Sustainability: A Barrier to Tourism Development? - Tourism and Development: Concepts and Issues - page 437

circumstances, the resultant principles of sustainable tourism are also prin-
ciples of sustainable development' (Hunter, 1995: 163). Such an approach
was indeed adopted by the Globe 90 Conference in Canada where, in recog-
nition of tourism's role in wider development, three fundamental principles
to guide tourism planning and management were proposed (Figure 15.2).
In short, sustainable tourism should be considered a potential means of
achieving sustainable development; that is, any form of tourism should itself
be (a) environmentally sustainable and (b) be able to contribute indefinitely
to broader sustainable development policies and objectives. Evidently, (a) is
also a prerequisite to (b).
This logical definition of sustainable tourism development has a number
of implications. First, by locating tourism within the wider developmental
context, the effectiveness of tourism as a specific means of satisfying the goals
of sustainable development is itself questioned. That is, for some communities
or states, tourism (in any form) may not represent, either on its own or in
tandem with other activities, an appropriate path to sustainable development
when compared to other economic development policies. Second, and as a conse-
quence, sustainable tourism is no longer synonymous with competing for the
use of scarce resources (Jenner & Smith, 1992; McKercher, 1993a, 1993b) in
order to sustain tourism in the longer term; rather, the emphasis is placed upon
the most appropriate and efficient shared use of resources, on a global basis,
within overall development goals. Third, the inherently divisive character of
sustainable tourism as the 'good' alternative to traditional, mass tourism
becomes irrelevant as the focus shifts to striving for developing all forms of
tourism within the broader principles of sustainable development.
Most typically, however, the principal concern of sustainable tourism
development has become the sustainable development of tourism itself. In
other words, where attempts have been made to implement sustainable tour-
ism development policies in practice, they most closely reflect the tourism-
centric approach referred to above. The aim has become to preserve the
natural, built and socio-cultural resource base upon which tourism depends

1. Tourism must be a recognised sustainable economic development

option, considered equally with other economic activities when
jurisdictions are making development decisions.

2. There must be a relevant tourism information base to permit recog-

nition, analysis and monitoring of the tourism industry in relation
to other sectors of the economy.

3. Tourism development must be carried out in a way that is compat-

ible with the principles of sustainable development.

Figure 15.2 Principles for sustainable tourism development
Source: Cronin (1990).