the role of tourism in natural resource management in the okavango ...

Literature Review
2.1 Introduction
CHAPTER TWO
In a world of change, one constant over the last quarter of the twentieth century has
been the sustained growth of tourism both as an activity and an industry (Cooper et
aI, 1998). Tourism has a history that extends back as far as some of the earliest
forms of trade. However, it was not until the last half of the twentieth century that it
has become prominent in terms of both the geographical extent of tourism flows and
the scale of these movements (Faulkner et aI, 2001). In 1996 the World Travel and
Tourism Council (WTTC) estimated that tourism was the world's largest industry,
and it directly and indirectly generates and supports 204 million jobs. This is
equivalent to more than ten percent of the world's workforce and is responsible for
over ten percent of global gross domestic product (GDP). It is clear that tourism is a
significant force in the economy of the world, an activity of global importance
(Cooper et aI, 1998).
The demand for tourism is predicted to reach unprecedented levels over the next
twenty years, providing the tourism industry and all those involved in its production
and consumption with major challenges. New problems requiring new solutions are
constantly arising. The tourism industry is a complex and dynamic system where the
primary elements change constantly and often unpredictably. Nevertheless, the
economic significance of tourism has guaranteed increased governmental, private
and international attention, and accompanying this has been a growing recognition
of the importance of tourism and the need to be able to define and measure all
aspects of the industry (Cooper et aI, 1998; Shaw and Williams, 2004).
This chapter presents a broad overview of the various definitions, concepts,
approaches to, and theories of, tourism and natural resource management. It
focuses on tourism's social, economic and environmental effects on host
11