Economics

The role of tourism in sustainable communities

Document Type

Book Chapter

Abstract

This chapter develops a model through which a dynamic analysis of tourism sustainability can be implemented within the context of broader community development goals. The model focuses on the relationship between tourism and quality-of-life as influenced by impacts on economic, sociocultural, and environmental outcomes. This perspective is similar to triple bottom line (TBL) assessments that add sociocultural and environmental dimensions to the traditional economic bottom line. The role of tourism is first analyzed in a stylized but formal dynamic model that equates the quest for sustainability with the quest for an optimal path to long-term stability where a visitation variable is used to control a single community quality-of-life asset. Principle results of this analysis are then further explored using mathematical planning exercise for a community with explicit sustainability goals and the recognition of its triple bottom line of environmental, social, and economic assets. By combining a TBL approach with a formal dynamic approach toward tourism sustainability, the model provides insights into trade-offs implied in sustainable tourism and suggests general principles for tourism planning.

Publication Title

Handbook of Tourism and Quality-of-Life Research: Enhancing the Lives of Tourists and Residents of Host Communities

Publication Date

2012

First Page

565

Last Page

582

ISBN

9789400722880

DOI

10.1007/978-94-007-2288-0

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