Clubbing in Ibiza; Cruising the Caribbean; Luxuriating in Dubai; Skiing in the Alps; Backpacking in Thailand.

We are all keen tourists. And tourism is the biggest service industry in the world. It employs one in every eleven workers on the planet. Yet while it is built on the sale of fantasies, the unsettling truth is that behind the sunny facade of swimming pools, smiling locals, stunning sights and exquisite cuisine, there is all too often an ugly, damaging reality and it is spreading unchecked to all corners of the globe.

This is an investigative travelogue, written as Hickman journeys around the world from theme park to golf course, from sunlounger to ecolodge. At each destination we hear from the key protagonists: the holidaymaker, the waiter, hotelier, souvenir-seller, prostitute, environmentalist, tour guide, chambermaid and local politician.

All of them want us to ask ourselves some hard questions: Who really pays for our trip away? And is it possible to have a 'good' holiday?

Subtitled, "Investigating Who Really Pays For Our Holidays". From cruise-liner to eco-lodge, "Guardian" journalist Leo Hickman reveals how to have a 'good' holiday. 'One of the clearest and most sobering analyses I've ever seen of the environmental, social, and economic damage done by tourism... This is a necessary book' Philip Pullman. Eden Project Books.

No industry in the world employs more people or is the world's largest foreign currency earner than tourism. This book finds that behind the sunny facade of pools, smiling locals, sightseeing trips and exquisite cuisine is an ugly reality and it is spreading unchecked to all corners of the globe.