Social and environmental impacts, responses and indicators are reviewed for the mainstream tourism sector worldwide, in five categories: population, peace, prosperity, pollution and protection. Of the ~5000 relevant publications, very few attempt to evaluate the entire global tourism sector in terms which reflect global research in sustainable development. The industry is not yet close to sustainability. The main driver for improvement is regulation rather than market measures. Some tourism advocates still use political approaches to avoid environmental restrictions, and to gain access to public natural resources. Future research priorities include: the role of tourism in expansion of protected areas; improvement in environmental accounting techniques; and the effects of individual perceptions of responsibility in addressing climate change.

Online review sites provide increasingly important sources of information in tourism product purchases. We tested experimentally how source, content style, and peripheral credibility cues in online postings influence four consumer beliefs, and how those in turn influence attitudes and purchase intentions for an eco-resort. We compared tourists' posts to managers' posts, containing vague versus specific content, and with or without peripheral certification logos. First, we tested effects of tourists' beliefs about utility, trustworthiness, quality and corporate social responsibility on attitude toward the resort and purchase intentions. Second, we tested the role of source, content, and certification on the beliefs. The interactions are complex, but broadly tourists treat specific information posted by customers as most useful and trustworthy. Their purchase intentions are influenced principally by their overall attitude toward the resort and their beliefs in its corporate social responsibility.

At least 14 different motivations for adventure tourism and recreation, some internal and some external, have been identified in ~50 previous studies. Skilled adventure practitioners refer to ineffable experiences, comprehensible only to other participants and containing a strong emotional component. These are also reflected in the popular literature of adventure tourism. This contribution draws on >2000 person-days of ethnographic and autoethnographic experience to formalise this particular category of experience as rush. To the practitioner, rush is a single tangible experience. To the analyst, it may be seen as the simultaneous experience of flow and thrill. Experiences which provide rush are often risky, but it is rush rather than risk which provides the attraction. Rush is addictive and never guaranteed, but the chance of rush is sufficient motivation to buy adventure tours.

Farm tourism enterprises combine the commercial constraints of regional tourism, the nonfinancial features of family businesses, and the inheritance issues of family farms. They have theoretical significance in regional tourism geography and economics, family tourism business dynamics, and rural diversification. We examined motivations of farm tourism operators throughout Australia using both qualitative and quantitative methods. In contrast to Europe and the United States, social motivations are marginally more important overall than economic motivations. For most operators, however, both are important; and different motivations are dominant for different types of farm landholders and at different stages in farm, family, and business lifecycles. For some families, tourism is a critical component of income streams to keep the current generation on the family property and provide opportunities for succeeding generations. For others it combines social opportunities with retirement income. Tourism, agricultural, or rural initiatives, including farm tourism, need to incorporate this diversity.

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