The lecture took place as a part of the UNESCO days at the "GRG 1 Stubenbastei" high school in Vienna, Austria. It was dedicated to the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development proclaimed by the United Nations for 2017. The objectives of the event were the following: to introduce high school students to the concept of sustainable tourism, to discuss it in terms of its historic evolution and in relation to sustainable development in general, to offer a critical perspective on the "status quo" of current views on sustainable tourism, and to provide some practical recommendations on how different actors may contribute to sustainable tourism development on a local and global scale.