Includes bibliographical references and index.

This text examines the development of mass tourism in coastal regions of Southern Europe, with implications for similar regions. It provides a critical assessment of attempts to make mass tourism resorts more sustainable, and the development of smaller-scale, alternative tourism products. The Mediterranean coastal regions of Southern Europe have long been world leaders in mass tourism. This book examines some key questions for tourism development in these areas, with implications for similar regions across the world. The standardised forms of mass tourism are diversifying - with more specialised forms, notably those based on nature, culture and heritage, and those catering for special interests. There is a growing spectrum of modes of tourism, with an emphasis on variety, flexibility and permeability. Both mass tourism and the more diversified forms substantially impact on sustainable development. Policies promoting sustainable development are often of two main types: developing smaller-scale, alternative tourism products that are intended to be less damaging to the environment and society, and secondly, attempts to make mass tourism coastal resorts more sustainable. But there has been little critical assessment of these policies, either evaluating their basic assumptions or their successes and failures in practice. This edited book critically examines these issues for varied coastal regions in Southern Europe, including case studies from Spain, Croatia, Turkey, and north and south Cyprus.

Also available in printed form ISBN 9781873150689

Electronic reproduction. Askews and Holts. Mode of access: World Wide Web.