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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.

What Is Sustainable Tourism and Why Is It Important?

Sustainable management and socioeconomic, cultural, and environmental impacts are the four pillars of sustainable tourism

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Sustainable Fashion
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What Makes Tourism Sustainable?

The role of tourists, types of sustainable tourism.

Sustainable tourism considers its current and future economic, social, and environmental impacts by addressing the needs of its ecological surroundings and the local communities. This is achieved by protecting natural environments and wildlife when developing and managing tourism activities, providing only authentic experiences for tourists that don’t appropriate or misrepresent local heritage and culture, or creating direct socioeconomic benefits for local communities through training and employment.

As people begin to pay more attention to sustainability and the direct and indirect effects of their actions, travel destinations and organizations are following suit. For example, the New Zealand Tourism Sustainability Commitment is aiming to see every New Zealand tourism business committed to sustainability by 2025, while the island country of Palau has required visitors to sign an eco pledge upon entry since 2017.

Tourism industries are considered successfully sustainable when they can meet the needs of travelers while having a low impact on natural resources and generating long-term employment for locals. By creating positive experiences for local people, travelers, and the industry itself, properly managed sustainable tourism can meet the needs of the present without compromising the future.

What Is Sustainability?

At its core, sustainability focuses on balance — maintaining our environmental, social, and economic benefits without using up the resources that future generations will need to thrive. In the past, sustainability ideals tended to lean towards business, though more modern definitions of sustainability highlight finding ways to avoid depleting natural resources in order to keep an ecological balance and maintain the quality of environmental and human societies.

Since tourism impacts and is impacted by a wide range of different activities and industries, all sectors and stakeholders (tourists, governments, host communities, tourism businesses) need to collaborate on sustainable tourism in order for it to be successful.

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) , which is the United Nations agency responsible for the promotion of sustainable tourism, and the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) , the global standard for sustainable travel and tourism, have similar opinions on what makes tourism sustainable. By their account, sustainable tourism should make the best use of environmental resources while helping to conserve natural heritage and biodiversity, respect the socio-culture of local host communities, and contribute to intercultural understanding. Economically, it should also ensure viable long-term operations that will provide benefits to all stakeholders, whether that includes stable employment to locals, social services, or contributions to poverty alleviation.

The GSTC has developed a series of criteria to create a common language about sustainable travel and tourism. These criteria are used to distinguish sustainable destinations and organizations, but can also help create sustainable policies for businesses and government agencies. Arranged in four pillars, the global baseline standards include sustainable management, socioeconomic impact, cultural impacts, and environmental impacts.

Travel Tip:

The GSTC is an excellent resource for travelers who want to find sustainably managed destinations and accommodations and learn how to become a more sustainable traveler in general.

Environment

Protecting natural environments is the bedrock of sustainable tourism. Data released by the World Tourism Organization estimates that tourism-based CO2 emissions are forecast to increase 25% by 2030. In 2016, tourism transport-related emissions contributed to 5% of all man-made emissions, while transport-related emissions from long-haul international travel were expected to grow 45% by 2030.

The environmental ramifications of tourism don’t end with carbon emissions, either. Unsustainably managed tourism can create waste problems, lead to land loss or soil erosion, increase natural habitat loss, and put pressure on endangered species . More often than not, the resources in these places are already scarce, and sadly, the negative effects can contribute to the destruction of the very environment on which the industry depends.

Industries and destinations that want to be sustainable must do their part to conserve resources, reduce pollution, and conserve biodiversity and important ecosystems. In order to achieve this, proper resource management and management of waste and emissions is important. In Bali, for example, tourism consumes 65% of local water resources, while in Zanzibar, tourists use 15 times as much water per night as local residents.

Another factor to environmentally focused sustainable tourism comes in the form of purchasing: Does the tour operator, hotel, or restaurant favor locally sourced suppliers and products? How do they manage their food waste and dispose of goods? Something as simple as offering paper straws instead of plastic ones can make a huge dent in an organization’s harmful pollutant footprint.

Recently, there has been an uptick in companies that promote carbon offsetting . The idea behind carbon offsetting is to compensate for generated greenhouse gas emissions by canceling out emissions somewhere else. Much like the idea that reducing or reusing should be considered first before recycling , carbon offsetting shouldn’t be the primary goal. Sustainable tourism industries always work towards reducing emissions first and offset what they can’t.

Properly managed sustainable tourism also has the power to provide alternatives to need-based professions and behaviors like poaching . Often, and especially in underdeveloped countries, residents turn to environmentally harmful practices due to poverty and other social issues. At Periyar Tiger Reserve in India, for example, an unregulated increase in tourists made it more difficult to control poaching in the area. In response, an eco development program aimed at providing employment for locals turned 85 former poachers into reserve gamekeepers. Under supervision of the reserve’s management staff, the group of gamekeepers have developed a series of tourism packages and are now protecting land instead of exploiting it. They’ve found that jobs in responsible wildlife tourism are more rewarding and lucrative than illegal work.

Flying nonstop and spending more time in a single destination can help save CO2, since planes use more fuel the more times they take off.

Local Culture and Residents

One of the most important and overlooked aspects of sustainable tourism is contributing to protecting, preserving, and enhancing local sites and traditions. These include areas of historical, archaeological, or cultural significance, but also "intangible heritage," such as ceremonial dance or traditional art techniques.

In cases where a site is being used as a tourist attraction, it is important that the tourism doesn’t impede access to local residents. For example, some tourist organizations create local programs that offer residents the chance to visit tourism sites with cultural value in their own countries. A program called “Children in the Wilderness” run by Wilderness Safaris educates children in rural Africa about the importance of wildlife conservation and valuable leadership development tools. Vacations booked through travel site Responsible Travel contribute to the company’s “Trip for a Trip” program, which organizes day trips for disadvantaged youth who live near popular tourist destinations but have never had the opportunity to visit.

Sustainable tourism bodies work alongside communities to incorporate various local cultural expressions as part of a traveler’s experiences and ensure that they are appropriately represented. They collaborate with locals and seek their input on culturally appropriate interpretation of sites, and train guides to give visitors a valuable (and correct) impression of the site. The key is to inspire travelers to want to protect the area because they understand its significance.

Bhutan, a small landlocked country in South Asia, has enforced a system of all-inclusive tax for international visitors since 1997 ($200 per day in the off season and $250 per day in the high season). This way, the government is able to restrict the tourism market to local entrepreneurs exclusively and restrict tourism to specific regions, ensuring that the country’s most precious natural resources won’t be exploited.

Incorporating volunteer work into your vacation is an amazing way to learn more about the local culture and help contribute to your host community at the same time. You can also book a trip that is focused primarily on volunteer work through a locally run charity or non profit (just be sure that the job isn’t taking employment opportunities away from residents).

It's not difficult to make a business case for sustainable tourism, especially if one looks at a destination as a product. Think of protecting a destination, cultural landmark, or ecosystem as an investment. By keeping the environment healthy and the locals happy, sustainable tourism will maximize the efficiency of business resources. This is especially true in places where locals are more likely to voice their concerns if they feel like the industry is treating visitors better than residents.

Not only does reducing reliance on natural resources help save money in the long run, studies have shown that modern travelers are likely to participate in environmentally friendly tourism. In 2019, Booking.com found that 73% of travelers preferred an eco-sustainable hotel over a traditional one and 72% of travelers believed that people need to make sustainable travel choices for the sake of future generations.

Always be mindful of where your souvenirs are coming from and whether or not the money is going directly towards the local economy. For example, opt for handcrafted souvenirs made by local artisans.

Growth in the travel and tourism sectors alone has outpaced the overall global economy growth for nine years in a row. Prior to the pandemic, travel and tourism accounted for an $9.6 trillion contribution to the global GDP and 333 million jobs (or one in four new jobs around the world).

Sustainable travel dollars help support employees, who in turn pay taxes that contribute to their local economy. If those employees are not paid a fair wage or aren’t treated fairly, the traveler is unknowingly supporting damaging or unsustainable practices that do nothing to contribute to the future of the community. Similarly, if a hotel doesn’t take into account its ecological footprint, it may be building infrastructure on animal nesting grounds or contributing to excessive pollution. The same goes for attractions, since sustainably managed spots (like nature preserves) often put profits towards conservation and research.

Costa Rica was able to turn a severe deforestation crisis in the 1980s into a diversified tourism-based economy by designating 25.56% of land protected as either a national park, wildlife refuge, or reserve.

While traveling, think of how you would want your home country or home town to be treated by visitors.

Are You a Sustainable Traveler?

Sustainable travelers understand that their actions create an ecological and social footprint on the places they visit. Be mindful of the destinations , accommodations, and activities you choose, and choose destinations that are closer to home or extend your length of stay to save resources. Consider switching to more environmentally friendly modes of transportation such as bicycles, trains, or walking while on vacation. Look into supporting locally run tour operations or local family-owned businesses rather than large international chains. Don’t engage in activities that harm wildlife, such as elephant riding or tiger petting , and opt instead for a wildlife sanctuary (or better yet, attend a beach clean up or plan an hour or two of some volunteer work that interests you). Leave natural areas as you found them by taking out what you carry in, not littering, and respecting the local residents and their traditions.

Most of us travel to experience the world. New cultures, new traditions, new sights and smells and tastes are what makes traveling so rewarding. It is our responsibility as travelers to ensure that these destinations are protected not only for the sake of the communities who rely upon them, but for a future generation of travelers.

Sustainable tourism has many different layers, most of which oppose the more traditional forms of mass tourism that are more likely to lead to environmental damage, loss of culture, pollution, negative economic impacts, and overtourism.

Ecotourism highlights responsible travel to natural areas that focus on environmental conservation. A sustainable tourism body supports and contributes to biodiversity conservation by managing its own property responsibly and respecting or enhancing nearby natural protected areas (or areas of high biological value). Most of the time, this looks like a financial compensation to conservation management, but it can also include making sure that tours, attractions, and infrastructure don’t disturb natural ecosystems.

On the same page, wildlife interactions with free roaming wildlife should be non-invasive and managed responsibly to avoid negative impacts to the animals. As a traveler, prioritize visits to accredited rescue and rehabilitation centers that focus on treating, rehoming, or releasing animals back into the wild, such as the Jaguar Rescue Center in Costa Rica.

Soft Tourism

Soft tourism may highlight local experiences, local languages, or encourage longer time spent in individual areas. This is opposed to hard tourism featuring short duration of visits, travel without respecting culture, taking lots of selfies , and generally feeling a sense of superiority as a tourist.

Many World Heritage Sites, for example, pay special attention to protection, preservation, and sustainability by promoting soft tourism. Peru’s famed Machu Picchu was previously known as one of the world’s worst victims of overtourism , or a place of interest that has experienced negative effects (such as traffic or litter) from excessive numbers of tourists. The attraction has taken steps to control damages in recent years, requiring hikers to hire local guides on the Inca Trail, specifying dates and time on visitor tickets to negate overcrowding, and banning all single use plastics from the site.

Traveling during a destination’s shoulder season , the period between the peak and low seasons, typically combines good weather and low prices without the large crowds. This allows better opportunities to immerse yourself in a new place without contributing to overtourism, but also provides the local economy with income during a normally slow season.

Rural Tourism

Rural tourism applies to tourism that takes place in non-urbanized areas such as national parks, forests, nature reserves, and mountain areas. This can mean anything from camping and glamping to hiking and WOOFing. Rural tourism is a great way to practice sustainable tourism, since it usually requires less use of natural resources.

Community Tourism

Community-based tourism involves tourism where local residents invite travelers to visit their own communities. It sometimes includes overnight stays and often takes place in rural or underdeveloped countries. This type of tourism fosters connection and enables tourists to gain an in-depth knowledge of local habitats, wildlife, and traditional cultures — all while providing direct economic benefits to the host communities. Ecuador is a world leader in community tourism, offering unique accommodation options like the Sani Lodge run by the local Kichwa indigenous community, which offers responsible cultural experiences in the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest.

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Sustainable tourism

Related sdgs, promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable ....

Description

Publications.

Tourism is one of the world's fastest growing industries and an important source of foreign exchange and employment, while being closely linked to the social, economic, and environmental well-being of many countries, especially developing countries. Maritime or ocean-related tourism, as well as coastal tourism, are for example vital sectors of the economy in small island developing States (SIDS) and coastal least developed countries (LDCs) (see also: The Potential of the Blue Economy report as well as the Community of Ocean Action on sustainable blue economy).

The World Tourism Organization defines sustainable tourism as “tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities".

Based on General assembly resolution 70/193, 2017 was declared as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development.

In the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development SDG target 8.9, aims to “by 2030, devise and implement policies to promote sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture and products”. The importance of sustainable tourism is also highlighted in SDG target 12.b. which aims to “develop and implement tools to monitor sustainable development impacts for sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture and products”.

Tourism is also identified as one of the tools to “by 2030, increase the economic benefits to Small Island developing States and least developed countries” as comprised in SDG target 14.7.

In the Rio+20 outcome document The Future We want, sustainable tourism is defined by paragraph 130 as a significant contributor “to the three dimensions of sustainable development” thanks to its close linkages to other sectors and its ability to create decent jobs and generate trade opportunities. Therefore, Member States recognize “the need to support sustainable tourism activities and relevant capacity-building that promote environmental awareness, conserve and protect the environment, respect wildlife, flora, biodiversity, ecosystems and cultural diversity, and improve the welfare and livelihoods of local communities by supporting their local economies and the human and natural environment as a whole. ” In paragraph 130, Member States also “call for enhanced support for sustainable tourism activities and relevant capacity-building in developing countries in order to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development”.

In paragraph 131, Member States “encourage the promotion of investment in sustainable tourism, including eco-tourism and cultural tourism, which may include creating small- and medium-sized enterprises and facilitating access to finance, including through microcredit initiatives for the poor, indigenous peoples and local communities in areas with high eco-tourism potential”. In this regard, Member States also “underline the importance of establishing, where necessary, appropriate guidelines and regulations in accordance with national priorities and legislation for promoting and supporting sustainable tourism”.

In 2002, the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg called for the promotion of sustainable tourism development, including non-consumptive and eco-tourism, in Chapter IV, paragraph 43 of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation.

At the Johannesburg Summit, the launch of the “Sustainable Tourism – Eliminating Poverty (ST-EP) initiative was announced. The initiative was inaugurated by the World Tourism Organization, in collaboration with UNCTAD, in order to develop sustainable tourism as a force for poverty alleviation.

The UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) last reviewed the issue of sustainable tourism in 2001, when it was acting as the Preparatory Committee for the Johannesburg Summit.

The importance of sustainable tourism was also mentioned in Agenda 21.

For more information and documents on this topic, please visit this link

UNWTO Annual Report 2015

2015 was a landmark year for the global community. In September, the 70th Session of the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a universal agenda for planet and people. Among the 17 SDGs and 169 associated targets, tourism is explicitly featured in Goa...

UNWTO Annual Report 2016

In December 2015, the United Nations General Assembly declared 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development. This is a unique opportunity to devote a year to activities that promote the transformational power of tourism to help us reach a better future. This important cele...

Emerging Issues for Small Island Developing States

The 2012 UNEP Foresight Process on Emerging Global Environmental Issues primarily identified emerging environmental issues and possible solutions on a global scale and perspective. In 2013, UNEP carried out a similar exercise to identify priority emerging environmental issues that are of concern to ...

Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

This Agenda is a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity. It also seeks to strengthen universal peace in larger freedom, We recognize that eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, is the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for su...

Status and Trends of Caribbean Coral Reefs: 1970-2012

Previous Caribbean assessments lumped data together into a single database regardless of geographic location, reef environment, depth, oceanographic conditions, etc. Data from shallow lagoons and back reef environments were combined with data from deep fore-reef environments and atolls. Geographic c...

15 Years of the UNWTO World Tourism Network on Child Protection: A Compilation of Good Practices

Although it is widely recognized that tourism is not the cause of child exploitation, it can aggravate the problem when parts of its infrastructure, such as transport networks and accommodation facilities, are exploited by child abusers for nefarious ends. Additionally, many other factors that contr...

Towards Measuring the Economic Value of Wildlife Watching Tourism in Africa

Set against the backdrop of the ongoing poaching crisis driven by a dramatic increase in the illicit trade in wildlife products, this briefing paper intends to support the ongoing efforts of African governments and the broader international community in the fight against poaching. Specifically, this...

Natural Resources Forum: Special Issue Tourism

The journal considers papers on all topics relevant to sustainable development. In addition, it dedicates series, issues and special sections to specific themes that are relevant to the current discussions of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD)....

Thailand: Supporting Sustainable Development in Thailand: A Geographic Clusters Approach

Market forces and government policies, including the Tenth National Development Plan (2007-2012), are moving Thailand toward a more geographically specialized economy. There is a growing consensus that Thailand’s comparative and competitive advantages lie in amenity services that have high reliance...

Natural Resources Forum, a United Nations Sustainable Development Journal (NRF)

  Natural Resources Forum, a United Nations Sustainable Development Journal, seeks to address gaps in current knowledge and stimulate relevant policy discussions, leading to the implementation of the sustainable development agenda and the achievement of the Sustainable...

Road Map on Building a Green Economy for Sustainable Development in Carriacou and Petite Martinique, Grenada

This publication is the product of an international study led by the Division for Sustainable Development (DSD) of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) in cooperation with the Ministry of Carriacou and Petite Martinique Affairs and the Ministry of Environment, Foreig...

UN Ocean Conference 2025

Our Ocean, Our Future, Our Responsibility “The ocean is fundamental to life on our planet and to our future. The ocean is an important source of the planet’s biodiversity and plays a vital role in the climate system and water cycle. The ocean provides a range of ecosystem services, supplies us with

UN Ocean Conference 2022

The UN Ocean Conference 2022, co-hosted by the Governments of Kenya and Portugal, came at a critical time as the world was strengthening its efforts to mobilize, create and drive solutions to realize the 17 Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

58th Session of the Commission for Social Development – CSocD58

22nd general assembly of the united nations world tourism organization, world tourism day 2017 official celebration.

This year’s World Tourism Day, held on 27 September, will be focused on Sustainable Tourism – a Tool for Development. Celebrated in line with the 2017 International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development, the Day will be dedicated to exploring the contribution of tourism to the Sustainable Deve

World Tourism Day 2016 Official Celebration

Accessible Tourism for all is about the creation of environments that can cater for the needs of all of us, whether we are traveling or staying at home. May that be due to a disability, even temporary, families with small children, or the ageing population, at some point in our lives, sooner or late

4th Global Summit on City Tourism

The World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and the Regional Council for Tourism of Marrakesh with support of the Government of Morroco are organizing the 4th Global Summit on City Tourism in Marrakesh, Morroco (9-10 December 2015). International experts in city tourism, representatives of city DMOs, of

2nd Euro-Asian Mountain Resorts Conference

The World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and Ulsan Metropolitan City with support of the Government of the Republic of Korea are organizing the 2nd Euro-Asian Mountain Resorts Conference, in Ulsan, Republic of Korea (14 - 16 October 2015). Under the title “Paving the Way for a Bright Future for Mounta

21st General Assembly of the United Nations World Tourism Organization

Unwto regional conference enhancing brand africa - fostering tourism development.

Tourism is one of the Africa’s most promising sectors in terms of development, and represents a major opportunity to foster inclusive development, increase the region’s participation in the global economy and generate revenues for investment in other activities, including environmental preservation.

January 2017 International Year of Tourism In the context of the universal 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the International Year aims to support a change in policies, business practices and consumer behavior towards a more sustainable tourism sector that can contribute to the SDGs.
January 2015 Targets 8.9, 12 b,14.7 The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development commits Member States, through Sustainable Development Goal Target 8.9 to “devise and implement policies to promote sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture and products”. The importance of sustainable tourism, as a driver for jobs creation and the promotion of local culture and products, is also highlighted in Sustainable Development Goal target 12.b. Tourism is also identified as one of the tools to “increase [by 2030] the economic benefits to Small Island developing States and least developed countries”, through Sustainable Development Goals Target 14.7.
January 2012 Future We Want (Para 130-131) Sustainable tourism is defined as a significant contributor “to the three dimensions of sustainable development” thanks to its close linkages to other sectors and its ability to create decent jobs and generate trade opportunities. Therefore, Member States recognize “the need to support sustainable tourism activities and relevant capacity-building that promote environmental awareness, conserve and protect the environment, respect wildlife, flora, biodiversity, ecosystems and cultural diversity, and improve the welfare and livelihoods of local communities” as well as to “encourage the promotion of investment in sustainable tourism, including eco-tourism and cultural tourism, which may include creating small and medium sized enterprises and facilitating access to finance, including through microcredit initiatives for the poor, indigenous peoples and local communities in areas with high eco-tourism potential”.
January 2009 Roadmap for Recovery UNWTO announced in March 2009 the elaboration of a Roadmap for Recovery to be finalized by UNWTO’s General Assembly, based on seven action points. The Roadmap includes a set of 15 recommendations based on three interlocking action areas: resilience, stimulus, green economy aimed at supporting the tourism sector and the global economy.
January 2008 Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria The Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria represent the minimum requirements any tourism business should observe in order to ensure preservation and respect of the natural and cultural resources and make sure at the same time that tourism potential as tool for poverty alleviation is enforced. The Criteria are 41 and distributed into four different categories: 1) sustainability management, 2) social and economic 3) cultural 4) environmental.
January 2003 1st Int. Conf. on Climate Change and Tourism The conference was organized in order to gather tourism authorities, organizations, businesses and scientists to discuss on the impact that climate change can have on the tourist sector. The event took place from 9 till 11 April 2003 in Djerba, Tunisia.
January 2003 WTO becomes a UN specialized body By Resolution 453 (XV), the Assembly agreed on the transformation of the WTO into a United Nations specialized body. Such transformation was later ratified by the United Nations General Assembly with the adoption of Resolution A/RES/58/232.
January 2002 World Ecotourism Summit Held in May 2002, in Quebec City, Canada, the Summit represented the most important event in the framework of the International Year of Ecosystem. The Summit identified as main themes: ecotourism policy and planning, regulation of ecotourism, product development, marketing and promotion of ecotourism and monitoring costs and benefits of ecotourism.
January 1985 Tourism Bill of Rights and Tourist Code At the World Tourism Organization Sixth Assembly held in Sofia in 1985, the Tourism Bill of Rights and Tourist Code were adopted, setting out the rights and duties of tourists and host populations and formulating policies and action for implementation by states and the tourist industry.
January 1982 Acapulco Document Adopted in 1982, the Acapulco Document acknowledges the new dimension and role of tourism as a positive instrument towards the improvement of the quality of life for all peoples, as well as a significant force for peace and international understanding. The Acapulco Document also urges Member States to elaborate their policies, plans and programmes on tourism, in accordance with their national priorities and within the framework of the programme of work of the World Tourism Organization.

How global tourism can become more sustainable, inclusive and resilient

A sanitary mask lies on the ground at Frankfurt Airport Image: Reuters/Ralph Orlowski

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Stay up to date:, the great reset.

Tourism rose to the forefront of the global agenda in 2020, due to the devastating impact of COVID-19
Recovery will be driven by technology and innovation – specifically seamless travel solutions, but it will be long, uneven and slow
Success hinges on international coordination and collaboration across the public and private sectors

Tourism was one of the sectors hit hardest by the global pandemic. 2020 was the worst year on record for international travel due to the global pandemic, with countries taking decisive action to protect their citizens, closing borders and halting international travel.

The result was a 74% decline in international visitor arrivals, equivalent to over $1 trillion revenue losses , and an estimated 62 million fewer jobs . The impact on international air travel has been even more severe with a 90% drop on 2019 , resulting in a potential $1.8 trillion loss. And while the economic impact is dire in itself, nearly 2.9 million lives have been lost in the pandemic.

The path to recovery will be long and slow

Countries now face the challenge of reopening borders to resume travel and commerce, while protecting their populations’ health. At its peak, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) reported in April 2020 that every country on earth had implemented some travel restriction , signalling the magnitude of the operation to restart travel.

Have you read?

Tourism industry experts fear long road to recovery, how we can prioritize sustainability in rebuilding tourism, covid-19 could set the global tourism industry back 20 years.

Consequently, the path to recovery will be long and slow. The resurgence of cases following the discovery of new variants towards the end of last year delivered another disappointing blow to the travel industry. Any pickup over the summer months was quashed following a second wave of lockdowns and border closures . Coupled with mixed progress in the roll-out of vaccination programs, I predict that we will not see a significant rebound in international travel until the middle of this year at best.

Others echo my fears. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) forecasts a 50.4% improvement on 2020 air travel demand, which would bring the industry to 50.6% of 2019 levels . However, a more pessimistic outlook based on the persistence of travel restrictions suggests that demand may only pick up by 13% this year, leaving the industry at 38% of 2019 levels. McKinsey & Company similarly predict that tourism expenditure may not return to pre-COVID-19 levels until 2024 .

How to enhance sustainability, inclusivity and resilience

Given its economic might – employing 330 million people, contributing 10% to global GDP before the pandemic, and predicted to create 100 million new jobs – restoring the travel and tourism sector to a position of strength is the utmost priority.

The Great Reset provides an opportunity to rethink how tourism is delivered and to enhance sustainability, inclusivity and resilience. We must also address the challenges – from climate change and “ overtourism ” to capacity constraints – that we faced before the pandemic, while embracing traveller preferences, as we rebuild.

A 2018 study found that global tourism accounted for 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions from 2009 to 2013 ; four times higher than previous estimates. Even more worryingly, this puts progress towards the Paris Agreement at risk – recovery efforts must centre around environmental sustainability.

Furthermore, according to a study on managing overcrowding, the top 20 most popular global destinations were predicted to add more international arrivals than the rest of the world combined by 2020 . While COVID-19 will have disrupted this trend, it is well known that consumers want to travel again, and we must address the issues associated with overcrowding, especially in nascent destinations, like Saudi Arabia.

The Great Reset is a chance to make sure that as we rebuild, we do it better.

There is no consensus about when the tourist industry will recover from the pandemic

Seamless solutions lie at the heart of travel recovery

Tourism has the potential to be an engine of economic recovery provided we work collaboratively to adopt a common approach to a safe and secure reopening process – and conversations on this are already underway.

Through the G20, which Saudi Arabia hosted in 2020, our discussions focused on how to leverage technology and innovation in response to the crisis, as well as how to restore traveller confidence and improve the passenger experience in the future .

At the global level, across the public and private sectors, the World Economic Forum is working with the Commons Project on the CommonPass framework , which will allow individuals to access lab results and vaccination records, and consent to having that information used to validate their COVID status. IATA is trialling the Travel Pass with airlines and governments , which seeks to be a global and standardized solution to validate and authenticate all country regulations regarding COVID-19 travel requirements.

The provision of solutions that minimize person-to-person contact responds to consumer wants, with IATA finding that 85% of travellers would feel safer with touchless processing . Furthermore, 44% said they would share personal data to enable this, up from 30% months prior , showing a growing trend for contactless travel processes.

Such solutions will be critical in coordinating the opening of international borders in a way that is safe, seamless and secure, while giving tourists the confidence to travel again.

Collaboration at the international level is critical

The availability of vaccines will make this easier, and we have commenced our vaccination programme in Saudi Arabia . But we need to ensure processes and protocols are aligned globally, and that we support countries with limited access to vaccinations to eliminate the threat of another resurgence. It is only when businesses and travellers have confidence in the systems that the sector will flourish again.

In an era of unprecedented data and ubiquitous intelligence, it is essential that organizations reimagine how they manage personal data and digital identities. By empowering individuals and offering them ways to control their own data, user-centric digital identities enable trusted physical and digital interactions – from government services or e-payments to health credentials, safe mobility or employment.

The World Economic Forum curates the Platform for Good Digital Identity to advance global digital identity activities that are collaborative and put the user interest at the center.

The Forum convenes public-private digital identity collaborations from travel, health, financial services in a global action and learning network – to understand common challenges and capture solutions useful to support current and future coalitions. Additionally, industry-specific models such as Known Traveller Digital Identity or decentralized identity models show that digital identity solutions respecting the individual are possible.

The approach taken by Saudi Arabia and its partners to establish consensus and build collaborative relationships internationally and between the public and private sectors, should serve as a model to be replicated so that we can maximize the tourism sector’s contribution to the global economic recovery, while ensuring that it becomes a driver of prosperity and social progress again.

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License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

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Compendium of Best Practices in Sustainable Tourism

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Open access
Published: 29 March 2024

Studying tourism development and its impact on carbon emissions

Xiaochun Zhao 1 ,
Taiwei Li 1 &
Xin Duan 1

Scientific Reports volume 14 , Article number: 7463 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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Environmental impact
Sustainability

Analyzing the influence of tourism on carbon emission has significant implications for promoting the sustainable development of tourism. Based on the panel data of 31 tourist cities in China from 2005 to 2022, this study utilizes a structural equation model to explore the carbon reduction effect of tourism development and its influencing mechanism. The results show that: (1) The overall carbon emission efficiency of tourism cities first decreased and then increased, rised to a peak of 0.923 in 2022. (2) Tourism development has a significant positive impact on carbon emission efficiency, and there are three influence paths: tourism → environmental regulation → carbon emission efficiency, tourism → environmental regulation → industrial structure → carbon emission efficiency, and tourism → industrial structure → carbon emission efficiency. (3) The influence of tourism development on carbon emission efficiency mainly depends on the direct effect, and the development of tourism also indirectly affect the industrial structure. Environmental regulation also mainly depends on the direct effect on carbon emission efficiency. (4) Foreign direct investment lead to the reduction of carbon emission efficiency in both direct and indirect aspects.

The economic commitment of climate change

Globally elevated greenhouse gas emissions from polluted urban rivers

Systematic review and meta-analysis of ex-post evaluations on the effectiveness of carbon pricing

Introduction.

Global climate change has become one of the major challenges of humanity, bringing a series of harms, including an increase in extreme weather events such as heatwaves, droughts, floods, and hurricanes. According to the report of United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), by 2080, the average global temperature will increase by more than 1 °C 1 . Global warming is not merely a natural phenomenon, but also a result of human activity. In various sectors of the economy, the tourism industry has experienced rapid growth. According to data from the World Tourism Organization, the tourism industry accounts for 10.4% of the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and provides 313 million job opportunities 2 . However, the rapid development of the tourism industry has also resulted in intensified impacts on the environment. Tourism industry has become one of the main sources of global carbon dioxide emissions, accounting for 5% of the total global carbon emissions. China is one of the largest tourism markets in the world, and the tourism industry plays a vital role in China's economy. In China's 14th Five-Year Plan, the concept of green and low-carbon development is emphasized, highlighting the need for environmentally friendly tourism and carbon emission reduction. Balancing tourism industry development with carbon emission reduction is a major challenge for the tourism industry. Existing studies on tourism and carbon emissions mainly focus on the carbon emission efficiency of tourism development itself and the impact of tourism on carbon emissions. However, these studies fail to analyze the mechanism behind tourism's impact on carbon emission efficiency. While some studies have analyzed the impact mechanism of tourism development and carbon emissions 3 , they primarily focused on the impact of tourism on carbon emission intensity rather than carbon efficiency. Carbon intensity is typically measured as a ratio of carbon emissions to GDP. In contrast, carbon efficiency provides a more comprehensive assessment of a city's environmental performance and sustainability. Comprehensive analyzing the mechanism of the influence of tourism development on carbon emission efficiency is essential for formulating environmental protection policies to promote the green development of tourism. Therefore, this paper aims to study the influence mechanism of tourism on carbon emission efficiency s of tourism development. Using 31 tourist cities in China as research samples, the paper adopts the entropy weight method and the Slacks-Based Measure (SBM), introduces the Structural Equation Model (SEM), and uses panel data of 31 tourist cities to analyze the influence of tourism industry on carbon emission. The findings of this study are hoped to provide inspiration for the transformation of tourism cities.

The remainder of this study is divided into four sections. The first section is the literature review, which examines the carbon emission efficiency of the tourism industry itself and the impact of tourism development on carbon emission efficiency from a tourism research perspective. The second section is the research design, where the paper utilizes the entropy weight method and the super-efficiency SBM model to measure the development level of the tourism industry and carbon emission efficiency, respectively. This section also constructs a structural equation model to explore the mechanism of the impact of tourism development on carbon emission efficiency. The third section presents the research results and the last section concludes this study and provides suggestions based on research findings.

Literature review

Tourism plays a vital role in economic growth by creating jobs 4 . Scholars have conducted extensive research and achieved significant academic results. The current research on the tourism industry and carbon emission efficiency primarily revolves around two aspects.

Firstly, scholars focus on the carbon emission efficiency of the tourism industry. For example, Gössling et al. 5 analyzed the economic benefits and environmental effect of tourism, evaluating the ecological efficiency of the tourism industry by using carbon dioxide emissions and economic benefits. Osorio et al. 6 compared the carbon emission efficiency of the Spanish tourism industry before and after the pandemic of COVID-19, and found that the carbon emission efficiency in 2020 improved compared before COVID-19 pandemic. Ghaderi et al. 7 conducted research on the carbon emission efficiency of tourism industry in the Middle East and North Africa, this study indicated that tourist arrivals can reduce carbon emissions, while energy consumption and trade openness are contributors to carbon emissions.

Secondly, scholars focus on the impact of tourism on carbon emission. However, the consensus among scholars has not yet been reached on whether the tourism industry promotes carbon emission. Some scholars have analyzed the impact of tourism activities on carbon emissions in Mediterranean countries and concluded that tourism revenue does not have direct impact on carbon emissions 8 . Voumik et al. 9 studied tourism industry in 40 Asian countries and found that while tourism helps slow down the deterioration of environment, factors such as population growth, energy use, and economic development still contribute to increasing carbon emission, which is consistent with the conclusions of Guo et al. 10 . Erdoğan et al. 11 focused on the impact of international tourism on carbon emissions and found that international tourism leads to the increase of carbon emissions, but eco-friendly innovation in the transportation sector can mitigate the negative impact on the environment. Ahmad et al. 12 revealed an inverted U-shaped curve in the impact of international tourism development on carbon emissions in China, with the negative impact of technological innovation being strongest in highly developed provinces and weakest in moderately developed provinces. Ghosh et al. 13 found tourism industry can alleviate environmental degradation, policy direction that promote tourism, renewable energy, economic growth and urbanization have a significant effect on the environment, which is consistent with the conclusion of Zikirya et al. 14 . Rahman et al. 15 shifted their focus to Malaysia and found a positive correlation between the number of tourists and carbon emissions.

In summary, existing studies primarily focus on the carbon emission efficiency of tourism and the impact of tourism on carbon emission. However, there is a lack of focus on how tourism affects carbon emission efficiency. This study aims to address this gap by taking 31 tourist cities in China as research samples. This study constructs an indicator system to assess tourism industry and carbon emission efficiency. Furthermore, this study introduces a structural equation model to analyze the mechanisms about how tourism industry affects carbon emission efficiency, to provide inspiration for promoting the green development of tourism.

Research Design

Analyzing the influence mechanism of tourism on carbon emission.

The tourism industry is considered a smokeless and green industry, due to its significant advantages in resource utilization and environmental protection. The development of the tourism industry can not only promote the growth of employment rate in the destination, but also increase the income of tourist destinations. Compared with the secondary industry, the tourism industry is more environmentally friendly in terms of resource consumption and pollution emission. Especially in tourism cities, the proportion of tourism economy in GDP is larger, tourism has a bigger impact on the green development of the tourism city. Consequently, the influence mechanism of tourism on carbon emissions is analyzed as follows:

Firstly, a good natural ecological environment is a fundamental requirement for the development of the tourism industry. Tourism cities typically implement strict governance measures on the local environment and ecology. The development of tourism can incentive the local government to introduce more stringent environmental policies, thereby improving the ecological environment 16 . Additionally, stricter environmental regulations often impact carbon emission efficiency 17 , 18 . Simultaneously, intensified environmental regulations can limit the development space of heavily polluting industries and influence the industrial structure of the destination, ultimately affecting carbon emission efficiency 19 .

Secondly, the development of tourism also affects the industrial structure of cities 20 . The growth of tourism promotes the rise of related industries. Numerous supporting industries, such as hotels, catering, transportation, tour guides, and others, are needed to meet the demands of tourists and create numerous employment opportunities. Consequently, tourism development can attract individuals to switch from other industries to the tourism sector, which in turn impacts the industrial structure and has a significant effect on carbon emissions 21 .

Finally, foreign direct investment is an important factor that affects carbon emission efficiency 22 . This study draws on the conclusion of Bakhsh et al. 23 , which suggests that including foreign direct investment in analysis can improves the overall fit of the structural equation model. On one hand, foreign direct investment can bring advanced production technology, thereby directly improving carbon emission efficiency 24 . On the other hand, foreign investment also leads to pollution transfer, negatively impacting the environment and reducing carbon emission efficiency 25 . At the same time, foreign direct investment can indirectly affect carbon emission efficiency by influencing the local industrial structure. Moreover, the advanced technologies brought about by foreign direct investment also have an impact on technological innovation, thereby indirectly affecting carbon emissions.

Based on above analysis, this study builds a structural equation model about the influence of tourism on carbon emission (see Fig. 1 ).

The influence mechanism of tourism on carbon emission.

Research method

Structural equation model

The Structural Equation Model (SEM), first proposed by Jöreskog 26 , is used to study complex relationships among different variables, including multiple causal relationships. When examining the impact of tourism on carbon emissions, it is important to consider that this impact is not a single direct effect. Instead, there are complex internal mechanisms, including indirect effects and interactions among variables 27 . Therefore, this study chooses to employ SEM to analyze the internal mechanism of how tourism affects carbon emission efficiency.

Entropy weight method

In this study, the entropy weight method is utilized to calculate the Tourism Development (TD) level. The entropy weight method is a quantitative approach based on the concept of entropy in information theory. It helps determine the weight of indicators by calculating the entropy and difference coefficient of each index. This calculation process reflects the importance of each index in the overall assessment. By multiplying and summing the standardized index with the entropy weight, the assessment results can be obtained 28 . The specific calculation process is as follows:

Firstly, the raw data needs to be standardized, see formula ( 1 ) and formula ( 2 ) for details.

Positive indicator:

Negative indicator:

Among them, ${ }x_{ij} { }$ represents the data of the indicator, $i{ }$ represents city. $j{ }$ represents index, $r_{ij}^{ + }$ and $r_{ij}^{ - }$ represents standardized data.

Secondly, calculate the weight of $j$ index by using formula ( 3 ).

Thirdly, calculate the entropy of $j$ by using formula ( 4 ).

Fourthly, calculate information entropy redundancy by using formula ( 5 ).

Fifthly, calculate index weight by using formula ( 6 ).

Finally, calculate the assess results by using formula ( 7 ).

Non-expected output super efficiency SBM model

Tone 29 proposed a super-efficient model based on the traditional SBM model, which combines the advantages of both the traditional SBM model and the super efficiency model. This model not only considers the influence of unexpected output, but also solves the problem that the traditional SBM model cannot evaluate the Decision-Making Unit (DMU) with the efficiency value of 1 on the front plane. By recalculating the DMUs with an efficiency value of 1, the model enables the comparison of effective DMUs. The specific formulas are as follows:

Designing index system for tourism and carbon emission efficiency, variable explaining and data source

Designing index system and variable interpretation.

This study utilizing the entropy weight method to calculate the Tourism Development level(TD). To evaluate the development level of tourism, this paper designs the index system of tourism development (see Table 1 ). Firstly, the number of tourists is an important indicator that represents the development of tourism, as it reflects the scale of tourism and market demand 30 . Secondly, tourism income is a crucial index for measuring the economic benefit of tourism, as it represents the economic benefit and profit level of tourism. Tourism income directly impacts the sustainable development of tourism and related industries. Finally, the proportion of tourism revenue to GDP is an essential indicator for measuring the contribution and impact of tourism on the overall economy. On the basis of previous studies, this study constructs the evaluation index system of tourism development level.

The essence of Carbon Emission Efficiency (CEE) is the result of the joint action of capital, labor, energy, and other inputs and outputs in economic activities. Therefore, adopting a multi-input and multi-output perspective, this study uses MATLAB software to measure the carbon emission efficiency of 31 tourist cities. Acknowledging that efficiency values are influenced by both inputs and outputs, this study selects five indicators: labor input, capital input, energy input, expected output, and undesirable output to measure carbon emission efficiency (see Table 2 ). Firstly, the total number of employees in enterprises and public institutions reflects the economic scale of state-owned enterprises and public institutions, while the total number of urban private self-employed employees highlights the scale of the development of the private and individual economy 31 . Therefore, the sum of the total number of employees in enterprises and public institutions and the total number of private and individual employees in cities and towns is chosen as the representative of labor input, which fully reflects the employment scale and labor supply of a country or region. Secondly, electricity is widely used as an energy source in cities, and its consumption largely reflects a city's energy consumption 32 . The total electricity consumption of the city is selected to represent the energy input. Thirdly, investments in fixed assets reflects the investment of a country or region in capital goods such as production equipment and buildings over a certain period, and it is an important measure of capital formation 33 . The capital stock of the city is calculated based on the investment in fixed assets to represent the capital input. Fourthly, GDP is the sum of all the market value created by all the residents of a country or region in a certain period, and it is the most important macroeconomic indicator for measuring the overall economic performance of a country or region 34 . Fifthly, undesirable outputs usually denote by-products or negative effects that occur during the production process, which are not the desired outcomes of manufacturing activities. Carbon dioxide emissions are selected as the undesirable outputs. Finally, this paper takes 2005 as the base period to calculate the capital stock and GDP, to enhance the comparability of data between different years.

Variables involved in structural equation model

Based on the existing research and data availability, proxy variables for the structural equation model are set up (see Table 3 ). (1) Tourism, calculated by entropy weight method, reflects the development level of urban tourism; (2) Carbon emission efficiency, calculated by the non-expected output super efficiency SBM, reflects the carbon emission and resource utilization efficiency of the city; (3) Environmental regulation. Currently, there are three quantitative methods for environmental regulation, which are single index method 35 , scoring method 36 and comprehensive index method 37 . This paper uses the proportion of investment in environmental pollution control in GDP(Gross Domestic Product) as a proxy variable for environmental regulation. (4) Industrial structure, the proportion of the output value of the tertiary industry and the output value of the secondary industry are used as the proxy variable,(5) Foreign direct investment, some scholars believe that foreign direct investment has a negative impact on the environment, supporting the pollution paradise hypothesis, while other scholars believe that foreign direct investment has an improving effect on the environment, supporting the pollution halo hypothesis. Because of fact that the stock of foreign investment can more accurately reflect the impact of foreign investment on environmental pollution, this paper adopts the proportion of foreign direct investment in regional GDP as a proxy variable by referring to the practice of Afi et al. 38 . (6) Urban innovation, referring to the research of Cheng et al. 39 , China's urban innovation index is adopted as a proxy variable. The index is mainly based on two parts of data, namely patent data of the State Intellectual Property Office and enterprise registered capital data of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, including innovation output and patent value.

Research sample and data source

This study selects Chinese tourism cities as research samples to explore the influence of tourism on carbon emission efficiency. This study refers to the research of Zhang et al. 40 and Huang et al. 41 , a total of 31 tourism cities were selected as research samples. These cities include Beijing, Tianjin, Shenyang, Dalian, Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuxi, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Xiamen, Jinan, Qingdao, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Zhongshan, Guilin, Haikou, Wenzhou, Changchun, Harbin, Huangshan, Wuhan, Changsha, Luoyang, Zhangjiajie, Chongqing, Chengdu, Kunming and Xi 'an.

The study period was from 2005 to 2022. The data in this study were obtained from China Urban Statistical Yearbook (2006–2022), China Energy Statistical Yearbook (2006–2022), statistical yearbooks and statistical bulletins of provinces and cities.

Research results

Evaluation results of carbon emission efficiency and tourism development in tourist cities.

This study measured the carbon emission efficiency of 31 tourist cities from 2005 to 2022 and revealed its evolution characteristics. The calculation results are shown in Table 4 .

According to Table 4 , a clear upward trend is evident in the tourism development level of 31 tourist cities from 2005 to 2019, with the level increasing from 0.125 in 2005 to 0.499 in 2019, thereby reaching its peak. From 2020 to 2022, due to the impact of COVID-19, the number of tourists decreased, and the development level of tourism dropped significantly. From 2005 to 2022, the carbon emission efficiency of 31 tourism cities generally showed a fluctuating upward trend. The overall efficiency decreased year by year from 2005 to 2011, reaching its lowest at 0.707. But then it began to fluctuate and rise and reached a peak of 0.923 in 2022.

Analyzing the influence of tourism development on carbon emission efficiency and its influencing mechanism

Analysis the influence of tourism industry on carbon emission and its influencing mechanism based on all samples.

Based on the structural equation model, the required variables were introduced into the STATA software. The parameters of the constructed model were then estimated using the maximum likelihood estimation method, yielding the estimated results for standardized estimation coefficients, standard errors, Z-values, and P-values. The specific results are shown in Table 5 and Fig. 2 .

Structural equation model estimation results.

For all the tourist city samples, the structural equation model was estimated using the STATA software through the maximum likelihood estimation method. The estimated results included standardized estimation coefficients, standard errors, Z-values, and P-values. In terms of the overall fit of the model, the comparative fit index (CFI) is 0.902, slightly greater than 0.9, and the standardized residual root mean square (SRMR) is 0.07, slightly higher than 0.05 but less than 0.08 threshold, indicating that the overall fit of the model is good.

Logarithmic likelihood: − 8623.74;Likelihood ratio test of saturation model: chi-square(4) = 71.00, Prob > chi-square = 0.0000; The index of fit degree:RMSEA:0.109;AIC:14,115.030; BIC:16,023.930; CFI:0.902;SRMR: 0.070.

Table 5 and Fig. 2 demonstrate the mechanism of tourism's influence on carbon emission efficiency as follows: Firstly, a 1% increase in tourism development level leads to a direct increase of 0.1148% carbon emission efficiency, which passes the 1% significance level test. This indicates that the development of urban tourism significantly promotes the improvement in carbon emission efficiency. This indicates that tourism development can improve carbon emission efficiency, which is consistent with the study conducted by Si et al. 42 . On one hand, tourism stimulates local economic development,on the other hand, it consumes resources and emits less pollution compared to other industries. This implies that tourism development directly affects carbon emission efficiency and there is a mechanism of tourism → carbon emission efficiency. Secondly, the sustainable development of tourism imposes stricter demands on the ecological environment quality. As a result, the development of tourism prompts governments to introduce more rigorous environmental policies. The greater the intensity of urban environmental regulation, the more significant its impact on carbon emission efficiency. Each 1% increase in the level of tourism development would directly increase the intensity of environmental regulation by 0.1280%. There is a direct between environmental regulation and emission efficiency. Every 1% increase in environmental regulation, there is a corresponding 0.8% increase in carbon emission efficiency. This finding supports the conclusion that environmental regulation plays an effective role in reducing carbon emissions 43 . This finding also suggests that there is a mechanism of tourism → environmental regulation → carbon emission efficiency. Thirdly, empirical results reveal an influence effect of tourism → environmental regulation → industrial structure → carbon emission efficiency. Each 1% increase in environmental regulation would change the industrial structure by 0.1524%, and each 1% increase in industrial structure would increase carbon emission efficiency by 0.2048%. This suggests that the tourism industry impacts the local industrial structure by strengthening environmental regulations, thereby driving the improvement of carbon emission efficiency. Fourth, a 1% increase in tourism development level changes the industrial structure by 0.7597%, indicating that tourism development has a significant impact on the local industrial structure. Additionally, the estimated coefficient of industrial structure on carbon emission efficiency is 0.0664, meaning that the transformation of industrial structure promotes the improvement of carbon emission efficiency. In other words, tourism influences local carbon emission efficiency by influencing the industrial structure. There is a mechanism of tourism → industrial structure → carbon emission efficiency.

The mechanisms through which foreign direct investment influences carbon emission efficiency can be summarized in three aspects. Firstly, foreign direct investment has negative impacts on carbon emission efficiency. This indicates in tourist cities, FDI may intensify local energy consumption and production activities and becomes a refuge for heavily polluting enterprises. These findings are in line with the research conducted by Wang et al. 44 . Secondly, foreign direct investment significantly and positively affects the local industrial structure, indicating that the production technology brought by foreign direct investment has changed the industrial structure of the city. The results reveal an influence path of foreign direct investment → industrial structure. Empirical findings demonstrate that the industrial structure impacts carbon emission efficiency, resulting in a path of foreign direct investment → industrial structure → carbon emission efficiency. Thirdly, the impact of foreign direct investment on the innovation ability of cities did not pass the significance test (P = 0.603), indicating that there is no influence path of foreign direct investment → urban innovation → carbon emission efficiency.

Further analysis based on effect decomposition

Based on the above estimation results, this study further decomposed the direct, indirect, and total effects of each factor affecting carbon emission efficiency, the results are shown in Table 6 .

As shown in Table 6 , the total effect of tourism on carbon emission efficiency is 0.0624, with a direct effect of 0.1148, accounting for 54.36% of the total effect. The direct effect passed the significance test but the indirect effect failed. This indicates that the influence of tourism on carbon emission mainly stems from the direct impact of tourism development on carbon emission efficiency, rather than the indirect effect. This empirical result aligns with the current reality in China. Cities can achieve the goal of reducing carbon emissions by focusing on green tourism and low-carbon tourism, promoting the use of environmentally friendly transportation modes in tourism, and improving the energy efficiency of tourism facilities. Furthermore, the estimates results reveal other important factors and pathways influencing carbon efficiency. Firstly, a higher intensity of environmental regulations can directly improve carbon emission efficiency. Every 1% increase in environmental regulation intensity would directly increase carbon emission efficiency by 0.2048%. Secondly, the direct effect of foreign direct investment on carbon emission efficiency is − 0.1379, and the indirect effect is − 0.0098, indicating that foreign direct investment has a negative impact on carbon emission efficiency in both direct and indirect aspects. Foreign investors may transfer polluting enterprises to tourist cities, resulting in increased carbon emissions and decreased carbon emission efficiency. Finally, changes in industrial structure have a positively effect on carbon emission efficiency. Every 1% change in industrial structure will reduce carbon emission efficiency by 0.0664%.

Conclusion and discussion

Based on panel data from 31 tourist cities between 2005 and 2022, this study utilizes a structural equation model to analyze the influence of tourism on carbon emissions. The research findings indicate the following:

The carbon emission efficiency of tourism cities first decreased and then increased, reaching a peak of 0.923 in 2022. Second, tourism has a significant positive effect on carbon efficiency in the estimation of all samples. This influence can be summarized into three paths: tourism development → environmental regulation → carbon emission efficiency; Tourism development → environmental regulation → industrial structure → carbon emission efficiency; Tourism development → industrial structure → carbon emission efficiency. Thirdly, the influence of local tourism development on carbon emission efficiency mainly depends on the direct effect, which is consistent with the reality of China, and the development of tourism will also indirectly affect the local industrial structure. Environmental regulation also mainly depends on the direct effect on carbon emission efficiency, and foreign direct investment will lead to the reduction of carbon emission efficiency in both direct and indirect aspects.

Based on these research findings, this study proposes several suggestions: Firstly, tourism affects carbon emission efficiency through environmental regulation and industrial structure. To strengthen environmental regulation, local governments should increase supervision over enterprises, improve environmental standards, and take strict actions against environmental violations. These measures can enhance carbon emission efficiency and accelerate urban green transformation. Secondly, considering the negative impact of foreign direct investment on carbon emission efficiency, local governments should carefully evaluate potential environmental problems when dealing with foreign investments. Preferably, eco-friendly foreign direct investments should be prioritized. Thirdly, the influence of tourism on carbon emission efficiency mainly depends on the direct effect. Therefore, in the process of tourism development, the goal of improving carbon emission efficiency should be integrated to promote the development of tourism in the direction of eco-tourism and green tourism.

The content of this study is to analyze the influence of tourism on carbon efficiency, using 31 tourist cities as case studies. It introduces mechanism that explains how tourism development impacts carbon emission efficiency through considerations of environmental regulation and industrial structure. Nonetheless, it is important to acknowledge that this study also has certain limitations when compared to previous research. Firstly although this study considers the impact of environmental regulations on carbon emission efficiency, it did not conduct an in-depth analysis of different dimensions of environmental regulations. It is worth noting that the intensity and enforcement of environmental regulations may have significant differences in their impact on carbon emission efficiency as highlighted by Lin et al. 45 . Therefore, it is suggested that future studies incorporate the intensity and enforcement of environmental regulations into the model. By doing so, a more accurate assessment can be made regarding their impact on carbon efficiency. Secondly, this study suggests a pathway for tourism development to have an impact on carbon emission efficiency by influencing industrial structure. However, it does not delve deeply into the specific methods of adjusting industrial structure. Ahmad et al. 12 have demonstrated that tourism's alternative impact on traditional manufacturing and high-carbon industries is a crucial approach to reducing carbon emissions. Future studies can potentially further analyze the contribution of tourism to the low-carbon transformation of industrial structure. Thirdly, this study suggests that FDI has a negative impact on carbon emission efficiency, but it does not fully discuss its potential positive effects. Zhang et al. 47 have found that foreign direct investment can introduce advanced environmental protection technology and management experience, thereby improving the city's carbon emission efficiency. Therefore, future studies should how to achieve a positive impact on carbon emission efficiency through policy guidance and optimization of FDI structure.

Data availability

The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding authors.

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Zhao, X., Li, T. & Duan, X. Studying tourism development and its impact on carbon emissions. Sci Rep 14 , 7463 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-58262-w

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Home > Books > Advances in Landscape Architecture

Role of Ecotourism in Sustainable Development

Submitted: 28 December 2012 Published: 01 July 2013

DOI: 10.5772/55749

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1. Introduction

Ecotourism is a sub-component of the field of sustainable tourism. Ecotourism’s perceived potential as an effective tool for sustainable development is the main reason why developing countries are now embracing it and including it in their economic development and conservation strategies. Ecotourism, as an alternative tourism, involves visiting natural areas in order to learn, to study, or to carry out activities environmentally friendly, that is, a tourism based on the nature experience, which enables the economic and social development of local communities. It focuses primarily on experiencing and learning about nature, its landscape, flora, fauna and their habitats, as well as cultural artifacts from the locality. A symbiotic and complex relationship between the environment and tourist activities is possible when this philosophy can be translated into appropriate policy, careful planning and tactful practicum. Carefully planned and operated ecotourism sites, especially if it is village-based and includes local participation, is able to provide direct benefits that might offset pressure from other less sustainable activities that make use of natural and cultural resources. Eco tourism, natural resources, cultural heritage, rural lifestyle and an integrated tourism is a type of local economic activities. Therefore, ecotourism in naturel and culturel areas was carried out with a number of elements in their natural landscape and cultural landscape (water, vista, topography, vegetation, clean air), as well as in the variety of recreational activities suitable for all kinds of environments. Therefore, ecotourism and its natural assets and raw materials to create, as well as directing people to travel is an attractive force.

Ecotourism helps in community development by providing the alternate source of livelihood to local community which is more sustainable. Its aim is to conserve resources, especially biological diversity, and maintain sustainable use of resources, which an bring ecological experience to travelers, conserve the ecological environment and gain economic benefit. However, achieving the aims in ecotourism depends on whether they are environmentally and ecologically sustainable and economically applicable. Ecotourism helps in involving local community for the conservation of the ecology and biodiversity of the area that biodiversity in return provides the economic incentives to the local community. Eco-tourism contributes to conservation of biodiversity; sustains the well-being of local people; involves responsible action on the part of tourist and the tourism industry; promotes small and medium tourism enterprises; requires lowest possible consumption of natural resources; stresses local participation, ownership, and business opportunities, particularly for rural people; and above all includes the learning experiences.

In order for ecotourism to encourage patterns of sustainability, which can benefit local communities, protect the environment, and be economically viable, it must be comprehensive and account for the complexity of issues that have been mentioned in this paper.

This chapter has revealed that there is a need for sustainable development in tourism, and the connection between tourism and environment is much stronger than in other sectors. Ecotourism must account for social, economic and environmental implications, in order to succeed. The purpose of this study look at ways in which ecotourism and sustainable development can be evaluated; and suggest ways to improve current ecotourism practices. In parallel with this purpose, it was aimed at looking for an answer to questions of: What is Ecotourism? “What might be the effects of ecotourism?” What are the impacts and challenges of ecotourism? What are the possible benefits that ecotourism can bring? Within this scope, we focused on ecotourism’s definition, its objectives, the reasons of its emergence and development, its principles, its types, its environmental, social and economic impacts; ecotourism and sustainable development and on the examination of approaches to ecotourism in Turkey and Europe.

In this section, the subjects below will be discussed.

Introduction

What is ecotourism and its types?

What is sustainable development?

Ecotourism and environmental, social and economic impacts

Ecotourism and sustainable development relationship

Ecotourism – examples of implementation

2. What is ecotourism and its types?

Ecotourism, a unique subset of the tourism industry, is ‚focused on the enhancement or maintenance of natural systems through tourism. Ecotourism means different things to different people. To some, it is the general term that encompasses nature‐based, adventure, soft adventure, and cultural tourism. The term ecotourism was coined in 1983 by “Hctor Ceballos Lascurain” a Mexican environmentalist, and was initially used to describe nature-based travel to relatively undisturbed areas with an emphasis on education. Ecotourism guarantees the sustainable use of environmental resources, while generating economic opportunities for the local people ( Farrell & Runyan 2001 ; Bhattacharya, Chowdhury and Sarkar, 2011 ).

Ecotourism itself is meant to be a sustainable form of natural resource-based tourism. Even though ecotourism lacks a concrete definition, there are many wellrecognized definitions that have formed a clear picture of its core principles, which are shown in Table 1 .

Definitions of ecotourism

The (International) Ecotourism Society in 1990: Responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people in 1996 by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) which describes ecotourism as: Environmentally responsible travel and visitation to natural areas, in order to enjoy and appreciate nature (and any accompanying cultural features, both past and present) that promote conservation, have a low visitor impact and provide for beneficially active socio-economic involvement of local peoples ( Joshi, 2011 )

Ecotourism tries to raise environmental consciousness by exploring ecology and ecosystems and by providing environmental type experiences. Taking part in ecology actively and getting first hand impressions of how ecosystems work influence peoples’ ways of thinking, which finally raises awareness of conservation and protection ( Ecotourism – Sustainable Tourism in National Parks and Protected Areas, 2005 ).

According to Patterson (2002 ), characteristics of an ecotourism business are that it:

Have a low impact upon a protected area’s natural resources and recreation techniques.

Involve stakeholders (individuals, communities, ecotourists, tour operators and government institutions) in the planning, development, implementation and monitoring phases

Limits visitation to areas, either by limiting group size and/or by the number of groups taken to an area in a season

Supports the work of conservation groups preserving the natural area on which the

experience is based.

Orients customers on the region to be visited.

Hires local people and buys supplies locally, where possible.

Recognizes that nature is a central element to the tourist experience.

Uses guides trained in interpretation of scientific or natural history.

Ensures that wildlife is not harassed.

Respects the privacy and culture of local people.

According to Chesworth (1995 ), Ecotourism has six characteristics. These are: a) ecotourism involves travel to relatively undisturbed natural areas and/or archeological sites, b) it focuses on learning and the quality of experience, c) it economically benefits the local communities, d) ecotourists seek to view rare species, spectacular landscapes and/or the unusual and exotic, e) ecotourists do not deplete resources but even sustain the environment or help undo damage to the environment, and f) ecotourists appreciate and respect local culture, traditions, etc.

It focuses primarily on experiencing and learning about nature, its landscape, flora, fauna and their habitats, as well as cultural artifacts from the locality. A symbiotic and complex relationship between the environment and tourist activities is possible when this philosophy can be translated into appropriate policy, careful planning and tactful practicum ( Rahman, 2010 ).

While the details vary, most definitions of eco-tourism boil down to a special form of tourism that meets three criteria:

it provides for environmental conservation;

it includes meaningful community participation;

it is profitable and can be self-sustained

As shown in Fig 1 , there is just a thin line of differentiation between sustainable tourism and ecotourism, which also shows that there is as such no absolute boundary between sustainable and unsustainable tourism ( Eriksson, 2003 ). According to Weaver (2001) ; Ecotourism exists within the broader classification of tourism types which, at an initial level, can be divided into ‘mass tourism’ and ‘alternative tourism’ ( Figure 1) . Mass tourism is seen as the more traditional form of tourism development where short-term, freemarket principles dominate and the maximization of income is paramount. The differences between mass tourism and ecotourism are shown in Table 2 .

Conceptual model of tourism ( Eriksson,2003 )

Ecotourism as a very specific form is part of the broad concept of nature-based tourism, or it can be said that ecotourism describes a nature-based operation in the field of tourism. “The most obvious characteristic of Ecotourism is that it is nature based” Figure 2 ( Weaver (2001 );

Distinct characteristics between mass tourism and ecotourism ( Dorobantu & Nıstoreanu, 2012 )

Relationship of ecotourism to other forms of tourism ( Hill & Gale, 2009 )

Adventure tourism is defined as: “an outdoor leisure activity that takes place in an unusual, exotic, remote or wilderness destination, involves some form of unconventional means of transportation, and tends to be associated with low or high levels of activity” ( Fennel & Dowling, 2003 ). According to this definition of adventure tourism and to that of ecotourism as previously stated, it seems that there are many overlapping concepts.

Ecotourism is a component of sustainable tourism. In many ways, sustainable tourism exemplifies the relationship between ecotourism and sustainable development ( Sâmbotın et al., 2011 ; Bansal & Kumar, 2011 );

Sustainable tourism will focus on three areas:

Quality – valuable experience for visitors and increased life quality for host communities through cultural identity, poverty reduction and environmental quality;

Continuity – exploitation is made at the optimum level that allows the preservation and regeneration of the natural resources;

Balance between the needs of tourism industry, environmental protection, and local communities by an equitable distribution of benefits among stakeholders

Standarts of ecotourism ( Weaver & Lawton, 2007 );

Protection of the Ecosystem

Maintenance of the ecosystem where the ecotourism attraction is located

Protection and maintenance of wildlife especially endangered species

Wildlife live harmoniously with people

Maintenance of the physico-chemical conditions of the area

Maintenance of the quality of fresh water and marine resources

No wastes overflow and contamination of the environment (water, soil and air)

Conservation of local culture and history

Culture of locality is maintained

Historical structures are maintained as part of cultural heritage

Infrastructures and signboards blend with the environment

Sustainability

Maintenance of Carrying Capacity of the environment;

Environmental education program is part of the ecotourism package;

Livelihood must benefit more the local community than outside entrepreneurs;

The local government supports the ecotourism project through ordinances and resolutions; and

The Management Board (community-based) and appropriate government agencies, e.g. DENR, support the project through strict enforcement of environmental laws

Experience and product management should follow principles and practices associated with ecological, socio-cultural and economic sustainability.

Many dimensions clearly emerge from these widely stated definitions including ( Matthews, 2002 )

Ecotourism occurs in natural areas (most often protected areas) and/or places of unique ecological or cultural interest

Ecotourism contributes to conservation or preservation of the natural resources and promotes stewardship of natural and cultural resources.

Ecotourism should create necessary funds to promote permanent protection of ecological and socio-cultural resources

The local residents accrue economic and social benefits thereby contributing to project’s long-term success.

Ecotourism incorporates environmental and cultural education.

Ecotourism should be effectively managed for the long-term through minimal negative impacts on the host environment.

Ecotourism should provide a quality tourism experience.

These principles and standards must be put in place by those who develop ecotourism products, as well as those who plan the development of an area-based ecotourism. In ecotourism branch a special place is given by the marketing concept. The importance of proper marketing is widely recognized throughout the tourism sector that today tourism market has become increasingly segmented over the methods of communication to reach consumers have multiplied and diversified ( Boghean & Boghean, 2006 ).

3. What is sustainable development?

The concept of sustainability first appeared in the public scene in the report put out by the World Commission on Environment and Development (Brundtland Commission) in 1987. The commission report advances the idea of sustainable development by noting that economic growth and environmental conservation are not only compatible but they are necessary partners. One cannot exist without the other ( Harris et al., 2002 ).Sustainable development is high potential for any community within economic, social, cultural, ecologic and physical constraints ( Bhuiyan et al., 2012 ). Sustainable development has been defined in many ways, but the most frequently quoted definition is from Our Common Future, also known as the Brundtland Report:

"Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It contains within it two key concepts ( IISD, 2012 ):

The concept of needs, in particular the essential needs of the world's poor, to which overriding priority should be given; and

The idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organization on the environment's ability to meet present and future needs."

Van der Merwe & Van der Marwe (1999) add that Sustainable development is a program for changing the process of economic development so that it ensures a basic quality of life for all people and at the same time protects the ecosystems and community systems that make life possible and worthwhile.

This was the dominant dilemma addressed by the Brundtland Commission which indicated that sustainable development should, as a minimum, address the following elements ( Wall, 2007 );

Maintenance of ecological integrity and diversity;

Meet basic human needs;

Keep options open for future generations;

Reduce injustice; and

Increase self-determination.

It was further suggested that in order for this to occur, it would be necessary to:

Revive economic growth;

Change the quality of growth;

Meet essential needs such as for jobs, food, energy, water and sanitation;

Conserve and enhance the resource base;

Reorient technology and manage risk; and

Merge environment and economics in decision making.

Defined sustainable development as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It is often called intergenerational equality, the idea is that we should share natural resources not just with people who are alive on the planet today but also with future generations of the earth’s inhabitants. Sustainable development integrates economic, social with the aforementioned environmental goals. Sustainability highlights on the resource conservation ( Dixon & Pretorius, 2001 ; Mebratu, 1998 ; Jaini, Anuar & Daim, 2012 ). Dixon & Pretorius (2001 ) cite the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), which emphasizes environmental, social and economic concerns as three distinct but interrelated components of sustainable development.

According to Hall (2008 ) sustainable development and tourism present change which refers to the movement from one state or condition to another. Whether such a transition is positive or negative depends on the original criteria by which change is measured. Sustainable tourism requires the informed participation of all relevant stakeholders, as well as strong political leadership to ensure wide participation and consensus building. Achieving it requires monitoring of impacts, introducing the necessary preventive and/or corrective measures whenever necessary. Sustainable tourism should also maintain a high level of tourist satisfaction and ensure a meaningful experience to the tourists, raising their awareness about sustainability issues and promoting sustainable tourism practices amongst them ( World Tourism Organisation, 2001 ).

Sustainable development through ecotourism is a concerning issue in the world today. Many countries have ensured their regional development by this concept. In this concept, sustainable development may be occurred by the ecotourism and regional development ( Figure 3) simultaneously in an area. Dimensions of ecotourism development refer to the environmental, economic, and social aspects of tourism development, and a suitable balance between these dimensions must be established to maintain its long-term sustainability ( Bhuiyan et al, 2012 ).

Sustainable development throught ecotourism ( Bhuiyan et al., 2012 )

4. Ecotourism and environmental, social and economic impacts

Tourism can be sustainable if development meets the needs of tourists and local residents while protecting future opportunities. Ecotourism offers benefits for local residents, conservation, development and educationalexperiences. Ecotourism is a sustainable form of natural resource-based tourism. It focuses primarily on experiencing and learning about nature, its landscape, flora, fauna and their habitats, as well as cultural artefacts from the locality ( Dowling,1997 ; Fennell, 1999 ).

Ecotourism entails a combination of conservation and tourism (the economics related with it) to benefit local communities, especially focusing on sustainability ( Myburgh & Saayman, 2002 ).

Natural and cultural landscape values form a basis for ecotourism. These values are geographical position, microclimatic conditions, existence of water, natural beauties, existence of natural vegetation, existence of wildlife, surface features, geomorphologic structure, local food, festivals and pageants, traditional agricultural structure, local handicrafts, regional dress culture, historical events and people, heritage appeals, architectural variety, traditional music and folk dance, artistic activities and so on ( Gerry, 2001 ; Lane, 1993 , Lanquar, 1995 ; Soykan, 1999 ; Brıassoulis, 2002 , Catibog-Sinha & Wen, 2008 ; Mlynarczyk, 2002 ; Drzewiecki, 2001 ; Kiper, 2006 ).

Ecotourism operates for one or more of the eco-friendly alternatives for the economic use of natural resources compared with mining, hunting, farming and so on ( Li, 2006 ). Ecotourism promotes an enhanced appreciation of natural environments and environmental education by exposing visitors and locals to nature and conservation ( Bob et al., 2008 ).

Ecotourism is largely perceived to safeguard natural areas and thereby to contribute to the conservation of biodiversity. It focuses primarily on experiencing and learning about nature, its landscape, flora, fauna and their habitats, as well as cultural artefacts from the locality. In ecotourism planning the first issue that emerges is the environment and its conservation ( Munn, 1992 ; Ceballos-Lascurain, 1996 ; Gössling, 1999 ; Tisdell & Wilson, 2002 ; Lindsey et al., 2005 ; Lopez-Espinosa de los Monteros, 2002 ; Fung & Wong, 2007 )

An ecotourism destination must in no way be developed without planning in terms of environmental concern ( Rahman, 2010 ). Within the ecotourism implementation existence of water resources creates advantages in terms of both visuality and utilization. Climatic features of a region influence tourism directly and indirectly and play a crucial role in the development of tourism. Plants drawing interest thanks to their size, age or appearance are other appealing components of ecotourism. Flowering plants are important resources in ecoturism. Historical, natural and folkloric values are important sources for ecotourism. According to Soykan, traditional commercial products are one of the most significant appeals leading to development of ecotourism in a region. This is because whole production process from planting to harvest and processing bear cultural differences, and most of them are performed in traditional ways ( Kiper, 2011 ).

Ecotourism has the potential to seriously impact local communities, largely due to the tendency of ecotourists to have a greater interest in the culture and nature of the areas they visit, as compared to mass tourists ( McMinn, 1997 ).

Ecotourism destinations are always environmentally sensitive because ecotourism activities directly involve various environmental phenomena including bird watching, trekking, mountaineering, horse riding and elephant riding within the forest wilderness trail, staying in natural caves, studying about flora and fauna, simple bush walking, fishing, animal behavior study, ecological studies ( Rahman,2010 ). Ecotourism always incorporates various activities in nature (hiking, mountain climbing, observing the living beings in their natural habitat, etc.), but it may include cultural activities, too. Ecotourism is an important educational component, it is a chance to learn respect for nature, for the local culture, and for some it is a chance to self-reflection being inspired by the beauty of the surroundings.

5. Ecotourism and sustainable development relationship

Tourism is a highly complex activity and thus requires tools to assist in effective decision making to come to terms with the competing economic, social, and environmental demands of sustainable development ( Fadahunsi, 2011 ). Table 3 indicates some interesting examples of potential risks from tourism activities, which are especially crucial in naturel and culturel areas.

Potential Risks from Tourism (Ecotourism – Sustainable Tourism in National Parks and Protected Areas, 2005)

Ecotourism has been regarded as a panacea for solving many of the environmental and economic problems of lessdeveloped nations. Yet, regardless of how socially and environmentally responsible ecotourism may be in theory, in practice it remains rooted in the tourism industry ( Wall, 1997 ). Similarly, tourism activities generally can create various negative impacts on the surrounding environment. Increased human interference in ecologically fragile areas can cause irreversible change in the existing ecological processes. These problems can be reflected in degrading natural resources, vegetation structure and the size of the habitat patch, increasing deforestation and decreasing upstream water flow ( Tourism Queenland, 2002 ).

Ecotourism is rooted in the concept of sustainable development, as defined by the World Commission on Environment and Development’s Brundtland report (1987) ( Place, 1995 ; King & Stewart, 1992 ; McMinn, 1997 ; Stem et al., 2003 ). According to the emergence of sustainable tourism development it is proven that the milestone for its emergence was the Brundtland Report by the WCED in the year 1987. Previously, many ideas in this field had been developed at the IUCN -The World Conservation Union and referenced in the World Conservation Strategy published in 1980 ( Ritchie & Crouch, 2003 ). Ecotourism is often perceived as an tool for promoting sustainable development in developing countries. Ecotourism helps in community development by providing the alternate source of livelihood to local community which is more sustainable. Many view ecotourism as a viable way to protect the natural environment and create social and economic benefits for local communities. Ecotourism encompasses a spectrum of nature-based activities that foster visitor appreciation and understanding of natural and cultural heritage and are managed to be ecologically, economically and socially sustainable. Therefore, ecotourism is accepted as an alternative type of sustainable development. Ecotourism has attracted increasing attention in recentyears, not only as an alternative to mass tourism, but also as a means to promote a country’s economic development and environmental conservation. Its aim is to conserve resources, especially biological diversity, and maintain sustainable use of resources, which can bring ecological experience to travelers, conserve the ecological environment and gain ( Bansal & Kumar, 2011 ; Godratollah et al., 2011 ; Tewodros, 2010 ). Ecotourism is increasingly being lauded as a sustainable development option for rural communities, one that is able to spur economic development ( Vogt, 1997 ) and instill environmental protection at the same time ( Cater, 2002 ). If the environment has not at least achieved a net benefit toward its sustainability and ecological integrity, then the activity is not ecotourism.

Many groups have proposed sets of guidelines or principles for sustainable tourism and ecotourism. Ecotourism is a sustainable version of tourism in natural areas, including at the same time elements of rural and cultural tourism. Besides subscribing to the principles of sustainable tourism, ecotourism has specific principles: it contributes actively to the conservation of natural and cultural heritage, it includes local communities in planning, development and operation activities, and it contributes to their welfare, it involves complete and interesting explanations for visitors, regarding the natural and cultural resources, it is intended mainly to individual visitors and also to small organized groups ( Sâmbotın et al, 2011 ). According to Buchsbaum 2004 ; in many ways, sustainable tourism exemplifies the relationship between ecotourism and sustainable development. Many groups have proposed sets of guidelines or principles for sustainable tourism and ecotourism Tourism Concern and the World Wildlife Fund for Nature developed a wellknown list of principles and guidelines in 1991, which are presented in Table 4 .

Principles for Sustainable Tourism ( Blamey, 2001 ).

Medina (2005 ) explains that a criterion for sustainable tourism should include indicators of social and economic sustainability adding up to indicators of environmental sustainability. In addition, Wall (1997) has argued that for tourism to contribute to sustainable development it must be economically viable, environmentally sensitive and culturally appropriate, and the forms that this might take are likely to vary with location. The following table 5 . develops sustability goals of ecotourism. Achieving sustainable tourism—defined here as tourism that is ecologically benign, economically feasible and socially acceptable—is thus contingent on environmental protection and reconciling tourism activities with local socio-economic values ( Brown et al., 1997 ).

Three systems of sustainability in ecotourism development (According to Wall 1997; Alexander and Whitehouse 2004; ( Jiang 2008 ).

These criteria include quantification of environmental performance for most of the key environmental indicators. This allows recognition and encouragement of ecotourism product that makes measured environmental improvements which result in a more sustainable world (http://www.ecoroute.eu/brochures/Report_SW_Europe_draft30-04-2004.pdf. Review of criteria, procedures and legal framework for ecotourism in Europe).

According to Rome (1999 ); Ecotourism is one strategy for supporting conservation and providing income for communities in and around protected areas. It can contribute to economic development and conservation of protected areas by: a) generating revenues that can be used to sustainably manage protected areas, b) providing local employment and c) inculcating a sense of community ownership. However, without careful planning and management that balance ecological, social, and economic objectives, it may lead to environmental damage. Furthermore, envisioned as a positive approach towards sustainable development, unplanned or poorly planned and implemented tourism can have serious negative effects, offsetting the benefits it was designed to provide. Even the potential local benefits of ecotourism can lead to environmental damage to a protected area.

The core set of eight principles are that ecotourism product should: ( The Green Globe 21 International Ecotourism Standard , 2004 )

Focus on giving visitors the opportunity to personally and directly experience nature (Natural Area Focus);

Provide opportunities to experience nature in ways that lead to greater understanding, appreciation and enjoyment (Interpretation);

Represent best practice for environmentally sustainable tourism (Environmental Sustainability Practice);

Contribute directly to the conservation of natural areas (Contribution to Conservation);

Provide ongoing contributions to the local community (Benefiting Local Communities);

Be sensitive to, interpret and involve the culture/s existing in the area (Cultural Respect);

Consistently meets consumer expectations (Customer Satisfaction) ; and

Be marketed and promoted honestly and accurately so that realistic expectations are formed (Responsible Marketing).

One of the most influential ecotourism documents, the Quebec Declaration on Ecotourism (2002), produced after the World Ecotourism Summit during the International Year of Ecotourism, recognized that not only does ecotourism embrace the principles of sustainable tourism but it also embodies the following specific principles: (1) contributes actively to the conservation of natural and cultural heritage; (2) includes local and indigenous communities in its planning, development and operation, and contributes to their well-being; (3) interprets the natural and cultural heritage to visitors; (4) encourages independent travelers, as well as organized tours for small size groups. TIES’ (2010) asserts that those involved in ecotourism should follow six principles: (1) minimize impact; (2) build environmental and cultural awareness and respect; (3) provide positive experiences for visitors and hosts; (4) provide direct financial benefits for conservation; (5) provide financial benefits and empowerment for local people; and (6) raise sensitivity to hosts’ cultures political, and social climate)( McLaughlin, 2011 ).

The participants at the World Ecotourism Summit, held in Quebec in May 2002, have acknowledged that ecotourism respects the principles of sustainable tourism referring to the economic, social and environmental impact, with some further specific principles ( Sâmbotın et al, 2011 );

Ecotourism actively contribute to the conservation of natural and cultural heritage.

Ecotourism include local communities in the activities of planning, development and operation, and it contributes to

their welfare.

Ecotourism involves complete and interesting explanations for visitors, regarding the natural and cultural resources.

Ecotourism is intended mainly for individual visitors and small organized groups.

According to Ramwell and Henry (1996) point out four basic principles of sustainable development and sustainable ecotourism tourism development (Yogi, 2010).

Holistic and strategic planning

Conservation of essential ecological system

Conservation of both human (cultural) and natural heritage

Long term development and productivity for the future generation.

So both sustainable tourism and sustainable development focuses on the same key issues of ecology, society, and a systemic process of development that is guided by strategic planning ( Yogi, 2010 ).

6. Ecotourism – examples of implementation

More tranquil, natural and original spaces are preferred to ordinary tourism centers. Likewise, individuals have begun to prefer activities, which they can particularly perform in naturel and culturel areas and with which they can learn original cultural values and be within the nature, instead of sea-sand-sun tourism. Ecotourism has increased very quickly in recent years especially in developing countries. These are highlighted in Table 6 and pertain to economic aspects, impacts on culture, environmental concerns and development. In the Tourism Strategy of Turkey-2023 and the Ninth Development Plan (2007-2013), it is aimed to utilize natural, cultural, historical and geographical values of Turkey based on conservation-use balance, to increase the share of Turkey from tourism and to promote the attractiveness of regions via alternative tourism types like ecotourism ( Tourism Strategy of Turkey-2023 , 2007; Ninth Development Plan, 2006 ).

Ecotourism is implemented differently around the world, and the impacts on native cultures vary similarly. It is universal that tourism is a crucial industry to provide economic support to developing countries. An international pact in 1996 designated the tourism industry as the paramount economic growth strategy within Central America ( Moreno, 2005 ). At this point, “Ecotourism” activities have particularly recently become sectors which can create great changes both in socio-cultural and economic aspects.

Effects of eco-tourism in international countries ( Watkin, 2003 ; Kiper, Özdemir, Sağlam, 2011 )

Ecotourism activities have been sorted into the following categories: ( Economic Development Branch BC Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management, 2003 )

Marine Ecotourism

marine cruising including sailing, yacht and power cruising

sea kayaking tours

Land based Ecotourism

Bicycle Touring/Mountain Biking

Horseback Trail Riding

Hiking/Backpacking/Trekking

Freshwater River Rafting, Canoeing and Kayaking

Winter Tourism (Back Country /Tour Skiing, Dog Sledding, Snow Shoeing)

Walking, camping, boating, hunting, sight-seeing, swimming, cultural activities, observing wildlife and nature, skiing, visiting historical places, and horse riding among

The general trend in ecotourism is to increase experiences by encouraging activities such as long-distance walking, camping, boating, hunting, sight-seeing, swimming, cultural activities, bicycling, observing wildlife and nature, skiing, visiting historical places, and horse riding among others. Generally, instructive activities, for example, wildlife observation, participation in festivals, cultural activities and nature landscapes, attract most attention. Activities like hiking, outdoor sports, picnic, paragliding arranged according to different areas of interest influence the preferences of many visitors ( Kiper, 2011 ; Cengiz, 2007 ). According to Soykan, for Europeans rural roads are natural and cultural heritages. This is because they have natural, economic and cultural identities. Some give us opportunity to familiarize with local planting patterns by passing through agricultural lands, some lie among virgin natural areas with beautiful views (e.g. forests, rivers, lakes) and some connect the settlements which have unique cultural monuments. Therefore, in many countries in Europe (specifically Austria, Switzerland and France, which have mountainous areas) long distance trekking is well-organized ( Kiper, 2011 ).

In order for ecotourism to have a sustainable development, the analyses for determining land use suitabilities gain importance. It and other similar methods set standards or ranges of acceptable change and describe a methodology for determining these standards, measuring impacts and identifying management strategies for controlling negative impacts. They include ve includeIn recent years resources assessments have adopted oppottunity spectrum methods.

Opportunty spectrum this group includes ( Fagence, 2001 ; Rome, 1999 ) ;

ROS (Recreation Opportunty Spectrum)

TOS (Tourism Opportunty Spectrum)

LAC (Limits of Acceptable Change)

TA (Threshold Analysis, and more recently UET-ultimate environmental thresholds)

ECOS (Ecotourism Opportunty Spectrum)

Limits of Acceptable Change (LAC)

Visitor Impact Management (VIM)

Visitor Experience and Resource Protection (VERP)

Tourism Optimisation Management Model (TOMM)

The ECOS model ( Table 7) has been developed especially to cope with the peculiar needs of planning for ecotourism the capture of ecolpgical base-line data is the important first step.

Refinement to ECOS assesments could include

Landscape assesments (to differentiate geographical sectors according to their principal ecotourism resources, stages of “naturalness/change, levels of ecotourist interest)

Attractiveness indices ( to differentiate according to uniqueness, international drawing power, primacy-a measure of comparative attraction)

Resource status (to differentiate according to the degree of disturbance of the natural resource, and any circumstance which might impede its sustainability or cause its attractiveness to be forfeited –a form of carrying capacity assesment)

Conservation potential (including rehabilitation potential)

Marketing assesments (combining some of the other assessments according to an aggregation of attractiveness for particular consumer/tourist market segments –to interpet the feasibility of capturing and sustaining tourist interest)

This data is then assessed or measured in terms of the capacity to be used in ecotourism, with the assessment focusing on eight important factors:

ECOS models ( Fagence, 2001 )

Also, “Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Methods” are used widely in detecting land use suitabilities. The integration of ELECTRE, to give the order of precedence of uses, with GIS, a quite important means in spatial planning studies, will enable to reach successful results. Studies for determining the suitabilities for use of a land for ecotourism will also determine the development of the land in the following years and the sustainability of its resource values.

In the eco-tourism plans, diversifying economic and ecologic activities by starting and developing organized eco-tourism practice, enhancing the life quality of the locals with the economic gains provided by eco-tourism, increasing the participation of habitat conservation, improving environmental conscious, conserving natural, cultural and historical landscape values and passing them onto the next generation and popularizing ecotourism planning with the support and participation of responsible and related organizations should be aimed. Good planning of natural and cultural elements that create resources for eco-tourism activities and their management will make important contributions to the local public. ( Gültekin, 2010 ).

While envisioned as a positive approach towards sustainable development, unplanned or poorly planned and implemented tourism can have serious negative effects on the environment and on communities, offsetting the benefits it was designed to provide. In order to anticipate negative impacts and to prevent or mitigate them, ecotourism impacts monitoring is required. The sample of potential ecotourism monitoring ındicators are shown in Table 8 .

A sample of potential ecotourism monitoring ındicators ( Rome, 1999 )

7. Conclusion

Various tendencies also occur in the understanding of tourism upon changing living conditions. More tranquil, natural and original spaces are preferred to ordinary tourism centers. Likewise, individuals have begun to prefer activities, which they can particularly perform in naturel and culturel areas and with which they can learn original cultural values and be within the nature, instead of sea-sand-sun tourism. At this point, “Ecotourism” activities have particularly recently become sectors which can create great changes both in socio-cultural and economic aspects. Main purpose is not only ensuring the socio-economic development but also the protection of natural and cultural landscape values to ensure awareness of nature conservation on the other hand.

Ecotourism should be seen in direct relation to nature conservation (protected areas), with preservation of the authentic and involving local communities in all stages of the process. Development process is a lengthy process, which requires a sustained effort from all those involved but can bring major benefits in the long term, contribute directly to the creation of "sustainable existing 'target area ( Roxana, 2012 ).

Ecotourism is about ( Roxana, 2012 );

environmentally responsible travel to relatively undisturbed natural areas,

travel in order to enjoy, study and appreciate nature,

the promotion of conservation,

combining sustainable development with the natural environments,

the use of natural assets and resources in ecologically sensitive areas to create unique visitor experiences with minimal impact on the area.

After research we can draw the main conclusions of this work, as it follows: ( Sâmbotın, 2011 )

Ecotourism is a form of tourism developed in natural areas, whose goal is to acknowledge and to appreciate nature and local culture, which includes conservation measures and ensures an active involvement, generating benefits for the local population;

Ecotourism clothes the sustainable tourism principles, but differs from it by aspects related to local community issues, interpretation for visitors to a particular destination, the number of visitors;

Tourism has a complex impact on the environment, but it is also generating both cost and benefits;

The interest of tourists for travel in natural areas (land or water) has increased recently;

Ecotourism contributes to increased revenues from tourism, but also to the positive social effects;

Worldwide, there are a large number of natural areas associated with a specific cultural diversity, resulting in particular through the perpetuation of the long traditions and customs;

Tourists have a certain responsibility towards the destination visited and the environment by their choice itself, behavior and activities performed in that space, and therefore it is important to be informed about the quality and sensitivity of destinations.

These principles should be envisaged both for lovers of this form of tourism and service providers of such eco-touristic products.

Basic purposes of ecotourism are to preserve and utilize natural and cultural resources in a sustainable way and to enable economic development of local people. However, achieving the aims in ecotourism depends on whether they are environmentally and ecologically sustainable and economically applicable. In order to achieve these, a participative tourism planning is required ( Kiper, 2011 ). Figure 4 illustrates the multiple and diverse elements essential for ensuring that communities fulfil their role in ecotourism development ( Drumm & Moore, 2002 ).

Essential elements for ecotourism in community setting

Now that ecotourism has reached such stature, it is especially important to scrutinize its effectiveness as a strategy for sustainable development, and search for ways to improve policies and practices. Clearly ecotourism is not a universal remedy; but its potential to promote sustainable development deserves considerable attention.

In conclusion, According to Kiper, Özdemir and Sağlam (2011 ); ecotourism activities which are not performed according to the purpose, the principles and the characteristics cause the disturbance in environmental, economic and socio-cultural fields due to over-intensification to be occurred especially in sensitive ecosystems like naturel and culturel areas. Therefore, in order to provide sustainability in the ecotourism, it is necessary to know environmental, social and economical effects of ecotourism activities and to consider these effects during the planning. Tourism planning purposes this. relationship between rational resources requirements Ensuring the sustainable use of natural (water, vista, topography, clean air, natural vegetation structure, microclimatic features of climate, marine and coastal topographic structure and motion, etc.) and cultural resources (Archeological heritage, Religious structures, Conventional architecture, Traditional social activities) to the evaluation of the physical planning decisions in the field of ecological planning strategies ( Dinç and Kocan, 2012 ). Additionally, According to Bunruamkaew & Murayama (2012 ); ecotourism development must promote educational development and create awareness in people of the need to jointly maintain the ecosystem of the area. There is a need to implement development plans and manage natural resources in a way that ensures ecological and environmental integrity. Environmental education and interpretation is the key to creating an enjoyable and meaningful ecotourism experience, and is one of the key points of differentiation between ecotourism and other tourism products. Successful interpretive components of ecotourism products will foster appreciation and support for conservation efforts, local communities and culture.

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© 2013 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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EU Guidebook on Sustainable Tourism for Development

In recognition of the considerable opportunities and issues involved in the development of tourism, in 2012 the European Commission's Directorate-General for Development and Cooperation – EuropeAid established the project “Enhancing capacities for sustainable tourism for development in developing countries”. The project was undertaken in collaboration with the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) which was commissioned to prepare a Guidebook on Sustainable Tourism, as an engine for development, trade in services, job creation and poverty reduction.

The Guidebook is intended to enhance the understanding of tourism in all its dimensions, how it relates to the EU Agenda for Change so as to enable EU services in Brussels and the EU Delegations in 180 countries as well as other development institutions to include sustainable tourism development in their programme cycles.

UNWTO endeavours to maximize tourism’s contribution to, inter alia, development and international understanding, while minimizing its negative impacts, paying particular attention to the growth potential of developing countries. Likewise, the European Union is well placed to support developing countries in identifying and implementing interventions in sustainable tourism.

The approach has been based on the experience of UNWTO and its work with a wide range of partner agencies and governments. In particular, the results of the study have been field tested in six countries during and following the preparation of the document, namely Kenya, India, Vietnam, Senegal, Botswana and Timor-Leste . The guidebook was publicly launched with the EU on the 27th of June 2013 in Brussels.

Background- Sustainable Tourism for Development

Over the last decades, tourism has experienced continued growth and increased diversification, becoming one of the fastest growing economic sectors in the world. The business volume of tourism today equals or even surpasses that of oil exports, food products or automobiles, offering millions of direct entry points into the workforce, particularly for youth and women, and a diversity of investment opportunities for young entrepreneurial talents. Tourism has become one of the major sectors in international trade, at the same time representing one of the main income sources for many developing countries. It is their only service sector with recorded surpluses in trade compared to the rest of the world.

However, tourism can also be a source of environmental damage and pollution, a threat to the socio-cultural structure, a heavy user of scarce resources and a potential cause of negative externalities in society. What must be done?

Tourism in the Global Development Agenda: The future we want Rio+20 outcome document

" Sustainable tourism is highlighted in the final outcome document of Rio+20 as a thematic area and a cross-sectorial issue within the framework for action and follow-up.

130. We emphasize that well-designed and managed tourism can make a significant contribution to the three dimensions of sustainable development, has close linkages to other sectors, and can create decent jobs and generate trade opportunities (…)

131. We encourage the promotion of investment in sustainable tourism, including eco-tourism and cultural tourism, which may include creating small and medium sized enterprises and facilitating access to finance, including through microcredit initiatives for the poor, indigenous peoples and local communities in areas with high eco-tourism potential (…)"

Rio+20: The Future We Want
Green Economy Report leaflet

In recent years, sustainability has emerged as a critical concern that must be addressed in any viable tourism development strategy. Expressed simply, sustainable tourism can be defined as “Tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment, and host communities”. Tourism is one of the ten economic sectors identified in the UNEP Green Economy Report, whose greening could increase prosperity, create employment and reduce poverty. In addition, tourists are increasingly demanding the greening of tourism. Tourism development should hence have a sustainable approach , to be able to promote growth in the long-term while maintaining a balanced use of resources. This should be supported at local, national, regional and international levels.

Developing Countries surpassing advanced economies’ international tourist arrivals in 2015

Although developed countries remain both the major tourism destinations and source of international tourism, developing countries are reducing the gap. In recent decades there has been a substantial diversification in international tourism destinations, and many developing countries have registered phenomenal growth in tourist arrivals and receipts. Tourism also particularly thrives on assets such as natural environment, warm climate, rich cultural heritage and plentiful human resources, where developing countries have a comparative advantage.

Tourism is the first or second source of export earnings in 20 of the 48 LDCs
In some developing countries, notably small island states, tourism can account for over 25% of GDP.
From 2015, emerging economies will, for the first time receive more international tourist arrivals than advanced economies
By 2030, 58% of international arrivals will be to emerging economy destinations of Asia, Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa

Inbound tourism, advanced and emerging economies

However, tourism can also be a source of environmental damage and pollution , a heavy consumer of scarce resources and a cause of negative impacts in society. For these reasons, it is imperative that it is well planned and managed , embracing the principles of sustainable tourism which is defined as “tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry the environment and host communities” .

The Purpose of the Guidebook- Sustainable Tourism for Development

The document is aimed at two main audiences:

The EU and other development assistance agencies – to help them understand and identify opportunities to assist the tourism sector in delivering sustainable development.
Governments and other stakeholders within developing countries – to help them identify where they may need to strengthen their approach to sustainable tourism, and if necessary to seek assistance, within the context of international priorities and policies for sustainable development.

In particular the document provides a basis for discussion between the above two groups in agreeing on priorities and actions for supporting sustainable tourism.

The study is seen as informing the existing cooperation frameworks and common assessment and coordination processes in Official Development Assistance and Aid for Trade . This applies particularly in the field of trade, in which tourism plays an important part, including the work of the Enhanced Integrated Framework in promoting Diagnostic Trade Integration Studies and in the delivery of Aid for Trade.

The study contributes to the positioning of tourism within the overarching framework for action on green growth, poverty eradication and sustainable development post-2015 , stemming from Rio+20 and addressed by the European Commission in Communication (2013) 92 A Decent Life for All: Ending poverty and giving the world a sustainable futur e

“Sustainable Tourism for development in developing countries”: A document in three interlinking parts

The Guidebook takes a comprehensive approach to tourism, covering a wide range of topics relating to its planning, development, management and impact. By working through the whole document, users are able to identify priorities for intervention across a spectrum of issues.

The Guidebook’s aim is to mainstream tourism by:

Enhancing understanding and commitment to sustainable tourism.
Providing guidance to assess the tourism sector’s importance, identifying opportunities for sustainable tourism development, planning actions, and enhancing sustainability of projects.
Delivering a “Sustainable Tourism for Development Study” which will enable the EU and other development institutions to include sustainable tourism development in their programme cycles.

The guidebook is divided in the three parts described below:

GUIDANCE NOTE: Relates the UE framework for development, e.g. the EU Agenda for Change and Tourism pillars (methodology) and relates to EU priorities. It aims at providing guidance to EU services on the approaches required to ensure the effective implementation of priorities for sustainable tourism in developing countries.
SITUATION ANALYSIS : Describes the macro-economic dimensions of tourism; its contrubution to improve the situation of a country and its relation with other sectors; policies in place to develop the sector and its contribution to sustainable development and reviews the existing policies and programmes auming at developing sustainable tourism in developing countries.
METHODOLOGY: Designes to ptovide EU delagrions with a sustematics approach to understand the impact and value of the tourism sector in the country and the way it is managed and operated; and to understand which actions are appropriate to improve the situation through tailored interventions.

“The Methodology”: How to assess priorities for Sustainable Tourism in Developing Countries?

The Methodology follows a systematic structure which, through a series of questions * under each issue, enables the situation to be assessed, weaknesses and gaps identified and possible actions considered, while also pointing to existing services that are available. It focuses on five key pillars of sustainable tourism in developing countries:

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Questionnaire Pillar 1- Tourism policy and governance
Questionnaire Pillar 2- Trade Investment, Data and Competitiveness
Questionnaire Pillar 3- Employment, Decent Work and Capacity Building
Questionnaire Pillar 4- Poverty Reduction and Social Inclusion
Questionnaire Pillar 5- Sustainability of natural and cultural environment

Tourism and sustainable development in China: a review

Research Article
Published: 08 July 2020
Volume 27 , pages 39077–39093, ( 2020 )

Cite this article

Chen Haibo 1 ,
Emmanuel Caesar Ayamba ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5808-6239 1 , 2 ,
Thomas Bilaliib Udimal 3 ,
Andrew Osei Agyemang 2 &
Appiah Ruth 4

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The adaption of the open-up reform policies in China some three decades ago has resulted in a rapid economic transformation of which the tourism sector has equally witnessed fast development. Therefore, the essence of this article is to review the evolution and expansion of the tourism industry in China and its obligation to observing international sustainable development policies and practices. Indications of the current policy regime, establishment, and institutions, sustainable development strategies to ensure continuity and availability of resources for future use, environmental sustainability laws and regulations, and promotional events for the development of the tourism industry are made available in this article. In effect, this article reviews how the activities of the tourism sector impacts on the environment. The findings show that China in its quest to be a world leader of tourists’ destination has impacted negatively on the environment which by extension affect the economy and society at large. On the other hand, as a leading nation in the United Nations, China has in contemporary times adapted sustainable development strategies to help safeguard the environment. However, more needs to be done in the area of advanced technology and renewable energy.

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Three pillars of sustainability: in search of conceptual origins

Impact of tourism development upon environmental sustainability: a suggested framework for sustainable ecotourism

Ecotourism and sustainable development: a scientometric review of global research trends

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This work was supported by the General Project of National Social Science Fund “Research on the Motivation and Path of Supply-side Structural Reform for High-quality Development of China’s Tourism Economy” (grant number 18BJY198).

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Destination readiness: Preparing for the tourist flows of tomorrow

Tourism can help build a more connected, more vibrant world. But as tourism grows rapidly, the most visited destinations are experiencing more concentrated flows (Exhibit 1). Recent satellite data suggests that 80 percent of travelers visit just 10 percent of the world’s tourist destinations. The number of travelers and the frequency of their trips are only set to increase.

A large flow of tourists, if not carefully channeled, can encumber infrastructure, harm natural and cultural attractions, and frustrate locals and visitors alike. Today’s tech-enabled travel landscape can exacerbate this issue: one eye-catching photo on a social media network can make a little-known attraction go viral.

About the authors

This article is a collaborative effort by Caroline Tufft , Margaux Constantin , Matteo Pacca , and Ryan Mann , with Ivan Gladstone and Jasperina de Vries, representing views from McKinsey’s Travel, Logistics & Infrastructure Practice.

Against this backdrop, now is the time for tourism stakeholders to combine their thinking and resources to look for better ways to handle the visitor flows of today—while properly preparing themselves for the visitor flows of tomorrow. We offer a diagnostic that destinations can use to spot early-warning signs about tourism concentration, followed by suggestions for funding mechanisms and strategies to help maximize the benefits of tourism while minimizing its negative impacts.

Carrying capacity and its impact on destination readiness

Carrying capacity refers to the maximum number of visitors that a destination can accommodate without causing harm to its physical, economic, and sociocultural environment or compromising the quality of visitors’ experiences. To effectively manage carrying capacity, destinations must first understand their specific limits—then actively work to stay within them.

When a destination exceeds its carrying capacity, the negative effects of tourism may begin to outweigh the benefits (Exhibit 2). Shutting down tourism isn’t always feasible or sustainable. Instead, destinations should focus on increasing their carrying capacity to enable more growth. By adopting early-detection mechanisms and attentively managing carrying capacity, destinations can strike a balance between welcoming visitors and preserving natural and cultural assets and quality of life for residents.

In 2017, leveraging the growing availability of data about travelers, McKinsey, in collaboration with the World Travel & Tourism Council, developed a diagnostic tool to help spot early-warning signals that a destination is under stress from tourism. 1 “ Coping with success: Managing overcrowding in tourism destinations ,” McKinsey, December 14, 2017. This year, we have updated this tool to address the evolving nature of the challenge and the accessibility of more nuanced and precise data (see sidebar “Methodology for assessing destination readiness”).

Methodology for assessing destination readiness

Utilizing information from vendors, publicly available databases, and press searches, we measured airline traffic, accommodation booking activity, and traveler sentiment. 1 Diio Mi; International Air Transport Association; Mabrian Technologies; Oxford Economics; Tripadvisor; UN World Tourism Organization; World Travel & Tourism Council. We also incorporated analysis of data sets obtained from travel-focused groups such as the UN World Tourism Organization and the World Travel & Tourism Council.

Our intent was to identify metrics that indicate the potential effects of concentrated tourism. We examined metrics affecting the following six categories:

Local economy: measuring the potential risk of dependence on tourism based on the speed of tourism growth over the past five years and tourism’s contribution to direct employment and GDP.
Local community: measuring the concentration of tourism in city centers based on inbound arrivals, nights stayed, and tourism accommodations per square kilometer.
Tourist experience: measuring overall tourist sentiment based on reviews of top 20 attractions and guest satisfaction regarding accommodations.
Infrastructure: measuring potential overloading risks caused by tourism based on the seasonal intensity and geographic concentration of visitor arrivals.
Nature and the environment: measuring risks to nature based on carbon emissions generated by travel and sustainability commitments pledged by local hotels.
Culture and heritage: measuring potential threats to cultural sites based on the concentration of visitors at these sites.

Starting with a list of 65 major, representative cities, we’ve separated locations into quintiles indicating levels of potential risk and negative impact stemming from tourism flows (Exhibit 3). While this data is focused on metropolitan areas, the approach can be replicated for all sorts of popular destinations—from beach towns to mountain villages to religious sites.

Destinations can be grouped into the four following archetypes, based on whether they are struggling with visitor flow and whether they have developed tools to manage it:

Seasonally overloaded destinations pair high visitor concentrations with limited tourist-flow-management capabilities. These cities may have room to expand their visitor management tool kits to enhance the experiences of both locals and tourists. Representative examples include Cancún, Dubrovnik, and Marrakech.
Increasingly stressed destinations currently receive limited numbers of visitors but exhibit signs of stressed infrastructure resulting from limited tourism flow management. These cities could both boost their visitor numbers and improve their visitor infrastructure. Representative examples include Los Angeles, Manila, and Mumbai.
Actively managed destinations receive high concentrations of visitors and have developed robust visitor management flows in response. Continuous monitoring and innovation could help these cities continue to adequately manage carrying capacity. Representative examples include Amsterdam, Bangkok, and Dubai.
Balanced-capacity destinations receive relatively fewer visitors but have already implemented sophisticated tourism-flow-management systems. These cities can focus on boosting their visitor numbers while actively monitoring the impact of this growth. Representative examples include Abu Dhabi, Lima, and Singapore.

Seasonally overloaded: Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik is an intensely seasonal destination, with roughly 20 times more inbound airline seats made available for sale during its peak season (July and August) than during low season (January and February). The density of vacation rentals can reach about 90 postings per square kilometer in summer. The city is a popular stop for Mediterranean cruises, and its small, history-laden center can experience concentrated tourist footfalls when a ship is in port.

Dubrovnik falls in the top quintile of risk in four of our six categories, although it has begun taking significant steps to combat overcrowding. The city recently banned new private-rental permits in its historic Old Town neighborhood to counter rising rent costs for locals, 1 Sanjana Shenoy, “Croatia: Historic city Dubrovnik bans new rental permits to curb overtourism & help locals,” Curly Tales, March 15, 2024. and it’s also reorganizing cruise schedules to better stagger visitor flows.

Increasingly stressed: Mumbai

Mumbai is well positioned to capitalize on booming Indian tourism, but the city could benefit from building out its visitor-management-flow systems. Mumbai has the lowest tourism density relative to its population of all cities in our data set, yet visitors report some of the same concerns seen in more popular tourism hot spots, including long waits for entrance to attractions and a plethora of guides and vendors competing for attention. Road traffic is a major detriment to the visitor experience, with tourists in 2023 experiencing an average travel time of 20 minutes to cover ten kilometers.

The city has ambitious plans to reduce congestion with new metro and highway systems that could benefit both locals and tourists. It might have additional room to increase carrying capacity by addressing current visitor pain points—for example, by installing modernized metal detectors to smooth entry into major attractions or by creating centralized guide booths at attractions to help visitors find licensed guides.

Actively managed: Amsterdam

Given Amsterdam’s small geographic footprint, its extreme concentration of visitors puts significant pressure on local infrastructure—affecting the daily experiences of both tourists and residents. It has tried to actively manage tourism through measures such as its recently announced moratorium on hotel development 1 Charlotte Van Campenhout, “Amsterdam bans new hotels in fight against mass tourism,” Reuters, April 17, 2024. and a ban on public smoking of cannabis in its red-light district. 2 “Amsterdam to ban cannabis outdoors in red-light district,” Reuters, February 10, 2023. It has also used marketing to promote less-well-known areas in an effort to channel some visitors away from the most crowded neighborhoods. Amsterdam uses data gleaned from social media and behavior tracked on its tourist-friendly city card to analyze tourist flows and spot areas under stress.

Balanced capacity: Singapore

Renowned for an automated metro train line, futuristic downtown core, and cutting-edge innovation, Singapore has the infrastructure, resources, and practices in place to grow and support larger tourism flows. It currently ranks 56th out of the 65 cities we analyzed in terms of inbound visits per square kilometer.

Singapore’s limited land mass does tend to concentrate visitor flows at top attractions, which could create threats to cultural sites and negatively affect the experiences of both visitors and locals. Recent development projects have expanded the depth and breadth of tourist offerings, creating new attractions that could help increase the city’s carrying capacity and keep it primed for future growth.

Funding destination readiness

Once the need for destination readiness has been identified, questions turn to funding. Destinations should carefully consider which sources and mechanisms to use to generate the revenue needed to address the impacts of tourism—and ensure that the burdens don’t fall disproportionately.

Devise permit systems for individual attractions

Requiring visitors to obtain a paid permit before viewing an attraction can generate revenue while simultaneously helping to manage capacity. Permitting systems are most effective in places where demand frequently exceeds capacity and, if left unchecked, could risk causing harm to ecologically or culturally sensitive locales. Galapagos National Park in Ecuador, for instance, uses a strict permitting system with entrance fees that are applied directly toward preservation efforts.

A potential downside of permit requirements is the financial barrier for tourists who have less ability to pay. Many destinations have instituted lotteries that govern the opportunity to purchase an affordable permit, though this also reduces the funding generated by this strategy. It’s worth noting that there can be limits to the effectiveness of permitting systems: Mount Everest’s sky-high fees haven’t reduced demand from climbers.

Capitalize on major, one-off events

The city of Vancouver was able to use the planning process for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games as a catalyst to unlock government funding for long-desired infrastructure development—including road and train projects that had been stalled for more than a decade. While there’s risk that any given future mega-event won’t lead to sustained tourism demand, it can lead to lasting infrastructure improvements that benefit locals 2 Nelson Bennett, “Path to 2010 Olympics built from asphalt, steel,” Vancouver Is Awesome , February 11, 2020. for years to come.

Explore public–private partnerships

Destinations can pursue public–private partnerships to accelerate development and spread out risk. Common examples of this approach include cofunded or cobuilt event centers or museums. Exclusive concessions established and granted by destinations can provide revenue-generating opportunities to operators or leaseholders in exchange for financial returns and other commitments, such as pledges to sustainably develop and maintain a location or to support local education, infrastructure, and healthcare.

Ensure proceeds from tourism are invested where they are needed

Cities shouldn’t underestimate the strain on waste, water, and road infrastructure that tourism can create. In places where visitors significantly exceed local populations, tourism tax revenue can be budgeted into core municipal expenses, such as road maintenance and waste management, so that repairing wear and tear caused by visitors doesn’t fall entirely on locals. Tourism taxes and entry fees can be redistributed to local communities or used for preservation or restoration projects.

Managing capacity and mitigating negative impacts from growing tourist flows

After risks and funding sources have been identified, there are several promising strategies that the tourism ecosystem can employ to prepare for growing tourist volumes. They are most effective when coordinated across a broad set of stakeholders, including city governments, destination management organizations, hospitality companies, experience providers, transportation authorities, and airlines:

Build and equip a tourism-ready workforce.
Use data to manage and forecast visitor flows.
Be deliberate about which tourist segments to attract.
Distribute visitor footfall over space.
Distribute visitor footfall over time.
Be prepared for sudden, unexpected fluctuations.
Preserve cultural and natural heritage.

Build and equip a tourism-ready workforce

Preparing a tourism workforce goes well beyond making sure that staff at a reception desk are polite. Tourism stakeholders should strive to ensure sufficient labor supply by fostering interest in the tourism sector, training entry-level workers in soft skills, and providing ample opportunities for career advancement. Training can be a collaborative effort by the public and private sectors.

Africa’s not-for-profit Female Guide program partners with leading safari providers to sponsor, train, and employ African women who are interested in conducting safari tours. 3 Sandra MacGregor, “I went on a safari in Botswana with a female guide—here’s why it made all the difference,” Travel + Leisure , December 23, 2023. The alcoholic-beverage company Diageo hosts training for hospitality students near Da Nang, a tourism hot spot in Vietnam, covering bar knowledge, teamwork, and customer service skills.

Regulating and credentialing locals who are part of informal tourism economies can help raise service standards and create more positive tourist experiences. For example, Singapore’s efforts to legalize and license street vending resulted in UNESCO recognition of its street hawker culture. 4 “Hawker culture in Singapore,” National Heritage Board, accessed May 2024.

Use data to manage visitor flows

Destinations can build and continuously improve holistic data monitoring and forecasting systems. Data can be gathered from governments (visa tracking), businesses (accommodation bookings and event ticket purchases), social media platforms (user behavior), and other sources. Crowd monitoring tools can provide real-time data about the location of mobile phones to help forecast and manage visitor flows.

Some destinations provide value in exchange for data. For instance, the I amsterdam City Card offers tourists access and discounts to attractions while tracking where the card is used (see sidebar “How Amsterdam handles its tourist flows”).

How Amsterdam handles its tourist flows

Geerte Udo was CEO of Amsterdam & Partners until earlier this year, when she stepped down after 17 years. Amsterdam & Partners is a public–private foundation that focuses, in part, on managing tourism in the Amsterdam metropolitan area. McKinsey spoke with Udo about Amsterdam’s efforts to handle its large tourist flows. The following is an edited version of the conversation.

McKinsey: How does Amsterdam balance the positive aspects of tourism with some of the challenges that hosting large numbers of visitors can create?

Geerte Udo: We’re very lucky in that we have a beautiful city that sells itself. People want to come here. And the visitor economy has a lot of benefits. It creates jobs, it pays taxes, and 30 percent of our public transport is financed by visitors. Our residents love the cultural infrastructure we have here, and we couldn’t support it by ourselves. We love the diversity and quality of our restaurants and bars, which are also supported by visitors. We need our visitors because they raise the quality of life for our residents.

But there are elements of the visitor economy that can harm the quality of life in the city. We’re seeing more and more visitors because the general income of people across the world is rising, and everybody wants to travel. Like other European cities that are old harbor cities with narrow streets, we have moments where we deal with overcrowding. This is mostly in the old city center, on a few narrow streets, at certain days and times. But the public space there isn’t well organized and can’t handle the number of people who want to go there.

Another issue we have is nuisance. Our city has a reputation: if you want to have a party, come to Amsterdam. It can be very annoying for residents in certain neighborhoods when visitors come to party from Thursday through Sunday evening. It makes it hard for people to live there.

There’s also an issue with managing the amount of waste in the city. Because we have more guests, there’s more waste in the street. And there’s a separate issue with private, short-term rental properties, which can sometimes crowd out housing that’s built for residents.

McKinsey: Are you able to gather data and use it to get insights that can help you handle tourist flows?

Geerte Udo: We have a lot of sources of data. At a European level, we share data with 110 European cities to see what the latest traveler trends are. We can learn from one another and understand, for instance, if a trend is only happening in the northern part of Europe or also in the southern part. More locally, we have a national data center that can tell us how many people visit the city, how long they stay, which countries they come from, their ages, and other factual information.

Our organization also does its own research on visitor behavior. For instance, we sell an I amsterdam City Card. It gives visitors free access to public transport, museums, and various attractions. We sell about 150,000 to 200,000 cards a year, and because people need to check in with our card at the locations, we can see their movement patterns. Over time, we’re able to anticipate when and where people will go. For instance, many people visit museums in the morning and then go on a canal boat ride in the afternoon. We can advise first-time visitors to reverse that order because they’re likely to have better, less crowded experiences that way.

But nudging people only works if you can connect to their needs. We wouldn’t tell a first-time visitor to venture out to a neighborhood that’s not well-known—we understand that if they’re here for the first time, they really want to see the highlights. Whereas if you’re here for the third time, and we know what you’ve been doing and a little bit about your preferences, we can guide you to other neighborhoods and areas we think you’ll enjoy.

We know from data that there’s a trend in behavior where, after 2.4 days, people are often ready to explore beyond the city. This number is similar in other cities, as well. After 2.4 days, people start to ask, “Can you show me where I can get some fresh air for a half day?” And we can then offer them guidance on visiting beaches, windmills, and so forth.

McKinsey: What are some mitigation strategies that you’ve tried or considered?

Geerte Udo: One thing we’ve put effort into is branding and marketing concepts. If people come to our city thinking that everything is in the canal district, it’s hard to guide them to other areas. So we’ve tried to build our image into much more than the canal district, expanding interest into other areas that all have different identities and different flavors.

There have been years of discussions about gating certain areas and charging fees to enter them. That might help generate revenue that the city can spend on cleaning streets and improving the subways, which would be beneficial for the tourism industry. But in my opinion, charging fees or raising tourist taxes won’t reduce visitor numbers at all.

We’ve spent a lot of time with city hall looking into the best ways to organize public spaces. For a long time, urban planning didn’t even take visitors into account when thinking about how to arrange public space. To truly manage visitor flows, there needs to be a bigger-picture, integrated approach to how a city is organized.

None of this will reduce the number of travelers because travel is growing so fast. But we can guide visitors to disperse them across time and space, minimize overcrowding, and put less pressure on the old city center. I think guiding and spreading tourism really can work if we manage to match supply and demand.

Comments and opinions expressed by interviewees are their own and do not represent or reflect the opinions, policies, or positions of McKinsey & Company or have its endorsement.

Be deliberate about which tourist segments to attract

Different tourists arrive with different kinds of baggage—literally and metaphorically. Destinations can be strategic in identifying the types of tourism they want to encourage. Some destinations might welcome (and be able to handle) party crowds, while others might be more interested in attracting families or older travelers. Destinations should work to understand the demographics, preferences, and behaviors of their target customers before tailoring offerings and communications that will appeal to them.

Bhutan requires a sustainable development fee of $100 per day from visitors. This requirement serves to limit the number of visitors and their impact on the small nation while simultaneously creating a sense of exclusivity that spurs increased interest from international travelers.

Distribute visitor footfall over space

Nudging tourists to visit less trafficked areas can help ease congestion at the most famous and popular attractions. This can work at a neighborhood level: pop-up experiences and off-the-beaten-path tours hosted by local guides can entice tourists to explore farther afield. It can also work on a wider geographic scale: TikTok’s “destination dupe” trend surfaces less expensive, less crowded locales that offer many of the same experiences as more crowded destinations (for instance, Taipei instead of Seoul).

Marketing campaigns can frame a destination as a place where visitors chart their own paths. The “I amsterdam” campaign, for example, encourages tourists to create their own personalized versions of the city. AI-powered tools can help craft bespoke itineraries based on visitors’ preferences and interests, matching travelers with unexpected neighborhoods, accommodations, and restaurants that will appeal to their individual tastes.

Developing accommodations and attractions in less dense areas by repurposing assets can also help distribute footfall. Istanbul helped facilitate the restoration of a 1930s tobacco factory and warehouse that became a hotel. The Maboneng Precinct in Johannesburg was a run-down cluster of warehouses before being repurposed to create art galleries, restaurants, and retail spaces.

Distribute visitor footfall over time

Seasonal concentration of tourist activities can cause inefficient use of infrastructure and overload destinations’ ecological, social, and cultural systems. Forty-three percent of travelers already choose to travel off-season to avoid overcrowding. 5 “How to travel: a look at sustainable travel habits,” Booking.com, October 3, 2023. Stakeholders can take steps to encourage even more shifting of visits to off-peak periods. Iceland, for instance, has heavily promoted winter visits to see the Northern Lights, drawing on collaboration across the entire tourism ecosystem—from tour operators developing ice cave excursions to airlines promoting reduced winter airfares.

Distributing visitors across hours is another powerful strategy. The Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve in Hawaii has timed reservations, which smooth visitor numbers across the day and enable a better experience for all. The Petra archaeological site in Jordan has taken a different approach: by creating an evening light and sound show, this popular attraction has expanded the breadth of attractive visitation times.

Because domestic travel represents the bulk of trips, governments might be able to help distribute visitors by carefully managing holiday schedules. For example, the French government has split school holidays so that different regions are on break at different times, which helps mitigate overcrowding during ski season.

Be prepared for sudden, unexpected fluctuations

A viral social media post can send travelers flocking to a destination that might not be prepared for the influx. One beautiful block in Brooklyn’s Dumbo neighborhood earned the nickname “selfie street” when visitors—having seen other tourists’ picturesque selfies on social media—flooded it with phones in hand. Footfall data shows that Dumbo saw an 86 percent increase in visits from 2022 to 2023.

In some instances, this type of behavior can cause significant harm. Access to the secluded Burney Falls waterfall in Northern California was shut down this year in part because of trail damage caused by heavy visitor flows. Data shows that interest in this photogenic spot took off on social media during the COVID-19 pandemic, with peak season in 2023 seeing three to four times as many weekly visitors as in 2019.

Destinations should keep tabs on social media activity and cultural trends that pertain to them. They might consider developing playbooks in advance with planned procedures for handling viral surges. Local tourism stakeholders can attempt to anticipate this type of sudden interest and actively channel it in ways that will mitigate negative impacts. It’s important to be mindful that virality can have different levels of staying power—ranging from a brief phenomenon to an enduring trend.

Preserve cultural and natural heritage

Destinations need to weigh considerations of both accessibility and preservation as they manage tourists’ engagement with natural and cultural attractions. One option is to designate culturally or ecologically significant land and then engage locals in finding ways to strike this balance. Legally protecting lands is a long-standing conservation practice, and governments have increasingly turned to Indigenous populations to better understand cultural sensitivities around specific sites. For example, Indigenous Tourism Alberta partners with Indigenous groups to offer tourists authentic experiences—such as fishing, jewelry making, and hiking—while minimizing negative impacts on nature and culture.

Although tourists often prefer to roam freely around natural sites, limiting access—either geographically or temporally—can be critical to preservation. Creating specific pathways (with showcases for educational material along the way) can allow guests to safely and efficiently walk through a site without causing damage or disturbing wildlife habitats. Sometimes a digital substitute can be an effective solution: Digital Giza lets tourists experience a re-creation of the Egyptian tombs without needing to actually enter them.

Sensitive areas can be closed for predetermined time periods to allow for rejuvenation and sustainable development. And naturally seasonal sites can take advantage of off-peak downtime to fully close and refresh attractions. For example, the Inca Trail in Peru shuts for one month every year during the rainy season to allow nature to recuperate from heavy footfall on the trail. Ideally, these downtimes should be established preventatively and communicated to tourists well in advance, but in some instances, they may need to be prescribed on short notice to prevent imminent damage or rectify harm already done.

As global travel continues to grow, it’s crucial for stakeholders in the tourism ecosystem to be ready for the challenges that could arrive alongside increased visitor flows. By understanding the risks and opportunities, implementing funding strategies, and collaborating across sectors, popular destinations can take steps to preserve their cultural, economic, and environmental assets.

Caroline Tufft is a senior partner in McKinsey’s London office, Margaux Constantin is a partner in the Dubai office, Matteo Pacca is a senior partner in the Paris office, Ryan Mann is a partner in the Chicago office, Ivan Gladstone is an associate partner in the Riyadh office, and Jasperina de Vries is an associate partner in the Amsterdam office.

The authors wish to thank Abdulhadi Alghamdi, Alessandra Powell, Alex Dichter, Cedric Tsai, Diane Vu, Elisa Wallwitz, Lily Miller, Maggie Coffey, Nadya Snezhkova, Nick Meronyk, Paulina Baum, Peimin Suo, Rebecca Stone, Sarah Fellay, Sarah Sahel, Sophia Wang, Steffen Fuchs, Steffen Köpke, Steve Saxon, and Urs Binggeli for their contributions to this article. The authors also wish to thank Mabrian for providing data.

This article was edited by Seth Stevenson, a senior editor in the New York office.

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Tourism | Tourism oversight board backs $17B Disney World…

Tourism | Tourism oversight board backs $17B Disney World development plan

The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District’s board voted unanimously for the 15-year agreement, which outlines how Disney World will grow in the future. It will need a final vote on June 12 to take effect.

“The development agreement will enable us to continue to invest significantly in the district,” said Woody Rodriguez, director of external affairs for Disney Parks, Experiences and Products.

Disney officials haven’t provided specifics on what is in the works, but the company says in the proposal it will invest up to $17 billion over the next 10 to 20 years. The agreement includes a commitment of $8 billion during the first 10 years.

District officials are committing to fund road and other infrastructure projects to support the new development.

In the deal, Disney also agrees to provide $10 million for affordable housing projects and a “buy local initiative” with at least half of construction goods and services going to Florida businesses.

The agreement covers about 17,300 acres owned by Disney, according to a legal announcement. It authorizes a maximum of five major theme parks, one more than Disney operates in Central Florida now.

Company officials have not announced a fifth theme park, although industry insiders are speculating they could with Universal Orlando’s Epic Universe opening next year.

The agreement also allows a maximum of five minor theme parks, such as a water park, nearly 1.3 million square feet of office space, 1.7 million square feet of restaurant/retail space and 53,467 hotel rooms.

The proposal marks a new chapter in the relationship between Disney and Gov. Ron DeSantis. A Disney-DeSantis feud erupted in 2022 over the company’s opposition to what critics called the “don’t say gay” bill, which limited classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity.

The dispute then entered the courts with lawsuits filed over who would control the Reedy Creek Improvement District, which oversees roads and other government services for Disney World.

In February 2023, DeSantis sacked the district board’s five Disney loyalists and replaced them with his political allies. Lawmakers renamed Reedy Creek the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.

In March, Disney and the DeSantis-appointed district board settled a lawsuit in state court over development agreements. A federal lawsuit filed by Disney is still pending, but district officials plan to discuss that suit on June 12.

“We’re heading toward a brand new day, and I think we’re all very excited about where this is going for the employees and residents of the district and business people and really just for the people of Central Florida,” said Charbel Barakat, acting chairman of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District’s board.

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The Walt Disney Co. is gearing up to spend billions of dollars in Central Florida as part of a new development plan, ramping up speculation that the company could be eyeing a major Disney World expansion.

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Free State Economic, Small Business Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs commemorates World Environmental Day, 5 and 7 Jun

In commemoration of World Environmental Day, the Free State Department of Economic, Small Business Development, Tourism, and Environmental Affairs (DESTEA) in partnership with other National Government Departments, Central University of Technology (CUT), Vaal Central Water and Rand Water will embark on various activities to raise awareness, encouraging action to protect the planet and keep the environment clean.

This year’s theme for World Environment Day is “land restoration, desertification, and drought resilience” under the slogan “Our land. Our future. We are #GenerationRestoration.”

The purpose behind commemorating the said day is to raise the environment on managing river health, promoting recycling and re use of waste material to limit amounts ending up at landfills. This initiative requires community participation and commitment about the precursors of air pollution, the implications of air pollution on human well-being as well the impact on biological diversity.

Furthermore, the environmental career expo intended to create a dialogue with relevant stakeholders and keep school learners informed of opportunities within the environmental management sector.

The departmental activities to commemorate World Environmental day will unfold as follows: Clean-up campaign

Date: Wednesday, 05 June 2024 Time: 09:00 – 13:00 Venue: Central University of Technology (IGYM building), @ 10h30 proceed to Mangaung Canal next to Free State Stadium for clean-up session.

Environmental Career Expo

Date: Friday, 07 June 2024 Time: 09:00 – 14:00 Venue: Deneysville-Vaal Dam

Various stakeholders within their respective fields will share their expertise with more than 300 school learners across Fezile Dabi District Municipality on critical matters concerning the environmental sector including walkabout at exhibition stalls to get a better perspective and understanding towards the sector.

Media enquiries: Mojalefa Mphapang Cell: 072 712 6617

Monde Matsha Media Liaison Officer Cell: 066 050 8908

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Article contents

Introduction

Alternative Tourism and Sustainable Development

Community-Based Tourism

Pro-Poor Tourism

Slow Tourism

Impacts of Tourism Development

Economic Impacts of Tourism

Environmental Impacts of Tourism

Social Impacts of Tourism

Sustainability of Tourism

Further Reading

What Is Sustainable Tourism and Why Is It Important?

What Makes Tourism Sustainable?

What Is Sustainability?

Travel Tip:

Environment

Local Culture and Residents

Are You a Sustainable Traveler?

Soft Tourism

Rural Tourism

Community Tourism

Sustainable tourism

Description

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How global tourism can become more sustainable, inclusive and resilient

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