Sustainable Tourism: The New Engine for the Economic Development of the 21st Century in APEC.

Tourism has become a source of activities that generate income, employment, and economic growth for the countries belonging to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Mechanism (APEC). This article analyzes tourism as a regional economic activity that interacts with the environment, causing positive effects such as the improvement of economic competitiveness; and negative effects, such as tourism overcrowding and degradation of the sites where it is applied. Thus, poor management can destroy the tourism asset on which the activity depends and its future local, regional and global economic-tourist competitiveness.