Tourism, sustainable development and the theoretical divide: 20 years on

Abstract

A conceptual paper published twenty years ago (Sharpley, 2000) concluded that sustainable tourism development is an unviable objective. Specifically, it argued that environmentally sound tourism development (sustainable tourism) is essential; sustainable development through tourism, however, is unachievable. Despite continuing alignment between tourism and sustainable development in both academic and policy circles, not only have the intervening two decades proved this argument in practice to be correct, but also there is little evidence of a more sustainable tourism sector. This paper, therefore, returns to the theoretical relationship between tourism and sustainable development, considering more recent transformations in understandings of the concept of development as well as contemporary approaches to sustainable development. Highlighting the controversy surrounding the continuing adherence to economic growth in development policy in general and tourism development in particular, it discusses sustainable de-growth as an alternative approach to development and, in the context of increasing concerns over climate change, the specific implications for tourism.

Sustainable Heritage Tourism: Native American Preservation Recommendations at Arches, Canyonlands, and Hovenweep National Parks

“…Richard Sharpley [69,70] published two research-based papers in the Journal of Sustainable Tourism; both of which concluded based on thousands of publications that it is not possible to simultaneously pursue the goals of sustainable tourism and sustainable development. He argues that environmentally sound tourism is possible, but with a sustainable de-growth approach.…”

Sustainable Heritage Tourism: Native American Preservation Recommendations at Arches, Canyonlands, and Hovenweep National Parks

“…Richard Sharpley 37,38 published two research-based papers in the Journal of Sustainable Tourism; both concluded based on thousands of publications that it is not possible to simultaneously pursue the goals of sustainable tourism and sustainable development. He argues that environmentally sound tourism is possible, but with a sustainable de-growth approach.…”

Co-designing emergent opportunities for sustainable development on the verges of inertia, sustaining tourism and re-imagining tourism

“…the UN World Tourism Organization (2017) was quick to frame the new sustainable development goals (UN, 2016) as an opportunity to stimulate 'true' business opportunitiesthat is, opportunities that are competitive and increase profit (p. 7)as have many national and regional tourism strategies. However, the intended trickle-down effects of such macro-level policies have come under question, and scholars continue to underline the lack of operationalisation of the praiseworthy values of sustainable development (Butler, 1998;Weaver, 2009;Wall, 2018;Sharpley, 2020). The persistent ineffectiveness of traditional tourism planning and destination management models is partly rooted in the reductionist nature of their deterministic and linear cause-and-effect representations, where there is an implicit or explicit assumption that tourism can be efficiently managed and controlled by proper means of intervention (Hall et al, 2018;Liburd, 2018;McDonald, 2009;McKercher, 1993;Miller & Twining-Ward, 2005).…”

“…First, by avoiding questioning and disturbing current tourism practices and potentially varying values, sustainability is easily reduced to an assumed or obtained balance, which can lead to passive acceptance of the current state of affairs. Second, the zones underscore the historic top-down focus on macro-level issues concerning the objectives of sustainable development and how these convey a lack of operationalisation (Butler, 1998;Sharpley, 2000Sharpley, , 2020. Following the lack of identification with the task of sustainable development as it is defined by others such as the UN or textbooks and applied onto tourism practice, sustainable tourism futures appear to be external to situated everyday tourism doings.…”

“…Scholars have cautioned that this implicates typically little but tourism itself is sustained, leaving scant attention to the wider implications for sustainable development (Hunter, 1995(Hunter, , 1997Liburd & Edwards, 2010;Sharpley, 2000). Thus, the agenda of Transforming Our World (United Nations, 2016) has stimulated renewed critical interest among tourism scholars and practitioners in re-appreciating how tourism can overcome the 'Brundtland-as-usual' logic (Hall, 2019, p. 12) and engage meaningfully in sustainable development (Boluk et al, 2019;Bricker, 2018;Fennell & Cooper, 2020;Higham & Miller, 2018;Liburd, 2018;Sharpley, 2020).…”