MOUNTAIN ENVIRONMENTS AND TOURISM- A EUROPEAN MODEL OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Abstract: Tourism can be an important way of preserving the mountain communities, bringing revenue and jobs to village communities increasingly unable to survive on agriculture alone and where migration threatens their existence. The European model, through stronger stakeholder involvement, may perform better than the corporate model in managing the destination on a responsible basis, since the community directly depends on it. Therefore, by taking into account the ecological and social dimensions of sustainability, the community will protect the surrounding natural environment. However, small communities and local rivalry may make joint decision-making difficult and may lead to a lack of cohesion in consistently promoting a destination. The development of a sustainable tourism means protecting the environmental tourism resources with the help of various actions taken by the locals. Key words: mountain environment, sustainable development, mountain tourism The origins of Responsible Tourism go back to 1972 when, at the UN Conference on the Human Environment, the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) was created. In 1987, the WCED produced the Brundtland Report which raised the notion of sustainable development and the need for all countries to ensure they preserve resources and natural environments for future generations. The concept was gaining ground elsewhere with the similar ideas being proposed by the Internationa