The aim of this chapter is to introduce the major issues in tourism ecolabelling that are examined throughout the book. It complements Chapter 1 by considering the background to ecolabels, what they are and what they are meant to do, and the differences between quality and performance labels, and labels for destinations and organizations. The chapter also focuses on issues important to the individual environmentally aware tourist: the technical content of the label, its recognition and reliability, the level of maturity and penetration, thresholds and tiers. The chapter then critically analyses the current use and context of ecolabels in tourism, emphasizing equity and effectiveness issues, the relation between environmental legislation and the additional quality that an ecolabel should require, and how this links to designing an ecolabel and establishing benchmarks. Finally it considers how these issues will affect attempts to internationalize tourism ecolabels, within the context of international trade law relating to ecolabels more generally.