Whereas other products are produced somewhere in order to be delivered to the distributed in shops nearby the consumers, tourism is just the opposite: the consumer travels to his product.

Once this is destroyed or exhausted, it cannot be just replaced. Tourists will simply look for another destinations. If the destination becomes less attractive, (e.g. by a lack of quality or originality) price competition will increase and the product accordingly needs to be sold cheaper. Therefore it ism important to understand: especially in tourism the question of sustainability is of crucial importance for the respective destination.

Sustainable tourism does not only create income. It also may contribute significantly to protect nature and cultural heritage as well as local (cultural) traditions.

Many of the famous national parks and historical monuments but also historical customs may have been allready dissapeared without tourism, especially in those regions without alternative income sources than tourism.

However, sustainable tiourism can also contribute significantly to regional economic development and to education.

Sustainable tourism also contributes to save ressources by environmentally friendly design of tourism infrastructure and since it aims to implementation of environmental management policies in businesses. Numerous examples from developing countries show that tourism even plays a pioneering role in this context.