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Abstract: We propose a composite indicator for the assessment of tourism sustainability in European Union (EU) countries relatively to years 2019 and 2021. Our proposal is a revisitation of the Travel & Tourism Development Index (TTDI), which is based on a uniform weighting scheme, by means of the Multi-Directional Benefit of the Doubt (MD-BoD) model, an innovative non-compensatory method able to derive a country-specific preference structure from the data. Thanks to the MD-BoD model, each pillar and elementary indicator receives a score that reflects the potential improvement of the country relatively to an empirical benchmark, therefore it is possible to objectively identify weak and strong dimensions of tourism sustainability before and after the Covid-19 pandemic. As such, our composite indicator represents a valuable support for the design of policies aimed at increasing the resilience of the European tourism ecosystem.
Abstract: Europe accounts for 51% of international tourist arrivals and the tourism industry provides about 10% of workplaces in Europe. Tourism will be impacted by climate change in a diverse number of ways. At the same time, tourism is also a significant contributor of greenhouse gas emissions. The aim of this article is, therefore, to provide an assessment of climate and carbon risks for the European tourism industry based on a systematic literature review. Climate risk is the dominant category with 313 papers (74%), while 110 papers (26%) were on carbon risks. The following gaps were identified: geographical gaps, especially in countries of the former Soviet Union and former Yugoslavia; a lack of coherent studies on national tourism's and its sub-sectors' emissions; research addressing how climate policies might affect tourism demand; assessments of the integrated carbon and climate risks; lack of evidence on the link between tourism climate indicators and tourism demand; lack of climate change and tourism studies addressing policy and institutional tools for adaptation and implementation of adaptation measures in destinations; and research on rising sea levels and coastal erosion and its impacts on tourism destinations and demand.
Abstract: In recent years, sustainability and tourist development have offered a unique vision of sustainable tourism. Furthermore, there are undeniable positive effects of tourism activities that contribute to sustainable development based on social, cultural, economic and environmental pillars and sustainable tourism development is also strongly positioned in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of the UN SDGs and in the SDG 4 sustainable tourism plan. The aim of this study was to identify the drivers of sustainable behaviour changes with a focus on local food consumption on holiday. Using the official EU-27 Flash-Eurobarometer 499 survey data, we propose a multilevel, hierarchical approach to identify both individual and country-level contextual factors. The results regarding sociodemographic characteristics and travel motivation are partly in line with existing literature; however, differences such as age is considered a regional cultural difference in previous studies. Moreover, our results provide valuable insights on country-level effects on travellers’ behaviour on holiday, especially in terms of sustainable development and healthy eating habits – new findings may prove useful for sustainable tourism management and policy planning.
Abstract: Tourism extensively exploits natural resources and uses ecosystem services to expand its potential and increase market share. The present study investigates potential tourism's effects and causalities on the environmental quality levels in the context of the tourism-induced Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis (T-EKC). We conceptualize tourism as a function of its contribution to a country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), whereas we consider capital investment spending directly connected with the travel and tourism sector as an additional determinant of environmental quality. We contextualize environmental degradation as a means of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), methane, and nitrous oxide emissions. Furthermore, our models include primary and energy consumption patterns to emphasize energy efficiency in limiting environmental degradation levels. This study's approach also discusses the role of renewables as an explanatory variable. This set of variables remains less visible in the relevant literature, whereas it extensively covers the T-EKC hypothesis concept. We process panel data analyses for the Eurozone member states from 1996 to 2019. Research findings confirm the inverted U-shaped curve for all models regarding tourism's contribution to GDP. Moreover, capital investment spending does not Granger cause air pollution. Additionally, the percentage of renewables should be increased from a long-term perspective since they decrease environmental degradation. Practical implications call for enhancing sustainable growth in the tourism system in light of energy efficiency issues and eco-friendly investments.
Abstract: The study examines how progress towards a circular economy (CE), patents related to recycling and secondary raw materials as a proxy for innovation, affect tourism receipts. The study uses Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) and Error Correction Method (ECM) to analyse time series data from EU countries from 2000 to 2020. Our estimates show that there exist long-run and short-run equilibrium relationships. In sum, evidence shows that promoting circular innovative practices, including recycling and using secondary raw materials in tourist destinations, could improve environmental quality and positively impact tourism receipts. The study concludes with policy and practical suggestions for circular economy innovation towards green tourism, destination management, and sustainable tourism.
Abstract: The process of coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic is an opportunity to create various scenarios for returning to the path of tourism development. The search for suitable and effective solutions was at the heart of the Tourism Friendly Cities project, in which eight European cities participated. The aim is to define the challenges and tools related to the sustainability of urban tourism. The empirical research was based on the opinions of experts from eight cities involved, and concerned four thematic areas: the quality of life and tourism in the city before and during/after COVID-19, tourism dysfunctions, the sources of conflicts between local stakeholders, and the tools for the sustainable reconstruction of tourism. The results confirmed the existence of a wide range of declared tools for the development of sustainable tourism after the pandemic. The conducted research indicates key areas of conflict in the field of tourism activity. The authors also come to the conclusion that tools for regulating tourist traffic should not be universal, but should meet the individual needs of the city.
Abstract: Ski tourism is a substantial component of the economy of mountainous regions in Europe and highly vulnerable to snow scarcity, which increases due to climate change. However the climate change snow supply risk to ski tourism has not been quantified in a consistent way throughout Europe, including the influence and environmental footprint of snowmaking. Here we show that the snow supply risk to ski tourism increases with global warming level, heterogeneously within and across mountain areas and countries. Without snowmaking, 53% and 98% of the 2,234 ski resorts studied in 28 European countries are projected at very high risk for snow supply under global warming of 2 • C and 4 • C, respectively. By contrast, assuming a snowmaking fractional coverage of 50% leads to a proportion of 27% and 71%, respectively, but with increasing water and electricity demand (and related carbon footprint) of snow-making. While it represents a modest fraction of the overall carbon footprint of ski tourism, snowmaking is an inherent part of the ski tourism industry and it epitomizes some of the key challenges at the nexus between climate change adaptation, mitigation, and sustainable development in the mountains, with their high social-ecological vulnerability.
Abstract: Tourism brings great opportunities of growth with relatively small investments in physical and human capital, but it also comes with important negative externalities. This paper looks at the environmental cost of tourism in terms of solid waste produced in municipalities. Using the Data Envelopment Analysis developed by Charnes et al. (1978) and Banker et al. (1984), the paper estimates the efficiency of Tuscan municipalities in waste management and relates this measure to spatial and touristic variables. The scale of operations is also considered to see if tourism seasonality has an impact on the ability to operate at optimal scale. The empirical analysis suggests that seasonality has a negative effect on the efficiency of solid waste management and that this effect is primarily due to difficulties in operating at optimal scale. The seasonality of presences has a strongly negative impact on efficiency while tourists’ average stay has a positive effect once scale effects are considered. The implications are that more effort should be made to flexibly manage waste collection in localities affected by seasonal tourism and reduce seasonality by incentivizing visitors to stay longer, for example by introducing a flexible tourist taxation as a function of presences and duration of stay.
Abstract: This study aims to identify factors that social media travel influencers (SMTIs) perceive to contribute to the long-term success of tourist destinations. This qualitative study involved in-depth interviews with 22 SMTIs who have a significant presence on different social media platforms. The study identifies five major factors contributing to sustainable tourism which are timings of content sharing, responsible behavior, engagement with followers, promoting natural attractions, and destination image (TREND). To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first studies reporting the perspective of SMTIs on sustainable tourism.
Abstract: This study introduces an innovative approach to sustainable tourist trip planning that aligns tourists’ preferences with vital sustainability factors. Traditional methods often prioritize singular objectives, such as minimizing travel time or cost, thereby overlooking the broader sustainability implications associated with travel. To bridge this gap, we propose a multi-objective sustainability tourist trip design model that optimizes travel itineraries across various dimensions, including CO2 emissions, environmental impacts, and socio-economic benefits. To address this problem, we developed a mixed-integer programming model. Subsequently, a novel Artificial Multiple Intelligence System (AMIS) was employed. The AMIS integrates multiple intelligence systems and employs meticulously designed and effective improvement methods facilitated by adaptive heuristic learning selection procedures. We subjected the model to rigorous testing using real-world data, and our analysis underscored the superiority of our approach. It resulted in a noteworthy 22.46%–27.95% reduction in CO2 costs and a substantial 14.20% reduction in waste generation, along with a noteworthy 6.46% increase in community ownership and a 7.07% increase in cultural heritage value, compared to existing models and methods based on differential evolution algorithms, ant colony optimization, and genetic algorithms. This study contributes significantly to enhancing our understanding of the challenges and prospects inherent in integrating sustainability considerations into the design of travel itineraries.
Abstract: The tourism sector after COVID-19 has raised different concerns that have lead to a development towards a more sustainable model of tourism. After the health crisis, the increase in environmental awareness of tourists has become evident. In this context, the great paradigm of ‘small-scale’ tourism has been developed as opposed to traditional tourism. The present work seeks to contribute to sustainable development in the Spanish tourism sector, comparing a hostel in Cantabria (considered as ‘small scale’ /religious tourism) and a hotel in Lloret de Mar (considered as a traditional tourism) one using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology to verify advantages and disadvantages of both types of tourism. The functional unit (FU) used was ‘per guest night with breakfast included’. The results have revealed similar results for both establishments in all impact categories, as can be seen in its contribution to Climate Change (4.41 kg CO2 eq./FU caused by the hotel and 4.78 kg CO2 eq./FU by the hostel).
Abstract: A discrepancy between tourists' intentions and behaviour threatens the effectiveness of interventions to favour sustainable choices. To reduce the gap between intentions and behaviour, one should consider both the consumer's and the researcher's shortcomings. On the one hand, consumers amplify the discrepancy between their sayings and doings through their hypocritical behaviour. On the other hand, researchers often aggravate the intention-behaviour gap because of their methodological myopia (e.g., by focusing on non-behavioural outcomes, or by working with unrealistic research settings). This paper offers some specific recommendations to address consumer hypocrisy. We also provide researchers with some methodological advice on how to minimise possible biases by i) defining ambitious research goals, ii) mitigating the researcher's invasiveness, and iii) adopting strong behavioural measures.
Abstract: This study aims to examine how and when different framings of sustainability performance communication influence travelers’ behavioral intentions. Specifically, it examines (1) the effectiveness of sustainability performance communication framing in shaping traveler’s behavioral intentions, (2) the mediating role of perceived commitment to sustainability, and (3) the moderating effect of the level of sustainability performance communicated. The findings of the four experiments conducted revealed that communicating sustainability performance is more effective than not reporting it in determining travelers’ behavioral intentions. Furthermore, an enhancement framing is more effective when communicating sustainability performance than a reduction framing. We also found that tourism provider’s commitment to sustainability explains the impact of sustainability performance communication framing on behavioral intentions. Furthermore, we found that communicating a moderate level of sustainability performance in enhancement framing and a high level in reduction framing is effective. The study provides implications for theory and practice in developing effective sustainability communication.
Abstract: The paper investigates the impact of national-level economic and political uncertainties on the quantity of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) sustainability disclosures by the tourism sector firms. The findings indicate that with the increase in economic and political uncertainties, tourism firms make more of the sustainability disclosures mainly to build good relationships with various stakeholders and to spread good word of mouth about the firm’s contribution to social welfare and environmental conservatism. The findings show the role of sustainability disclosures in moderating the impact of economic uncertainty on firm value during the COVID-19 period and global financial crisis period
Abstract: The concept of smart mobility and tourism has evolved from a technology-driven approach to one that focuses on sustainable solutions to address economic, social, and environmental issues. The United Nations (UN) sustainable development goals (SDGs) provide a framework for measuring and tracking progress toward sustainability goals. Key performance indicators (KPIs) are a useful tool for measuring and tracking progress towards these goals, allowing for continuous monitoring and evaluation of progress, identification of areas for improvement, and directing targeted interventions. This research aims to develop an indicators-based framework to evaluate the sustainability of smart and sustainable mobility and tourism in rural areas. Rural areas have often been neglected, or at least less prioritized, in the sustainability development of the mobility sector. The study also seeks to identify the overlap of KPIs between rural tourism and mobility, and how improved green mobility services can enhance sustainable rural tourism. Smart mobility and tourism indicators have a strong mutual relationship in rural communities, driving economic development, improving the quality of life for residents and visitors, and creating more sustainable and livable communities. Smart mobility and tourism indicators also play a crucial role in supporting the UN SDGs by providing data and insights that can inform policy and decision-making. The results of this research conclude how the target and performance setting of projects on sustainable mobility and tourism in rural communities support each other, and how they support achieving SDGs.
Abstract: Academic research focusing on overtourism, and related negative impacts have overlooked the role children could have played in the sustainability of the tourism industry. This lack of interest is surprising knowing that: first, they are the future of the industry; second, when empowered they can be agents of change. Subsequently, the objective of the study is to show that research on overtourism is totally compatible with childism. Using a bibliometric and lexicometric analysis, the study suggests how the literature on overtourism has evolved over time and demonstrates the absence of children in this evolution. As a result, this study proposes a strategy for children to be involved in initiatives to mitigate the negative impacts of overtourism. Equally important, this study is providing a research method to develop a research agenda, alongside three key main area for research.
Abstract: Globally, the interaction among innovation, tourism, and climate change has become a point of focus recently. This study examines the impact of innovation and tourism development on the sustainable development of the G7 economies. Panel data from 2000 to 2019 was analyzed for cross-sectional dependency, and a series of panel unit root tests were used to confirm the variables' unit root properties. Pedroni and Kao's tests confirm the cointegration relationship among the variables. The fully modified OLS and dynamic OLS results show that higher economic prosperity and lower environmental pollution are associated with innovation as measured in scientific publications and patents, highlighting the importance of innovation. The results highlight the positive significant impact of tourism arrivals on pollution reduction and economic expansion, which mark the steps for sustainable development. The study finds further evidence that asylum refugees did not positively contribute to economic prosperity, nor were they active in the environmental correction plans of the countries. The level of education provides strong evidence supporting sustainable development by encouraging economic growth and discouraging environmental degradation. Overall, the results recommend raising the level of innovation, tourism development, and higher technical education for the sustainable development of the G7 economies. These findings offer important contributions to firms, policymakers, and UN sustainable development agendas.
Abstract: This paper draws on data collected through multiple approaches and presents an exploration of the early stages of a large sustainability-oriented rural tourism development project. Through a streamlined qualitative analysis, the study revealed four tactical moves deployed in the early stages of the project. The moves include instilling project legitimacy, forging a support network, anchoring the project, and mobilising resources and capabilities. Further analysis revealed that these moves tend to reinforce each other, and thus they require concurrent implementation. Subsequently, the study develops a framework delineating drivers, enablers, challenges, and key success factors for navigating the early stages of a large sustainability-oriented rural tourism development project. Intriguingly, the study contradicts the path dependence perspective, which is often used in project management research. Instead, it suggests that the early stages of such projects require tactical path creation involving well-calculated actions that serve as a breeding ground for valuable random incidents.
Abstract: Pour bien comprendre la contribution de l'écotourisme à la réalisation du développement durable, encore faut-il comprendre son origine, son évolution et ses principes (Tardif, 2003). L'intérêt de cette étude confirmatoire se situe dans l'analyse de la perception qu'ont les consommateurs sur les deux concepts, écotourisme et développement durable, il s'agit d'analyser leur profilage, leur détermination et les contraintes qui les empêchent à effectuer un voyage dans un cadre écotouristique. Sur le plan théorique, notre papier prévoit une présentation de l'ensemble des travaux empiriques qui jalonnent la littérature dans le cadre d'analyse de la perception de l'écotourisme et le développement durable par les touristes, sur le plan méthodologique, nous avons mené notre étude à travers un questionnaire en ligne administré pour examiner la perception des consommateurs, il s'agit d'un échantillon représentatif de 200 consommateurs qui ont voyagé au moins une seule fois par an. En se basant sur les résultats issus de l'étude empirique, les consommateurs montrent un comportement favorable à la réalisation des voyages responsables et perçoivent l'écotourisme comme étant une panacée économique, sociale et environnementale.
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