Tourism is a large, resource intensive industry of interest to applied researchers from a wide range of academic disciplines. Eco-cultural tourism, much of it based on World Heritage sites and national parks, is the fastest growing tourism sector. As one of the main arenas for contact between cultures and with other species, tourism's extreme focus on pleasure, often in circumstances of stark inequality, raises difficult ethical questions. In twenty of the poorest 48 nations tourism is either the first or second earner of foreign income and the World Tourism Council argues that it is a powerful force for alleviating world poverty. What pre-conditions are needed for that to be true? Who benefits and who pays the costs from major tourism development projects?  Does tourism change the way in which the host communities see themselves? What are the long term impacts resulting from the interaction of different cultures? Where do World Heritage sites and national parks fit in the mix? How does tourism affect Indigenous peoples living in World Heritage designated regions? Are there tensions between tourism and  mining, agriculture and urban and coastal development? What are the challenges for the social welfare, education and health sectors? Does tourism promote corruption? How successful are certification programs in promoting sustainability and socially responsible behaviour? What should be the role of governments?  These and similar questions will be investigated through a seminar based workshop in a location such as Cairns, Hobart, Auckland, Bali or Venice, selected as suitable for seminars and field visits involving regionally based researchers, policy and management practitioners, non-government organizations, industry representatives and local Indigenous peoples.