Sustainable tourism — Do economists really care?

The rapid expansion of tourism from the mid-1960s onwards led in some cases to developments which had deleterious consequences for the long-term welfare of the populations of the affected areas. The climate of thought changed in the 1980s following the publication of many reports, accords and statements. Economists have become increasingly concerned with evaluating the environmental consequences of tourism and have developed new techniques for this purpose. One of these, described in the paper, is an extension of input–output analysis to incorporate environmental aspects. A second is cost-benefit analysis.