The organizing theme of the 7th International Coastal and Marine Tourism Congress was "Planning, Designing, and Managing the Destination." This editorial begins with a commentary on how "destination" has been conceptualized and defined over the last several decades in the multidisciplinary tourism literature. Six articles presented at CMT '12 are introduced in this special double issue. Taken together they illustrate a variety of research questions and results bearing on the condition and future of coastal and marine tourism destinations.