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The role of tourism in sustainable development.

Robert B. Richardson Robert B. Richardson Community Sustainability, Michigan State University
https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199389414.013.387
Published online: 25 March 2021

Sustainable development is the foundational principle for enhancing human and economic development while maintaining the functional integrity of ecological and social systems that support regional economies. Tourism has played a critical role in sustainable development in many countries and regions around the world. In developing countries, tourism development has been used as an important strategy for increasing economic growth, alleviating poverty, creating jobs, and improving food security. Many developing countries are in regions that are characterized by high levels of biological diversity, natural resources, and cultural heritage sites that attract international tourists whose local purchases generate income and support employment and economic development. Tourism has been associated with the principles of sustainable development because of its potential to support environmental protection and livelihoods. However, the relationship between tourism and the environment is multifaceted, as some types of tourism have been associated with negative environmental impacts, many of which are borne by host communities.

The concept of sustainable tourism development emerged in contrast to mass tourism, which involves the participation of large numbers of people, often in structured or packaged tours. Mass tourism has been associated with economic leakage and dependence, along with negative environmental and social impacts. Sustainable tourism development has been promoted in various ways as a framing concept in contrast to these economic, environmental, and social impacts. Some literature has acknowledged a vagueness of the concept of sustainable tourism, which has been used to advocate for fundamentally different strategies for tourism development that may exacerbate existing conflicts between conservation and development paradigms. Tourism has played an important role in sustainable development in some countries through the development of alternative tourism models, including ecotourism, community-based tourism, pro-poor tourism, slow tourism, green tourism, and heritage tourism, among others that aim to enhance livelihoods, increase local economic growth, and provide for environmental protection. Although these models have been given significant attention among researchers, the extent of their implementation in tourism planning initiatives has been limited, superficial, or incomplete in many contexts.

The sustainability of tourism as a global system is disputed among scholars. Tourism is dependent on travel, and nearly all forms of transportation require the use of non-renewable resources such as fossil fuels for energy. The burning of fossil fuels for transportation generates emissions of greenhouse gases that contribute to global climate change, which is fundamentally unsustainable. Tourism is also vulnerable to both localized and global shocks. Studies of the vulnerability of tourism to localized shocks include the impacts of natural disasters, disease outbreaks, and civil unrest. Studies of the vulnerability of tourism to global shocks include the impacts of climate change, economic crisis, global public health pandemics, oil price shocks, and acts of terrorism. It is clear that tourism has contributed significantly to economic development globally, but its role in sustainable development is uncertain, debatable, and potentially contradictory.

conservation
economic development
environmental impacts
sustainable development
sustainable tourism
tourism development

Introduction

Sustainable development is the guiding principle for advancing human and economic development while maintaining the integrity of ecosystems and social systems on which the economy depends. It is also the foundation of the leading global framework for international cooperation—the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (United Nations, 2015 ). The concept of sustainable development is often associated with the publication of Our Common Future (World Commission on Environment and Development [WCED], 1987 , p. 29), which defined it as “paths of human progress that meet the needs and aspirations of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.” Concerns about the environmental implications of economic development in lower income countries had been central to debates about development studies since the 1970s (Adams, 2009 ). The principles of sustainable development have come to dominate the development discourse, and the concept has become the primary development paradigm since the 1990s.

Tourism has played an increasingly important role in sustainable development since the 1990s, both globally and in particular countries and regions. For decades, tourism has been promoted as a low-impact, non-extractive option for economic development, particularly for developing countries (Gössling, 2000 ). Many developing countries have managed to increase their participation in the global economy through development of international tourism. Tourism development is increasingly viewed as an important tool in increasing economic growth, alleviating poverty, and improving food security. Tourism enables communities that are poor in material wealth, but rich in history and cultural heritage, to leverage their unique assets for economic development (Honey & Gilpin, 2009 ). More importantly, tourism offers an alternative to large-scale development projects, such as construction of dams, and to extractive industries such as mining and forestry, all of which contribute to emissions of pollutants and threaten biodiversity and the cultural values of Indigenous Peoples.

Environmental quality in destination areas is inextricably linked with tourism, as visiting natural areas and sightseeing are often the primary purpose of many leisure travels. Some forms of tourism, such as ecotourism, can contribute to the conservation of biodiversity and the protection of ecosystem functions in destination areas (Fennell, 2020 ; Gössling, 1999 ). Butler ( 1991 ) suggests that there is a kind of mutual dependence between tourism and the environment that should generate mutual benefits. Many developing countries are in regions that are characterized by high levels of species diversity, natural resources, and protected areas. Such ideas imply that tourism may be well aligned with the tenets of sustainable development.

However, the relationship between tourism and the environment is complex, as some forms of tourism have been associated with negative environmental impacts, including greenhouse gas emissions, freshwater use, land use, and food consumption (Butler, 1991 ; Gössling & Peeters, 2015 ; Hunter & Green, 1995 ; Vitousek et al., 1997 ). Assessments of the sustainability of tourism have highlighted several themes, including (a) parks, biodiversity, and conservation; (b) pollution and climate change; (c) prosperity, economic growth, and poverty alleviation; (d) peace, security, and safety; and (e) population stabilization and reduction (Buckley, 2012 ). From a global perspective, tourism contributes to (a) changes in land cover and land use; (b) energy use, (c) biotic exchange and extinction of wild species; (d) exchange and dispersion of diseases; and (e) changes in the perception and understanding of the environment (Gössling, 2002 ).

Research on tourism and the environment spans a wide range of social and natural science disciplines, and key contributions have been disseminated across many interdisciplinary fields, including biodiversity conservation, climate science, economics, and environmental science, among others (Buckley, 2011 ; Butler, 1991 ; Gössling, 2002 ; Lenzen et al., 2018 ). Given the global significance of the tourism sector and its environmental impacts, the role of tourism in sustainable development is an important topic of research in environmental science generally and in environmental economics and management specifically. Reviews of tourism research have highlighted future research priorities for sustainable development, including the role of tourism in the designation and expansion of protected areas; improvement in environmental accounting techniques that quantify environmental impacts; and the effects of individual perceptions of responsibility in addressing climate change (Buckley, 2012 ).

Tourism is one of the world’s largest industries, and it has linkages with many of the prime sectors of the global economy (Fennell, 2020 ). As a global economic sector, tourism represents one of the largest generators of wealth, and it is an important agent of economic growth and development (Garau-Vadell et al., 2018 ). Tourism is a critical industry in many local and national economies, and it represents a large and growing share of world trade (Hunter, 1995 ). Global tourism has had an average annual increase of 6.6% over the past half century, with international tourist arrivals rising sharply from 25.2 million in 1950 to more than 950 million in 2010 . In 2019 , the number of international tourists reached 1.5 billion, up 4% from 2018 (Fennell, 2020 ; United Nations World Tourism Organization [UNWTO], 2020 ). European countries are host to more than half of international tourists, but since 1990 , growth in international arrivals has risen faster than the global average, in both the Middle East and the Asia and Pacific region (UNWTO, 2020 ).

The growth in global tourism has been accompanied by an expansion of travel markets and a diversification of tourism destinations. In 1950 , the top five travel destinations were all countries in Europe and the Americas, and these destinations held 71% of the global travel market (Fennell, 2020 ). By 2002 , these countries represented only 35%, which underscores the emergence of newly accessible travel destinations in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and the Pacific Rim, including numerous developing countries. Over the past 70 years, global tourism has grown significantly as an economic sector, and it has contributed to the economic development of dozens of nations.

Given the growth of international tourism and its emergence as one of the world’s largest export sectors, the question of its impact on economic growth for the host countries has been a topic of great interest in the tourism literature. Two hypotheses have emerged regarding the role of tourism in the economic growth process (Apergis & Payne, 2012 ). First, tourism-led growth hypothesis relies on the assumption that tourism is an engine of growth that generates spillovers and positive externalities through economic linkages that will impact the overall economy. Second, the economic-driven tourism growth hypothesis emphasizes policies oriented toward well-defined and enforceable property rights, stable political institutions, and adequate investment in both physical and human capital to facilitate the development of the tourism sector. Studies have concluded with support for both the tourism-led growth hypothesis (e.g., Durbarry, 2004 ; Katircioglu, 2010 ) and the economic-led growth hypothesis (e.g., Katircioglu, 2009 ; Oh, 2005 ), whereas other studies have found support for a bidirectional causality for tourism and economic growth (e.g., Apergis & Payne, 2012 ; Lee & Chang, 2008 ).

The growth of tourism has been marked by an increase in the competition for tourist expenditures, making it difficult for destinations to maintain their share of the international tourism market (Butler, 1991 ). Tourism development is cyclical and subject to short-term cycles and overconsumption of resources. Butler ( 1980 ) developed a tourist-area cycle of evolution that depicts the number of tourists rising sharply over time through periods of exploration, involvement, and development, before eventual consolidation and stagnation. When tourism growth exceeds the carrying capacity of the area, resource degradation can lead to the decline of tourism unless specific steps are taken to promote rejuvenation (Butler, 1980 , 1991 ).

The potential of tourism development as a tool to contribute to environmental conservation, economic growth, and poverty reduction is derived from several unique characteristics of the tourism system (UNWTO, 2002 ). First, tourism represents an opportunity for economic diversification, particularly in marginal areas with few other export options. Tourists are attracted to remote areas with high values of cultural, wildlife, and landscape assets. The cultural and natural heritage of developing countries is frequently based on such assets, and tourism represents an opportunity for income generation through the preservation of heritage values. Tourism is the only export sector where the consumer travels to the exporting country, which provides opportunities for lower-income households to become exporters through the sale of goods and services to foreign tourists. Tourism is also labor intensive; it provides small-scale employment opportunities, which also helps to promote gender equity. Finally, there are numerous indirect benefits of tourism for people living in poverty, including increased market access for remote areas through the development of roads, infrastructure, and communication networks. Nevertheless, travel is highly income elastic and carbon intensive, which has significant implications for the sustainability of the tourism sector (Lenzen et al., 2018 ).

Concerns about environmental issues appeared in tourism research just as global awareness of the environmental impacts of human activities was expanding. The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment was held in Stockholm in 1972 , the same year as the publication of The Limits to Growth (Meadows et al., 1972 ), which highlighted the concerns about the implications of exponential economic and population growth in a world of finite resources. This was the same year that the famous Blue Marble photograph of Earth was taken by the crew of the Apollo 17 spacecraft (Höhler, 2015 , p. 10), and the image captured the planet cloaked in the darkness of space and became a symbol of Earth’s fragility and vulnerability. As noted by Buckley ( 2012 ), tourism researchers turned their attention to social and environmental issues around the same time (Cohen, 1978 ; Farrell & McLellan, 1987 ; Turner & Ash, 1975 ; Young, 1973 ).

The notion of sustainable development is often associated with the publication of Our Common Future , the report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, also known as the Brundtland Commission (WCED, 1987 ). The report characterized sustainable development in terms of meeting “the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (WCED, 1987 , p. 43). Four basic principles are fundamental to the concept of sustainability: (a) the idea of holistic planning and strategy making; (b) the importance of preserving essential ecological processes; (c) the need to protect both human heritage and biodiversity; and (d) the need to develop in such a way that productivity can be sustained over the long term for future generations (Bramwell & Lane, 1993 ). In addition to achieving balance between economic growth and the conservation of natural resources, there should be a balance of fairness and opportunity between the nations of the world.

Although the modern concept of sustainable development emerged with the publication of Our Common Future , sustainable development has its roots in ideas about sustainable forest management that were developed in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries (Blewitt, 2015 ; Grober, 2007 ). Sustainable forest management is concerned with the stewardship and use of forests in a way that maintains their biodiversity, productivity, and regeneration capacity as well as their potential to fulfill society’s demands for forest products and benefits. Building on these ideas, Daly ( 1990 ) offered two operational principles of sustainable development. First, sustainable development implies that harvest rates should be no greater than rates of regeneration; this concept is known as maximum sustainable yield. Second, waste emission rates should not exceed the natural assimilative capacities of the ecosystems into which the wastes are emitted. Regenerative and assimilative capacities are characterized as natural capital, and a failure to maintain these capacities is not sustainable.

Shortly after the emergence of the concept of sustainable development in academic and policy discourse, tourism researchers began referring to the notion of sustainable tourism (May, 1991 ; Nash & Butler, 1990 ), which soon became the dominant paradigm of tourism development. The concept of sustainable tourism, as with the role of tourism in sustainable development, has been interpreted in different ways, and there is a lack of consensus concerning its meaning, objectives, and indicators (Sharpley, 2000 ). Growing interest in the subject inspired the creation of a new academic journal, Journal of Sustainable Tourism , which was launched in 1993 and has become a leading tourism journal. It is described as “an international journal that publishes research on tourism and sustainable development, including economic, social, cultural and political aspects.”

The notion of sustainable tourism development emerged in contrast to mass tourism, which is characterized by the participation of large numbers of people, often provided as structured or packaged tours. Mass tourism has risen sharply in the last half century. International arrivals alone have increased by an average annual rate of more than 25% since 1950 , and many of those trips involved mass tourism activities (Fennell, 2020 ; UNWTO, 2020 ). Some examples of mass tourism include beach resorts, cruise ship tourism, gaming casinos, golf resorts, group tours, ski resorts, theme parks, and wildlife safari tourism, among others. Little data exist regarding the volume of domestic mass tourism, but nevertheless mass tourism activities dominate the global tourism sector. Mass tourism has been shown to generate benefits to host countries, such as income and employment generation, although it has also been associated with economic leakage (where revenue generated by tourism is lost to other countries’ economies) and economic dependency (where developing countries are dependent on wealthier countries for tourists, imports, and foreign investment) (Cater, 1993 ; Conway & Timms, 2010 ; Khan, 1997 ; Peeters, 2012 ). Mass tourism has been associated with numerous negative environmental impacts and social impacts (Cater, 1993 ; Conway & Timms, 2010 ; Fennell, 2020 ; Ghimire, 2013 ; Gursoy et al., 2010 ; Liu, 2003 ; Peeters, 2012 ; Wheeller, 2007 ). Sustainable tourism development has been promoted in various ways as a framing concept in contrast to many of these economic, environmental, and social impacts.

Much of the early research on sustainable tourism focused on defining the concept, which has been the subject of vigorous debate (Bramwell & Lane, 1993 ; Garrod & Fyall, 1998 ; Hunter, 1995 ; Inskeep, 1991 ; Liu, 2003 ; Sharpley, 2000 ). Early definitions of sustainable tourism development seemed to fall in one of two categories (Sharpley, 2000 ). First, the “tourism-centric” paradigm of sustainable tourism development focuses on sustaining tourism as an economic activity (Hunter, 1995 ). Second, alternative paradigms have situated sustainable tourism in the context of wider sustainable development policies (Butler, 1991 ). One of the most comprehensive definitions of sustainable tourism echoes some of the language of the Brundtland Commission’s definition of sustainable development (WCED, 1987 ), emphasizing opportunities for the future while also integrating social and environmental concerns:

Sustainable tourism can be thought of as meeting the needs of present tourists and host regions while protecting and enhancing opportunity for the future. Sustainable tourism development is envisaged as leading to management of all resources in such a way that we can fulfill economic, social and aesthetic needs while maintaining cultural integrity, essential ecological processes, biological diversity and life support systems. (Inskeep, 1991 , p. 461)

Hunter argued that over the short and long terms, sustainable tourism development should

“meet the needs and wants of the local host community in terms of improved living standards and quality of life;

satisfy the demands of tourists and the tourism industry, and continue to attract them in order to meet the first aim; and

safeguard the environmental resource base for tourism, encompassing natural, built and cultural components, in order to achieve both of the preceding aims.” (Hunter, 1995 , p. 156)

Numerous other definitions have been documented, and the term itself has been subject to widespread critique (Buckley, 2012 ; Hunter, 1995 ; Liu, 2003 ). Nevertheless, there have been numerous calls to move beyond debate about a definition and to consider how it may best be implemented in practice (Garrod & Fyall, 1998 ; Liu, 2003 ). Cater ( 1993 ) identified three key criteria for sustainable tourism: (a) meeting the needs of the host population in terms of improved living standards both in the short and long terms; (b) satisfying the demands of a growing number of tourists; and (c) safeguarding the natural environment in order to achieve both of the preceding aims.

Some literature has acknowledged a vagueness of the concept of sustainable tourism, which has been used to advocate for fundamentally different strategies for tourism development that may exacerbate existing conflicts between conservation and development paradigms (Garrod & Fyall, 1998 ; Hunter, 1995 ; Liu, 2003 ; McKercher, 1993b ). Similar criticisms have been leveled at the concept of sustainable development, which has been described as an oxymoron with a wide range of meanings (Adams, 2009 ; Daly, 1990 ) and “defined in such a way as to be either morally repugnant or logically redundant” (Beckerman, 1994 , p. 192). Sharpley ( 2000 ) suggests that in the tourism literature, there has been “a consistent and fundamental failure to build a theoretical link between sustainable tourism and its parental paradigm,” sustainable development (p. 2). Hunter ( 1995 ) suggests that practical measures designed to operationalize sustainable tourism fail to address many of the critical issues that are central to the concept of sustainable development generally and may even actually counteract the fundamental requirements of sustainable development. He suggests that mainstream sustainable tourism development is concerned with protecting the immediate resource base that will sustain tourism development while ignoring concerns for the status of the wider tourism resource base, such as potential problems associated with air pollution, congestion, introduction of invasive species, and declining oil reserves. The dominant paradigm of sustainable tourism development has been described as introverted, tourism-centric, and in competition with other sectors for scarce resources (McKercher, 1993a ). Hunter ( 1995 , p. 156) proposes an alternative, “extraparochial” paradigm where sustainable tourism development is reconceptualized in terms of its contribution to overall sustainable development. Such a paradigm would reconsider the scope, scale, and sectoral context of tourism-related resource utilization issues.

“Sustainability,” “sustainable tourism,” and “sustainable development” are all well-established terms that have often been used loosely and interchangeably in the tourism literature (Liu, 2003 ). Nevertheless, the subject of sustainable tourism has been given considerable attention and has been the focus of numerous academic compilations and textbooks (Coccossis & Nijkamp, 1995 ; Hall & Lew, 1998 ; Stabler, 1997 ; Swarbrooke, 1999 ), and it calls for new approaches to sustainable tourism development (Bramwell & Lane, 1993 ; Garrod & Fyall, 1998 ; Hunter, 1995 ; Sharpley, 2000 ). The notion of sustainable tourism has been reconceptualized in the literature by several authors who provided alternative frameworks for tourism development (Buckley, 2012 ; Gössling, 2002 ; Hunter, 1995 ; Liu, 2003 ; McKercher, 1993b ; Sharpley, 2000 ).

Early research in sustainable tourism focused on the local environmental impacts of tourism, including energy use, water use, food consumption, and change in land use (Buckley, 2012 ; Butler, 1991 ; Gössling, 2002 ; Hunter & Green, 1995 ). Subsequent research has emphasized the global environmental impacts of tourism, such as greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity losses (Gössling, 2002 ; Gössling & Peeters, 2015 ; Lenzen et al., 2018 ). Additional research has emphasized the impacts of environmental change on tourism itself, including the impacts of climate change on tourist behavior (Gössling et al., 2012 ; Richardson & Loomis, 2004 ; Scott et al., 2012 ; Viner, 2006 ). Countries that are dependent on tourism for economic growth may be particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change (Richardson & Witkoswki, 2010 ).

The early focus on environmental issues in sustainable tourism has been broadened to include economic, social, and cultural issues as well as questions of power and equity in society (Bramwell & Lane, 1993 ; Sharpley, 2014 ), and some of these frameworks have integrated notions of social equity, prosperity, and cultural heritage values. Sustainable tourism is dependent on critical long-term considerations of the impacts; notions of equity; an appreciation of the importance of linkages (i.e., economic, social, and environmental); and the facilitation of cooperation and collaboration between different stakeholders (Elliott & Neirotti, 2008 ).

McKercher ( 1993b ) notes that tourism resources are typically part of the public domain or are intrinsically linked to the social fabric of the host community. As a result, many commonplace tourist activities such as sightseeing may be perceived as invasive by members of the host community. Many social impacts of tourism can be linked to the overuse of the resource base, increases in traffic congestion, rising land prices, urban sprawl, and changes in the social structure of host communities. Given the importance of tourist–resident interaction, sustainable tourism development depends in part on the support of the host community (Garau-Vadell et al., 2018 ).

Tourism planning involves the dual objectives of optimizing the well-being of local residents in host communities and minimizing the costs of tourism development (Sharpley, 2014 ). Tourism researchers have paid significant attention to examining the social impacts of tourism in general and to understanding host communities’ perceptions of tourism in particular. Studies of the social impacts of tourism development have examined the perceptions of local residents and the effects of tourism on social cohesion, traditional lifestyles, and the erosion of cultural heritage, particularly among Indigenous Peoples (Butler & Hinch, 2007 ; Deery et al., 2012 ; Mathieson & Wall, 1982 ; Sharpley, 2014 ; Whitford & Ruhanen, 2016 ).

Alternative Tourism and Sustainable Development

A wide body of published research is related to the role of tourism in sustainable development, and much of the literature involves case studies of particular types of tourism. Many such studies contrast types of alternative tourism with those of mass tourism, which has received sustained criticism for decades and is widely considered to be unsustainable (Cater, 1993 ; Conway & Timms, 2010 ; Fennell, 2020 ; Gursoy et al., 2010 ; Liu, 2003 ; Peeters, 2012 ; Zapata et al., 2011 ). Still, some tourism researchers have taken issue with the conclusion that mass tourism is inherently unsustainable (Sharpley, 2000 ; Weaver, 2007 ), and some have argued for developing pathways to “sustainable mass tourism” as “the desired and impending outcome for most destinations” (Weaver, 2012 , p. 1030). In integrating an ethical component to mass tourism development, Weaver ( 2014 , p. 131) suggests that the desirable outcome is “enlightened mass tourism.” Such suggestions have been contested in the literature and criticized for dubious assumptions about emergent norms of sustainability and support for growth, which are widely seen as contradictory (Peeters, 2012 ; Wheeller, 2007 ).

Models of responsible or alternative tourism development include ecotourism, community-based tourism, pro-poor tourism, slow tourism, green tourism, and heritage tourism, among others. Most models of alternative tourism development emphasize themes that aim to counteract the perceived negative impacts of conventional or mass tourism. As such, the objectives of these models of tourism development tend to focus on minimizing environmental impacts, supporting biodiversity conservation, empowering local communities, alleviating poverty, and engendering pleasant relationships between tourists and residents.

Approaches to alternative tourism development tend to overlap with themes of responsible tourism, and the two terms are frequently used interchangeably. Responsible tourism has been characterized in terms of numerous elements, including

ensuring that communities are involved in and benefit from tourism;

respecting local, natural, and cultural environments;

involving the local community in planning and decision-making;

using local resources sustainably;

behaving in ways that are sensitive to the host culture;

maintaining and encouraging natural, economic, and cultural diversity; and

assessing environmental, social, and economic impacts as a prerequisite to tourism development (Spenceley, 2012 ).

Hetzer ( 1965 ) identified four fundamental principles or perquisites for a more responsible form of tourism: (a) minimum environmental impact; (b) minimum impact on and maximum respect for host cultures; (c) maximum economic benefits to the host country; and (d) maximum leisure satisfaction to participating tourists.

The history of ecotourism is closely connected with the emergence of sustainable development, as it was born out of a concern for the conservation of biodiversity. Ecotourism is a form of tourism that aims to minimize local environmental impacts while bringing benefits to protected areas and the people living around those lands (Honey, 2008 ). Ecotourism represents a small segment of nature-based tourism, which is understood as tourism based on the natural attractions of an area, such as scenic areas and wildlife (Gössling, 1999 ). The ecotourism movement gained momentum in the 1990s, primarily in developing countries in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa, and nearly all countries are now engaged in some form of ecotourism. In some communities, ecotourism is the primary economic activity and source of income and economic development.

The term “ecotourism” was coined by Hector Ceballos-Lascuráin and defined by him as “tourism that consists in travelling to relatively undisturbed or uncontaminated natural areas with the specific object of studying, admiring, and enjoying the scenery and its wild plants and animals” (Ceballos-Lascuráin, 1987 , p. 13). In discussing ecotourism resources, he also made reference to “any existing cultural manifestations (both past and present) found in these areas” (Ceballos-Lascuráin, 1987 , p. 14). The basic precepts of ecotourism had been discussed long before the actual use of the term. Twenty years earlier, Hetzer ( 1965 ) referred to a form of tourism “based principally upon natural and archaeological resources such as caves, fossil sites (and) archaeological sites.” Thus, both natural resources and cultural resources were integrated into ecotourism frameworks from the earliest manifestations.

Costa Rica is well known for having successfully integrated ecotourism in its overall strategy for sustainable development, and numerous case studies of ecotourism in Costa Rica appear in the literature (Chase et al., 1998 ; Fennell & Eagles, 1990 ; Gray & Campbell, 2007 ; Hearne & Salinas, 2002 ). Ecotourism in Costa Rica has been seen as having supported the economic development of the country while promoting biodiversity conservation in its extensive network of protected areas. Chase et al. ( 1998 ) estimated the demand for ecotourism in a study of differential pricing of entrance fees at national parks in Costa Rica. The authors estimated elasticities associated with the own-price, cross-price, and income variables and found that the elasticities of demand were significantly different between three different national park sites. The results reveal the heterogeneity characterizing tourist behavior and park attractions and amenities. Hearne and Salinas ( 2002 ) used choice experiments to examine the preferences of domestic and foreign tourists in Costa Rica in an ecotourism site. Both sets of tourists demonstrated a preference for improved infrastructure, more information, and lower entrance fees. Foreign tourists demonstrated relatively stronger preferences for the inclusion of restrictions in the access to some trails.

Ecotourism has also been studied extensively in Kenya (Southgate, 2006 ), Malaysia (Lian Chan & Baum, 2007 ), Nepal (Baral et al., 2008 ), Peru (Stronza, 2007 ), and Taiwan (Lai & Nepal, 2006 ), among many other countries. Numerous case studies have demonstrated the potential for ecotourism to contribute to sustainable development by providing support for biodiversity conservation, local livelihoods, and regional development.

Community-Based Tourism

Community-based tourism (CBT) is a model of tourism development that emphasizes the development of local communities and allows for local residents to have substantial control over its development and management, and a major proportion of the benefits remain within the community. CBT emerged during the 1970s as a response to the negative impacts of the international mass tourism development model (Cater, 1993 ; Hall & Lew, 2009 ; Turner & Ash, 1975 ; Zapata et al., 2011 ).

Community-based tourism has been examined for its potential to contribute to poverty reduction. In a study of the viability of the CBT model to support socioeconomic development and poverty alleviation in Nicaragua, tourism was perceived by participants in the study to have an impact on employment creation in their communities (Zapata et al., 2011 ). Tourism was seen to have had positive impacts on strengthening local knowledge and skills, particularly on the integration of women to new roles in the labor market. One of the main perceived gains regarding the environment was the process of raising awareness regarding the conservation of natural resources. The small scale of CBT operations and low capacity to accommodate visitors was seen as a limitation of the model.

Spenceley ( 2012 ) compiled case studies of community-based tourism in countries in southern Africa, including Botswana, Madagascar, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. In this volume, authors characterize community-based and nature-based tourism development projects in the region and demonstrate how community participation in planning and decision-making has generated benefits for local residents and supported conservation initiatives. They contend that responsible tourism practices are of particular importance in the region because of the rich biological diversity, abundant charismatic wildlife, and the critical need for local economic development and livelihood strategies.

In Kenya, CBT enterprises were not perceived to have made a significant impact on poverty reduction at an individual household level, in part because the model relied heavily on donor funding, reinforcing dependency and poverty (Manyara & Jones, 2007 ). The study identified several critical success factors for CBT enterprises, namely, awareness and sensitization, community empowerment, effective leadership, and community capacity building, which can inform appropriate tourism policy formulation in Kenya. The impacts of CBT on economic development and poverty reduction would be greatly enhanced if tourism initiatives were able to emphasize independence, address local community priorities, enhance community empowerment and transparency, discourage elitism, promote effective community leadership, and develop community capacity to operate their own enterprises more efficiently.

Pro-Poor Tourism

Pro-poor tourism is a model of tourism development that brings net benefits to people living in poverty (Ashley et al., 2001 ; Harrison, 2008 ). Although its theoretical foundations and development objectives overlap to some degree with those of community-based tourism and other models of AT, the key distinctive feature of pro-poor tourism is that it places poor people and poverty at the top of the agenda. By focusing on a very simple and incontrovertibly moral idea, namely, the net benefits of tourism to impoverished people, the concept has broad appeal to donors and international aid agencies. Harnessing the economic benefits of tourism for pro-poor growth means capitalizing on the advantages while reducing negative impacts to people living in poverty (Ashley et al., 2001 ). Pro-poor approaches to tourism development include increasing access of impoverished people to economic benefits; addressing negative social and environmental impacts associated with tourism; and focusing on policies, processes, and partnerships that seek to remove barriers to participation by people living in poverty. At the local level, pro-poor tourism can play a very significant role in livelihood security and poverty reduction (Ashley & Roe, 2002 ).

Rogerson ( 2011 ) argues that the growth of pro-poor tourism initiatives in South Africa suggests that the country has become a laboratory for the testing and evolution of new approaches toward sustainable development planning that potentially will have relevance for other countries in the developing world. A study of pro-poor tourism development initiatives in Laos identified a number of favorable conditions for pro-poor tourism development, including the fact that local people are open to tourism and motivated to participate (Suntikul et al., 2009 ). The authors also noted a lack of development in the linkages that could optimize the fulfilment of the pro-poor agenda, such as training or facilitation of local people’s participation in pro-poor tourism development at the grassroots level.

Critics of the model have argued that pro-poor tourism is based on an acceptance of the status quo of existing capitalism, that it is morally indiscriminate and theoretically imprecise, and that its practitioners are academically and commercially marginal (Harrison, 2008 ). As Chok et al. ( 2007 ) indicate, the focus “on poor people in the South reflects a strong anthropocentric view . . . and . . . environmental benefits are secondary to poor peoples’” benefits (p. 153).

Harrison ( 2008 ) argues that pro-poor tourism is not a distinctive approach to tourism as a development tool and that it may be easier to discuss what pro-poor tourism is not than what it is. He concludes that it is neither anticapitalist nor inconsistent with mainstream tourism on which it relies; it is neither a theory nor a model and is not a niche form of tourism. Further, he argues that it has no distinctive method and is not only about people living in poverty.

Slow Tourism

The concept of slow tourism has emerged as a model of sustainable tourism development, and as such, it lacks an exact definition. The concept of slow tourism traces its origin back to some institutionalized social movements such as “slow food” and “slow cities” that began in Italy in the 1990s and spread rapidly around the world (Fullagar et al., 2012 ; Oh et al., 2016 , p. 205). Advocates of slow tourism tend to emphasize slowness in terms of speed, mobility, and modes of transportation that generate less environmental pollution. They propose niche marketing for alternative forms of tourism that focus on quality upgrading rather than merely increasing the quantity of visitors via the established mass-tourism infrastructure (Conway & Timms, 2010 ).

In the context of the Caribbean region, slow tourism has been promoted as more culturally sensitive and authentic, as compared to the dominant mass tourism development model that is based on all-inclusive beach resorts dependent on foreign investment (Conway & Timms, 2010 ). Recognizing its value as an alternative marketing strategy, Conway and Timms ( 2010 ) make the case for rebranding alternative tourism in the Caribbean as a means of revitalizing the sector for the changing demands of tourists in the 21st century . They suggest that slow tourism is the antithesis of mass tourism, which “relies on increasing the quantity of tourists who move through the system with little regard to either the quality of the tourists’ experience or the benefits that accrue to the localities the tourist visits” (Conway & Timms, 2010 , p. 332). The authors draw on cases from Barbados, the Grenadines, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago to characterize models of slow tourism development in remote fishing villages and communities near nature preserves and sea turtle nesting sites.

Although there is a growing interest in the concept of slow tourism in the literature, there seems to be little agreement about the exact nature of slow tourism and whether it is a niche form of special interest tourism or whether it represents a more fundamental potential shift across the industry. Conway and Timms ( 2010 ) focus on the destination, advocating for slow tourism in terms of a promotional identity for an industry in need of rebranding. Caffyn ( 2012 , p. 77) discusses the implementation of slow tourism in terms of “encouraging visitors to make slower choices when planning and enjoying their holidays.” It is not clear whether slow tourism is a marketing strategy, a mindset, or a social movement, but the literature on slow tourism nearly always equates the term with sustainable tourism (Caffyn, 2012 ; Conway & Timms, 2010 ; Oh et al., 2016 ). Caffyn ( 2012 , p. 80) suggests that slow tourism could offer a “win–win,” which she describes as “a more sustainable form of tourism; keeping more of the economic benefits within the local community and destination; and delivering a more meaningful and satisfying experience.” Research on slow tourism is nascent, and thus the contribution of slow tourism to sustainable development is not well understood.

Impacts of Tourism Development

The role of tourism in sustainable development can be examined through an understanding of the economic, environmental, and social impacts of tourism. Tourism is a global phenomenon that involves travel, recreation, the consumption of food, overnight accommodations, entertainment, sightseeing, and other activities that simultaneously intersect the lives of local residents, businesses, and communities. The impacts of tourism involve benefits and costs to all groups, and some of these impacts cannot easily be measured. Nevertheless, they have been studied extensively in the literature, which provides some context for how these benefits and costs are distributed.

Economic Impacts of Tourism

The travel and tourism sector is one of the largest components of the global economy, and global tourism has increased exponentially since the end of the Second World War (UNWTO, 2020 ). The direct, indirect, and induced economic impact of global travel accounted for 8.9 trillion U.S. dollars in contribution to the global gross domestic product (GDP), or 10.3% of global GDP. The global travel and tourism sector supports approximately 330 million jobs, or 1 in 10 jobs around the world. From an economic perspective, tourism plays a significant role in sustainable development. In many developing countries, tourism has the potential to play a unique role in income generation and distribution relative to many other industries, in part because of its high multiplier effect and consumption of local goods and services. However, research on the economic impacts of tourism has shown that this potential has rarely been fully realized (Liu, 2003 ).

Numerous studies have examined the impact of tourism expenditure on GDP, income, employment, and public sector revenue. Narayan ( 2004 ) used a computable general equilibrium model to estimate the economic impact of tourism growth on the economy of Fiji. Tourism is Fiji’s largest industry, with average annual growth of 10–12%; and as a middle-income country, tourism is critical to Fiji’s economic development. The findings indicate that an increase in tourism expenditures was associated with an increase in GDP, an improvement in the country’s balance of payments, and an increase in real consumption and national welfare. Evidence suggests that the benefits of tourism expansion outweigh any export effects caused by an appreciation of the exchange rate and an increase in domestic prices and wages.

Seetanah ( 2011 ) examined the potential contribution of tourism to economic growth and development using panel data of 19 island economies around the world from 1990 to 2007 and revealed that tourism development is an important factor in explaining economic performance in the selected island economies. The results have policy implications for improving economic growth by harnessing the contribution of the tourism sector. Pratt ( 2015 ) modeled the economic impact of tourism for seven small island developing states in the Pacific, the Caribbean, and the Indian Ocean. In most states, the transportation sector was found to have above-average linkages to other sectors of the economy. The results revealed some advantages of economies of scale for maximizing the economic contribution of tourism.

Apergis and Payne ( 2012 ) examined the causal relationship between tourism and economic growth for a panel of nine Caribbean countries. The panel of Caribbean countries includes Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago. The authors use a panel error correction model to reveal bidirectional causality between tourism and economic growth in both the short run and the long run. The presence of bidirectional causality reiterates the importance of the tourism sector in the generation of foreign exchange income and in financing the production of goods and services within these countries. Likewise, stable political institutions and adequate government policies to ensure the appropriate investment in physical and human capital will enhance economic growth. In turn, stable economic growth will provide the resources needed to develop the tourism infrastructure for the success of the countries’ tourism sector. Thus, policy makers should be cognizant of the interdependent relationship between tourism and economic growth in the design and implementation of economic policy. The mixed nature of these results suggest that the relationship between tourism and economic growth depends largely on the social and economic context as well as the role of tourism in the economy.

The economic benefits and costs of tourism are frequently distributed unevenly. An analysis of the impact of wildlife conservation policies in Zambia on household welfare found that households located near national parks earn higher levels of income from wage employment and self-employment than other rural households in the country, but they were also more likely to suffer crop losses related to wildlife conflicts (Richardson et al., 2012 ). The findings suggest that tourism development and wildlife conservation can contribute to pro-poor development, but they may be sustainable only if human–wildlife conflicts are minimized or compensated.

Environmental Impacts of Tourism

The environmental impacts of tourism are significant, ranging from local effects to contributions to global environmental change (Gössling & Peeters, 2015 ). Tourism is both dependent on water resources and a factor in global and local freshwater use. Tourists consume water for drinking, when showering and using the toilet, when participating in activities such as winter ski tourism (i.e., snowmaking), and when using swimming pools and spas. Fresh water is also needed to maintain hotel gardens and golf courses, and water use is embedded in tourism infrastructure development (e.g., accommodations, laundry, dining) and in food and fuel production. Direct water consumption in tourism is estimated to be approximately 350 liters (L) per guest night for accommodation; when indirect water use from food, energy, and transport are considered, total water use in tourism is estimated to be approximately 6,575 L per guest night, or 27,800 L per person per trip (Gössling & Peeters, 2015 ). In addition, tourism contributes to the pollution of oceans as well as lakes, rivers, and other freshwater systems (Gössling, 2002 ; Gössling et al., 2011 ).

The clearing and conversion of land is central for tourism development, and in many cases, the land used for tourism includes roads, airports, railways, accommodations, trails, pedestrian walks, shopping areas, parking areas, campgrounds, vacation homes, golf courses, marinas, ski resorts, and indirect land use for food production, disposal of solid wastes, and the treatment of wastewater (Gössling & Peeters, 2015 ). Global land use for accommodation is estimated to be approximately 42 m 2 per bed. Total global land use for tourism is estimated to be nearly 62,000 km 2 , or 11.7 m 2 per tourist; more than half of this estimate is represented by land use for traffic infrastructure.

Tourism and hospitality have direct and indirect links to nearly all aspects of food production, preparation, and consumption because of the quantities of food consumed in tourism contexts (Gössling et al., 2011 ). Food production has significant implications for sustainable development, given the growing global demand for food. The implications include land conversion, losses to biodiversity, changes in nutrient cycling, and contributions to greenhouse emissions that are associated with global climate change (Vitousek et al., 1997 ). Global food use for tourism is estimated to be approximately 39.4 megatons 1 (Mt), about 38% than the amount of food consumed at home. This equates to approximately 1,800 grams (g) of food consumed per tourist per day.

Although tourism has been promoted as a low-impact, nonextractive option for economic development, (Gössling, 2000 ), assessments reveal that such pursuits have a significant carbon footprint, as tourism is significantly more carbon intensive than other potential areas of economic development (Lenzen et al., 2018 ). Tourism is dependent on energy, and virtually all energy use in the tourism sector is derived from fossil fuels, which contribute to global greenhouse emissions that are associated with global climate change. Energy use for tourism has been estimated to be approximately 3,575 megajoules 2 (MJ) per trip, including energy for travel and accommodations (Gössling & Peeters, 2015 ). A previous estimate of global carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions from tourism provided values of 1.12 gigatons 3 (Gt) of CO 2 , amounting to about 3% of global CO 2 -equivalent (CO 2 e) emissions (Gössling & Peeters, 2015 ). However, these analyses do not cover the supply chains underpinning tourism and do not therefore represent true carbon footprints. A more complete analysis of the emissions from energy consumption necessary to sustain the tourism sector would include food and beverages, infrastructure construction and maintenance, retail, and financial services. Between 2009 and 2013 , tourism’s global carbon footprint is estimated to have increased from 3.9 to 4.5 GtCO 2 e, four times more than previously estimated, accounting for about 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions (Lenzen et al., 2018 ). The majority of this footprint is exerted by and within high-income countries. The rising global demand for tourism is outstripping efforts at decarbonization of tourism operations and as a result is accelerating global carbon emissions.

Social Impacts of Tourism

The social impacts of tourism have been widely studied, with an emphasis on residents’ perceptions in the host community (Sharpley, 2014 ). Case studies include research conducted in Australia (Faulkner & Tideswell, 1997 ; Gursoy et al., 2010 ; Tovar & Lockwood, 2008 ), Belize (Diedrich & Garcia-Buades, 2008 ), China (Gu & Ryan, 2008 ), Fiji (King et al., 1993 ), Greece (Haralambopoulos & Pizam, 1996 ; Tsartas, 1992 ), Hungary (Rátz, 2000 ), Thailand (Huttasin, 2008 ), Turkey (Kuvan & Akan, 2005 ), the United Kingdom (Brunt & Courtney, 1999 ; Haley et al., 2005 ), and the United States (Andereck et al., 2005 ; Milman & Pizam, 1988 ), among others. The social impacts of tourism are difficult to measure, and most published studies are mainly concerned with the social impacts on the host communities rather than the impacts on the tourists themselves.

Studies of residents’ perceptions of tourism are typically conducted using household surveys. In most cases, residents recognize the economic dependence on tourism for income, and there is substantial evidence to suggest that working in or owning a business in tourism or a related industry is associated with more positive perceptions of tourism (Andereck et al., 2007 ). The perceived nature of negative effects is complex and often conveys a dislike of crowding, traffic congestion, and higher prices for basic needs (Deery et al., 2012 ). When the number of tourists far exceeds that of the resident population, negative attitudes toward tourism may manifest (Diedrich & Garcia-Buades, 2008 ). However, residents who recognize negative impacts may not necessarily oppose tourism development (King et al., 1993 ).

In some regions, little is known about the social and cultural impacts of tourism despite its dominance as an economic sector. Tourism is a rapidly growing sector in Cuba, and it is projected to grow at rates that exceed the average projected growth rates for the Caribbean and the world overall (Salinas et al., 2018 ). Still, even though there has been rapid tourism development in Cuba, there has been little research related to the environmental and sociocultural impacts of this tourism growth (Rutty & Richardson, 2019 ).

In some international tourism contexts, studies have found that residents are generally resentful toward tourism because it fuels inequality and exacerbates racist attitudes and discrimination (Cabezas, 2004 ; Jamal & Camargo, 2014 ; Mbaiwa, 2005 ). Other studies revealed similar narratives and recorded statements of exclusion and socioeconomic stratification (Sanchez & Adams, 2008 ). Local residents often must navigate the gaps in the racialized, gendered, and sexualized structures imposed by the global tourism industry and host-country governments (Cabezas, 2004 ).

However, during times of economic crisis, residents may develop a more permissive view as their perceptions of the costs of tourism development decrease (Garau-Vadell et al., 2018 ). This increased positive attitude is not based on an increase in the perception of positive impacts of tourism, but rather on a decrease in the perception of the negative impacts.

There is a growing body of research on Indigenous and Aboriginal tourism that emphasizes justice issues such as human rights and self-empowerment, control, and participation of traditional owners in comanagement of destinations (Jamal & Camargo, 2014 ; Ryan & Huyton, 2000 ; Whyte, 2010 ).

Sustainability of Tourism

A process or system is said to be sustainable to the extent that it is robust, resilient, and adaptive (Anderies et al., 2013 ). By most measures, the global tourism system does not meet these criteria for sustainability. Tourism is not robust in that it cannot resist threats and perturbations, such as economic shocks, public health pandemics, war, and other disruptions. Tourism is not resilient in that it does not easily recover from failures, such as natural disasters or civil unrest. Furthermore, tourism is not adaptive in that it is often unable to change in response to external conditions. One example that underscores the failure to meet all three criteria is the dependence of tourism on fossil fuels for transportation and energy, which are key inputs for tourism development. This dependence itself is not sustainable (Wheeller, 2007 ), and thus the sustainability of tourism is questionable.

Liu ( 2003 ) notes that research related to the role of tourism in sustainable development has emphasized supply-side concepts such as sustaining tourism resources and ignored the demand side, which is particularly vulnerable to social and economic shocks. Tourism is vulnerable to both localized and global shocks. Studies of the vulnerability of tourism to localized shocks include disaster vulnerability in coastal Thailand (Calgaro & Lloyd, 2008 ), bushfires in northeast Victoria in Australia (Cioccio & Michael, 2007 ), forest fires in British Columbia, Canada (Hystad & Keller, 2008 ); and outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the United Kingdom (Miller & Ritchie, 2003 ).

Like most other economic sectors, tourism is vulnerable to the impacts of earthquakes, particularly in areas where tourism infrastructure may not be resilient to such shocks. Numerous studies have examined the impacts of earthquake events on tourism, including studies of the aftermath of the 1997 earthquake in central Italy (Mazzocchi & Montini, 2001 ), the 1999 earthquake in Taiwan (Huan et al., 2004 ; Huang & Min, 2002 ), and the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in western Sichuan, China (Yang et al., 2011 ), among others.

Tourism is vulnerable to extreme weather events. Regional economic strength has been found to be associated with lower vulnerability to natural disasters. Kim and Marcoullier ( 2015 ) examined the vulnerability and resilience of 10 tourism-based regional economies that included U.S. national parks or protected seashores situated on the Gulf of Mexico or Atlantic Ocean coastline that were affected by several hurricanes over a 26-year period. Regions with stronger economic characteristics prior to natural disasters were found to have lower disaster losses than regions with weaker economies.

Tourism is extremely sensitive to oil spills, whatever their origin, and the volume of oil released need not be large to generate significant economic losses (Cirer-Costa, 2015 ). Studies of the vulnerability of tourism to the localized shock of an oil spill include research on the impacts of oil spills in Alaska (Coddington, 2015 ), Brazil (Ribeiro et al., 2020 ), Spain (Castanedo et al., 2009 ), affected regions in the United States along the Gulf of Mexico (Pennington-Gray et al., 2011 ; Ritchie et al., 2013 ), and the Republic of Korea (Cheong, 2012 ), among others. Future research on the vulnerability of tourist destinations to oil spills should also incorporate freshwater environments, such as lakes, rivers, and streams, where the rupture of oil pipelines is more frequent.

Significant attention has been paid to assessing the vulnerability of tourist destinations to acts of terrorism and the impacts of terrorist attacks on regional tourist economies (Liu & Pratt, 2017 ). Such studies include analyses of the impacts of terrorist attacks on three European countries, Greece, Italy, and Austria (Enders et al., 1992 ); the impact of the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States (Goodrich, 2002 ); terrorism and tourism in Nepal (Bhattarai et al., 2005 ); vulnerability of tourism livelihoods in Bali (Baker & Coulter, 2007 ); the impact of terrorism on tourist preferences for destinations in the Mediterranean and the Canary Islands (Arana & León, 2008 ); the 2011 massacres in Olso and Utøya, Norway (Wolff & Larsen, 2014 ); terrorism and political violence in Tunisia (Lanouar & Goaied, 2019 ); and the impact of terrorism on European tourism (Corbet et al., 2019 ), among others. Pizam and Fleischer ( 2002 ) studied the impact of acts of terrorism on tourism demand in Israel between May 1991 and May 2001 , and they confirmed that the frequency of acts of terrorism had caused a larger decline in international tourist arrivals than the severity of these acts. Most of these are ex post studies, and future assessments of the underlying conditions of destinations could reveal a deeper understanding of the vulnerability of tourism to terrorism.

Tourism is vulnerable to economic crisis, both local economic shocks (Okumus & Karamustafa, 2005 ; Stylidis & Terzidou, 2014 ) and global economic crisis (Papatheodorou et al., 2010 ; Smeral, 2010 ). Okumus and Karamustafa ( 2005 ) evaluated the impact of the February 2001 economic crisis in Turkey on tourism, and they found that the tourism industry was poorly prepared for the economic crisis despite having suffered previous impacts related to the Gulf War in the early 1990s, terrorism in Turkey in the 1990s, the civil war in former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, an internal economic crisis in 1994 , and two earthquakes in the northwest region of Turkey in 1999 . In a study of the attitudes and perceptions of citizens of Greece, Stylidis and Terzidou ( 2014 ) found that economic crisis is associated with increased support for tourism development, particularly out of self-interest. Economic crisis diminishes residents’ concern for environmental issues. In a study of the behavior of European tourists amid an economic crisis, Eugenio-Martin and Campos-Soria ( 2014 ) found that the probability of households cutting back on travel expenditures depends largely on the climate and economic conditions of tourists’ home countries, and households that do reduce travel spending engage in tourism closer to home.

Becken and Lennox ( 2012 ) studied the implications of a long-term increase in oil prices for tourism in New Zealand, and they estimate that a doubling of oil prices is associated with a 1.7% decrease in real gross national disposable income and a 9% reduction in the real value of tourism exports. Chatziantoniou et al. ( 2013 ) investigated the relationship among oil price shocks, tourism variables, and economic indicators in four European Mediterranean countries and found that aggregate demand oil price shocks generated a lagged effect on tourism-generated income and economic growth. Kisswani et al. ( 2020 ) examined the asymmetric effect of oil prices on tourism receipts and the sensitive susceptibility of tourism to oil price changes using nonlinear analysis. The findings document a long-run asymmetrical effect for most countries, after incorporating the structural breaks, suggesting that governments and tourism businesses and organizations should interpret oil price fluctuations cautiously.

Finally, the sustainability of tourism has been shown to be vulnerable to the outbreak of infectious diseases, including the impact of the Ebola virus on tourism in sub-Saharan Africa (Maphanga & Henama, 2019 ; Novelli et al., 2018 ) and in the United States (Cahyanto et al., 2016 ). The literature also includes studies of the impact of swine flu on tourism demand in Brunei (Haque & Haque, 2018 ), Mexico (Monterrubio, 2010 ), and the United Kingdom (Page et al., 2012 ), among others. In addition, rapid assessments of the impacts of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 have documented severe disruptions and cessations of tourism because of unprecedented global travel restrictions and widespread restrictions on public gatherings (Gössling et al., 2020 ; Qiu et al., 2020 ; Sharma & Nicolau, 2020 ). Hotels, airlines, cruise lines, and car rentals have all experienced a significant decrease globally because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the shock to the industry is significant enough to warrant concerns about the long-term outlook (Sharma & Nicolau, 2020 ). Qiu et al. ( 2020 ) estimated the social costs of the pandemic to tourism in three cities in China (Hong Kong, Guangzhou, and Wuhan), and they found that most respondents were willing to pay for risk reduction and action in responding to the pandemic crisis; there was no significant difference between residents’ willingness to pay in the three cities. Some research has emphasized how lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic can prepare global tourism for an economic transformation that is needed to mitigate the impacts of climate change (Brouder, 2020 ; Prideaux et al., 2020 ).

It is clear that tourism has contributed significantly to economic development globally, but its role in sustainable development is uncertain, contested, and potentially paradoxical. This is due, in part, to the contested nature of sustainable development itself. Tourism has been promoted as a low-impact, nonextractive option for economic development, particularly for developing countries (Gössling, 2000 ), and many countries have managed to increase their participation in the global economy through development of international tourism. Tourism development has been viewed as an important sector for investment to enhance economic growth, poverty alleviation, and food security, and the sector provides an alternative opportunity to large-scale development projects and extractive industries that contribute to emissions of pollutants and threaten biodiversity and cultural values. However, global evidence from research on the economic impacts of tourism has shown that this potential has rarely been realized (Liu, 2003 ).

The role of tourism in sustainable development has been studied extensively and with a variety of perspectives, including the conceptualization of alternative or responsible forms of tourism and the examination of economic, environmental, and social impacts of tourism development. The research has generally concluded that tourism development has contributed to sustainable development in some cases where it is demonstrated to have provided support for biodiversity conservation initiatives and livelihood development strategies. As an economic sector, tourism is considered to be labor intensive, providing opportunities for poor households to enhance their livelihood through the sale of goods and services to foreign tourists.

Nature-based tourism approaches such as ecotourism and community-based tourism have been successful at attracting tourists to parks and protected areas, and their spending provides financial support for biodiversity conservation, livelihoods, and economic growth in developing countries. Nevertheless, studies of the impacts of tourism development have documented negative environmental impacts locally in terms of land use, food and water consumption, and congestion, and globally in terms of the contribution of tourism to climate change through the emission of greenhouse gases related to transportation and other tourist activities. Studies of the social impacts of tourism have documented experiences of discrimination based on ethnicity, gender, race, sex, and national identity.

The sustainability of tourism as an economic sector has been examined in terms of its vulnerability to civil conflict, economic shocks, natural disasters, and public health pandemics. Most studies conclude that tourism may have positive impacts for regional development and environmental conservation, but there is evidence that tourism inherently generates negative environmental impacts, primarily through pollutions stemming from transportation. The regional benefits of tourism development must be considered alongside the global impacts of increased transportation and tourism participation. Global tourism has also been shown to be vulnerable to economic crises, oil price shocks, and global outbreaks of infectious diseases. Given that tourism is dependent on energy, the movement of people, and the consumption of resources, virtually all tourism activities have significant economic, environmental, and sustainable impacts. As such, the role of tourism in sustainable development is highly questionable. Future research on the role of tourism in sustainable development should focus on reducing the negative impacts of tourism development, both regionally and globally.

Sustainable Tourism: An Introduction

First Online: 29 June 2024

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Thomas Walker 5 ,
Ender Demir 6 ,
Gabrielle Machnik-Kekesi 5 &
Victoria Kelly 5

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As with countless other sectors and industries, tourism—be it local, domestic, or international—was heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This watershed event resulted in a dramatic decrease in the number of travelers, with the closure of international borders and travel bans. Since then, the industry has started to recover; with this recovery, so, too, have conversations reemerged regarding the need for more sustainable travel-related practices and frameworks. Conventional tourism, in spite of contributing to economic growth, has several disadvantages, including negative environmental impacts and the erosion of cultural heritage landmarks as well as the harming of relationships with local communities to whom such sites are of historic and/or spiritual value. This edited collection explores the myriad and multi-scalar ways that sustainability can be infused into modern tourism. The different chapters featured in this book suggest, respectively, alternative frameworks, timely innovations, and sustainable solutions to existing travel-related challenges, as well as recommendations for viable policies and practices moving forward.

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Berno, T., & Bricker, K. (2001). Sustainable tourism development: The long road from theory to practice. International Journal of Economic Development, 3 (3), 1–18.

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United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). (2022). T ourism grows 4% in 2021 but remains far below pre-pandemic levels . Retrieved November 6, 2022, from https://www.unwto.org/news/tourism-grows-4-in-2021-but-remains-far-below-pre-pandemic-levels

United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). (2024). https://www.unwto.org/news/international-tourism-to-reach-pre-pandemic-levels-in-2024#:~:text=Following%20a%20strong%202023%2C%20international,estimated%201.3%20billion%20international%20arrivals

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Walker, T., Demir, E., Machnik-Kekesi, G., Kelly, V. (2024). Sustainable Tourism: An Introduction. In: Walker, T., Demir, E., Machnik-Kekesi, G., Kelly, V. (eds) Sustainable Tourism. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-43528-7_1

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Despite the significant negative impacts of COVID-19 on tourism, the crisis is providing an opportunity to rethink tourism for the future. Achieving this greener and more sustainable tourism recovery, calls for a greater policy focus on the environmental and socio-cultural pillars of sustainability. The paper focuses on five main pillars of policy solutions, and best practices, to help destinations rebuild and flourish in this dramatically changed policy context for tourism development. Recommended policy solutions aim to: i) rethink tourism success, ii) adopt an integrated policy-industry-community approach, iii) mainstream sustainable policies and practices, iv) develop more sustainable tourism business models, and v) implement better measure to better manage. The report presents a selection of 9 case studies on destination strategies to support a sustainable and inclusive recovery.

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Sustainable Tourism Development Essay

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This essay shows that there are initiatives which aim at promoting sustainability in tourism destinations. However, these initiatives do not work due to the diverse nature of the tourism industry. The essay demonstrates this through various approaches to tourism sustainability and methods that stakeholders have applied in their attempts to enhance sustainability of tourism destinations.

We can define sustainability as a growth that does not experience any threats from feedback. Here, feedback refers to social unrest, pollution, or depletion of resources. We can relate this to the development of tourism destination. In tourism, sustainability would be “that level of development which does not exceed the carrying capacity of the destination and thus cause serious or irreversible changes to the destination” (Tribe, 2005). This is what we call a growth that can sustain itself over time.

It is hard for a nation or a sector to use effective plans for sustainable tourism development with clear agenda. The UNWTO provides policy guidelines for such purposes. The UNWTO refers sustainable tourism with regard to sustainability assumption as “the environmental, economic and socio-cultural aspects of tourism development, and a suitable balance must be established between these three dimensions its long-term sustainability” (UNWTO, 1995).

Sustainability in tourism destination must ensure optimal use of resources that are sources of tourism development, their maintenance, and conservation of biodiversity and natural heritage (Liu, 2003). The project must also “adhere to socio-cultural existences of host communities, conserve their cultural heritage and enhance cultural understanding and tolerance” (Swarbrooke, 1999).

Sustainable tourism project must also provide socio-economic benefits, long-term economic availability, stable employment, poverty reduction, social services, and generation of income to the host community and all stakeholders.

First, regulations are forms of ensuring sustainability of tourism destinations. Stakeholders can introduce permissions and permits as forms of preventative control. Permits and permissions aim at preventing damages by requiring stakeholders to get permissions so as to engage in possible harmful activities. For instance, we can have planning permits to stop developments that do not meet planning guidelines and larger environmental matters and effects.

Second, regulation also involves environmental impact assessment. Some projects which may have severe impacts on the environment; thus the authorities must review an environmental consequences of such projects. It may use a cost-benefit approach that covers the all costs and advantages to stakeholders. For a development to be socially acceptable, its benefits to society must exceed its cost to society.

Third, controls and laws are also effective means of providing and controlling environmental pollutant targets. Occasionally, policymakers may introduce these laws and controls after an event that cause harm to the environment has started. Such laws may cover restrictions to aircraft and other forms of pollution and the quality standards of water for consumption. Litter laws and their subsequent fines are also part of this regulation.

Fourth, there are also special designation areas. Most countries have sites that have special status as a way of promoting conservation and controlling development. These designations have varying degrees of statutory backing. For example, the UK has designated Sites of Special Scientific Interests (SSSIs) and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauties (AONBs). The UK considers SSSIs sites as “areas of special interest because of flora, fauna, geological or physiographical features” (National Park Service, 1990).

The Countryside Commission designates AONBs areas for the purpose protecting places with natural beauty. The IUCN (the World Conservation Union) has also classified protected places, with an idea of enhancing international conservation efforts and providing the benchmark for protection. Special designation areas may include nature reserve, national parks, natural monuments, and protected landscape or seascape among others.

Fifth, most countries now have laws to ensure that large organisations devote sections of their resources to corporate social responsibility (CSR). CSR now extends to include the environment apart from other issues of organisations. Private organisations are focusing on the environment by creating their environmental management teams, creating environmental guidelines and carrying out environmental evaluations and required actions for purposes of conserving the environment.

The WTTC and WTO are responsible for the provision of leadership and guidelines in environmental conservation. Most guidelines in this area focus on noise, emissions, waste, congestion, tourism and conservation (Deloitte and Oxford Economics, 2010).

Some forms of these regulations are difficult to implement. Still, the industry may find them difficult to follow. There are cases where private developers and environmental authorities engage in lawsuits. Such issues hinder regulations as attempts to enhance sustainability in tourism destinations.

Market methods highlight “manipulation of prices as a method of achieving environmental goals through adjustment of market prices in an attempt to reflect the environmental costs, and benefits of activities” (Tribe, 2005). The sole purpose is for the manufactures and their customers change their behaviours with regard to new prices. This ensures that individuals’ efforts in environmental conservation are worthwhile (Middleton and Hawkins, 1998).

The first concept is ownership. People tend to overuse free resources and areas of free access. Thus, policymakers advocate privatisation of such natural resources. For instance, ownership of a lake is an incentive to enforce property rights. Thus, people may pay for the use of resources such as lakes and oceans as dumping sinks.

Firms will strive to maximise their gains and satisfy their shareholders expectations. Thus, policymakers advocate for public ownership to enhance environmental management. In principle, a public organisation has an “incentive to consider social costs and benefits to the country” (Cohen, 2002).

Policymakers can use taxes and increasing prices to reduce the use of products with negative environmental consequences, and subsidies that can reduce prices and promote the use of products that have positive effects on the environmental. Taxation has worked since it adoption by OECD in 1972 as a way of passing the cost to polluters (OECD, 2001).

On carbon dioxide emissions, Curtis argues that we can make moderate emissions reductions by “way of increased energy efficiency but that excess emissions by luxury hotels and resorts need further action” (Curtis, 2002).

Transport has been a main source of concern in this area. National Parks authorities of the UK have emphasised necessities of transport systems to countryside tourism and recreation. They note that about 90 percent of visitors used cars to parks. Consequently, most environmentalists have called for raised taxations on car and air travels so as to reflect their environmental costs (National Park Service, 1990).

Finland has taxes on none-returnable beverage containers to promote the consumption of returnable parks in attempts to eliminate the level of such parks left as litters. Landfill taxes apply charges on waste management firms that utilise landfill areas for burying solid waste.

Some governments may give grants for people who wish to buy electric cars to reduce carbon pollution. There are projects underway to reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. These include the planned “planting of forests to capture carbon naturally as well as the artificial capture of carbon and its storage in underground reservoirs” (Mules, 2001).

Deposit-refund schemes work by encouraging consumers to return containers from the vendors or dispose them in a manner favourable to the environment. Customers who return their containers get their deposits. This scheme is effective in the local outlets and can work well on a national scale if well implemented (Gee, 1997).

In order to reduce pollution, some countries have introduced charges on products and services they offer the public. These include car parking charges to encourage usage of “public vehicles, road pricing for motorway usages in some EU countries such as France and Spain” (Priestley, Edwards and Coccossis, 1996).

Market approaches to sustainability in developing tourism destinations have been effective in EU zones. Still, the idea to provide subsidies for environmental friendly products such as vehicles is gaining recognition among tourism stakeholders. However, most consumers do not favour the idea of price increases.

Tribe notes that soft tools are “voluntary by nature and attempt to change behaviours sometimes through improved information, advice, persuasion and sometimes by forming specific networks” (Tribe, 2005).

Tourism eco-labelling approach to sustainability focuses on tourists. Leisure and tourism consumers themselves have the ability to transform the consequences of products they consume on the environmental and switch to products with minimal environmental effects. This approach aims at giving the users the “additional environmental information to enable them make informed decisions in their buying patterns” (Cater and Lowman, 1994).

There are also certification and award schemes to enhance sustainability in tourism destination. They authenticate and provide endorsement to environmental attributions made by firms and offer marks such as the Blue Flag that a consumer can recognise (Becken and Hay, 2007).

The Blue Flag goes to beaches that have acquired recognisable levels for water quality and facilities, safety, environmental education and management. This is also an environmental marketing device for tourists who are environmental conscious. The scheme attempts to offer opportunities for beach local stakeholders to increase their environmental concerns (Coccossis and Nijkamp, 1995).

Many organisations such as the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the Federation of Nature and National Parks of Europe (FNNPE) have produced guidelines and treaties for environmental management and sustainability (FNNPE, 1993).

Citizenship, education and advertising can also enhance sustainability when individuals act in the role of consumers or workers or opinion makers (Cooper, Fletcher, Gilbert and Wanhill, 2008). Consumers need information to enable them purchase green products and contribute towards environmental sustainability.

Thus, the focus should be on an environmental education as a way of creating awareness among consumers and encourage others to adopt favourable products in environmental conservation and sustainability (Gratton and Kokolakakis, 2003).

Tribe notes “voluntary schemes exist to allow consumers mitigate the impacts of any environmental damages they may cause” (Tribe, 2005). The most common is carbon offset schemes in airline to passengers (McNeill, 1997).

Ecotourism as a form of tourism stresses the sound ecological principles (UNEPTIE, 2007). Thus, ecotourism attempts to minimise negative impacts on the environment, create environmental and cultural awareness, offer financial services to empower host communities, and raise sensitive issues of concern to host communities (Saarinen, 2006). Therefore, promoting ecotourism is a form of minimising negative external impacts of tourism and maximising the positive external impacts of tourism. However, industry observers note “ecotourism will always remain a minor form of tourism” (Mowforth and Munt, 2009). Consequently, it is not the main approach for achieving sustainable tourism.

Soft tools rarely achieve their desired effects as such approaches depend on the willingness of participants for effectiveness. However, soft tools are the best approaches for enhancing sustainability of tourism destinations.

Getz, Crouch, and Ritchie share the idea that tourism planners have recognised the need for creating common goals in tourism planning (Getz, 1995; Crouch and Ritchie, 1999). However, the problem is that there are no empirical studies to support common goals, or what factors are essential in creating shared goals in developing sustainable tourism destinations to cater for various needs of stakeholders.

To this end, most tourism organisations have no concrete industry standards as these depend on a given country’s tourism policies. Thus, creating common goals for sustainability in the tourism sector will remain a challenge.

Therefore, organisations should strive to create a solid tourism industry shared goals common among all stakeholders (Burns and Holden, 1995). These goals must come from common publications, stakeholders’ opinions, and academic journals among others. We have to recognise that the industry can create sustainable tourism destinations based on competitive interests and shared resources affected by same factors (Butler, 2006). This will ensure that stakeholders have motivation to achieve a common and collective goal.

However, these shared goals cannot remain constant as the industry experiences growth (Hall and Lew, 1998). Thus, continuous research, studies and development are necessary to reflect the changing trends in the industry such environmental concerns, infrastructures, and marketing principles.

This approach will ensure that the industry has a sense of direction supported by strategies and practical and achievable goals. Medeiros and Bramwell noted that countries such as Brazil have attempted to implement shared vision but with minimal outcomes due to uncertainty in the industry (Medeiros and Bramwell, 2002).

The challenge has been to get information where stakeholders need it for developing sustainable tourism policies. Thus, the industry must enhance information flow among its small stakeholders. This must also apply to feedback. However, generating useful information for the industry means continuous learning due to the dynamic nature of tourism. Application of information systems can assist in reflecting, evaluating, delivering, processing, and improving information flow in the tourism industry for sustainability destinations.

Most stakeholders blame poor research cultures in the tourism industry as a basis for lack of sustainability in developing tourism destinations. This is responsible for the rift in utilisation of the available research findings. De Lacy and Boyd note that there are considerable efforts in Australia to reduce such barriers through “the use of the Australian Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) model for cross-sectoral research collaboration to enhance the sustainability of tourism” (De Lacy and Boyd, 2000).

The approach aims at highlighting the importance of the industry collaboration to enhance the effectiveness and benefits of research findings through technology transfers, usages and commercialisation.

Organisations have relationships that exist among them. These can be in forms of partnerships, co-operation, co-ordination, and collaboration. Researchers have concentrated on these areas so as to eliminate problems that have affected tourism development for decades.

Jamal and Getz concur that enhancing the industry identity and common goals can enhance co-operation among the main players as these stakeholders recognise the need to work as a team (Jamal and Getz, 1995). However, the challenge is that no major studies exist to prove the importance of co-operation to tourism destination development. Still, a closer look at the relationship that exists in the industry reveals that real sustainability in the tourism industry can only become reality if there is co-operation.

Occasionally, some problems result due to lack of information. Therefore, co-operation will minimise incidences of miscommunication and difficulties due to lack of collaboration among the industry stakeholders (Inskeep, 1997). This approach to sustainability is not effective due to challenges related to accessing information in a timely fashion.

One of the aims of ecotourism is the need for cultural exchange among the stakeholders. There is a need for mutual acceptance and accommodation of different cultural belief, and world views to enhance development of sustainability in tourism destinations (Davidson and Maitland, 1997). It is necessary that stakeholders of diverse views and beliefs promote dialogue and exchanges in tourism destinations, acceptance of the locals, conservation of the cultural diversity, and eradicate negative impacts of tourism.

We can use Senge’s system thinking to promote a common language that helps stakeholders who have differences in belief systems (Senge, 1990). The industry covers almost all cultures of the global. Thus, cultural exchange has limitations in relations to accommodation, acceptance, diversity, and eradication of negative stereotypes.

Sustainability of tourism destinations needs consultative approach on decision-making processes. The processes must involve all stakeholders including host communities. Sharman noted some issues that influenced participation of stakeholders in planning as poor representation, low participation and poor outcomes of the process among the participants (Sharman, 1999).

Power issues influenced the outcomes of all consultative processes. The industry can develop models which aim at creating power balance for accommodation of different point of views (Douglas and Butler, 2001). This approach helps in facilitating understanding, strategic planning and increasing stakeholders’ participation.

The uncertainty surrounding the future of tourism industry impacts decision-making process. Stakeholders are not willing to engage in long-term decisions without knowing their consequences. Participants should base their decisions on sound policies and welcome open discussions so that they can identity issues of common concerns and provide alternatives or solutions (Jamieson, 2001).

It is difficult for the tourism industry to have a single body to coordinate all decision-making processes that fit all the tourism destinations of the world. Tourism decisions depend on national policies regulating the industry.

The concept of adaptive management can help in improving sustainability of tourism destinations. Adaptive approaches can help the industry tackle emerging challenges that hamper growth (Knowles and Egan, 2000). Adaptive management enables the industry reacts to changes in a timely fashion.

The idea of adaptive management finds support in studies and ideas of Reeds (Reed, 2000). Adaptive management requires continuous studies, testing and developing adaptive models (Eaton, 1996). Adaptive management has been effective in enhance management of the tourism industry.

Given the reviewed literature, this research supports the view that despite the existence of many initiatives, sustainable tourism practices have not spread across the industry because the stakeholders of tourism are still divided on how to improve the sustainability of tourist destinations . These initiatives exist, but tourism has diverse components that vary from country to country. Thus, putting these together to enhance sustainability of the environment has remained a challenge across the industry.

Approaches to tourism destination sustainability such as regulations, market approaches, and soft tools may not work in every tourism situation. Still, attempts at developing sustainability of tourism destinations may not achieve the desired outcome due to minimal participation in processes such as sharing information, goals, co-operation and co-ordination, cultural exchanges, consultative decision-making and planning, and adaptive management.

Reference List

Becken, S and Hay, J 2007, Tourism and climate change: Risks and opportunities, Multilingual Matters Ltd, Bristol.

Burns, P and Holden, A 1995, Tourism: A new perspective, Prentice-Hall, Hemel Hempstead.

Butler, R 2006, The Tourism Area Life Cycle: Volume 2: Conceptual and theoretical issues, Channel View Publications, Clevedon.

Cater, E and Lowman, G 1994, Ecotourism: A sustainable option. Wiley, Chichester.

Coccossis, H and Nijkamp, P 1995, Sustainable tourism development, Ashgate, London.

Cohen, E 2002, ‘Authenticity, equity and sustainability in tourism’, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 267-276.

Cooper, C, Fletcher, J, Gilbert, D and Wanhill, S 2008, Tourism: principles & practice, 4th ed, Longman, Harlow.

Crouch, G and Ritchie, J 1999, ‘Tourism, competitiveness, and societal prosperity’, Journal of Business Research, vol. 44, pp. 137–152.

Curtis, I 2002, ‘Environmentally sustainable tourism: A case for carbon trading at Northern Queensland hotels and resorts’, Australian Journal of Environmental Management, vol. 9, no.1, pp. 27–36.

Davidson, R and Maitland, R 1997, Tourism destinations, Hodder and Stoughton, London.

De Lacy, T and Boyd, M 2000, An Australian research partnership between industry, universities and government: The Cooperative Research Centre for Sustainable Tourism, Channel View Publications, Clevedon, UK.

Deloitte and Oxford Economics 2010, The economic contribution of the visitor economy: UK and the nations, Visit Britain, London.

Douglas, P and Richard B 2001, Contemporary Issues in Tourism Development, Routledge, London.

Eaton, B 1996, European leisure business: Strategies for the future, Elm Publications, Cambridge.

FNNPE 1993, Loving them to death? FNNPE, Grafenau, Germany.

Gee, C 1997, International tourism: A global perspective, World Tourism Organisation, Madrid.

Getz, D 1995, ‘Collaboration Theory and community tourism planning’, Annals of Tourism Research, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 186–204.

Gratton, C and Kokolakakis, T 2003, ‘A bright future’, Leisure Management, vol. 14, no. 9, pp. 38–40.

Hall, C and Lew, A 1998, Sustainable Tourism: A geographical perspective, Addison Wesley Longman, Harlow.

Inskeep, E 1997, Tourism planning, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York.

Jamal, T and Getz, D 1995, ‘Collaboration Theory and community tourism planning’, Annals of Tourism Research, vol. 22, no.1, pp. 186–204.

Jamieson, W 2001, Promotion of investment in tourism infrastructure, UN ESCAP, New York.

Knowles, T and Egan, D 2000, ‘Recession and its implications for the international hotel industry’, Travel and Tourism Analyst, vol. 6, pp. 59–76.

Liu, Z 2003, ‘Sustainable tourism development: a critique’, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, vol. 11, no. 6, pp. 459-475.

McNeill, L 1997, Travel in the digital age, Bowerdean Publishing, Chichester.

Medeiros de Araujo, L and Bramwell, B 2002, ‘Partnership and regional tourism in Brazil’, Annals of Tourism Research, vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 1138–1164.

Middleton, V and Hawkins, R 1998, Sustainable tourism: A marketing perspective, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford.

Mowforth, M and Munt, I 2009, Tourism and Sustainability Development, globalisation and new tourism in the Third World, Routledge, London.

Mules, T 2001, Globalization and the economic impacts of tourism, Continuum, London.

National Park Service 1990, Economic impacts of protecting rivers, trails, and greenway corridors: A resource book, US Department of the Interior National Park Service, Washington.

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Priestley, G, Edwards, J and Coccossis, H 1996, Sustainable tourism? European experiences, CAB International, Wallingford.

Reed, M 2000, Collaborative tourism planning as adaptive experiments in emergent tourism settings, Channel View Publications, Clevedon, UK.

Saarinen, J 2006, ‘Traditions of Sustainability in Tourism Studies’, Annals of Tourism Research, vol. 33, no. 4, pp. 1121-1140.

Senge, P 1990, The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization, Currency Doubleday, New York.

Sharman, A 1999, ‘Collaboration in local tourism policy making’, Annals of Tourism Research, vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 392–415.

Swarbrooke, J 1999, Sustainable Tourism Management, CABI Publishing, Oxford.

Tribe, J 2005, The Economics of Recreation, Leisure and Tourism, 4th ed, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford.

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20 Reasons You Should Integrate Tourism into Your Development Agenda

Louise twining-ward, damien shiels.

Senior Private Sector Specialist

Global Product Specialist

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Travel & Tourism Development Index 2021: Rebuilding for a Sustainable and Resilient Future

3. Global context

The COVID-19 pandemic has been the worst crisis the global Travel and Tourism sector has faced in modern times. Lockdowns, travel restrictions, consumer fears and economic downturns led to a loss of $4.5 trillion in T&T GDP and 62 million jobs in 2020 alone. 3 While increasing vaccination rates, easing of travel restrictions and economic growth have helped kickstart a recovery, it remains slow, uneven and fragile. For instance, while international tourist arrivals increased by 18 million in January 2022 compared to January 2021, which equals the total increase in 2021, they were still 67% below 2019 levels 4 and, according to a recent outlook from the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Panel of Experts, the majority of those surveyed do not expect total international arrivals to return to pre-pandemic levels until 2024 at the earliest. 5

Differences in travel or other restrictions and the pace of vaccination roll-out are also leading factors in the uneven nature of the global T&T recovery. As of 8 May 2022, 75% of the population in high-income economies had completed an initial COVID-19 vaccination protocol, while only about 52% and 13% of populations in lower-middle-income and low-income economies, respectively, had completed theirs. 6 Lower vaccination rates create more uncertainty around travel policies, reduce consumer confidence and prolong the overall negative impact of the pandemic on T&T and on society in general. T&T recovery and travel confidence are also hampered by shifting cross-border and domestic regulatory environments. As of 8 May 2022, 20 out of the 30 largest T&T economies, which accounted for over 65% of direct T&T GDP in 2019, 7 scored above the global mean on the University of Oxford’s COVID-19 Stringency Index, a composite measure indicating restriction stringency based on nine response indicators, including school closures, workplace closures, and travel bans. 8 The proliferation of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 earlier this year, and the recent discovery of the BA. 2 sublineage, 9 also highlights the constant danger of new virus variants derailing the recovery.

As will be discussed in the key findings section of this publication, in addition to vaccine distribution and travel policy uncertainty, the uneven nature of the recovery is fuelled by challenges such as supply-chain disruptions, inflation, labour shortages and varied recoveries in domestic, international, nature, rural, urban, leisure and business travel markets. Moreover, the recent outbreak of war in Ukraine has placed additional stress on the recovery because it has created further supply-chain disruptions, increased energy prices, introduced travel restrictions, disrupted air routes and, overall, heightened geopolitical uncertainty and safety concerns.

Within this context, sector and government decision-makers in T&T are continuously reviewing their tourism strategies and policies to bolster recovery, address the aforementioned challenges and changing market dynamics, and position their organizations and destinations to succeed and grow in a post-pandemic world.

However, challenges posed by the pandemic and the ongoing recovery also highlight how vulnerable the T&T ecosystem can be to broader socioeconomic conditions and global risks. Social safety nets, access to basic services and workers’ rights have all been at the forefront of pandemic- mitigation policies, which is especially important for the T&T sector because of its ability to absorb unskilled labour and employ some of the most vulnerable populations in society. Moreover, longer-term risks related to overcrowding, natural and cultural asset preservation, more equitable development, resident liveability and climate change will likely resurface in the coming years. Therefore, sustainability and resilience will have to become integral to any T&T development plans and the sector’s vital role in global connectivity, peace and economic and social development.

The Forum’s Travel & Tourism Development Index (TTDI) is designed to reflect this reality by looking at “the set of factors and policies that enable the sustainable and resilient development of the Travel and Tourism (T&T) sector”, including everything from business, safety and health conditions, infrastructure and natural resources to environmental, socioeconomic and demand pressures. The analysis below uses the TTDI’s key findings to consider the current T&T landscape and the growing role of inclusivity, sustainability and resilience in rebuilding the sector and ensuring its long-term development.

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Sustainable Tourism: Definition Essay

Sustainable tourism (or responsible tourism) is a real important concept. Find out the definition

This piece on sustainable tourism, its definition, principles, and types, is provided by Smart Writing Service , a professional essay writing service that cares about students. You may find out that the structure of this essay slightly differs from a standard one for a definition essay. That is done to include as many facts as possible in a condensed way. Feel free to use information you collect from this essay as you see appropriate.

The concept of “ sustainable tourism ” was formed relatively recently, along with the global concept of sustainable human development. The principles of sustainability in tourism, formulated by the UNWTO and the World Travel and Tourism Council, provide for:

the conservation and enhancement of the natural and cultural potential of destinations, on the basis of a tourism approach aimed at sustainability;
the ecological transition of tourism enterprises to resource-saving technologies, reduction of industrial waste;
involvement of the population in the decision-making process on tourism development (a form of consultations);
partnership in the relationship between the public and private sectors; promotion of tourism, socio-economic development of certain territories of states.

Many travel companies develop their own plans for the transition to the principles of sustainable development, implement environmental management systems, and apply environmental technologies.

The principles of sustainable development in the practice of tourism are spread under the influence of consumer demand . Given the awareness of the population about the state of the environment and the greening of people’s consciousness, the ecological situation becomes one of the decisive criteria for choosing a place or form of recreation.

This trend is reflected in the growing demand for alternative types of tourism , including eco-tourism.

The development of this relatively new type of tourism is based on three main principles:

part of the income received from the service of tourists remains in place and goes to nature protection ;
the content of the basic law is in compliance with environmental requirements;
tourism is conceived as an experience of discovering places, cultures and traditions, as a moment of exchange and mutual enrichment.

Ecotourism encompasses a wide variety of visitors who want to see animals or plants with their own eyes. For example, in Central America and southern Africa, predator sightings are of particular interest. Places, where wild orchids grow, have recently been discovered in Greece.

Tourists accompanied by a guide can visit these protected areas to admire the plants in the wild. Such trips can rightly be classified as ecological, and the persons who take part in them should be considered ecotourists.

Diversification of ecotourism activities is accompanied by the convergence of ecological and other types of tourism. Nature coverage is also inherent in the participants of the mass tourist movement. Swimming and beach holidays, cruises, business trips, are often combined with visits to national or natural and ethnographic parks. The boundaries of ecotourism are losing their clarity, and its scale and socio-economic importance are growing.

Almost every country has the opportunity to organize “green” travel. Today, the main ecotourism flows are directed to the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Nepal, Ecuador, Brazil, Philippines and Kenya. In Europe some of the main Ecotourism destinations are Slovenia, Portugal, Croatia, Austria, Ireland. Ecological tourism is one of the most promising and dynamic forms of tourism.

With the growing requirements for the volume and quality of tourist services, with the emergence of new types and forms of tourist activity, the classification of tourism is changing.

Characteristics of sustainable tourism in 2021

You have probably heard of the term “ sustainable development “, which is closely linked to the green economy and means meeting the needs of present generations without compromising the future.

And what is sustainable tourism ? Let’s understand what we need to know and do to make our travels sustainable and our children able to see what we see now.

Sustainable tourism is:

Availability . By supporting the tourism business, which allows you to get a full experience of travel, we stimulate economic development . This creates new jobs and increases the number of people who can use travel services and see the world.
Animal safety and wellbeing . We must leave the wild alone . No elephant riding, no photoshoots with crocodiles, monkeys, and other animals. Just watch and don’t touch.
Environmental protection . Minimization of damage in the process of tourist activity. Make sure that your trip does not have a negative impact on the environment . Even minimal. Just imagine what emotions would overwhelm you, if after a long trip to Norway instead of picturesque fjords you would be waiting for a huge dump…
Controlled use of tourist services technologies . First of all, motor transport, energy, drinking water, etc. Tourism accounts for about 10% of all global carbon emissions . And this is 3.33 billion tons… They heat the planet, which leads to melting glaciers.
Immersion in nature . The idea is to offer experiences that allow travelers to reconnect with nature.

Sustainable tourism vs popular and mass tourism

Features of the current stage of tourism development reveal the concept of “ mass tourism “, reflecting the process of democratization and expansion of tourism, especially in countries over the course, where more than half of the population are consumers of tourism goods and services. The concept of “mass tourism” was introduced and used as an alternative to aristocratic tourism of the XIX century, some expensive types of tourism aimed at selected audiences, and tourism in developing countries, where its development is limited due to low living standards.

Mass tourism should be distinguished from popular. The latter is a tourist activity that has gained wide recognition in society due to its attractiveness and accessibility. The definition of “mass” in the term characterizes the quantitative side of the concept, and the word “popular” – qualitative.

Mass tourism is in fact characterized by large numbers of tourists, who buy trips, such as cruises . This implies an overcrowding of places, a great impact on the environment, and a disadvantage for local populations. In fact, by involving thousands of tourists who go to the same place at the same time, mass tourism can generate Overtourism , damage the environment and upset the places.

On the contrary, sustainable tourism plays an important role in the economic development of places, giving it a boost. It contributes to the introduction and dissemination of new, higher standards of service and, consequently, to improve the quality of people’s lives .

In summary, sustainable tourism ensures that the environment will not be impacted by the arrivals of tourists and that the local community will take advantage of that.

5 Sustainable Tourism Trends that you Must Know

Tourism is always evolving and for all operators in the sector it is essential to know the new trends so as to anticipate the wishes of future customers and align their offer accordingly. The beginning of the new decade has certainly shocked our world, but it has nevertheless confirmed our desire to travel, and the […]

Green Labels for Sustainable Tourism: an all in one Guide

Let’s discover the most important green labels for sustainable tourism and how to recognise them In the last years, due to a new consciousness for environmental topics, it has developed a new tendency in the way of travelling. More and more people don’t see any more travels as just a moment of relaxation, but they […]

Discovering sustainable tourism: its meaning and potential

Our blog is all about sustainable tourism. We share new ways of travelling and green travel experiences. We give tips on how to look after our environment and our nature. And we often (well, almost every day) talk about sustainable tourism through direct experiences and interviews. But what does sustainable tourism really mean? How is […]

Bike riding: the future of sustainable tourism

A conference in the heart of the countryside of Siena opens its doors to the quintessence of cycling. Let’s try to understand the ways of soft mobility in Tuscany… perfect starting point to understand the ontology of the bike and its connection with nature and health! Responsible tourism has two wheels… The third edition of […]

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Description. PDF. Tourism and the Sustainable Development Goals - Journey to 2030 serves as a guide to how the tourism sector can contribute towards the implementation and achievement of the 17 SDGs. It aims to inspire governments, policymakers and tourism companies to incorporate relevant aspects of the SDGs into policy and financing ...
PDF Sustainability in tourism: developments, approaches and clarifications
transformation The Sustainable Development sustainability explicitly the whole of society Preservation and promotion of local culture, to tourism. . patterns, Monitoring the impacts of tourism in the context of sustainable production and consumption. Currently, Sustainable use and valorisation of marine resources.
Evaluating the Sustainability Issues in Tourism Development: An Adverse
According to the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), the principle of sustainability refers to the economic, socio-cultural, and environmental aspects of tourism development (UNWTO, 2005).Therefore, for sustainable tourism, an appropriate balance must be struck between benefits and issues in economic, socio-cultural, and environmental dimensions of tourism development (Stoddard et al., 2012).
Sustainable tourism: a comprehensive literature review on frameworks
This paper has presented an extensive review of the literature on sustainable tourism de finitions and applications. The literature consists of 132 papers from 47 scholarly journals published since 1993. For this purpose, each paper was categorised into 15 application areas based on a developed classi cation scheme.
Making tourism more sustainable: a guide for policy makers
Tourism is a major economic force whose development can have a fundamental impact on societies and the environment, both positive and negative. This guide shows governments how they can make tourism more sustainable. It sets out 12 aims for sustainable tourism and their implications for policy, and describes the collaborative structures and strategies that are needed at the national and local ...
From 'sustainable tourism' to 'sustainability transitions in tourism'?
Abstract. Although sustainable tourism research is a rich and diverse field, it still suffers from a few important shortcomings. Negligible attention has been given to various possible pathways to sustainable tourism (as opposed to sustainable tourism as a 'goalpost') and there is an insufficient understanding of how the interconnections and interdependencies within tourism as a complex ...
Ten Principles for Sustainable Destinations: Charting a new path
Launched on World Tourism Day 2022, under the global theme of "Rethinking Tourism", the 10 principles presented in this paper provide guidance, best practices and possible tools for stakeholders to collaboratively and effectively reconsider how they manage destinations and tourism practices; deliberately and proactively designing for the resilience and sustainability of the place, the ...
Managing tourism development for sustainable and inclusive recovery
Despite the significant negative impacts of COVID-19 on tourism, the crisis is providing an opportunity to rethink tourism for the future. Achieving this greener and more sustainable tourism recovery, calls for a greater policy focus on the environmental and socio-cultural pillars of sustainability. The paper focuses on five main pillars of policy solutions, and best practices, to help ...
Sustainable Tourism Development
Sustainable tourism project must also provide socio-economic benefits, long-term economic availability, stable employment, poverty reduction, social services, and generation of income to the host community and all stakeholders. First, regulations are forms of ensuring sustainability of tourism destinations.
20 Reasons You Should Integrate Tourism into Your Development Agenda
Sustainable tourism is a proven tool for development, benefitting communities in destinations around the world. A new World Bank Group report released on World Tourism Day explains 20 Reasons to integrate tourism in your development agenda.The paper, which also celebrates the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development, explains how sustainable tourism counts not just for ...
Concepts Of Sustainable Tourism And Sustainable Development Tourism Essay
The relationship between both ST and STD is: Sustainable tourism is a part of sustainable tourism development. ST is representing and including some principles, rules and the way of management to guide the development of ST. This is sustainable tourism development" (Hunter, 1997). On the other hand, due to the basic development approach have ...
The Concept Of Sustainable Tourism Development Tourism Essay
The Concept Of Sustainable Tourism Development Tourism Essay. The current tourism industries depend on an ironic and diverse, natural and built environment for its economic safety and interests. Tourism development which consistently ignores environmental concerns is unlikely to remain viable in the longer term (Pigram, J.J. 1990).
Impact of Sustainable Tourism
Disclaimer: This essay is provided as an example of work produced by students studying towards a tourism degree, ... Sustainable tourism development is based on the concept of creating a balance between the cultural, economic, and social aspects of the nation. It ensures that none of the activities will lead to endangering of the animals or ...
PDF Tourism and Sustainable Development
9. tourism and its benefits are spread within the area. To develop tourism in a sustainable manner, it is necessary to define optimal tourism destinations in local areas and regions, ensuring enjoyment for the tourist and minimum impact or disruption for the environment and local communities. 39.
Sustainable tourism .:. Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform
Sustainable tourism
Travel & Tourism Development Index 2021: Rebuilding for a Sustainable
The COVID-19 pandemic has been the worst crisis the global Travel and Tourism sector has faced in modern times. Lockdowns, travel restrictions, consumer fears and economic downturns led to a loss of $4.5 trillion in T&T GDP and 62 million jobs in 2020 alone. 3 While increasing vaccination rates, easing of travel restrictions and economic growth have helped kickstart a recovery, it remains slow ...
The Concept of Sustainable Tourism: Definition Essay
The Concept of Sustainable Tourism: Definition Essay
Rethinking tourism success for sustainable growth
The 2020 edition analyses tourism performance and policy trends across 51 OECD countries and partner economies. It highlights the need for coherent and comprehensive approaches to tourism policy making, and the significance of the tourism economy, with data covering domestic, inbound and outbound tourism, enterprises and employment, and internal tourism consumption.