National Geographic has just carried out a survey of islands in which a panel of 522 well-travelled experts in sustainable tourism were asked to rank 111 different islands by comparing, among other things, environmental and ecological quality, social and cultural integrity, and outlook for the future. The survey rates the qualities that make a destination unique in terms of its “integrity of place” and they gave the Faroe Islands the highest ranking of all contestants! Islands symbolize vacation. Escape. Their insularity makes them attractive. They are worlds unto themselves - have their own traditions, eco-systems, cultures, landscape. That’s what attracts other visitors. But as micro-worlds, islands are the ones most prone to tourism overkill too.