Planning for sustainable tourism is related to the great deal of interest
aroused by the development paradigm ever since the celebration
of the Rio Summit in 1992. The application of its principles to tourism
is especially relevant due to its ambivalence, for it can help to preserve
and improve the environment but can also transform it in a negative
way. Hence the preparation of international documents among which
can be highlighted the Charter for Sustainable Tourism, Lanzarote
(WTO 1995b), and the Agenda 21 for the Travel and Tourism Industry
(WTO 1995a), and the appearance of multiple scientific works which
deal with the concept’s definition and the ways to make it operative,
this being an objective in which planning has an essential role.