Sustainable tourism: Sustaining tourism or something more?

doi:10.1016/j.tmp.2017.11.017

Tourism Management Perspectives

Volume 25, January 2018, Pages 157-160

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmp.2017.11.017 Get rights and content

Abstract

Tourism today has a problem. It is addicted to growth, which is incompatible with sustainability goals. Despite three decades discussing pathways to sustainable tourism, tourism authorities continue to promote tourism growth despite the ecological and social limits of living on a finite planet. This article argues that tourism must be understood and managed with a wider context of sustainability. Additionally, strategic approaches to transitioning to a sufficiency approach to tourism and leisure is essential if sustainability is to be secured. Recommendations include: transforming the United Nations World Tourism Organization into an Office for Sustainable Mobilities, creating a global Tourism Wealth Fund, fostering diverse approaches to tourism strategies for development and regulating and managing tourism for a better balanced accounting for fairness, ecological limits, human benefit and sustainable futures. The growth fetish is resulting in tourism killing tourism. An approach focused on sustaining tourism is not a sustainable form of tourism send proof to Editor as well as author.

Section snippets

Dr Freya Higgins-Desbiolles is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Management of the University of South Australia. She is a critical tourism scholar with an interest in human rights and social justice issues in tourism. She worked in the development sector prior to becoming a tourism academic and brings a keen interest in the rights of host communities and the role of non-governmental organisations in tourism to her academic work. She has published a number of studies of tourism policy and

References (10)

F. Higgins-Desbiolles
More than an “industry”: The forgotten capacities of tourism as a social force
Tourism Management
(2006)
B. Wheeller
Tourism's troubled times: responsible tourism is not the answer
Tourism Management
(1991)
J. Butcher
The moralisation of tourism
(2002)
R.W. Butler
Tourism: An evolutionary perspective
C.M. Hall
Degrowing tourism: Decroissance, sustainable consumption and steady-state tourism
Anatolia: An International Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research
(2009)

There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (282)

A longitudinal analysis of judgement approaches to sustainability paradoxes
2024, Tourism Management
This research investigates how tourism executives heuristically navigate sustainable tourism paradoxes at a time of unprecedented global change. We do so longitudinally by applying a ‘then’ and ‘now’ perspective and structural narrative analysis to in-depth interview data collected in 2014 and again in 2022, posing the same questions to the same 12 world-wide renowned sustainable tourism executives. The research provides an original investigation of the paradox-mindset needed to grapple with complex challenges of carbon-creation in travel, competing stakeholder needs and how to manage growth with finite resources. Findings provide insight into sustainability paradoxes as mindsets vary between rejection, awareness and acceptance. Empathy ‘now’ replaces elitism ‘then’. Respondents reject the myth of sustainability sacrifice, instead acknowledging sustainability as a necessary driver for good business. Further, despite calls for greater ethical praxis, concrete action appears to fade in the face of self-interest and the ‘tourism saves’ mantra.
Bibliometric analysis of sustainable tourism using CiteSpace
2024, Technological Forecasting and Social Change
Sustainable tourism has become a hot topic in the academic community; however, there is a need to conduct a more in-depth and comprehensive exploration of how this research field is organized and evolved. Therefore, using CiteSpace software, we conduct bibliometric analyses, unveiling this field's dynamic trends in collaboration, co-citation, and co-occurrence evolution. We find that there has been a consistent uptrend in publications in this field since 2013, covering diverse disciplines; besides, European institutions are forerunners in cooperation, and different regions have different collaboration priorities in topics; in addition, the most co-cited author is not the most influential, but the highly cited journals usually have a high impact; furthermore, future research will likely focus on the tourist experience and satisfaction and their pro-environmental behaviors. Compared with previous relevant studies, this paper is innovative as we comprehensively and multidimensionally view the evolution of sustainable tourism research, establish a new knowledge framework to depict the primary ideas of this field, and pinpoint the current challenges and future characteristics of research, which is theme-specific, clear and easy to understand this field's dynamic evolution, and instructive for future research and practice.
A systematic review of coastal zone integrated waste management for sustainability strategies
2024, Environmental Research
Coastal areas stand out because of their rich biodiversity and high tourist potential due to their privileged geographical position. However, one of the main problems in these areas is the generation of waste and its management, which must consider technical and sustainable criteria. This work aims to conduct a systematic review of the scientific literature on integrated solid waste management (ISWM) by considering scientific publications on the scientific basis for the proposal of sustainability strategies in the context of use and efficiency. The overall method comprises i) Search strategy, merging and processing of the databases (Scopus and Web of Science); ii) Evolution of coastal zone waste management; iii) Systematic reviews on coastal landfills and ISWM in the context of the circular economy; and iv) Quantitative synthesis in integrated waste management. The results show 282 studies focused on coastal landfills and 59 papers on ISWM with the application of circular economy criteria. Systematic reviews allowed for the definition of criteria for the selection of favorable sites, such as i) sites far from the coastline, ii) impermeable soils at their base to avoid contamination of aquifers, iii) use of remote sensing and geographic information system tools for continuous monitoring, iv) mitigation of possible contamination of ecosystems, v) planning the possibility of restoration (reforestation) and protection of the environment. In coastal zones, it is necessary to apply the ISWM approach to avoid landfill flooding and protect the marine environment, reducing rubbish and waste on beaches and oceans. Therefore, applying the circular economy in ISWM is critical to sustainability in coastal environments, with the planet's natural processes and variations due to climate change.
A REVIEW OF TOURISM AND BORDERING PROCESSES: Launching the Annals of Tourism Research Curated Collection on tourism and territorial borders
2024, Annals of Tourism Research
This paper presents an interpretative account of the dynamic research field based on the interplay between tourism and territorial borders and bordering processes. In the last two decades, studies in this field have thematically diversified and became more interdisciplinary. They are underpinned by an increasingly relational understanding of the spaces and scales at which the interrelations between tourism and borders occur. This places the research field in a solid position to tackle future socio-spatial complexities related to globalization processes. The article also launches the Annals of Tourism Research Curated Collection on tourism and territorial borders. The Collection contains all previous articles published in Annals of Tourism Research related to the topic and continues to grow as new articles are added.
National Parks as the materialized imaginary of ecological civilization in China
2024, Environmental Science and Policy
Through the case of the Three-River-Source National Park, this study mobilizes the concept of sociotechnical imaginaries to scrutinize how China’s ecological civilization as an application of sustainable imaginaries is materialized into national parks. Drawing on the extensive literature of science and technology studies that conceptualizes sociotechnical imaginaries as a vision of an ideal future, this study opens the perspective on the complex relationship between sustainable imaginaries and national parks. By combining content analysis of Chinese policies with semi-structured interviews, this study highlights translation and coordination as the most critical elements in realizing the materialization of ecological civilization. Furthermore, the ecological civilization mobilizes various policy instruments to materialize the national park as its materialized imaginary. Finally, the ecological civilization has shaped China’s specific discourse on sustainable development and has been put into practice through national parks.
Analysis of factors and strategies for the implementation of sustainable tourism in a green economic structure in China
2024, Journal of Cleaner Production
The tourism industry significantly contributes to the economic development of numerous emerging countries by facilitating the expansion of local enterprises. However, tourism may adversely affect the environment, local communities, and cultural heritage when it is not managed effectively. In this study, the case of Guilin city of China is undertaken for the analysis. Guilin, a popular tourist destination in southern China, has experienced rapid growth in tourism, generating economic benefits but also posing challenges related to environmental sustainability and social impact. This study uses Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Fuzzy Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) to identify the most important criteria, sub-criteria, and effective policy strategies for promoting sustainable tourism in developing economies. Therefore, the study identified five criteria, twenty sub-criteria, and six policy strategies for sustainable tourism development in Guilin, China. The results of Fuzzy AHP method has identified economic viability, infrastructure and services, and social and cultural impact are the most suitable criteria for sustainable tourism. The results of Fuzzy TOPSIS method has recognized community-based tourism, sustainable tourism certification, and public-private partnerships as most effective strategies. This research provides useful insights for policymakers and stakeholders, enabling them to contribute to the sustainable development of the tourism industry and support the achievement of the United Nations sustainable development goals.

View all citing articles on Scopus

View full text

Sustainable tourism: Sustaining tourism or something more?

Abstract

Section snippets

Tourism Management

Tourism Management

The moralisation of tourism

Tourism: An evolutionary perspective

Degrowing tourism: Decroissance, sustainable consumption and steady-state tourism

Anatolia: An International Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research