ABSTRACT
This chapter describes costs, benefits, and consequences in the context of globalization and the growing global divide. This chapter explains some of the benefits of globalization, including free trade and economies of scale. Yet this chapter highlights that the profits and cost savings have often not been felt by the local/host communities, making the already rich richer and the not-rich poorer. This has resulted in a dissatisfaction with globalization and a feeling that communities are becoming homogenized and influenced by western values. There is still much debate about whether tourism is a cause or a consequence of globalization however, the concepts of localism and neolocalism as a response to globalization are discussed. Finally, the relevance of globalization, localism, globalization from below, and glocalization (globalization and localism), in the context of sustainable tourism development is explained. The chapter tool provides a strategy to engage both the local community and international tourism sector in collaborative sustainable tourism development.
