What Should Tourism Sustain? The Disconnect with Industry Perceptions of Useful Indicators

Abstract

The issue of sustainability and tourism has become a more widely studied topic in the past few years. However, little of this research investigates the relationship between the two concepts—sustainability and sustainable tourism—and how sustainability should be measured. Ambiguities in what is meant by sustainable tourism as reflected in the questions of how to make the industry sustainable, what should tourism sustain, and what is sustainable tourism further complicate social discourse. Progress on achieving sustainability is also limited by the need for shared definitions of means and ends among those involved in tourism development. This study provides a tourism industry perspective on what items could be sustained and what indicators should be used to monitor for sustainability policies. From the results in the state of Montana, the question of how sustainable tourism should move forward remains problematic because of differences between what should be sustained and appropriate indicators.