This Library section contains books, reports, classics, and documentaries that may be of particular use for destination stewardship practitioners and advocates. We welcome suggestions for additions.    Editor for this page: Siobhán Daly

Books and Reports

Community, Tourism, and Civil society

Bunten, A. C. (2015). So, How Long Have You Been Native?: Life as an Alaska Native Tour Guide. University of Nebraska Press. “Firsthand account of what it is like to work in the Alaska cultural tourism industry.”

Wright, L. (2020). Local Life. Arcadia Publishing. “Leigh Wright captures a snapshot of local perspectives on tourism in this nuanced collection of interviews. From reflections on the demands of working in the French Quarter to the housing turmoils caused by short-term rental companies such as Airbnb, Wright amplifies the diverse voices of inhabitants whose livelihoods, incomes, and pastimes are molded by tourism.”

Cultural & Indigenous Tourism

Duxbury, N. (2021). Creative Tourism: Activating Cultural Resources and Engaging Creative Travellers. CABI Publishing. “A synthesis of current research and international best practice in the emerging field of creative tourism. A vital resource for tourism agencies, practitioners, planners and policymakers interested in developing creative tourism programmes and activities, this book will also be of interest to cultural and creative tourism researchers, students, and teachers of tourism and culture-based development.”

Guyette, S. (2013). Sustainable Cultural Tourism: Small-Scale Solutions. BearPath Press. “This practical text guides tourism planning and development efforts from within cultures—addressing regional linkages, the tourism plan, visitor surveys, marketing, cultural centers and museums, job creation, and enterprise development, as well as evaluation of sustainability.”

Cruise Tourism 

Honey, M. (2019). Cruise Tourism in the Caribbean: Selling Sunshine. Routledge. “Explores the lessons learned from half a century of Caribbean cruise tourism; one of the most popular and profitable sectors of the tourism industry.”

World Monuments Fund. (2015). Harboring Tourism: Cruise Ships in Historic Port Communities. World Monument Fund. “This publication reports on the proceedings of Harboring Tourism: An International Symposium on Cruise Ships in Historic Port Communities, held February 6–8, 2013, in Charleston, South Carolina.”

Disappearing Destinations

Molstad, A. (2012) Last chance destinations. How to explore the world while making it a better place to live. ‎On Amazon as an e-book. “This book breaks new ground. While it can be read as an introduction to some of the world’s most attractive tourism destinations, it is also about tourism itself.”

Measurements, Economics, and Metrics

Kheel, J. (2021). Waking the Sleeping Giant: Unlocking the Hidden Power of Business to Save the Planet. Lioncrest Publishing. “This book offers up tangible ways everyone—from executives to employees—can make a difference and demonstrate the value of sustainability beyond the bottom line.”

Pilling, D. (2018). The Growth Delusion: Why economists are getting it wrong and what we can do about it. Tim Duggan Books. An entertaining (!) economics book with no mention of tourism but profound implications for measuring its success.

Nature and Ecotourism

Fennell, D. A. (2021). Routledge Handbook of Ecotourism. Routledge.  “Presents a timely, broad-ranging, and provocative overview of the essential nature of ecotourism. The chapters will … provide challenging and divergent observations that will thrust ecotourism into new areas of research, policy, and practice.”

World Bank. (2020). Tools and Resources for Nature-Based Tourism. World Bank. This is “a comprehensive review of the tools and knowledge resources that could be used by practitioners in the field of NBT, to prepare and implement projects that promote sustainable NBT practices and policies.”

Overtourism

Becker, E. (2013). Overbooked: The Exploding Business of Travel and Tourism. Simon & Schuster. “In this ‘meticulously reported and often disturbing exposé of the travel industry’, (The New York Times Book Review), Elizabeth Becker describes… its huge effect on the world economy, the environment, and our culture.”

Honey, M. and Frenkiel, K. (2021). Overtourism: Lessons for a Better Future. Island Press. “Bringing together tourism officials, city council members, travel journalists, consultants, scholars, and trade association members, this practical book explores overcrowding from a variety of perspectives.”

Wood, M.E., Milstein, M., and Ahamed-Broadhurst, K. (2020). Destinations at Risk: The Invisible Burden of Tourism. Travel Foundation. “This report describes how destinations must uncover and account for tourism’s hidden costs.”

Sustainable Tourism Development

Damnjanović, I. (2021). Sustainable tourism: On the journey to the future. Available to download here. This book serves as guidelines for educational experience co-creation for tourism students and helps instructors become facilitators through a purposeful, inclusive, and inspirational learning process. Currently available in Serbian. Will be translated into English in the future.

Ingram, L., Slocum, S. and Cavaliere, C. (2020). Neolocalism and Tourism: Understanding a Global Movement. Goodfellow Publishers. “Neolocalism and Tourism: Understanding a Global Movement is the first comprehensive analysis of neolocalism in the tourism context and provides a forum to discuss the latest developments, trends, and research involving tourism and neolocalism, as well as exploring new areas for consideration.”

Goodwin, H. (2016). Responsible Tourism: Using tourism for Sustainable Development. Goodfellow 2nd Edition. This book “is about the globally vital necessity of realizing sustainable tourism. It is a hugely important challenge to those who organize and sell travel and tourism, and those who consume it.”

Lusby, C. (2021). Destination Unknown: Sustainable Travel and Ethical Tourism. Common Ground Research Networks. “Discusses international tourism and the ways in which it brings us together. Contributions from expert authors around the world highlight both current issues in tourism, as well as ways it can be developed more ethically and equitably…. Creating spaces for encounters, protecting natural resources, volunteering ethically, traveling to discover one’s ethnic roots, vernacular design, cultural tourism and community involvement are all part of this meaningful discourse.”

Perez, P. (2021). The Tourism Area Life Cycle: Its Application to the Costa del Sol. Common Ground Research Networks. “Explores the impact of tourism on the aquatic resources of the Mediterranean tourist destination of the Spanish Costa del Sol. In doing so, this study applies “Tourism Area Life Cycle” theory [whereby] the tourist destination organically is born and evolves through life stages, analogous to a living organism, depending upon the scale of its sociopolitical, economic and environmental circumstances.”

Spenceley, A. (2021). Handbook for Sustainable Tourism Practitioners: The Essential Toolbox. Edward Elgar Publishing. “This insightful Handbook brings together the practical guidance of over 50 international practitioners in sustainable tourism. Applying strong research design principles, it provides a workable and rational toolkit for investigating practical challenges….”

Stavans, I. and Ellison, J. (2015). Reclaiming Travel. Duke University Press Books. “Based on a controversial opinion piece originally published in the New York Times, Reclaiming Travel is a provocative meditation on the meaning of travel from ancient times to the twenty-first century.”

Classics

Hickman, L. (2008). Final Call. Eden Project Books. “For The Final Call Hickman travels the world on a range of holidays and finds that behind the sunny facade of pools, smiling locals, sightseeing trips and exquisite cuisine is an ugly reality and it is spreading unchecked to all corners of the globe.”

Kunstler, J. H. (1994). Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America’s Man-Made Landscape. Simon & Schuster. “Tallies up the huge economic, social, and spiritual costs that America is paying for its car-crazed lifestyle. It is also a wake-up call for citizens to reinvent the places where we live and work, to build communities that are once again worthy of our affection…. ‘The future will require us to build better places,’ Kunstler says, ‘or the future will belong to other people in other societies.’”

Pestell, P.E. (1986). Palling: A History Shaped by the Sea. Poppyland Publishing. “The ‘place of Paelli’s people’ has a much longer and more interesting history than that of a seaside haven. Ronnie Pestell’s original text has been enhanced by that of his friend David Stannard to bring Palling’s story into the present millennium.”

Documentaries

THE LAST TOURIST (2022) explores travel impacts on the environment, wildlife, and vulnerable communities. Including animals suffering for entertainment, orphaned children exploited for profit, and developing economies strained under the massive weight of foreign-owned hotel chains. Filmed in over 15 countries. Features Dr. Jane Goodall, Lek Chailert, Gary Knell, Meenu Vadera, and Jonathan Tourtellot. Directed by Tyson Sadler; sponsored by G Adventures.

Crowded Out: The Story of Overtourism (2018). Short documentary exploring overtourism, featuring interviews with local residents and global experts and places like Barcelona, Venice, Dubrovnik, and more remote destinations such as Iceland and Skye. Sponsored by Responsible Travel.

See also Destination Stewardship Center videos on examples of good (and bad) destination stewardship.