain viable populations in peripheral regions. Unfortunately, at the same time, whilst such regions seek to strengthen their unique cultural, historical, ethnological and ecological structures that makes them worthy of preservation, the risk of becoming some form of cultural and heritage theme park overrun by tourists is a clear and undeniably certain threat” (2020, 2).

Authors and editors have succeeded in bringing together destination management, environmental and social aspects of responsible development through the local and community tourism perspectives. The book has 31 chapters divided into three main parts: Part A: Destination Management aspects of ethical sustainable development, Part B: Environmental & Social aspects of ethical sustainable development, and Part C: The business impacts of ethical sustainable development. Despite the fact that the monograph has 458 pages, finding specific information is straightforward as alongside book chapters, explanatory editorial analysis is added. Through this monograph, which may be used as a handbook for practitioners or student’s additional coursebook, readers learn about diverse sustainable local tourism practices. Since the circumstances in tourism have changed dramatically due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the need to address the post-virus challenges has appeared as well. Therefore, the editors have prepared the continuation of the first book entitled Post-Pandemic Sustainable Tourism Management: The New Reality of Managing Ethical and Responsible Tourism (publishing by Routledge planned in summer 2021). One of the objectives of the second book is to provide an evaluation of the effects of the economic decline on ethical and responsible tourism. Both books are recommended reading for everyone interested in locally based sustainable tourism.