The Future of Sustainable Tourism in Developing Countries

The term ‘green tourism’ is often used in conjunction with the desire for a balanced approach to tourism planning. ‘Green tourism’ is defined as tourism that enhances the local cultural elements, operating under the control of local communities, providing employment and maintaining the economic benefits within the local communities. In fact, the above definition is often poorly attested, since there are times when the economic benefits escape from local communities. For its part the tourist industry uses the term ‘green tourism’ as a message to tourists on energy saving, avoiding coastal pollution etc. Sometimes the same tourist businesses are accused of using the label ‘green’ primarily for marketing purposes. This paper shows that governments have a crucial role regarding encouragement to use cleaner technologies in the tourism sector and presenting different approaches for sustainability to be achieved in developing countries. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment