Sustainable Tourism

Sustainable Tourism is a catch phrase that includes many styles of tourism. To travel responsibly puts these principles into actions.

What is sustainable tourism?

First, the definition of 'tourism', as set out by the UN World Tourism Organization (UN-WTO):

"Tourism is a social, cultural and economic phenomenon which entails the movement of people to countries or places outside their usual environment for personal or business/professional purposes. These people are called visitors (which may be either tourists or excursionists; residents or non-residents) and tourism has to do with their activities, some of which involve tourism expenditure." ... and then, in the same glossary, goes on to include definitions of other activities, components and so on which broaden the meaning of this term. (UNWTO, Glossary of terms)

Within this broad definition, 'sustainable' tourism, is defined by the UN World Tourism Organization (UN-WTO) and has been refined over time:

"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" (Making Tourism More Sustainable - A guide for policy makers, UN-WTO and UNEP (2005), pg 12 and Box 1.1)

OR

"Sustainable Tourism development meets the needs of present tourists and host regions while protecting and enhancing opportunities for the future. It is envisaged as leading to management of all resources in such a way that economic, social and aesthetic needs can be fulfilled while maintaining cultural integrity, essential ecological processes, biological diversity and life support systems" (Agenda 21 for the Travel & Tourism Sector, World Travel & Tourism Council / World Tourism Organisation / Earth Council, 1996)

OR

"[T]ourism that meets the needs of present tourists and host regions while protecting and enhancing opportunity for the future." (Responsible Capetown Glossary)

And, as USAID states,

"The UN World Tourism Organization has defined sustainable tourism as an enterprise that achieves a balance between the environmental, economic, and socio-cultural aspects of tourism development so as to guarantee long-term benefits to recipient communities.". (USAID, ST103 Course: Destination Management Workbook, pg 10)

See more on this discussion:

In addition: Sustainable Tourism and the Triple Bottom Line: According to UN-WTO, it should:

  • Make optimal use of environmental resources, maintaining essential ecosystems and helping conserve biodiversity
  • Respect socio-cultural authenticity, conserve built and living cultural heritage, and contribute to cross-cultural understanding and tolerance
  • Ensure long-term socio-economic benefits, fairly distributed to all community stakeholders, including stable employment and income-earning opportunities, social services, and poverty alleviation.

This is commonly called the triple bottom line for sustainable development: environmental, economic, and cultural returns on investment. Some identify a fourth benefit of well-managed tourism: public education for both visitors and residents to deepen understanding of cultures and ecosystems, though this is also a cultural benefit.

Broadly speaking, there are various styles of tourism falling under the sustainable tourism banner, including: Adventure, Agri, Community-based, Culinary, Eco/Nature, Equitable, Geo, Green, Rural, SAVE, Slow, Soft and Volun-tourism. In fact, there may also be other terms applied. "All forms of tourism can strive to be more sustainable" (source: IN FOCUS: Tourism: blessing or curse for the world's drylands? Also quoted at: Planeterra: Sustainable Tourism 101 (archived page)).

Precise definition and specific focus varies but in all cases:

"Sustainable tourism development requires the informed participation of all relevant stakeholders, as well as strong political leadership to ensure wide participation and consensus building. Achieving sustainable tourism is a continuous process and it requires constant 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." (UN-WTO, 2004) source: SustainingTourism by Rachel Dodds.

So, as can be seen by the varying definitions and nomenclature, sustainable tourism is about tourism 'in-destination'. It is a dynamic entity and as our understanding of processes such as climate change and human impact evolve and improve, along with better practices and technology, the components and characteristics will change to adapt to these new conditions.

While the definition of 'tourism' refers to the 'movement of people', no mention is made, in the definition of sustainable tourism, of transportation. But this is clearly a component and is probably responsible for a large, if not the largest portion of harmful impacts.

Tourism, but even more so, sustainable tourism, is a complex process that requires co-operation and collaboration between a range of stakeholders in order to successfully deliver the desired outcomes for travellers.

Does sustainable tourism cost more? To quote Leilani Latimer of Sabre Holdings: "Sustainability doesn't cost more; better costs more. A better experience, or added value, is what people will pay for." Elements of sustainability should provide that, and "[with] price, location, and all things being equal, if you have the opportunity to choose a hotel implementing sustainable practices, why wouldn't you do it?" (Interview with Sabre Holdings' Director of Sustainability, Leilani Latimer at thegreenglobetrotter.com)

The Five Pillars of Sustainable Tourism


Sustainable Tourism for Development, UN-WTO, 2013
"Sustainable tourism development requires the informed participation of all relevant stakeholders, as well as strong political leadership to ensure wide participation and consensus building. Achieving sustainable tourism is a continuous process and it requires constant 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 Organization, 2004 (sustainabletourism.net)

Conceptually, sustainable tourism may be seen as the container into which are placed all the various economic, social and environmental components. Generally, these are not actionable, hence the problem with the concept - in that it is passive. It is too tempting to shift "responsibility" away and avoid taking action.

Placing the concept of 'Sustainable Tourism' in the real world:

"Translate numbers and data into features and benefits - make the unseen authentic, tactile and sensible"

One of the things that I find especially interesting is tourism to small island destinations. This will bring up numerous sub-topics, notably what suppliers and destinations are doing to become more sustainable with respect to impacts on -- along with particiption of -- communities. Also interesting is tour guiding and what tour guides are doing to market themselves, particularly with respect to how to compete with cruiselines. This also touches on the role of technology and how technology is impacting tourism and the consumer. All the time bearing in mind what the impacts are, and perceptions of people at the street level, both visitors and residents.

An understanding of the broad concepts of 'sustainable tourism' are more easily achievable than defining the actions required, on the ground, to make it a reality.

Probably most foreign visitors simply want to visit a place on a quick turn-around basis. The majority of these visitors expect a no-hassle, problem-free, low-cost visit with a minimum of information regarding local affairs or issues. Contributing financially is generally not seen as necessary. Buying local crafts, foods or other souvenirs is often seen as something of low value to most visitors. These visitors come to ingest a little local culture, food, and so on but when they leave, they are gone and to them their own impact is barely an afterthought. Some may wish to return but really most of these visitors will move on to the next fashionable place to visit -- repeat, rinse. Many travellers are more than happy to brag about 'how many countries' they have been to as opposed to the depth of experience they had.

So, it becomes a matter of quantity vs quality for a large contingent of the travelling Westerners. Not too many, however, give a thought to their own impact, consumptive practices, or in fact what they take away from the place, in memories or souvenirs. First world visitors come, but then they leave and the locals are left with a mess and even worse social conditions. Locals are bitter because they see they haven't received any real benefit from the first world presence.

Is this something we can change? It is tempting to say, probably not, not at least in any meaningful way.

This is the way travel and tourism is being sold and promoted and it is a serious up-channel, against the mainstream kind of effort that is going to be needed and the question is: how much interest is there in doing that? Travel and tourism is too competitive, and the margins are too narrow not to be taking advantage of where the travelling public wants to go, when, how much they will spend and so on. Currency fluctuations or advertising spend will have a much greater impact on the mainstream trends.

BUT, it is possible that some changes are happening. 'Some' actions are being taken by local peoples to protect their tourism assets. 'Some' benefits are accruing to local people, albeit meagre. Some sharing is happening -- but not enough.

So the question becomes: How does the travel and tourism industry distribute benefits to the destinations while maintaining its own integrity, in terms of profitability, marketability, relevance and so on? How does the travel and tourism industry continue to exist in places where local people are resentful of their presence and are not being lifted out of their third world economic conditions anywhere near the level that was promised.

The only way to fix this is to share the wealth so that local people are compensated for what they deliver which is the 'true tourist experience' and what more and more tourists are seeking out. The travel industry need to be brought around to the mindset within which the recognition of local product IS the product they are selling -- and in order to keep selling it, the re-distribution of some of the profit needs to take place.

How communities and local people are benefitting is deeply concerning to me after 50 years, or maybe a bit more, of tourism being developed and promoted to far-flung destinations - on a massive scale. There is still a very big question as to how the local people are benefitting from tourism in 'their' hometowns, and indeed managing to deal with the demands and stresses of the influx of foreigners, most of these being white and relatively wealthy -- which has its own set of issues for local peoples.

Given that preamble, there are a whole range of questions that come out of any discussion about sustainable tourism (aka: ST):

Where is ST going in the near term? In the longer term?

  • Will tourism be about 'where' people travel to?
  • Will tourism be about 'how' people travel?
  • Will tourism be about 'what they do' when they get there?
  • Will tourism be about what visitors 'take-away' from the place?

Studies indicate there is demand for ST products and services. (See, for example, study by Roger Wehrli, 2011)

  • Is demand increasing?
  • Is willingness to pay for ST products and services increasing or decreasing? (See for

Is the message getting to the people who make the big decisions about what choices are available for travellers?

Are visitor attitudes shaped or 'pre-formed' before travel to remote places is undertaken?

If so, what mechanisms shape visitors' pre-conceived ideas about contributing to and/or supporting the local people that they will visit?

Do visitors view local people as overly demanding when it comes to money?

Do visitors see support as not being their responsibility?

Will visitors voluntarily pay a fair share for their use of local resources and services, in destinations?

Is mainstream tourism inclusive of sustainable practices?

  • Will mainstream tourism eventually be driven by sustainable practices?
  • Will mainstream suppliers become more willing to share profits?

Will authorities need to intervene to establish fees, licensing, taxes etc, in order to make the re-distribution of wealth happen?

Will local people soon be able to reap the benefits proportional to their inputs both in terms of their labour as well as social issues and personal loss of privacy/freedom?

Most souvenirs are bought by women. Most souvenirs are produced by women.

Usually, these are jewellery or clothing. Some purchases are fragrances or trinkets. Some may be local foods such as preserves, spices, sauces, snacks, etc.

Assumption: It is very important for local products to be produced locally, by local people, from locally sourced materials.

What can local people do to make their local products more marketable?

  • What kind of products are visitors most likely to buy?
  • How do visitors get better educated about buying local products?
  • Is it about price?
  • Is it about the type of product?
  • Is it the way the product is packaged?
  • What about food labelling?
  • What about allergy issues?
  • Could products be bundled to increase attractiveness?
  • Do they need catalogues, brochures, advertising or other sales promotion?
  • Do travel suppliers take too large a proportion of traveller's discretionary spend?
  • Should travel suppliers make more local products available?
  • Is it a supply issue?
  • How can local producers learn how to better market their products?

Will tourism become a more local, more ground-based phenomenon?

Is enough being done to protect sensitive/vulnerable places and what more can be done?

What type of tourism is trending currently?

To understand if 'sustainability' is gaining traction, it might be helpful to know whether tourists are responding to these needs by looking at the types of tourism that are trending and how these are adapting to new realities.

Take advantage of diversity and share workloads and expenses. Utilize other companies and organizations resources in partnerships instead of working as competitors.

Does sustainable tourism deliver?

The Context:

Sustainable tourism commitments do deliver a consensus that preserving resources is everybody's business. These commitments become a framework within which all stakeholders must, at least theoretically, operate. Building the consensus requires the participation of stakeholders in the destination which ultimately, through this consensus, builds a better product.

Generally everyone agrees that sustainable tourism goals are worthy and necessary. The future of destinations hinges upon responsible custodianship. The knowledge, also widespread, is that a destinations attractiveness diminishes without proper management and renewal. The destination also benefits from improved efficiency and lower costs.

Sustainable tourism investment is a serious business. It is complex and demands long term involvement of stakeholders. Overcoming barriers, both human and physical is a struggle. Demand, and therefore activity in the destination, is placing more stress and pressure on the destination to maintain it's costly and hard-won position. The progress made might be easily undone with the loss of, or lack of interest on the part of, key stakeholders. There, therefore, must be a return on this investment both in terms of more visitors and long-term viability of the destination that makes this effort worthwhile.

At the same time, at least as fast as sustainable destinations are improving their qualities, competition is also increasing. Competition may be from nearby sites which are capatilizing on the success of destination marketing in their local area or from destinations half-way around the world.

Whether actual performance is in line with the commitments must include assessing the participation of the most important, yet elusive, stakeholder - the tourist.

Next steps: Travel responsibly

Is sustainable tourism sustaining or is it just talk?

The traveller can be forgiven for being a little confused about just what sustainable tourism is all about. But does this have deeper implications as to how the public accepts the various messages about what the tourism industry, as a whole, is trying to accomplish? The traveller may also find that the seriousness of the various practitioners may be questionable simply because the message is somewhat unclear and perhaps some companies may be taking advantage of this lack of clarity. There may be a temptation to talk about walking the walk without necessarily delivering on the promise. As a result, there is a risk that the travelling public may become slightly jaded about what they are hearing.

Is sustainable tourism sustainable and what are the difficulties with the way in which the public understands sustainable tourism?

Is the credibility factor up to traveller expectations, or is there a gap?

Is the tourism industry disseminating a consistent message or are consumers confused and put-off by vague or unclear wording?

Because the concept is nebulous and difficult to define, it may be possible for many tourism suppliers to describe themselves as being 'sustainable' without actually delivering. But the need is clear.

  • Are there other ways to look at sustainable tourism?
  • How much of this talk is greenwashing?
  • Might it be better to look at ways the sustainable tourism is being implemented? Practiced?
  • Relative success of Sustainable Tourism and which destinations are making the most progress.
  • Clearly, this has implications for viability of sustainable practices including sustainable business practices and sustainable tourism as objectives.

Monitoring is beyond the resources of most destinations, so there is no way to guarantee the participants are adhering to the commitments, except by the honour system. Further, there is very little incentive for customers, the tourists, to pay for sustainable resources without a powerful incentive. So what might the incentive require to be effective? But without monitoring, standards may slide and people may not act responsibly. In spite of this, individuals need to act on their own to improve the appearance and quality of the destination as well as the experience.

USAID Sustainable Tourism Course Program

As with other global development assistance agencies, USAID is increasingly turning to tourism programs and activities to achieve its goals of reducing poverty and improving livelihoods in the world's less developed countries. The Agency recognizes that sustainable tourism has potential for promoting economic growth, and alleviating poverty, and gender equity, global health, and local governance. It also provides new economic opportunities for women, and gives communities greater control over managing the natural resources on which they depend. Based in Washington, DC.

With more than twenty years of experience, this USAID program is designed to improve awareness and understanding of sustainable tourism worldwide. These nine online courses train students, practitioners, donor agency representatives, and others working in related fields to understand and develop tourism and its role in international development. All the course materials are public access (free), but your registration will allow you to actively participate in discussions of the material, and to take quizzes to check yourself for understanding at the end of each course. Registration is open to anyone and is completely FREE! on a non academic credit basis. This top quality program was developed by tourism professionals in cooperation with the George Washington University School of Business, International Institute of Tourism Studies which offers a Sustainable Tourism Destination Management Professional Certificate program at a cost.

USAID Sustainable Tourism Document Collection

USAID Biodiversity Links: Learning Resources

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