**2. Urban tourism and sustainability**

Sustainable development is a 'sine qua non' for building a sustainable future. Preservation and protection of natural, cultural and social resources are an unconditional necessity to us and future generations. Unfortunately, despite all the strategies, scientific and research activities, the increasingly frequent statements made by experts and quite homogeneous position of profession (economists, sociologists, architects and urban planners), we are still witnessing tourism development mainly going in the wrong direction towards the unsustainable mass tourism. Mass tourism strongly affects the recourses it is dependent on, ruining its own existence like cutting off the branch one is standing on.

European Travel Commission (ETC) authors of Global Development Tourism Analysis [1] point out that urban tourism is a constantly growing segment. Urban centres have become tourist destinations. In that respect, it is crucial to understand the specificity of the city in relation to other tourist destinations.
