Foreword
As the 21st Century unfolds, we are entering an era of global interaction. We will expect more than we ever have before from tourism, notably in terms of its contributions to our economies, expanding employment, raising the standard of life of our citizens, and in the internationalization of our societies.
In the midst of these changes, there has been growing focus on preserving our precious natural and cultural resources for future generations, under the principles of Sustainable Tourism. These are inextricably linked to the growing adoption of Sustainable Development for tourism, where we seek to manage our assets for benefit of our progeny.
To implement the practices of Sustainable Tourism, it is vital that we study about tourism development and preserving tourism assets with aspects of whole community development in addition to tourism-oriented approaches. Or, in other terms, it is desirable to define tourism development in conjunction with whole community development. And it is essential to materialize utilization of tourism assets and sustainable development of community through balanced planning to avoid problems in sustainability of tourism resources, in living environment and in visitors' satisfaction.
The above ideas have served as foundations for the work of the Asia-Pacific Tourism Exchange Center (APTEC), which with funding from The Nippon Foundation, established a research council headed by Professor Nishimura of Tokyo University. The group's expertise bore fruit in the compilation of "A Guidebook for Tourism Based Community Development."
It is our hope that this guidebook will assist and serve in community development of tourist destinations.
