The Practice of Sustainable Tourism is a unique text that confronts the apparently irresolvable tensions between tourism and true sustainability.

Michael Hughes is a senior lecturer in Environmental Science at Murdoch University in Perth, Western Australia. He has a background in environmental science, natural resource management and sustainable tourism.

David Weaver is Professor of Tourism Research in Griffith University's Department of Tourism, Sport and Hotel Management on the Gold Coast of Australia, specialising in sustainable tourism, ecotourism and destination development dynamics.

Christof Pforr is Course Coordinator for Tourism & Hospitality and Group Leader of the Research Focus Area 'Sustainable and Health Tourism' with the School of Marketing, Curtin University, Western Australia. His main research interests include tourism policy and planning, sustainable (tourism) development, health tourism, coastal tourism and geotourism as well as destination governance with a specific focus on network management and network analysis.

1. Introduction Michael Hughes, Christof Pforr and David Weaver Part 1: Conceptualising Sustainable Tourism 2. Enlightened Mass Tourism as a 'Third Generation' aspiration for the 21st Century David Weaver 3. Tourism Policy for the Pursuit of Sustainability: Discrepancies between Rhetoric and Reality Christof Pforr 4. Promoting inter-disciplinary sustainable tourism Michael Hughes and Angus Morrison-Saunders 5. The End of Sustainable Tourism? Re-orienting the debate Sanjay Nepal, Stephanie Verkoeyen and Tom Karrow 6. Sustainable tourism - paradoxes, inconsistencies and a way forward? Richard Butler Part 2: Destination Perspectives 7. Island tourism: Systems modelling for sustainability Jack Carlsen 8. Tourist's perceptions of community based tourism products for sustainable tourism in Bali, Indonesia Ni Made Ernawati, Ross Dowling and Dale Sanders 9. The governmentality approach to sustainable tourism: Bhutan's tourism governance policy and planning Simon Teoh 10. Last Chance tourism - a race to be last? Jackie Dawson, Harvey Lemelin, Emma Stewart and Justin Taillon 11. Sustainable tourism development on Niue: a catch 22? Christof Pforr and Dirk Reiser 12. An integrated approach to climate change and tourism in an alpine destination: assessing impacts and strategies in the Vinschgau/Venosta valley, Italy Lon-Marie Lun, Marianna Elmi and Harald Pechlaner 13. Good governance: managing growth and long-term resort destination sustainability and resilience Valerie Sheppard, Rachel Dodds and Peter Williams Part 3: Operator Perspectives 14. Geotourism's contribution to sustainable tourism Ross Dowling 15. The paradox of adopting tourism ecolabels: What is the problem? Minjuan Deng-Westphal, Sue Beeton and Alastair Anderson 16. The role of events in creating sustainable tourism destinations Judith Mair 17. Sustainable tourism - the Rottnest Island experience Roland Mau and John Tedesco Conclusion 18. Paradox as a pervasive characteristic of sustainable tourism: Challenges, opportunities and trade-offs David Weaver, Michael Hughes and Christof Pforr