Tourism as a sustainable livelihood strategy

Sustainable development and its derivative, sustainable tourism, have both conceptual and practical deficiencies that have frustrated their application. A sustainable livelihoods approach is introduced as being more practical, especially in the common situation in which communities and individuals sustain themselves by multiple activities rather than discrete jobs. When tourism is introduced into a community, it is important that it complements rather than displaces existing activities. A case study is presented of an aboriginal community in Taiwan to illustrate the links between tourism and other livelihood strategies. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.