Tourism is one of the world's largest industries, generating 10% of the global GDP. While tourism represents a key source of income and employment in many regions and destinations, it also exerts considerable pressure on the... [ view full abstract ]
Tourism is one of the world's largest industries, generating 10% of the global GDP. While tourism represents a key source of income and employment in many regions and destinations, it also exerts considerable pressure on the environmental and socio-cultural resources of local populations. Destruction of natural areas and loss of habitats, overexploitation of resources or the loss of cultural identity are well-known negative impacts of rampant tourism growth. Managing tourism in a responsible way, addressing its environmental and social impacts is key to sustainable development. Not only there is a need for more environmentally and socially conscious tourism products, it must also be clear how these concerns are integrated in the tourism business. The SUSTENTURIS project promotes more sustainable tourism by focusing on the assessment and development of a more sustainable tourism offer. It evaluates tourism products in terms of social, environmental and destination sustainability. The product typology allowed is comprehensive, including accommodation, catering, events, traditional arts and crafts, nature and cultural experiences, as well as packages combining various components. Tourism products are evaluated by being attributed a score: the index i-Sustenturis. This index integrates three dimensions: social, environmental and destination sustainability (Q-Soci, Q-Envi and Q-Dest), all computed with objective criteria. The Q-Soci dimension evaluates social responsibility of the service provider, analysing features such as working conditions and employee relations, supply chain management, involvement with the local community or the use of an edutainment approach. The Q-Envi dimension assesses the environmental performance of the product throughout its life cycle, comprehending water consumption, resource extraction, land use and polluting emissions to air, water and land. The Q-Dest dimension is computed for a touristic "destination" defined e.g. as a municipality, a town or a nature park; it endeavours to measure sustainability of the destination as a whole, considering aspects such as authenticity, status of cultural and natural heritage and sustainable resource use; destinations may be proposed by organizations with responsibility in local government or territorial management, although this is not a pre-requisite. The index allows for a quick comparison between touristic destinations and products, and operates as a marketing, management and education tool. Service providers will submit product applications. Results will be available to tourism operators and to the general public through an Internet platform. The SUSTENTURIS concept is innovative in its focus on product sustainability and in the development of indicators calculated with a life cycle approach, in a transparent and traceable way. The project is now at the research and development stage, being expected to move on to pilot and demonstration stage, with selected interested parties, within the year.
Keywords: sustainable tourism, sustainability indicators, environmental performance, social performance.
1c. Assessing sustainability (indicators and reporting)
