Tourism development: from 'please come' to 'please go' to 'please come back' (after the virus).

Abstract

Abstract Despite all the criticisms, the revelation of its negative, as well as positive, impacts on destinations and, most recently, the appearance of the media-generated phenomenon of overtourism, tourism has continued to grow and to spread globally, often, it would appear, without formal direction or control, and to diversify into an increasing number of sub-forms. This chapter discusses this pattern of development and some of the enabling forces that have influenced and shaped tourism and its effects, and comments on some key issues that warrant further examination. These include the pattern of development in destinations, the determinants of the spatial spread of tourism, the fallacies that have grown up around tourism and the lack of influence of academia on the phenomenon despite decades of study. In conclusion, some thought is given to potential future issues and directions for the development of tourism.