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Volume XX |

Treehouse tourism: issues and way forward

Abstract: Tourism is a major global sector relevant for many economies, however it is also recognized that tourism brings various negative social, cultural, economic and environmental impacts. This is particularly the case of conventional/mass tourism. Different forms of so called – alternative tourism – are supposed to offset these negative impacts and to promote a more sustainable development. Treehouse tourism (TT) fits within these new sustainable and experiential trend. We must also recognize a grooving need to provide unique, specific travel and accommodation experiences by the tour operators and hoteliers, in order to be competitive with others. This, in turn, leads to an overuse of the term sustainable, in the situations which are not sustainable at all. Still, though the TT is widely recognized by world tour operators, the academic literature and associable debate on this topic is almost non-existent. The present article focuses on specifics, gaps and challenges of TT from biological, social and environmental perspective. At the end, most remarkable recommendations are provided – including the general TT model. Because of lack of previous literature, debate and the comparable statistics, the paper should be considered more as a start of debate, than a comprehensive analysis.