23 May Sustainable Tourism is Wicked

Posted at 22:25h in Managing Sustainability, Sustainable Tourism Development, Sustainable Tourism Management, Systems Thinking by

Sustainable tourism, at is simplest, is a set of activities designed to maximize the benefits of tourism.  Making sure we maximize the benefits of tourism, and minimize the negatives, particularly for host communities, is hard to argue against.

So why don’t we see more great examples of sustainable tourism?

Sustainable tourism is a wicked problem.

Wicked problems are both complicated and complex. Sustainable tourism is complicated because, to achieve its promise, there are many things to do. Fortunately, over the last 4o years we’ve got a pretty good idea of what needs to be done. Of course, knowing what to do – and actually doing them are two different things. Even so, there are great examples of destinations and organizations doing exemplary work on some activities that contribute to sustainable tourism outcomes. Sometimes this happens when an actor in the system sees a particular need; other times – less frequently – it is because a group within a destination or an organization has committed to systematically manage for sustainable tourism.

Sustainable tourism is complex because it requires many people and organizations to work to the common goals. Tourism is a complex system, a network, in which some may take leadership roles, but no one is in charge. Tourism is only truly sustainable when the whole system – each component business – is sustainable. Sustainable tourism is a team activity – it requires collaboration and cooperation.

Last thought – Sustainable tourism is a moving target. The activities required to achieve sustainable tourism outcomes – maximizing the benefits of tourism and minimizing the negative impacts – will change as the world changes. The challenges of implementing sustainable tourism today are different than those of a few months ago.

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Jonathon Day
drjonday@gmail.com
2 Comments
  • Steven Manthei
    Posted at 23:58h, 23 May

    Dr Day, are there financial incentives for the various stakeholders and participants within the ‘network’ to implement the sustainable actions? Either profit driven or tax incentives?

    • Jonathon Day
      Posted at 15:53h, 25 May

      There are incentives, and while they can be categorized, they are different for each member of the system. And each member of the system values the incentives in different ways. For example – there are economic incentives for many energy reduction activities. But because there are start-up costs for some of these new approaches, we see small-businesses (with limited resources and cashflow) opting for different approaches than big businesses. (An example is the cost of introducing LED lights. While LED reduces longterm energy costs – it is expensive to buy them in the first place.
      So the business case for sustainability often includes economic and fiscal incentives, reputation and brand equity, and “license to operate”. As more and more communities push back against (over) tourism – the idea that businesses need to behave well to be accepted in the community (license to operate) is gaining traction.