Ross K. Dowling, School of Marketing, Tourism & Leisure, Faculty of Business & Law, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, Western Australia, AustraliaProfessor Ross Dowling is Foundation Professor of Tourism, and Head of the Tourism Program, School of Marketing, Tourism & Leisure, Faculty of Business & Law, Edith Cowan University. He is an Executive Board Member of the Indian Ocean Tourism Organisation (IOTO) and a Board Member of Ecotourism Australia. In Western Australia he is Chairperson of The Forum Advocating Cultural and Ecotourism (FACET), and a Council Member of both the National Trust, the Royal Automobile Club and the Royal Agricultural Society.He is an international speaker, author, researcher and consultant on tourism, with over 200 publications. His research focuses on the intersection between tourism and the environment, and he has a particular passion for geotourism, ecotourism, wildlife tourism and cruise ship tourism.In 2002 he was Western Australia''s sole Ambassador for the International Year of Ecotourism, and he co-authored two books on the subject - Ecotourism and Natural Area Tourism: Ecology, Impacts & Management. In 2003 he co-edited the books Ecotourism Policy and Planning and Tourism in Destination Communities. In 2005 he co-authored the book Wildlife Tourism, and he is currently preparing the edited book Cruise Ship Tourism for publication in early 2006. Many of these books have been written or edited in collaboration with David Newsome.Dr Dowling holds a BSc in Geology, an MSc (Hons) in Geography and a PhD in Environmental Science, as well as Diplomas in Educational Administration, Sport & Recreation, and Teaching. His Master''s thesis was on karst geomorphology and hydrology in an International Hydrological Decade Basin at the top of the South Island, New Zealand, and his doctoral dissertation was on an environmentally based approach to tourism planning, carried out in the Gascoyne Region of Western Australia. His model has since been applied in Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Malaysia and the USA. He has 30 years'' experience working in the field of the environment and has been a tour guide in wilderness areas and national parks in many parts of the world, including Asia, the Pacific and the Antarctic. For his contributions to the environment he has been awarded a New Zealand Conservation Foundation Citation.David Newsome, School of Environmental Science, Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia, AustraliaDr Newsome is Senior Lecturer in Environmental Science at Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia. His principal research interests are geotourism, human-wildlife interactions, and the biophysical impacts of recreation and tourism. He has twelve years'' experience in natural resource management as a lecturer and researcher in Environmental Science at Murdoch University. David''s research and teaching, and the activities of his research group, focus on the sustainable use of landscapes and the assessment and management of recreational activity in natural areas.Dr Newsome holds a BSc (Hons) in Botany and Geography, an MSc in Geography and a PhD in Geomorphology, as well as a Diploma in Environmental Impact Assessment. His Master''s thesis was on soil formation on the Yorkshire Wolds in eastern England, and his doctoral dissertation was on the origin of sand-plains in Western Australia.David has expanded his interests in natural area tourism by virtue of travel in various parts of the world. Countries visited include Norway, Costa Rica, Argentina, Chile, South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Cameroon, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Indonesia. This has fostered a strong interest in the management and protection of nature reserves and national parks from a tourism perspective.The publication of this book follows from the success of two other books (Natural Area Tourism and Wildlife Tourism) where he led the authorship. David has a strong interest in setting up geotourism as an applied science and using it to expand the scope of natural area tourism.