Getting the Future That You Want: The role of Sustainability Indicators

Lawrence, J. Gary

doi:10.4324/9781315071190-4

Cited by 2 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…Indicators of socio-cultural sustainability were employed to operationalise the principles of social cohesion, cultural conservation, empowerment and equity with application to small tourism businesses across a number of sectors. The indicators used in this study are best described as directional indicators and therefore do not attempt to communicate significant amounts of technically precise information, but to provide the ‘big picture’ or ‘an understanding of whether things are getting better or getting worse’ (Lawrence, 1998: 69). Thus, instead of identifying absolute target values, possible target values were used (CTO, 2000).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While indicators with primarily directional properties are often condemned for not possessing benchmarks or targets, this researcher concurs with the view that the most important attribute of sustainability indicators, given the objectives of this study is that it is able to detect and assess the direction of STB behaviours. This approach is in contrast to predictive or warning indicators that utlise highly technical, complex, robust data with distinct target values, and which allow for comparison over time (Lawrence, 1998; Schianetz and Kavanagh, 2008).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some have argued that sustainable tourism is meaningless and progress assessments difficult without the developnment of indicators of sustainable tourism (Butler, 1999; Choi and Sirakaya, 2006; Lawrence, 1998; Torres-Delgado and Saarinen, 2014). According to the UNWTO (2004:8) indicators are needed to ‘measure the existence and severity of current issues, signal upcoming situations or problems, measure risk potential and the need for action, and identify and measure the results of our actions.’ Indicators therefore have a crucial role to play in communicating the status of a destination, a group or an entity and in monitoring changes.…”

Section: Indicators Of Socio-cultural Sustainability: Theoretical Con...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Against this background, this study examines the contribution that small tourism businesses make to destination socio-cultural sustainability using directional indicators. These indicators are focused less upon numerical representations and absolutes and more upon monitoring progress or trends (Lawrence, 1998). Two research questions guide this study:1.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Socio-cultural sustainability and small tourism businesses

Roberts

2022

Tourism and Hospitality Research

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Early assumptions pertaining to the sustainability of small tourism businesses (STBs) have been answered specifically as it relates to environmental sustainability. What is less well documented and still unclear is the extent to which STBs enhance the socio-cultural sustainability of the destination. This lacuna is surprising, given the development of indicators of sustainable tourism. This study therefore fills this gap by utilizing sustainability indicators to examine the extent to which small tourism businesses, across a number of sectors, contribute to destination sustainability. Using a conceptual approach premised upon principles of socio-cultural sustainability to construct the reference condition for indicator development, the study found that businesses performed better on indicators related to equity and cultural conservation but had mixed performance in the area of social cohesion, and were borderline on empowerment. The theoretical contribution of the study is that it provides operational validity to the assumptions governing small tourism businesses and socio-cultural sustainability by employing indicators developed through the scientific consensus approach. Using this approach, the study is able to measure socio-cultural sustainability contributions across myriad sectors.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Indicators Of Socio-cultural Sustainability: Theoretical Con...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Socio-cultural sustainability and small tourism businesses

Roberts

2022

Tourism and Hospitality Research

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Use of backcasting to integrate indicators with principles of sustainability

Becker¹

2010

International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ec

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There are innumerable indicators that can be used to evaluate sustainable development and these can serve to inform and guide progress. However, they are often selected without considering their effect on each other and the achievement of sustainability. Indeed, two decades after the definition of sustainable development, there is still little agreement on principles of sustainability, nor the indicators to represent them. Part of the difficulty lies in working from a present unsustainable state to an uncertain future horizon. An alternative is to apply backcasting, which starts from a desired outcome and develops scenarios for achieving it. This paper presents a framework of sustainability principles to help operationalize indicators and increase their relevance. It outlines how this can be done using backcasting to evaluate existing indicators or to select those that relate positively to the framework principles. Although there is no formula for achieving sustainability, this process provides a format for discussion in selecting indicators and in ensuring their continued relevance to sustainable development progress.

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Getting the Future That You Want: The role of Sustainability Indicators

Cited by 2 publications

References 0 publications

Socio-cultural sustainability and small tourism businesses

Socio-cultural sustainability and small tourism businesses

Use of backcasting to integrate indicators with principles of sustainability

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