Although tourism has been used as a development strategy in many parts of the world for several decades, there is little evidence that it is an effective tool for improving the wellbeing of destination communities. It is not uncommon to find cases where tourism development has resulted in extensive negative impacts on destination. Despite considerable academic concern over these issues there has been little change in tourism development policy or practice. This suggests a need to try innovative approaches to analysing and thinking about tourism development policy and planning processes. This paper reports on a study that explored the value of using classical Greek tragedy as a metaphor to guide analysis of the political context of tourism development. The study conducted a qualitative analysis of 10 case studies where a proposed tourism development had both significant negative impacts on the destination and failed as a commercial enterprise. This analysis highlighted a consistent pattern of events and characteristics that mirrored those central to Greek tragedies. The evidence suggests that the recognition of the tragic nature of tourism decisions could be an important step in changing tourism development policies. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of both the analysis and taking a tragic vision in tourism development policy, for education to support more sustainable tourism.