Sustainable tourism is a way of thinking about all parts of the tourism experience. It includes caring about economic, social, and environmental issues. It also focuses on improving the experiences of tourists and meeting the needs of the people who live in the places being visited. Sustainable tourism should include protecting the environment, treating people fairly, and improving the quality of life. It also values cultural diversity and helps create jobs and economic growth for everyone. This idea comes from the idea of sustainable development, and sometimes people may not understand exactly what "sustainable tourism" means. However, many people now agree that tourism should be sustainable. In fact, all types of tourism can be sustainable if they are planned, developed, and managed correctly. Organizations that help with tourism development are working to use practices that reduce the harmful effects of tourism, such as its impact on the environment.

The United Nations World Tourism Organization supports these practices by including sustainable tourism in the Sustainable Development Goals. They promoted this idea during the International Year for Sustainable Tourism for Development in 2017. Sustainable tourism is directly connected to several of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Tourism and the SDGs focus on how goals like SDG 8 ("decent work and economic growth"), SDG 12 ("responsible consumption and production"), and SDG 14 ("life below water") show how tourism can help create a sustainable economy.

According to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), tourism made up 10.3% of the world's total economic value in 2019. That year, there were 1.5 billion international travelers, and tourism brought in 1.7 trillion U.S. dollars in exports. Better management and combining sustainable tourism with larger plans for sustainable development are expected to improve these results.

Definition

Sustainable tourism is a very complicated idea with many different ways people explain it. It began with the idea of sustainable development, which also has many different meanings. This can make it hard to understand exactly what sustainable tourism means.

A definition from 2020 says: "Tourism that is created and kept in a place in a way and size that allows it to last forever while protecting Earth's natural systems that support life for people today and in the future."

Sustainable tourism includes all parts of the tourism experience, such as economic, social, and environmental concerns. It also focuses on improving the experiences of tourists. The goal of sustainable tourism is to reduce the harmful effects of tourism activities. This idea is now widely accepted as a good and fair way to develop tourism.

Background

The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is the agency responsible for monitoring the goals of Sustainable Development Goal 8 ("decent work and economic growth") that relate to tourism. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or Global Goals are a set of 17 goals designed to create a better and more sustainable future for all people. Because tourism is growing rapidly, the report encourages responsible tourism practices. While some countries and parts of the tourism industry are working to address the SDGs, sharing knowledge, providing funding, and creating policies for sustainable tourism are not fully meeting the needs of those involved.

The SDGs include targets related to tourism and sustainability in several goals:

• Target 8.9 of SDG 8 (Decent work and economic growth) states: "By 2030, create and use policies to support tourism that helps create jobs and promotes local culture and products."
• Target 12.a of SDG 12 (Responsible consumption and production) says: "Develop tools to track the effects of tourism on sustainability, such as creating jobs and promoting local culture and products." The UNWTO is responsible for monitoring this target.
• Target 14.7 of SDG 14 (Life below Water) aims: "By 2030, increase the economic benefits for small island developing countries and least developed countries through the sustainable use of marine resources, including tourism."

According to the UNWTO, "Tourism includes the activities of people traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for less than one year for leisure, business, or other purposes." Global economists predict that international tourism will continue to grow, with the amount of growth depending on the location. As one of the world's largest and fastest-growing industries, this growth may harm natural habitats and Indigenous cultures. Teaching tourists about these places can help them appreciate the natural, cultural, or historical uniqueness of the area. This can also help Indigenous people better understand their own history while sharing it with visitors.

Tourism in remote areas differs from tourism in more developed places. Tourism in established locations often has good infrastructure, such as hotels and transportation, to meet the needs of visitors. In contrast, remote areas may lack such facilities. For example, new airports and hotels are being built in remote regions to support tourism. However, changes to the environment can occur for many reasons, such as differences in generations or changes in political systems.

Mass tourism refers to the movement of large groups of tourists to popular destinations, such as theme parks, national parks, beaches, or cruise ships. It uses standardized products and experiences designed to serve many tourists at the same time.

Related similar concepts

Responsible tourism refers to the actions and choices people make that help create sustainable tourism. For example, backpacker tourism can support sustainability because it involves activities that benefit the environment, economy, and culture. Everyone involved in tourism, including businesses and travelers, must take responsibility for the type of tourism they support or create. Being responsible means carefully planning and making decisions based on what is fair and good for communities, nature, and tourists.

According to the Center for Responsible Tourism, responsible tourism means helping local communities by providing benefits, reducing harm to people and the environment, and protecting cultural traditions and natural habitats. It includes being mindful of how tourism affects the environment, economy, and society. While different groups may have different ideas about what responsibility means, the shared goal is to improve tourism through thoughtful actions that are fair to communities, nature, and tourists.

Some studies suggest that how responsible tourists behave depends on how socially involved they are. For example, a person’s actions may change based on how much they interact with others. Research also shows that government policies and systems can influence responsible tourism. Other studies question whether responsible tourism truly supports the United Nations’ goals for sustainable development, as it can be hard to measure its effects. Some people argue that focusing on responsible tourism might take attention away from larger issues, such as the number of tourists and their environmental impact.

Ecotourism is a type of tourism focused on nature. It aims to protect the environment, cause little harm, and help educate people about nature. It can also provide financial benefits to local communities and support conservation efforts. However, there are many different ways to define ecotourism, and the exact meaning has been debated by experts. Some organizations use the term without focusing on environmental benefits.

Nature positive tourism goes beyond simply avoiding harm to the environment. It aims to leave the natural world in better condition than before. This type of tourism helps address the loss of biodiversity by protecting and restoring nature. It requires changes across the tourism industry to stop and reverse harm to nature by 2030 and fully recover ecosystems by 2050.

Nature positive tourism recognizes that all tourism depends on nature and affects it. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, 80% of goods and services in the tourism industry rely heavily on natural resources. Tourism impacts nature in ways that contribute to the loss of biodiversity, such as changes to land use, pollution, climate change, overuse of natural resources, and the spread of non-native species.

Nature positive tourism works to reduce these impacts by taking steps like supporting reforestation, creating spaces for nature in cities, and reducing pollution from hotels and other businesses. To encourage this approach, the Nature Positive Tourism Partnership (NPTP) was created by the United Nations World Tourism Organization, the World Travel & Tourism Council, and the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance after the COP15 meeting. This partnership supports the Global Biodiversity Framework, which aims to protect nature globally.

Since its start, nearly 150 organizations have joined the NPTP. A report published in April 2024 outlines the partnership’s plan to achieve nature-positive goals. Key steps include identifying how tourism affects nature, setting clear and measurable goals, and stopping the use of animals in tourism. This follows a 2022 report by the World Travel & Tourism Council that began its nature-positive travel initiative before COP15.

Criticism

Although people look for ways to make tourism more sustainable, the tourism system does not change much. Sustainable models need to adjust to new problems and larger changes in society. Some people criticize "sustainable tourism" because it takes more than it can replace, which makes it seem like a contradiction. True and perfect sustainability is probably not possible in most situations because fairness, money, and nature often conflict and need compromises. Some actions claimed to be for sustainability might actually aim to make more money. Local people are often kept separate from tourists. These examples show that sustainable tourism can range from "very weak" to "very strong," depending on how much humans focus on themselves and how natural and human resources are used.

Stakeholders

Stakeholders in sustainable tourism can be groups or individuals. A stakeholder is someone who is affected, either positively or negatively, by tourism development. Including stakeholders helps reduce conflicts between tourists and local communities by letting the community help shape how tourism grows.

The government helps promote sustainable tourism through actions like marketing, education, and working with private businesses. However, it is important to consider a government’s goals and hidden interests when evaluating their support for sustainable tourism. In areas that are ecologically sensitive or new to tourism, carrying capacity is a key factor. Carrying capacity refers to how many visitors an area can handle without harming the environment or local culture. This number can change over time as people’s values and views shift.

Experts say that partnerships help include more people in decision-making. Partnerships involve cooperation between private companies, government groups, and community organizations. Their goal is to carry out sustainability policies. Good governance is important for creating these partnerships.

Good governance in managing national parks and protected areas includes fairness, giving people a voice, clear direction, strong performance, and accountability.

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are stakeholders who support sustainable tourism. They can help by leading sustainable practices, doing research, or advising on planning. Scientists and university teams can also help with planning, as seen in the development of Cát Bà National Park in Vietnam.

In Bunaken National Park, Indonesia, dive resort operators help by creating special areas for diving and fishing. This allows both tourists and local people to benefit from these activities.

Large events like conferences and sports competitions, such as the Olympic Games, greatly affect the travel, tourism, and hospitality industries. These events use many resources and can harm the environment. However, the regular convention industry may have even bigger environmental impacts than major events.

Green conventions and events are becoming more common in the travel and hospitality industry. More companies, governments, and organizations now want to use sustainable practices, such as eco-friendly hotels, energy-efficient transportation, and climate-neutral travel. Choosing not to attend a conference can also be a sustainable choice, as many conferences involve air travel by hundreds or thousands of people. However, this does not mean people should avoid attending entirely, since modern technology allows remote participation through video calls and online meetings. For example, the American Geophysical Union uses live streaming for its annual meetings, letting people watch and interact online.

Some convention centers are taking steps to reduce their environmental impact. The Moscone Center in San Francisco has a strong recycling program, uses solar power, and has other programs to improve efficiency.

Sustainable tourism helps local communities by creating jobs, improving infrastructure, and increasing economic growth. Tourism money can improve living standards in areas that attract visitors. Sustainable tourism businesses often hire local people. As tourism grows, more infrastructure is needed to support both the tourism industry and the local community. A 2009 study in British Columbia, Canada, found that many rural tourism businesses support sustainability but face challenges like lack of money, limited access to sustainable products, and few incentives to change.

The Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) is an international group that promotes sustainable tourism practices and sets global standards. The GSTC Criteria are guidelines for destinations, tour companies, and hotels to follow. These standards help certification agencies evaluate tourism businesses and ensure they meet sustainability goals. The GSTC Criteria could also be used in national parks in the United States to improve sustainability efforts.

Sustainable transport and mobility

Tourism includes travel for fun, work, or visiting family and friends, as well as transportation used for these purposes. Without travel, there is no tourism, so the idea of sustainable tourism is closely connected to the idea of sustainable transportation. Two important factors are tourism's use of fossil fuels and its impact on climate change. A 2024 review of research on sustainable tourism found that most studies focus on destinations rather than the transportation systems that create most emissions. The authors say that achieving sustainable tourism requires addressing travel from where tourists come to where they go and including transportation planning, geography, and emission data in tourism research and policies. About 72% of tourism’s CO2 emissions come from transportation, 24% from accommodations, and 4% from local activities. Aviation is responsible for 55% of transportation emissions (or 40% of tourism’s total). However, when considering all greenhouse gas emissions, including contrails and cirrus clouds caused by planes, aviation could account for up to 75% of tourism’s climate impact.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) believes it is realistic to increase aviation fuel efficiency by 2% each year until 2050. However, both Airbus and Boeing predict that air travel demand will grow by about 5% annually through at least 2020, which could offset improvements in efficiency. By 2050, if other industries reduce their emissions significantly, tourism may produce 40% of global carbon emissions. The main reason is that the average distance traveled by tourists has been increasing faster than the number of trips taken. "Sustainable transportation is now the most important issue for a global tourism industry that is clearly not sustainable, and aviation is central to this problem."

The European Tourism Manifesto also suggests speeding up the development of cycling infrastructure to encourage clean, local travel. It proposes using non-motorized infrastructure, such as repurposed railways, for walking and cycling. It also calls for better connections between these routes and nearby attractions, like Natura2000 sites or UNESCO sites. The manifesto supports reliable funding for rail infrastructure and digital tools that make it easier to use multiple transportation modes, such as end-to-end ticketing systems like Interrail. These ideas align with the European Union’s goal of shifting more travel to sustainable transportation.

Global tourism contributes about 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. This includes emissions from airline travel, as well as other environmental and social effects that may not always benefit local communities or their economies.

Challenges

In areas where tourism did not exist before companies started visiting, local communities often had to move from their homes to make space for tourists. For example, the Maasai people in Tanzania faced this issue. After World War II, people who wanted to protect nature began living in areas where the Maasai lived. Their goal was to create places for tourists to visit and to protect the natural beauty and wildlife. This was done by creating national parks and protected areas. Some people say that the Maasai’s way of life did not harm wildlife, but misunderstandings and biases from past times led to their displacement. In the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, changes were made to help tourists, such as building campsites, creating paths, and removing stones used for souvenirs.

Tourism types like ecotourism, nature tourism, wildlife tourism, and adventure tourism happen in places like rainforests, mountains, lakes, coasts, and rural villages. People want more real and challenging experiences, so they visit remote and untouched areas. This can help people learn more about protecting the environment. However, it can also harm the places people visit. The effects of tourism include immediate and long-term changes, both close to and far from the places where tourists go. These effects can be grouped into three categories: the impact of buildings and facilities, the impact of tourist activities, and the impact of transportation.

Environmental sustainability means keeping natural systems healthy and working well. Problems like pollution, loss of wildlife, and damage to natural resources make ecosystems weaker and less able to recover. More research is needed to understand how tourism affects nature, such as how it influences waste, water, food, and ecosystems like soil and plant growth.

Tourism is increasingly taking people to remote areas, which are seen as rare and valuable places for nature-based activities. These areas are chosen because they have difficult terrain and offer unique experiences. However, tourism in these places causes harm. Habitats are damaged, wildlife is lost, and climate change worsens. The need for tourists to experience challenging environments and authentic cultures leads them to visit remote areas, which reduces the number of untouched natural places left on Earth.

Improvements

Community-based sustainable tourism (CBST) involves local people managing tourist areas. This approach assumes that those living near natural resources are best able to protect them. Local residents develop and run tourism-related businesses with their agreement and support. These efforts often focus on preserving the environment and natural resources that attract visitors. Local communities manage these businesses and share messages about protecting their surroundings.

CBST links the success of tourism to how well local communities manage their areas. A key part of CBST is using local knowledge along with general plans for ecotourism. This allows local people to take part in decision-making and helps them better understand their environment.

Using local knowledge also helps people who rely on their environment for work gain entry into the tourism industry. For projects to be successful, they need local support and must provide clear benefits to the community. However, research shows that CBST may not always create strong economic connections, especially with farming, because of seasonal changes and small farm sizes. This can limit the positive effects of CBST for some communities.

Partnerships between governments and tourism groups and small communities often fail because their goals differ. Governments and tourism agencies may prioritize large-scale tourism for profit, while communities focus on true sustainability. In Honduras, for example, international groups wanted to build luxury hotels near ecotourism sites, but local efforts supported by USAID and APROECOH trained many residents and were more successful.

Many developing countries value international tourism because it can create jobs, support small businesses, and increase foreign currency. However, focusing on luxury services may make countries depend on imported goods, foreign money, and outside expertise. This strategy often does not benefit small businesses.

While large-scale tourism is seen as beneficial, governments often overlook budget travelers, who can bring non-economic advantages like education and empowerment. Supporting low-cost tourism helps build local skills, self-reliance, and confidence in dealing with outsiders, which can help a country develop.

In the 1990s, international tourism was seen as a growth area for developing countries, as many of the world’s most beautiful places are in these regions. Before the 1960s, experts believed tourism helped less developed countries, but by the 1970s, they began criticizing tourism for harming development. Tourism is a volatile industry, with visitors quickly leaving destinations due to health or safety issues.

Tourism is often resilient, recovering quickly after major events like natural disasters, the September 11th attacks, or the COVID-19 pandemic. Experts suggest learning from these events to improve future planning.

Tourists can greatly affect a country’s culture. Visiting heritage sites helps preserve traditions, and local artisans continue creating cultural goods due to increased tourist interest. Popular tourist areas can boost both cultural and economic growth. In over 44 countries, tourism provides more than 15% of all jobs. Sustainable tourists should respect and understand cultures instead of taking them over. Practicing sustainable tourism helps build cross-cultural understanding, empathy, and respect.

Trends

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, international tourist numbers dropped by 65% in the first half of 2020 compared to 2019. Many countries closed their borders and limited travel to stop the spread of the virus. Experts believe the situation may improve in 2021 if travel restrictions are lifted, vaccines become widely available, and travelers feel safe to travel again.

The pandemic has made problems related to sustainability in tourism more visible. Experts in sustainable tourism say the crisis offers a chance to change how tourism works. They explain that the current system cannot continue as it is because the focus on economic growth harms Earth’s ecosystems, wildlife, and people’s well-being. The gap between wealthy and poor people has grown larger, and the pandemic has made this worse. Tourism systems, both globally and locally, often benefit a few people while leaving many others behind. Experts say the tourism industry, leaders, and researchers should use the lessons from the pandemic to help create more sustainable tourism.

Technology is part of the solution for challenges caused by pandemics like COVID-19. However, using technology for data collection could harm sustainable tourism if the data is used to support large-scale tourism. On the other hand, technology has helped e-tourism grow and become more useful during the pandemic. Experts suggest "surrogate tourism," where tourists stay home while local guides at a destination provide personalized, real-time tours. These tours are not a replacement for traditional travel but may appeal to people with disabilities, older adults, and those who want to reduce their environmental impact.

History

In the 1960s and 1970s, people became more aware of environmental issues. This awareness led to the development of sustainable tourism, which focuses on responsible travel. In 1973, the European Travel Commission launched a group effort to promote environmentally friendly tourism and development. Jost Krippendorf, a former professor at the University of Bern, was one of the first people to suggest ideas about sustainable tourism. In his book "The landscape eaters," Krippendorf promoted the idea of "soft tourism." In 1996, South Africa’s national tourism policy introduced the term "responsible tourism" and emphasized the importance of improving the well-being of local communities. In 2014, the Cape Town Declaration on Responsible Tourism highlighted the role of businesses in supporting responsible tourism. Although more research is needed, a study from 2017 showed that well-managed responsible tourism practices helped improve conditions for local communities.

Examples

The Haliburton Sustainable Forest in central Ontario, Canada is a privately owned forest covering 100,000 units that is managed in a way that protects the environment. It supports both tourism and the logging industry. Following a 100-year plan to keep the forest healthy, the forest earns income from tourism and logging. This helps the local economy stay strong over time and ensures the forest remains healthy. In less than 45 years, the forest changed from a poorly managed area to a successful operation that benefits owners, workers, the public, and the environment.

• In 2019, Machu Picchu in Peru was named Latin America's first city that is 100% sustainable because of how it handles waste.
• Bhutan is also known for its sustainability. It is one of the few countries that does not produce more carbon than it absorbs. Bhutan reduces carbon emissions from both its people and visitors using energy from water power and its large forests, which naturally absorb carbon.

Biosphere Tourism is an organization that helps businesses in tourism balance social, economic, and environmental needs in a destination. The Tread Right Foundation (a not-for-profit group owned by The Travel Corporation) was honored in 2019 by the UNWTO's annual awards for its work in promoting sustainability.

Geosport is a new idea in tourism that focuses on using sports, heritage sites, and routes to attract visitors while using sustainable methods. Geosport combines local culture, natural resources, and branding with sports. It allows visitors to explore cultural and natural heritage more deeply. By helping people connect with the environment, it promotes ideas about sustainable development and protecting nature.