An overview on the negative impacts of tourism

Abstract

Besides the well known positive impacts of tourism (e.g. job creation, income generation, cultural and natural heritage preservation, etc.) one must be aware also of the negative effects of tourism (e.g. congestion, prices increase, pollution, etc.). The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the negative impacts of tourism classified by economic impact, social (socio-cultural) impact and environmental impact. When planning and developing a tourism investment all stakeholders in a destination should realize also the negative aspects that might be associated with tourism development. Moreover, it is necessary to have an approach to minimize the negative effects of tourism along with maximizing the positive ones in order to make tourism an efficient and sustainable instrument for the economic development at local, regional and national level.