Sustainable Tourism Development: A Critique

TLDR

Sustainable tourism has become an increasingly popular field of research since the late 1980s, yet the debate remains patchy, disjointed, and often flawed with false assumptions and arguments. This paper briefly critiques weaknesses in the sustainable tourism literature. It examines six overlooked issues—tourism demand, resource nature, intra‑generational equity, sociocultural progress, sustainability measurement, and development forms—that must be addressed in research. The authors argue that transforming sustainable tourism research into a more scientific discipline requires a systems perspective and interdisciplinary approach.

Abstract

Abstract Sustainable tourism has become an increasingly popular field of research since the late 1980s. However, the sustainable tourism debate is patchy, disjointed and often flawed with false assumptions and arguments. This paper is a brief critique of some of the weaknesses in the sustainable tourism literature. In particular, it explores six issues that are often overlooked but must be addressed in research: the role of tourism demand, the nature of tourism resources, the imperative of intra-generational equity, the role of tourism in promoting sociocultural progress, the measurement of sustainability, and forms of sustainable development. Finally, it is argued that in order to transform research on sustainable tourism to a more scientific level, a systems perspective and an interdisciplinary approach are indispensable.