Definitions of ecotourism can be summarized as a form of tourism which appeals to ecologically and socially conscious individuals. Because a sustainable environment is a key criterion, ecotourism should be sustainable with minimal impact on the environment.

　There are many studies on ecotourism under the influence of recent global change, in particular, global climate change. The plants, vegetations, animals, birds, insects etc. and cultural heritage, which are the main elements of ecotourism, are put in danger themselves by the strong impacts of these changes. On the other hand, ecotourists are affected by the social, economic and health situations developing with the recent changes. In some occasions, they are influenced by the infectious diseases of the world scale, which have been occurring due to the global environmental change during the recent years.

　The present special issue is dedicated to consider the problems on “Ecotourism and Global Changes.” Main points are first to describe the facts in the respective regions, such as South Asia, Southeast Asia, South Europe, East Europe and Central America, distributing from tropics, subtropics to temperate zone. They show the various problems region to region, which will be discussed in the next steps. Four articles deal with ecotourism in Japan, with special reference to biometeorological tourism/recreation, thermal bioclimatological conditions, ski industry/sports, and ruralities/forest/land use – based ecotourism. It is thought that these contain almost all problems in Japan to be considered at present stage. Due to the space, it was impossible to take up all kinds of regions in the world. I hope that the other, rest regions will be discussed in a next occasion. In the present issue, however, sea-level rise under the influence of global warming, colonial influences on landscape changing, SARS as a global scale infection, ethnic-cultural village, physiologically equivalent temperature and thermal comfort, etc. are discussed thoroughly, taking examples in the representative regions respectively.

　I hope sincerely that the present issue will contribute to progress of the ecotourism studies related to the global change.

　Geotourism of the Maldives includes a great diversity of attractions such as the appealing atoll-and-reef ecosystems that uniquely characterize the Maldives island archipelago. Under a policy of nature conservation and preservation of their society’s socio-cultural identity, the Government of Maldives has developed (geo-) tourism exclusively on the principles of a “one hotel – one island” type of tourist habitation. All such tourist resort islands were converted from deserted and uninhabited islands and equipped with comprehensive facilities for overseas visitors’ ambitious demands for accommodation, board and leisure. These tiny islands constitute, by nature, fragile marine ecosystems and their fragility is exacerbated by (mass) tourist hospitation. The tourist resort islands accommodate up to several hundreds of tourists, who put great stress on the various atoll-and-reef ecosystems of the islands. As a consequence, heavy tourist visitation has caused disturbances to the ecosystems, though the Government of Maldives strongly controls tourism as a key national industry and aims for sustainable development.

　Questionnaire surveys at two major resort islands have shown that visitors have a high degree of awareness of the fragility of the Maldives islands’ environment. Visitors also express their willingness to support environment-friendly tourism, underlining the visitors’ greatly developed concern for the environment. Moreover, visitors demonstrate acceptance of the government’s strict environmental rules and regulations for conserving the Maldives as a “natural paradise.” Environmental education may, however, be developed for an even more comprehensive awareness by the visitors of the fragile atoll-and-reef ecosystems of the Maldives.

　Hill stations are mountain resorts that were developed under colonial management by suzerain countries. Because of their historical background, hill stations are evidently products of colonialism. Hill stations tended to show a particular path of development from a few cottages, to military cantonments to popular summer resorts, or even “Summer Capitals.” The colonial history of these hill stations has come to an end. However, hill stations still survive as mountain summer resorts for domestic tourism of the new nation states. This article focuses on the formation process and social role of hill stations in relation to environmental change in particular. Then it discusses their transformation in the post-colonial era. For hill stations, a cool climate caused by high altitude was especially important. In coastal colonial cities, it was extremely difficult to maintain a Western lifestyle because of the hot, humid climate. The Western colonizers could maintain their own lifestyle only under the cool conditions at the hill stations. Hill stations were indispensable to the management of a colony as a device to maintain a Western lifestyle and also to uphold the colonizers’ identity as Westerners. It has been shown that the Western colonizers had marginal characteristics in terms of adaptation to tropical environments. Hill stations began with the “discovery of scenery,” like that the British found in the picturesque landscapes of lake districts in mountainous areas of colonies. The natural environment once discovered was altered into quasi-Western landscapes by afforestation and addition of some particular facilities. At present, this hybrid landscape is still reproduced by the formerly colonized people. Consequently hill stations have become exotic locales to everyone, both foreign and domestic, and attract tourists with their marginal characteristics and exoticism.

　This report first discusses the status of tourism in China as a whole and in Yunnan Province. In particular, it analyzes problems from the standpoint of ecotourism in relation to climatic conditions and year-to-year changes in them. Impacts of climate and weather are dealt with in terms of temperature, wetness/dryness, neve (glaciers and snow) landscapes and fine weather (sunshine or blue sky). Second, it describes numbers of tourists and revenue from tourism in Yunnan. An important point to note is that an abrupt change is clear in the total revenue from tourism for the province, but not in the numbers of international tourists since 1996. After 2004, they have increased with great growth rates. Third, influence of the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) in 2003 is analyzed. The number of tourists from abroad to China was decreased by 23.3% as compared with the preceding year. It decreased to 25%-60% of normal in May, June and July, but recovered after three months. The reduction in numbers of domestic tourists was particularly noticeable among travels using railway. Degree of impacts of SARS on tourism differed considerably from area to area in South Yunnan.

　This report first describes results of a field survey, taking the examples in Kunming and Xishuangbanna, South Yunnan. Marked decreasing tendency of number of days with fog has been observed in the valleys and basins in this region. Decreasing of fog days and hours, as a factor of ecotourism in this area, is considered to be influenced by urbanization, including population increase, surrounding the observation points during the last several decades, and the deforestation of the region since the second half of the last century. It is pointed out that landscape with fog is a good example, representing relationship between local climate and human activities as a resource of ecotourism in this area. Second part of this report describes the Ethnic Cultural Village in Kunming and the Thai People’s Village in Xishuangbanna. When the SARS outbreak occurred in 2003, the number of visitors decreased to 25%-60% of normal in May, June and July, but it recovered after three months. In the last part, synthetic management of ecotourism in this area is discussed in connection with global, regional, and local climatic conditions, under the influence of global change.

　The diverse recreational and health resorts of Europe include seaside and mountain resorts in metropolitan and rural areas. In particular, the health resorts, comprising climatic resorts, have grown dramatically since the 18th Century. Their landscape and environmental conditions with clean, clear air, along with moderate temperatures and humidity were regarded as favorable for health and relaxation, and visitors here spent most of their time outdoors. For example, Meran (Merano in Italian) located in northern Italy is one of the most famous and fashionable climatic resorts in Central Europe and has attracted many tourists throughout the years seeking recreation and enjoyment in a pleasant natural, where they take long walks along promenades especially designed for this purpose. Originally limited to higher classes, such activities have now become more popular with the improvement of socio-economic conditions in Europe in the second part of the 20th Century. Against this background, environmentally conscious tourism has been developing worldwide ever since.

　Major European studies on biometeorology for tourism/recreation have been conducted from the view point of human health, while most Japanese studies in this field have focused on the environmental impact on human behaviors as influenced by the weather. Research on biometeorology for tourism/recreation has not been popular in Japan, whose peoples have a higher acclimation potential than European peoples. How ever, study in this discipline has progressed in China similarly to popular studies in Europe, although the climatological background and acclimation potential of the peoples of China are partially similar to those of Japan.

　Weather, climate and tourism are interconnected in many different ways. All of them are of both global and local significance. Weather and/or climate information is of interest for tourists and the tourism industry. Crucial for tourism is information on thermal comfort or thermal stress conditions. Thermal indices, i.e., physiologically equivalent temperature, can deliver relevant information for the evaluation of the suitability of an area for tourism activities and recreation. Monthly maps of physiologically equivalent temperature were produced for Japan. They build the basis for information on tourism and recreation conditions in Japan.

　Ski tourism in Japan has undergone many changes in the last hundred years; these changes include the rising and falling prominence of skiing as a recreational activity. There is a distinctive contrast in the ski industry between the development period of 1980-1993 and the phase of decline observed after 1994. Most ski destinations are beset with multiple problems: decreasing numbers of visiting skiers, management changes, bankruptcies, closures, etc. At present, global climate change is also a major concern for ski destinations. Ski tourism is often regarded as typical mass tourism with negative consequences for the environment. However, in general, tourist activities have diversified, and this has led to the establishment of alternative forms of tourism such as ecotourism and rural tourism. This study examines the evolutionary process of the Japanese ski tourism industry, focusing on the characteristics of the development of ski destinations. Perspectives of sustainable ski tourism are also discussed in terms of global warming, regional distinctiveness and the evolution of tourism.

　This paper focuses on rural land use and its conservation as a reflection of rurality in the outer urban fringes, and discusses re-creating rurality and utilizing it in conservation and ecotourism activities. In the Sayama Hill district of the Tokyo metropolitan area, rural land use has been restructured and rurality has been recreated through conservation and ecotourism activities in the Totoro Forest. Although rural and urban residents have different perspectives on those activities and their participation in them, their interests in rurality are cooperative in the conservation of rural landscapes. Actually, a relationship between rural and urban residents has been developed through collaborative control and maintenance of the Totoro Forest, which is one of the central establishments for the re-creation of rurality. In the framework of the relationship between rurality and urbanity, mutual relationships among elements of urbanity have been connected with those of rurality through the Totoro Forest as a rural and urban establishment. I conclude that rural residents feel sentimentality for rurality and the religion of rural life as the spirituality of rural spaces in the Totoro Forest, and urban residents feel enjoyment of rural recreation and rurality-based ecotourism as a yearning for green spaces and the natural environment.

　During recent years several potential climate change impacts on primary human economic activities such as tourism have been described, and there are relevant reports, scientific studies and newspaper articles explaining the most important effects and consequences of such impacts. This paper focuses on the observed climate change impacts registered in Cuba, as a country representative of the general circumstances in the Caribbean basin. This region is one of the major tourist destinations of the world, due to the general quality of the environment and the existence of significant natural resources which are optimal for general tourism and ecotourism activities. The paper includes some remarks and recommendations oriented to the prevention and mitigation of the most negative climate change impacts on tourist activities, based upon Cuban experiences during the consecutive impacts of hurricanes Gustav and Ike in August and September 2008.

　The Carpathian Mountains still preserve a wide diversity of quasi-natural landscapes, most of them protected within national and natural parks. The entire Romanian Carpathian Chain holds 22 major protected areas that total approximately one million hectares, among which there are eight natural parks, twelve national parks and two geoparks. They constitute a favourable background for the multitude of existing tourist resorts and the development of a wide range of tourism activities. The development of ecotourism relies primarily on the natural and human potential of the Carpathians and is related to the European Union initiatives in this field. At the outset, a few nuclei materialised, combining the attractiveness of national and natural parks with ethnographic traditions. Environmental and socio-economic change in the Carpathians includes climate change, biodiversity loss, management of shared water resources, trans-boundary air pollution, trade in endangered species and waste disposal with a direct impact on ecotourism.