Ethics of Global Tourism

Abstract

The global tourism industry may provide millions of jobs and billions of enjoyable days for travellers and holiday-makers, but it also requires ethical consideration. This chapter starts by examining the ethics of global tourism around two questions: Firstly, are some tourist destinations unethical? Secondly, are some forms of tourism unethical? These two thematic presentations, based on many examples and controversies, are followed by a short discussion of two key concepts which help conceptualize the ethics of global tourism: exploitation and sustainability. The adoption of a Global Code of Ethics for Tourism by the United Nations World Tourism Organization in 1999, the publication of articles) and then books about tourism ethics, the implementation of corporate social responsibility policies in the tourist industry, as well as the increasing demand for ethical tourism products all show that ethics has now entered global tourism, both in practice and in theory.