Tourism and sustainable development

Tourism has now become an industry. It is the main source of foreign currency for a third of developing countries, but at a harmful social, environmental and cultural cost: privatisation of heritage, destruction of ecosystems, folklorisation of societies, consumption of customs... Does the monoculture of mass tourism and the all-out diversification of its offer lead to anything other than a "new Western use of the world"? Ethical tourism initiatives would have us believe this. However, the reality of the unequal relationship between "visitors" and "visited" and the more global imbalance between the promoters of the tourist industry and local populations call for new regulations.