Identifying the Risks Impacting on the Sustainable Development of a Tourism Area

The sustainable development of most tourism areas is accompanied with ever-increasing recreational pressure and the ever¬growing threat of depletion of their natural and recreational resources. All efforts at strategic planning or long-term forecasting may be baffled if there is insufficient understanding of where the risks are coming from and what impact they may have on the environment. It is of utmost significance for tourism areas to keep track of all risks attendant upon their path to sustainable development, which is about achieving balanced recreational pressure and a number of positive socio-economic effects. On balance, there is a need to identify the entire set of risks that may face an area as a result of tourism activity in it. This paper explores some of the key threats to the sustainable development of tourism areas, identifies some of the key risks inherent to the process, and proposes a method for rank-ordering the risks based on their gravity