Small islands tourism: A review

Erik Cohen*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

This article reviews the principal issues and problems inherent in small island tourism, as it emerged with the development of aviation after the Second World War: After dealing with the problem of definition of 'island' and the proportion of islands with a tourist industry among the world's islands, the article discusses five major issues: The traits which make an island attractive to tourists, the tension between the popular imagery of islands and island reality, the relationships between tourists and islanders, the ambivalent economic effects of mass tourism development, and the environmental impacts of island tourism. In conclusion, the article draws attention to under-researched issues in the field, stresses the need to integrate island tourism studies with the emergent field of island studies, and suggests that island tourism researchers take account of new conceptual developments in marine studies.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)169-183
Number of pages15
JournalActa Turistica
Volume32
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 2021

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Author(s).

Keywords

  • Island imagery
  • Island tourism
  • Island tourism development
  • Island tourism environmental effects
  • Tourist-islanders relations

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