China’s five-storey Tianjin Binhai Library occupies an area of 33,700 square metres with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves which can contain up to 1.2 million books.
Roman Pilipey
In our world of pervasive consumerism, libraries continue to be founded on humanism. Their core purpose as accessible places is vital – yet they are also now popular tourist destinations.
Venice is among the cities that have had public protests against soaring numbers of tourists – including this protest banner on the Rialto bridge.
Andrea Merola/EPA/AAP
The future of tourism depends on ensuring visitors do not wear out their welcome. Giving locals more of a say in tourism can help ensure they share in the benefits and minimise the costs.
Backpacking has become an important of the travel market.
Khongtham/Shutterstock
Been on a tropical holiday? You might have brought home more than just a new sarong and extra colour in your cheeks – perhaps a mosquito that spreads dengue, or another known as ‘the BBQ stopper’.
Dutch vessel, Willem van Oranje, harvests sand off Kenya’s coast.
CORDIO
Airbnb has been criticised for contributing to housing problems in cities across Europe – but history shows there could be a way forward.
The Southern Ocean Lodge on Kangaroo Island. Each new luxury ecotourism development becomes a precedent to allow future incursions.
Southern Ocean Lodge/AAP
Uganda’s tourism ministry has launched a beauty pageant to use local women to attract tourists.
Children play on a beach in Palau, in the western Pacific Ocean. The country was the first to place a sweeping ban on sunscreen to protect its reefs.
(AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)
Can tourism ever be sustainable? Only if operators and consumers start looking beyond the idyllic postcard images and take undesirable consequences of tourism into account.