Discussing Tourism, Planning And Sustainability

The recipient of the 2005 D. Cohen Award for Excellence in Teaching, Professor Michael Romanos has lived and worked in many parts of the world, especially Southeast Asia, where he has served as senior advisor to Indonesia's Ministry of Economic Planning, was a Fulbright and Asia Foundation Senior Professor in Indonesia and Thailand, and lead a multi-year program of higher education reform in these countries. He directs the Summer Field School in Sustainable Development, which conducts sustainable development planning studies for tourism-oriented communities all over the world.

An excerpt from his interview:

"There is a perception in every corner of the world that tourism could instantly solve a place's economic and social development problems. This is a dangerous fallacy which often leads governments to misallocate resources, raise unreasonable expectations among local populations, and 'sell out' a place in order to attract tourism-related investments and/or achieve quick profits. Often local and regional governments do not realize that in order to have a successful tourism development, in addition to the natural beauty or cultural resources of a place, transportation, communications and environmental infrastructure must be at least adequate, the training of personnel on all aspects of the tourist trade is absolutely essential, and the education of the local populations on how to deal with tourism and visitors is imperative."