۱- Introduction

۲- Literature review

۳- Methodological approach

۴- Results

۵- Discussion

۶- Conclusions

References

Abstract

As has been demonstrated by international organizations, as well as by scientific literature, the expansion of tourism can cause environmental deterioration, such that tourism has a very high environmental cost in relation to the benefits it brings to those societies hosting it. In such a context, this research aims to investigate the relationships that may exist between the expansion of touristic activity and environmental sustainability, with its main objective being to substantiate that the relationship between tourism and environmental sustainability is not unidirectional, as well as to establish that sustainability influences the expansion of touristic activity. For this, structural equation models have been used to measure the possible relationships between tourism growth and environmental sustainability, by using a sample of 139 countries with data from the last ten years. The work shows, in line with the position of international organizations, that the expansion of tourism translates into an environmental deterioration of the destination (risk dimension) and, furthermore, it substantiates that there are specific variables connected to environmental sustainability (regulatory dimension) that contribute to greater tourism growth, so that the relationship between tourism and environmental sustainability is bidirectional. Based on these results, stakeholders in a tourist destination should commit to greater compliance with environmental regulations as it translates into growth of touristic activity, as well as to limiting the risk factors that said activity represents for the environment and its potential for future growth.

Introduction

More than thirty years have passed since the Brundtland Report was published in 1987 and as shown by Ruhanen et al. (2015: 517) “the debate, discourse, and criticism of this subfield of tourism research continues”. The debate is far from over, and the questions raised in the investigative environment are far from having been resolved, especially due to their real world implications. Studies, such as those by Buckley (2012), Ruhanen et al. (2015) or Weiler et al. (2012), to cite a few of the more recent ones which show that there is a growing interest for sustainable tourism, recognized that current advances are still limited especially with regards to the practical application of theoretical and methodological progress obtained in recent years. One of the most controversial topics of recent years in this regard is related to the contribution of sustainability to touristic competitiveness. For example, Ritchie & Crouch (2000: 5) recognized that competitiveness is “illusory without sustainability”. In fact, as shown by Pulido-Fernández et al. (2015: 48), “all models that have been designed to identify and study the determinants of a destination’s competitiveness consider sustainability to be a key factor”. Additionally, in reports published by international organizations and institutions a special emphasis is made on the positive influence that sustainability can have on the process of touristic development and, at the same time, those processes related to the economic growth of the destinations. In this way, these organizations have tried to justify the need for destinations to invest in improving sustainability. In this sense, the report published by UNEP (2011) showed that a growing trend in the tourism industry is to invest in improving the environmental dimension of sustainability. Another report published by UNWTO (2013: 12) tried to show that sustainable tourism “is a vehicle to foster economic and social growth”. The Global Sustainable Tourism Council is also working to show that sustainability can promote business prosperity, increase benefits for the host community, and protect and conserve natural and cultural resources.