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Ethics, Culture and Social Responsibility

• Global Code of Ethics for Tourism
• Accessible Tourism

Tourism and Culture

• Women’s Empowerment and Tourism

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The convergence between tourism and culture, and the increasing interest of visitors in cultural experiences, bring unique opportunities but also complex challenges for the tourism sector.

“Tourism policies and activities should be conducted with respect for the artistic, archaeological and cultural heritage, which they should protect and pass on to future generations; particular care should be devoted to preserving monuments, worship sites, archaeological and historic sites as well as upgrading museums which must be widely open and accessible to tourism visits”

UN Tourism Framework Convention on Tourism Ethics

Article 7, paragraph 2

This webpage provides UN Tourism resources aimed at strengthening the dialogue between tourism and culture and an informed decision-making in the sphere of cultural tourism. It also promotes the exchange of good practices showcasing inclusive management systems and innovative cultural tourism experiences .  

About Cultural Tourism

According to the definition adopted by the UN Tourism General Assembly, at its 22nd session (2017), Cultural Tourism implies “A type of tourism activity in which the visitor’s essential motivation is to learn, discover, experience and consume the tangible and intangible cultural attractions/products in a tourism destination. These attractions/products relate to a set of distinctive material, intellectual, spiritual and emotional features of a society that encompasses arts and architecture, historical and cultural heritage, culinary heritage, literature, music, creative industries and the living cultures with their lifestyles, value systems, beliefs and traditions”. UN Tourism provides support to its members in strengthening cultural tourism policy frameworks, strategies and product development . It also provides guidelines for the tourism sector in adopting policies and governance models that benefit all stakeholders, while promoting and preserving cultural elements.

Recommendations for Cultural Tourism Key Players on Accessibility 

UN Tourism , Fundación ONCE and UNE issued in September 2023, a set of guidelines targeting key players of the cultural tourism ecosystem, who wish to make their offerings more accessible.

The key partners in the drafting and expert review process were the ICOMOS International Cultural Tourism Committee and the European Network for Accessible Tourism (ENAT) . The ICOMOS experts’ input was key in covering crucial action areas where accessibility needs to be put in the spotlight, in order to make cultural experiences more inclusive for all people.

This guidance tool is also framed within the promotion of the ISO Standard ISO 21902 , in whose development UN Tourism had one of the leading roles.

Download here the English and Spanish version of the Recommendations.

Compendium of Good Practices in Indigenous Tourism

The report is primarily meant to showcase good practices championed by indigenous leaders and associations from the Region. However, it also includes a conceptual introduction to different aspects of planning, management and promotion of a responsible and sustainable indigenous tourism development.

The compendium also sets forward a series of recommendations targeting public administrations, as well as a list of tips promoting a responsible conduct of tourists who decide to visit indigenous communities.

For downloads, please visit the UN Tourism E-library page: Download in English - Download in Spanish .

Weaving the Recovery - Indigenous Women in Tourism

This initiative, which gathers UN Tourism , t he World Indigenous Tourism Alliance (WINTA) , Centro de las Artes Indígenas (CAI) and the NGO IMPACTO , was selected as one of the ten most promising projects amoung 850+ initiatives to address the most pressing global challenges. The project will test different methodologies in pilot communities, starting with Mexico , to enable indigenous women access markets and demonstrate their leadership in the post-COVID recovery.

This empowerment model , based on promoting a responsible tourism development, cultural transmission and fair-trade principles, will represent a novel community approach with a high global replication potential.

Visit the Weaving the Recovery - Indigenous Women in Tourism project webpage.

Inclusive Recovery of Cultural Tourism

The release of the guidelines comes within the context of the International Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development 2021 , a UN initiative designed to recognize how culture and creativity, including cultural tourism, can contribute to advancing the SDGs.  

UN Tourism Inclusive Recovery Guide, Issue 4: Indigenous Communities

Sustainable Development of Indigenous Tourism

The Recommendations on Sustainable Development of Indigenous Tourism provide guidance to tourism stakeholders to develop their operations in a responsible and sustainable manner within those indigenous communities that wish to:

• Open up to tourism development, or
• Improve the management of the existing tourism experiences within their communities.

They were prepared by the UN Tourism Ethics, Culture and Social Responsibility Department in close consultation with indigenous tourism associations, indigenous entrepreneurs and advocates. The Recommendations were endorsed by the World Committee on Tourism Ethics and finally adopted by the UN Tourism General Assembly in 2019, as a landmark document of the Organization in this sphere.

Who are these Recommendations targeting?

• Tour operators and travel agencies
• Tour guides
• Indigenous communities
• Other stakeholders such as governments, policy makers and destinations

The Recommendations address some of the key questions regarding indigenous tourism:

Download PDF:

• Recommendations on Sustainable Development of Indigenous Tourism
• Recomendaciones sobre el desarrollo sostenible del turismo indígena, ESP

UN Tourism/UNESCO World Conferences on Tourism and Culture

The UN Tourism/UNESCO World Conferences on Tourism and Culture bring together Ministers of Tourism and Ministers of Culture with the objective to identify key opportunities and challenges for a stronger cooperation between these highly interlinked fields. Gathering tourism and culture stakeholders from all world regions the conferences which have been hosted by Cambodia, Oman, Türkiye and Japan have addressed a wide range of topics, including governance models, the promotion, protection and safeguarding of culture, innovation, the role of creative industries and urban regeneration as a vehicle for sustainable development in destinations worldwide.

Fourth UN Tourism/UNESCO World Conference on Tourism and Culture: Investing in future generations. Kyoto, Japan. 12-13 December 2019 Kyoto Declaration on Tourism and Culture: Investing in future generations ( English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian and Japanese )

Third UN Tourism/UNESCO World Conference on Tourism and Culture : For the Benefit of All. Istanbul, Türkiye. 3 -5 December 2018 Istanbul Declaration on Tourism and Culture: For the Benefit of All ( English , French , Spanish , Arabic , Russian )

Second UN Tourism/UNESCO World Conference’s on Tourism and Culture: Fostering Sustainable Development. Muscat, Sultanate of Oman. 11-12 December 2017 Muscat Declaration on Tourism and Culture: Fostering Sustainable Development ( English , French , Spanish , Arabic , Russian )

First UN Tourism/UNESCO World Conference’s on Tourism and Culture: Building a new partnership. Siem Reap, Cambodia. 4-6 February 2015 Siem Reap Declaration on Tourism and Culture – Building a New Partnership Model ( English )

UN Tourism Study on Tourism and Intangible Cultural Heritage  

The first UN Tourism Study on Tourism and Intangible Cultural Heritage provides comprehensive baseline research on the interlinkages between tourism and the expressions and skills that make up humanity’s intangible cultural heritage (ICH). 

Through a compendium of case studies drawn from across five continents, the report offers in-depth information on, and analysis of, government-led actions, public-private partnerships and community initiatives.

These practical examples feature tourism development projects related to six pivotal areas of ICH: handicrafts and the visual arts; gastronomy; social practices, rituals and festive events; music and the performing arts; oral traditions and expressions; and, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe.

Highlighting innovative forms of policy-making, the UN Tourism Study on Tourism and Intangible Cultural Heritage recommends specific actions for stakeholders to foster the sustainable and responsible development of tourism by incorporating and safeguarding intangible cultural assets.

UN Tourism Study on Tourism and Intangible Cultural Heritage

• UN Tourism Study
• Summary of the Study

Studies and research on tourism and culture commissioned by UN Tourism

• Tourism and Culture Synergies, 2018
• UN Tourism Study on Tourism and Intangible Cultural Heritage, 2012
• Big Data in Cultural Tourism – Building Sustainability and Enhancing Competitiveness (e-unwto.org)

Outcomes from the UN Tourism Affiliate Members World Expert Meeting on Cultural Tourism, Madrid, Spain, 1–2 December 2022

UN Tourism and the Region of Madrid – through the Regional Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Sports – held the World Expert Meeting on Cultural Tourism in Madrid on 1 and 2 December 2022. The initiative reflects the alliance and common commitment of the two partners to further explore the bond between tourism and culture. This publication is the result of the collaboration and discussion between the experts at the meeting, and subsequent contributions.

Relevant Links

• 3RD UN Tourism/UNESCO WORLD CONFERENCE ON TOURISM AND CULTURE ‘FOR THE BENEFIT OF ALL’

Photo credit of the Summary's cover page:  www.banglanatak.com

Cultural Heritage and Territorial Identity pp 65–85 Cite as

From Cultural Heritage to Economic Development Through Tourism

• Elisa Panzera   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-2229-6634 9  
• First Online: 10 February 2022

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Part of the book series: Advances in Spatial Science ((ADVSPATIAL))

This chapter investigates the impact that the relationship between cultural heritage and tourism attractiveness has on local economic development. By performing a conjoint analysis of cultural heritage, tourism attractiveness and economic development (through a structural equation model methodology) it has been possible to overcome the fragmented approach proposed by the literature so far. More specifically, the results of the analysis support the logic according to which cultural heritage attracts tourists and, in turn, this increased tourism demand positively affects local economies. Therefore, cultural heritage plays its role in local economic development indirectly through the tourism demand channel which mediates the relationship between the endowment of heritage and local economic growth. Overall, being the scope of the analysis the European Union regions, it is possible to generalize the results and therefore identifying a functioning mechanism.

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French overseas regions corresponding to codes FRA1, FRA2, FRA3, FRA4, FRA5, Spanish overseas regions corresponding to codes ES63, ES64 and PT20 and PT30 have been excluded from the analysis.

UNESCO categorize the sites according to their characteristics as cultural, natural or mixed sites. Following the aim of the present analysis only cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites are considered.

An arrival is defined by Eurostat as a person (tourist) who arrives at a tourist accommodation establishment, i.e., hotels; holiday and other short-stay accommodation; camping grounds, recreational vehicle parks; and trailer parks.

Note that these numbers refer to the relative regional density of monuments with respect to the country to which they belong. Considering, for instance, Flevoland and Prague’s corresponding heritage measure values we cannot say that Prague is endowed with a higher density of monuments than Flevoland. What we can affirm, instead, is that Prague, with respect to the Czech Republic, registers a 38.56 higher density of monuments and Flevoland a 0.016 greater density of monuments with respect to The Netherlands.

The number of beds refers to the number of available beds provided by hotels, holiday and other short-stay accommodation; camping grounds, recreational vehicle parks and trailer parks.

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Panzera, E. (2022). From Cultural Heritage to Economic Development Through Tourism. In: Cultural Heritage and Territorial Identity. Advances in Spatial Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-94468-1_3

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Article contents

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.

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1. One megatonne (Mt) is equal to 1 million (10 6 ) metric tons.

2. One megajoule (MJ) is equal to 1 million (10 6 ) joules, or approximately the kinetic energy of a 1-megagram (tonne) vehicle moving at 161 km/h.

3. One gigatonne (Gt) is equal to 1 billion (10 9 ) metric tons.

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Please note you do not have access to teaching notes, sustainable cultural and heritage tourism in regional development of southern jalisco.

World Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development

ISSN : 2042-5961

Article publication date: 1 February 2012

The purpose of this paper is to propose a normative model to determine the potential of cultural tourism in the municipalities that comprise the region 6 of the State of Jalisco, territorially delimited in the South of Jalisco.

Design/methodology/approach

After reviewing the literature, a normative model is proposed to conduct an analysis of cultural tourism to discuss and establish the potential target market in the Southern region of Jalisco.

The use of a normative analysis approach is a valuable framework to design tools for planning and operation of sustainable cultural and heritage tourism. The normative model proves to be useful for development strategies.

Research limitations/implications

The limitations are derived basically from the availability of data in a region where there has not been any previous systematic strategy to develop sustainable cultural and heritage tourism.

Practical implications

The research provides the planning premises of the economic regional development strategies centered on the available resources and capabilities to exploit a sustainable cultural and heritage tourism. It has positive impacts on developing infrastructure, creating opportunities to attract foreign investors and funding agencies, designing and implementing marketing and promotional strategies and offering diversified products and services in the cultural tourism market.

Social implications

The research has social‐spatial implications on development of entrepreneurial skills of the community, creating employment and improving better standards of life for the people.

Originality/value

There has not been any previous research contributing to increasing the regional economic development of Southern Jalisco. The paper provides a valuable framework and tools for regional economic development.

• Regional development
• Tourism development
• Regional marketing
• Tourism companies
• Southern Jalisco
• Cultural tourism

Vargas‐Hernández, J.G. (2012), "Sustainable cultural and heritage tourism in regional development of Southern Jalisco", World Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development , Vol. 8 No. 2/3, pp. 146-161. https://doi.org/10.1108/20425961211247752

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Open Access

Peer-reviewed

Research Article

Exploring the relationship between regional tourism development and land use efficiency: A case study of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Supervision, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation School of Management, Guangxi Minzu University, Nanning, China

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Software, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

* E-mail: [email protected]

Roles Writing – review & editing

Roles Formal analysis, Writing – review & editing

• Qiuli Meng, 
• Hongwen Pi, 
• Tao Xu, 

• Published: January 25, 2024
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0297196
• Peer Review
• Reader Comments

The utilization efficiency of land resources is an essential embodiment of economic development, social development, and ecological development and is a critical core to measure how to maximize the efficiency of land resources under limited conditions. The land is an important content and essential carrier of the research of tourism development level. This paper selects Panel Data from 2010 to 2019 to research the Guangxi regional tourism development. The entropy weight method and stochastic frontier production function (SFA) model were used to evaluate the development level of urban-rural tourism and the utilization efficiency of land resources in Guangxi. This paper uses the Panel Vector Autoregression (PVAR) model to analyze the internal relationship between urban-rural tourism development. The results show that: (1) Guangxi has a good level of tourism development and a high land use efficiency. (2) There is a reciprocal causation relationship between the regional tourism development level and land use efficiency in Guangxi, with significant levels of 0.005 and 0.034 respectively, indicating high credibility. This indicates that there is a mutual promotion and interaction between the two, which rely on and drive each other, promoting the joint sustainability of tourism development and land use efficiency. (3) . The tourism development level is greatly influenced by itself, with impact values all above 0.99. At the same time, land use also has a significant self-impact, with impact values all above 0.87. Their internal optimization system is solid and endogenous impetus is robust, which can drive their development. Establishing an effective strategy for developing and protecting land use is beneficial to promote the long-term effectiveness of sustainable tourism development, enhancing high-quality development of the tourism economy and improving people’s living standards and quality.

Citation: Meng Q, Pi H, Xu T, Li L (2024) Exploring the relationship between regional tourism development and land use efficiency: A case study of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China. PLoS ONE 19(1): e0297196. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0297196

Editor: Jinsheng Jason Zhu, Guilin Tourism University, CHINA

Received: July 12, 2023; Accepted: December 31, 2023; Published: January 25, 2024

Copyright: © 2024 Meng et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: All data files areavailable from the Figshare database (doi: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24126672 )

Funding: This article was financially supported by’ the National Office for Philosophy and Social Sciences: Research on Tourism Cultural Space Production and Social Governance Innovation in southwest minority traditional villages (20BJY210)’. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

1. Introduction

As a new pillar industry, tourism has become an essential direction for development and investment in many cities. In urbanization, tourism development has become one of the critical driving forces. However, there is still a waste of tourism land resources [ 1 ], with more vacant and wasteland, such as lousy tourism development, overgrown scenic spots, and little planning and use. In the third national land survey, the service, change, utilization efficiency, and protection degree of land resources were detected and mapped by 3S Technology. The survey results show that some areas still have large amounts of in-efficient and unused land [ 2 ]. Land use planning should be vigorously adjusted to give full play to the importance of land in tourism and promote high-quality and efficient tourism development. Tourism development and construction require a large amount of land for building tourist attractions, hotels, and other related facilities. If the land use efficiency in the research area for tourism development is not high, it is very likely to damage the land quality and other useful values of the land. Therefore, studying the relationship between the tourism development level and land use efficiency is of great value.

In 2019, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) explicitly proposed the "three lifestyles" (production, living, and ecology) spatial master plan in its Opinions on Establishing a Territorial Spatial Planning System and Supervising its Implementation to strictly control land for urban and rural planning and improve the efficiency of land use. According to the national policy of ’Three Zones and Three Lines’, Guangxi has formulated its own ’Three Zones and Three Lines’ policy, which aims to improve the national land spatial planning, enhance the quality and value of land utilization, and ensure the reasonable development of cultural and tourism industries. In November of the same year, Guangxi Natural Resources Bureau issued a policy on land use to support the high-quality development of cultural tourism. We should reduce the cost of land use, guarantee the space of land use, make full use of rural collective land, and support the development of high-quality cultural tourism. Government policies will continuously address various land use issues that arise in the development of tourism. Not only that, but tourism development is a process of ecological protection and rapid economic operation, and the development of regional tourism is conducive to the promotion of the local economy and the improvement of people’s living standards. Limited land resources have become an important element in the development of tourism. Tourism areas combine local human development and tourism activities, which not only enhance the value of land use [ 3 ] but also enrich tourism connotation [ 4 ], drive the extension of the tourism industry, and protect the ecological environment [ 5 ]. As an important component of tourism resources and a carrier for tourism development, land resources cannot be ignored. Therefore, in the study of the entire tourism development process in Guangxi, our research team further investigated the utilization of tourism land resources.

2. Literature review

The relationship between land use and tourism was proposed in the early 1930s. The publication of Mc Murry’s article ’The relationship between tourism and land use’ [ 6 ] has received more attention from national and international scholars and has led to a greater awareness of the benefits of tourism development. This also highlights the importance of land use [ 7 ]. The essence of land use is to enhance and maintain the current function of land use [ 8 ], and the extent of land use is directly linked to the region’s sustainable development and the building of an ecological civilization [ 9 ]. The idea of sustainable land use was explicitly put forward in Agenda 21 in 1992 [ 10 ], which provided a central point for policy formulation and a new direction for academic research, making land issues a popular study area [ 11 ]. Tourism, as a typical form of land use activity, is one of the industries that rely on land resources. Land resources are the basic conditions and important resource support for the development of tourism.

Improving land use efficiency is a crucial way to promote sustainable land use and has become an essential research topic for scholars and experts. The current methods for calculating land use efficiency are the Data Envelopment Analysis method (DEA) and the stochastic frontier production function method (SFA) [ 12 , 13 ]. DEA is mainly based on the linear programming method to measure, and SFA is based on the production function to calculate the unit efficiency [ 14 ]. Compared with the calculation and application of the efficiency of SFA in the tourism industry, the DEA model does not separate the compound interference term (random interference term and inefficiency term), which results in the instability of the calculation results [ 15 ]. However, many scholars still use this research method to study tourism and land use efficiency and contribute significant results to scientific research. In the study of urban tourism efficiency, dabble in Yangtze River Delta [ 16 ], Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Urban agglomeration [ 17 ], Europe [ 18 ], Guangxi Autonomous Region [ 19 ], and so on; In the specific content of tourism research, including Forest Park [ 20 ], service quality [ 21 ], poverty alleviation tourism [ 22 ], tourism industry [ 23 ] and so on. In land use efficiency, Zhu XuSen studied its economic and ecological efficiency through the DEA model [ 24 ], and Zhu Qiaoxian studied carbon emission measurement [ 25 ]. However, compared with DEA, SAF can keep the stability of the results of data calculation by stripping out the compound interference term. The measurement error, the uncertainty of the economic environment [ 26 ], and technical inefficiency [ 27 ] in developing countries are more pronounced. Therefore, it is more suitable to use the SFA model to measure the development efficiency of developing countries. Li Liang and Zhao Lei use the stochastic frontier to analyze China’s tourism development efficiency. The result shows that China’s tourism development efficiency has been improving year by year [ 28 ]. Dilawar Khan [ 29 ] used SFA to study the relationship between energy efficiency and ecological footprint and believed that efficient utilization of energy resources as well as investment in agriculture are necessary for a sustainable environment. Meanwhile, Professor Dilawar Khan also studied the impact of technological innovation on energy efficiency [ 30 ]. Zainab Bibi studied the technical and environmental efficiency of the agriculture sector in South Asia [ 31 ] and suggested that the agriculture sector should prioritize collaboration in research and development.

Many scholars use the DEA model to calculate land use efficiency, industrial development efficiency, etc. Few scholars use SFA to measure land use efficiency, which is very rare in the field of tourism, and it can make up for the limitation of the DEA model and separate the compound disturbance term. Therefore, this paper mainly uses the SFA model to calculate the land-use efficiency of Guangxi and analyzes the internal relevance with the level of tourism development.

3.1 Study area

The geographical range of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region is 20° 54’-26° 24’ N and 104° 26’-112° 04’ E in the southeast of our country ( Fig 1 ). It includes 14 municipalities with Nanning as their capital. According to the Guangxi statistical yearbook statistics, Guang-xi’s land area changed little between 2010 and 2019, with 237,771 square kilometers in 2019. With the increase in cultural tourism land area, the classification management of cultural and tourism land, the adoption of flexible land supply mode, and the reduction of land costs for cultural and tourism purposes have been achieved. Therefore, it is encouraged to revitalize and utilize collective rural land, wasteland, etc., increase the area of cultural and tourism land, and improve land reuse efficiency. With the rapid development of the regional economy, total economic income increased from 935.651 billion yuan in 2010 to 2127.357 billion yuan in 2019, of which tourism income increased from 95.377 billion yuan to 1024.144 billion yuan, the share of total revenue increased from 10.19% to 48.16%. The data shows that the rapid development of tourism makes tourism a vital pillar industry for regional economic development. The number of scenic spots has increased exponentially, and with the development of the tourism industry, the number of tourism organizations is rising. Rich tourism resources promote the integrated development of the tourism industry,to enhance the overall economic development of Guangxi region.

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Note: Based on the standard map production of the National Natural Resources Department’s Standard Map Service website (GS(2019)1822), the base map boundaries have not been modified. ( http://bzdt.ch.mnr.gov.cn/download.html?searchText=GS(2019)1822 ).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0297196.g001

3.2 Data sources

This paper studies the intrinsic links between regional tourism development and land use in Guangxi. The data needed should objectively reflect the development trend of the statistical year. Therefore, data collection considers the objective reality of the data, comparability, and finally, the PVAR model of the data length requirements. The final data were selected from Guangxi statistical yearbook, the Economic and Social Development Statistical Bulletin, and China Statistical Yearbook from 2011 to 2020. However, the data on employees in the first industry and total fixed asset investment in 2018 and 2019 are missing, so the missing data have been completed utilizing interpolation. From 2003 to 2010, statistics on the treatment rate of industrial wastewater and the rate of environmental protection treatment of industrial waste gas show that the compliance rate was above 0.9, and the data from 2011 to 2019 are missing. With the progress of science and technology, waste gas and wastewater treatment has a certain strict standard. For the convenience of statistics and without affecting the result of statistics, the rate of reaching the standard is set to 1. In addition, the amount of investment in industrial pollution and the value of standard treatment are the total data of autonomous regions. To reduce the error of the total data, it is convenient to calculate the development of Guangxi. In this paper, the total data will be divided according to the proportion of data to Guangxi’s large industrial enterprises as the basis.

4. Methodology

4.1 index construction and description, 4.1.1 the index selection of guangxi regional tourism development level(x)..

In selecting indicators for tourism development level ( Table 1 ), this paper draws on the value evaluation system and measuring indicators studied by scholars Fu Haichen [ 32 ] and Zhang Guanghai [ 33 ]. Total tourism consumption, gross domestic product (GDP), and gross tertiary sector of the economy product (GDP) were selected to measure the benefits of tourism in the development process and its contribution to the overall economy. To some extent, a regional tourism destination’s development process and level can be measured by selecting the total amount of tourism reception, the number of scenic spots above A story, and the number of tourism organizations. The statistical measurement of highway network density, population density, per capita area of green park space, and built-up area indicates the basic development process of tourism.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0297196.t001

4.1.2 The index selection of land use efficiency(Y).

Land use efficiency can be regarded as the benefit of developing the social economy and environment. In this paper, the cobb-douglas production function algorithm is used for reference. Land, capital, and labor force are the input factors, taking the total industrial development as an output factor. The development of society requires the input of labor and capital, with land serving as the carrier of space, and the value generated has certain measurement standards in economic development. Negative output that affects social and economic development needs to be eliminated First, the input value and output benefits of land use are calculated, with the built-up area, investment in fixed assets, primary industry, secondary sector of the economy, and tertiary sector of the economy labor as inputs [ 34 , 35 ], taking the gross output of the primary, secondary sector of the economy and tertiary sector of the economy industries as the expected output value. Secondly, in this article, the output of industrial wastewater treatment, industrial waste gas treatment, and industrial solid waste treatment in the governance of the "Three Industrial Wastes" [ 36 ] are taken as non-expected values. After accounting for the expected value, the stochastic frontier model calculates the land use efficiency.

4.2 Methods of data processing and measurement

4.2.1 data processing of regional tourism indicators..

In this paper, the panel data are normalized and weighted by the entropy weight method. Finally, the tourism development level of each region in different periods is calculated by calculating the weight value:

4.2.2 Data processing of land use efficiency index.

In the above, E it , C it , H it Denotes the investment quota of industrial wastewater treatment, industrial waste gas treatment, and industrial waste solid treatment in region i in the t-year. e it c it , h it Indicate the rate of industrial wastewater discharge, the comprehensive utilization of industrial waste solid, and the rate of environmental treatment of industrial waste gas in the tourist area i in the t year. four Denotes the built-up area of i in year t.

4.3 Build the PVAR model

The PVAR model can analyze the interaction between endogenous variables in panel data, which not only effectively solves the problem of individual heterogeneity, but also fully considers the individual and time effects. This model can solve the econometric problems involved in different fields. Therefore, in this paper, the PVAR model is used to analyze the relationship between the level of regional tourism development and land use efficiency in Guangxi. This model is less restrictive to the time series, can effectively analyze the variables in time, and has a high KMO value. The PVAR model in this paper mainly refers to the construction method of Zhang Helin, Wang Yachen, and Liu Ying [ 37 ]. It uses Granger causality. It maps its change process through GIS. The impulse response graph is used to analyze the impulse response among the variables to analyze the internal fluctuation degree of land use efficiency and tourism development level. In the following formula, Z represents a two-dimensional column matrix composed of Guangxi tourism development level (X) and land use efficiency (Y). i represents the selected region, t represents the time series, Zit and Zit-h represent the two-dimensional column matrix between them, and the two-dimensional column matrix lags the h-th order. ∂ i , ε i , u 0 , φ, u j denotes individual fixed-effect column, time-effect column, intercept term vector, the number of lag stages, the parameter matrix of the j-order lag, and β it It is a random interference term with normal distribution.

5. Results and discussion

5.1 index construction and description.

The panel’s root smoothness was tested before the model analysis to avoid the data model’s false regression. In this paper, the ADF-Fidher test was used. Although only the Inverse Norma value was more significant than 0.05 after the stationarity test, it had little effect on the stationarity of the overall data model. In order to ensure the robust stability of the later data analysis, the whole data are processed by second-order difference. The results of the second-order stability test are shown in the table below ( Table 2 ). At the significant level of 1%, the assumption of unit root is rejected, so we can judge that the stability of each sequence is high, and the PVAR model can be constructed.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0297196.t002

Before analyzing the model, we need to determine the optimal lag order of the model, which is usually determined by the principle of minimum selection value of MBIC, MAIC, and MQIC. The test results are as follows ( Table 3 ).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0297196.t003

According to the standards of MBIC, MAIC, and MQIC, the optimal lag order is 1. Generally speaking, MBIC, MAIC, and MQIC minima are at the same level, so they are more inclined to the simplified model. Therefore, the optimal lag order of the PVAR model is 1 order. The PVAR model of Guangxi regional tourism development level and land use efficiency is obtained using the GMM estimation method with the optimal lag of 1 order. The results are as follows ( Table 4 ).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0297196.t004

According to the results of the above table, the elastic coefficients of the lag of tourism development level and land use efficiency for Guangxi are -0.0496, 0.2889, 0.0127, and 0.1795, respectively. The elastic coefficient values were significant at 1% and 5% of the corresponding statistical discounts. To some extent, the tourism development level is related to the land use efficiency in time series, and its internal development mechanism is improved. Regional resident population, capital input, regional area, and industrial development change little quickly. To some extent, land use area and land use efficiency do not significantly impact the above factors. As a comprehensive industry, tourism is influenced by many factors, leading to the rapid change of many factors and indirectly affecting land use area and efficiency. In the lag period, the self-effect of tourism is negative but not significant, and the development level of regional tourism and land use efficiency are both significantly positive. This indicates that the level of tourism development and land use efficiency of Guangxi promote each other.

To guarantee the stability of the PVAR model unit circle test is used to verify the strength of the PVAR model by observing whether all the characteristic roots are in the unit circle (less than 1).

The above unit circle test ( Fig 2 ) shows that the two estimated points are 0.1945 and 0.0647, respectively, all in the unit circle. The PVAR model has some stability and a long-term stable relationship between the variables. So we can continue with the Granger causality test.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0297196.g002

5.2 Granger causality test analysis

The PVAR model’s data shows that Guangxi’s tourism development level and land use efficiency mutually influence it. Therefore, a Granger causality test was performed to verify the causal relationship between the variables X and Y. The results were as follows ( Table 5 ). Fig 3 intuitively displays Guangxi regional tourism development level, land use efficiency change degree, degree, and trend, and cross-reference analysis with the Percy Grainger causality test.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0297196.g003

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0297196.t005

The above test results showed that the original hypothesis was rejected. The P value passed the 5% statistical test, which showed that the level of tourism development and land use efficiency were mutually Granger causality. With close ties, the two promoted each other to achieve sustainable growth [ 38 ].

Fig 3 shows that Guangxi’s tourism development level and land use efficiency gradually improved with the time series. The level of development and utilization efficiency demonstrated by the example in the figure is the level in the time zone. At the same time, due to the subjectivity of the index selection and the variability of economic and social development, its value can not fully represent the actual level of development and efficiency. However, they can be used as a reference to show its development trends and study its inherent relevance. In combination with Fig 4 , Hechi and Baise are mainly mountainous areas with higher elevations and relatively less usable land area. The utilization efficiency of these areas is earlier than that of other areas, and their development and utilization efficiency change slowly. The North Sea, Qinzhou, and Fangchenggang are mainly coastal regions with rich tourism resources and attractive tourist destinations. The development of tourism is relatively rapid, and the development of marine tourism is good. The change in land use is evident along with the time series evolution. Nanning, Laibing, and Gui-gang are in plain and basin regions with lower elevations. The land available for tourism development is broader than in mountainous areas, and the potential for tourism development is profound.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0297196.g004

As a restrictive factor of tourism development, land is also an essential carrier of tourism development. Limited land use and tourism development space are also subject to certain restrictions. But how to improve the use efficiency in the limited use space has become an essential topic of regional tourism development and an important direction to promote the sustainable development of land and improve the efficiency of land use. Tourism development has a counter-effect on the land [ 7 ] and becomes one of the factors to boost the efficiency of land use. The story of tourism needs to expand the scope of tourism and the high-quality development of tourism to improve the efficiency of land use and proper planning of tourism development [ 39 ].

5.3 Impulse response analysis and variance decomposition analysis

The impulse response is based on the assumption that other factors remain constant and that the impact of the error term of one variable plus a standard deviation on the dynamic effect of another variable in the current and future periods [ 40 ]. The result of each variable on itself and other variables in the 0–10 period changes as follows, the horizontal axis represents the number of the response period, and the vertical axis represents the impact of 95% confidence intervals.

According to the pulse corresponding in the Fig 5 above, land use efficiency positively impacts the tourism development level. The positive effects of land on tourism and tourism on the ground are significant from zero to the tenth period. The first period shows a slight upward trend, and both approach zero after the second period. The impact of land use efficiency and tourism development level is not significant in the zero phases but dramatically substantial after the first phase. The fluctuation value tends to zero as time goes on. The impact of tourism on its own has a weak negative effect in the second phase, which returns to positive and converges to zero from the second phase.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0297196.g005

The variance decomposition results are consistent with the trend of the pulse graph. The impact of tourism development level and land use efficiency is mainly self-impact( Table 6 ). In the prediction error variance, the tourism self-effect value is above 0.99, which little affects land use efficiency. In the error of land use efficiency, although the impact on tourism development level is weak, as time goes on, the impact degree increases, the impact degree of the land itself is relatively high, but also with the period later, the degree of influence decreased with a slight change. The first period begins the 12th five-year plan, which strictly controls the land use and protection system, advocates land conservation, and promotes the overall sustainable development of the economy and society. Under policy guidance, major land use projects should reflect the autonomous region’s effective development strategies and significant decisions.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0297196.t006

5.4 Discussion

First, we should accurately position the direction of tourism development in Guangxi, and adapt to local conditions, according to different regions to develop tourism and land use security policies. In previous studies, scholars have found that the grasslands and unused lands in Guangxi have gradually decreased, and there has been a conversion between different types of land use, which has led to a decline in land quality. To improve land use efficiency in mountainous areas, we should focus on spatial distribution, forest protection, cultivated land restoration, and cropland conversion to grassland and forest. Not only that, we should integrate into modern technology, technology management, data management, and so on. Kras, Guangxi province, is mainly a mountainous region. It uses the technology it has mastered to explore further tourism development in high mountain areas, including outdoor tourism, health and wellness tourism, and eco-tourism, to maximize the value of regional land use. The North Sea, Fangchenggang, Qinzhou, and other Gulf of Tonkin coastal areas are close to the coast and rich in tourism resources, so marine tourism development is better. But more attention should be paid to the environmental health of the sea area, water quality, and so on. Discharge sewage, exhaust gas, and solid waste are strictly prohibited. The marine tourism environment should be protected, the industrial structure should be optimized, and the discharge rate of the three litters should be reduced. Flat Plains, land use space is more significant and should be based on regional planning major projects such as approval of land use, re-planning, and use of abandoned wasteland. we should promote the high-quality development of tourism and the sustainable use of land in Guangxi. It is conducive to improving people’s living environment and raising their living standards. While developing the economy, we should pay attention to protecting and utilizing the ecological environment and land resources.

Second, to promote the high-quality development of tourism, we should improve the service quality and the ecological and cultural environment of scenic spots and make full use of existing resources to create higher and more practical value. The tourism industry belongs to the service industry. The service object is the tourist. However, how to give tourists a greater sense of experience than expected so that tourism destinations obtain a higher evaluation has become a common topic for politicians, entrepreneurs, and scholars. To build tourism projects suitable for developing tourism destinations, improve the service quality of service personnel, and integrate modern technology management so that tourists can more easily enjoy the convenience and sense of experience in tourism. Increase the investment in security measures so that tourists are comfortable and safe to play. Each tourism destination has its orientation, such as parent-child tourism, Health Tourism, holiday tourism, transit tourism, etc. The scenic tourist spots should be developed synthetically by integrating many factors, such as humanity and nature, to subdivide the types of tourists and occupy the leading market share. This has also become the current research and development direction for scholars and tourism companies. All scenic spots should give full play to their existing advantages, optimize the industrial structure, maximize the value of resource utilization, and realize the sustainable development of resource utilization.

6. Conclusions

Based on the empirical study of Guangxi tourism development level and land use efficiency, the panel root test, smoothness test, and Granger causality test are carried out with panel data, and the following conclusions are drawn:

• Guangxi has a good level of tourism development and a high land use efficiency. The tourism industry is more comprehensive and covers a wide range of fields, blending in the primary industry, secondary sector of the economy, and tertiary sector. Tourism development is beneficial to promote the development of the rural economy, industrial production transformation, and upgrading so that rural tourism and industrial tourism into a new model of change. Tourism development constantly promotes the region’s expansion, which encourages the development of the financial industry and adjusts the industrial and labor force structures. However, the saturation of urban land use is more excellent, and suburban and rural areas become the areas to develop new industries. The government adjusts and optimizes rural agricultural land and some industrial land to build public infrastructure.
• Tourism development level and land use efficiency interact and promote each other. The development of tourism needs enough impetus to encourage, and adjust the industrial tourism structure, optimize tourism service channels, and improve high-quality economic and social development. Urban land resources are limited, tourism development reaches near saturation, and tourism development needs a particular area of land resources as support. The dynamic development of rural urbanization promotes tourism development in the surrounding suburbs and rural areas. It relies on tourism development to improve living standards, quality of life, and the living environment. On the other hand, tourism development is limited by the region’s area, and the location of available land is less, which adjusts the structure of tourism development and improves the development of high-quality tourism. The limitation of land use has become the driving force of tourism development. At the same time, it can show the level of regional tourism planning, management, and land use rationality.
• The level of tourism development and land use efficiency is greatly affected by themselves. The pulse graph and variance decomposition results show that tourism is greatly affected by its story and has solid endogenous motivation. Tourism covers a wide range of industries, including the hotel industry, catering industry, stores, scenic spots, and other industries related to each other. It can become a driving force for mutual development. In the same way, the land is affected by its product. Depending on the nature of the land and its geographical location, its intended use and area will have an impact. Capital and labor input is significant, but economic and social value output is small, resulting in low land use value, easily absorbed by other higher input-output planning projects.

This paper explores the correlation and degree of interaction between tourism development level and land use efficiency through research. In future studies, the focus will be on the land planning and utilization of rural tourism, optimizing the rural industrial structure, and researching the demand for tourism development from different types of land. Promoting the development of rural tourism industry with rural land will also be a key area for future research.

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Sights of Elektrostal, Moscow region

Table of contents:, history of the city, park of culture and leisure, historical and art museum, october cultural center, kristall ice palace, memorial complex, museum and exhibition complex.

2024 Author : Harold Hamphrey | [email protected] . Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:06

In the Moscow region there is a small cozy town Elektrostal. Its sights for the most part have no historical value due to the fact that the city has a relatively small history. But for a visiting tourist or city dweller, they will be of interest. There is something to see, where to go to have an exciting leisure time.

Today the population of the city is 158 thousand people. Until the beginning of the 20th century there were several small workers' settlements here. After the opening of the electrometallurgical and equipment factories, the place began to be called the natural boundary of Calm. The construction of the railway made this settlement accessible, and workers and families flocked here to earn money. In 1925, the station was named Elektrostal, and the rapid increase in population allowed the village to receive the status of a city.

The founder of the city is a prominent Russian industrialist Nikolai Vtorov. It was he who opened the plant here, creating, in fact, a city-forming enterprise that is still operating. In Soviet times, it was a closed facility, and it was not easy to get to work here.

Today Elektrostal is a promising industrial city with a great future and a heroic past. It bears the proud name "City of Military and Labor Glory".

You can learn about the sights of Elektrostal with descriptions and photos here. There are places for walking, outdoor activities and cultural development.

Those who come to the city by train are met by a monument to the metallurgist. It was installed in November 2017 for the 100th anniversary of the Elektrostal plant. The attraction is made in the style of constructivism. The monument quickly won the love of the townspeople, because this city is supported by ordinary workers.

Elektrost altsy and the founding father of the plant, Nikolai Vtorov, are honored. In 2002, a monument was opened in honor of him, which became a landmark of the city of Elektrostal. The bronze sculpture is installed on the site where once stood a monument to the leader of the world proletariat, V. I. Lenin. Times change, characters change. Today, the plant, founded a century ago, is the largest in Russia. Vtorov himself, whose fortune was estimated at 60 million rubles in gold, according to Forbes magazine, was the owner of the largest capital at the beginning of the century. He was a banker, an industrialist, an entrepreneur, a man of action.

The monument was erected byinitiative of the townspeople who wished to perpetuate the monument to the great man.

One of the popular places for spending weekends and evenings among citizens and guests of the city is the Park of Culture and Leisure. Here you can ride attractions for children and adults, play slot machines, rollerblade or bike. The park is divided into two zones. Fans of unhurried walks in the fresh air make a promenade on the Quiet Alley, and those who prefer outdoor activities flock to the Entertainment Alley. The park has a summer stage, where concerts and cafes are regularly held.

Until 1999, there was no central museum among the attractions of Elektrostal in the Moscow Region. The expositions were exhibited in schools, the house of culture, in factory museums. The city was closed, so there was no large influx of tourists and visitors. The appearance of the historical and art museum made it possible for residents and guests of the city to learn a lot of useful information about their native land, the formation of the production process, and the difficult years of the war. The exposition consists of paintings by local artists, historical artifacts, household items, documents, books and much more. The collection is updated regularly. It also hosts outdoor exhibitions, which are always popular with the townspeople.

One of the main attractions of Elektrostal, the photo of which is available to almost every resident or visitor, is the Main Alley. On herpassers-by like to stroll along shady paths, townspeople rest by the fountain after a hard shift at the plant. Flower beds are the decoration of the alley. In 2006, a flower festival was held here for the first time, which has become traditional. Each enterprise of the city and private individuals give residents a real composition of fresh flowers, which pleases with bright colors all summer long. A riot of colors, aromas and a flight of fantasy reigns here. Walking through the park, you can see Snow White with a basket, a bright well, a multi-tiered cake made from fresh flowers, hearts of lovers or a fabulous house. It is almost impossible not to take a photo against the background of these compositions.

There is a cultural center in the city. It hosts performances by local creative teams and visiting stars, performances and circus performances.

In 1971, the ice palace "Crystal" was opened in the city. Almost immediately, a children's and youth hockey team was organized, which gained sports fame. This is the home sports arena for the Elektrostal hockey team. Matches of different levels are held on the ice.

There are sections for children who go in for hockey or figure skating. Citizens come here with their families to cheer for their favorite team or go ice skating.

Elektrostal is a city with a heroic past. During the war years, more than 12 thousand citizens came to the recruiting station and went to the front to defend their homeland. Almost 4 thousand of them did not return from the battle. To these heroesdedicated to the memorial complex with the inextinguishable Eternal Flame, opened in 1968

But the electricians took part in the war in Afghanistan and Chechnya. By decision of the city authorities, their memory is also immortalized in the memorial complex.

It has become a good tradition for newlyweds to lay flowers at this monument.

In 1999, a museum and exhibition complex was opened in the city, where, in addition to the exhibition hall, there are numerous circles for children, classes for young people, and a creative workshop. Various festivals, exhibitions, city holidays and other events are held within the walls and on the territory of the complex, which attract many spectators.

Listing the sights of Elektrostal, it is impossible not to mention the temples. There are several of them in the city: the church of St. John of Kronstadt, St. Andrew's Church, the hospital church of St. Panteleimon. Another new church is being built. In appearance, the temples look ancient, monumental, in the Novgorod style. But they were all built at the end of the 20th century.

Let there be no ancient artifacts among the sights of Elektrostal. But on the other hand, all of them are connected with the history of the city, with everyday work and military exploits of ordinary residents.

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