Tourism is an economic activity that fosters job creation and local development: it is based on promoting and valorising natural, historical, cultural and social resources. For many areas, it is one of the platforms, sometimes the only available one, allowing people to “live and work in one’s own region”.
Consequently, the sustainable development of this sector is a major challenge in terms of achieving durability without the risk of modifying underlying resources. Mobility and its impact on climate change, the conservation of natural resources (water, land, fragile environments etc.), minimising pollution and waste, achieving well balanced spatiotemporal movements and respect for social and cultural traditions are only few of the challenges that need to be met, regardless of the location (developed countries or developing countries) or the type of tourism (mass or niche) and taking into consideration indicators such as carrying capacity and corresponding thresholds of irreversibility.