Lake Tourism An Integrated Approach to Lacustrine Tourism Systems

Lakes are an essential element of some of the world's most popular tourism destinations. However, increased pressure from visitors and the tourism industry as well as from other, sometimes competing, land and water uses has made the sustainable development of lakes increasingly problematic. This book represents the first attempt to bring together some of the key elements of lake tourism within a single volume in order to present the urgent need for an integrated approach to lacustrine tourism systems management.The book presents comprehensive overviews of lake tourism including branding and marketing, visitor management and planning, historical and cultural dimensions, and environmental quality. The volume is international in scope with cases from Europe, North America and Oceania. The book concludes by noting that tourism needs to be established as a complimentary land and water use at a time when lakes and their watersheds are facing challenges in the form of climate and environmental change, increasing numbers of visitors as well as an overall increase in competing demands for water.

C. Michael Hall is a Professor in the Department of Tourism, School of Business, University of Otago, New Zealand and Docent, Department of Geography, Oulu University, Finland. Co-editor of the journal Current Issues in Tourism he has wide-ranging interests in human mobility, international business, regional development and environmental history with recent work focusing on environmental, rural and gastronomic change.Tuija Härkönen is an Education Planner and Project Coordinator at the Savonlinna Institute for Regional Development and Research, University of Joensuu, Finland where she works in the fields of tourism education and research and development. She has extensive experience in project management and planning in relation to lake and nature-based tourism in the European context.