Sustainable Destination Development: Tourism and Society

Dear Colleagues,

Tourism affects host destinations culturally, economically, socially, and environmentally.  While economic benefits are often prioritised, sustainable destination development requires the adoption of a holistic approach.  Responsible tourism minimises negative effects like overcrowding, cultural loss, and environmental degradation while enhancing community engagement and heritage preservation.  Effective policies should balance economic growth with sustainability by promoting green infrastructure, community-led initiatives, and responsible visitor behaviour.  Stakeholders, including governments and tourism operators, must integrate sustainability into their planning to ensure long-term benefits for both residents and visitors, fostering a positive relationship between tourism and society.

This Special Issue will explore the multi-dimensional impacts of tourism on host destinations, emphasising the balance between economic gains and long-term sustainability and critically examining responsible tourism practices that contribute to culturally sensitive, socially inclusive, and environmentally conscious development.

We invite the submission of interdisciplinary research and case studies that address tourism’s role in sustainable development locally and globally, focusing on topics such as the following:

• Challenges and future directions for sustainable events;
• Community-led tourism initiatives;
• Community engagement and stakeholder collaboration;
• Green infrastructure and low-impact tourism;
• Heritage conservation and cultural integrity;
• Legacies, identity, and cultural sustainability;
• Policies, governance, and global agendas;
• Policy frameworks for sustainable tourism governance;
• Measurement tools and indicators regarding tourism sustainability;
• Minimising negative externalities such as waste, emissions, and over-tourism;
• Responsible visitor behaviour and destination management;
• Sustainable events and their impacts;
• Sustainable tourism and event management strategies.

Purpose

This Special Issue seeks to generate dialogue and insights regarding how tourism can be harnessed as a force for good, aligning with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) and SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production). By considering both challenges and best practices, we aim to highlight evidence-based strategies that ensure tourism benefits rather than harms host destinations.

Relationship to the Existing Literature

This Special Issue will build upon and critically extend the growing body of literature on sustainable tourism in the following ways:

• Addressing the integration of sustainability metrics into tourism policies and planning.
• Providing practical applications of sustainability tools and community-driven approaches underdiscussed in the conventional tourism literature.
• Bridging gaps between theoretical sustainability frameworks and on-the-ground tourism practices.
• Encouraging the consideration of interdisciplinary perspectives from environmental science, economics, sociology, governance, and cultural studies.
• While the existing literature predominantly focuses on economic or environmental impacts in isolation, this Special Issue will take a holistic and systems-based approach, positioning tourism within the broader sustainable development discourse.

Contribution to Sustainability

Aligned with the journal’s aims, this Special Issue will contribute to the advancement of sustainability in the following ways:

• Defining tourism sustainability from multiple perspectives;
• Proposing new tools for measuring and monitoring tourism impacts;
• Presenting policy analyses and recommendations for sustainable governance;
• Showcasing innovative models that operationalise sustainability principles in tourism development;
• Highlighting the importance of community agency and stakeholder engagement.

This Special Issue will therefore offer both theoretical enrichment and practical relevance, supporting scholars, policymakers, and practitioners in their pursuit of sustainable destination development.

Prof. Dr. Razaq Raj
Dr. Giovanni Ruggieri
Dr. Adalberto Arrigoni
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• sustainable
• tourism
• society
• impacts
• development
• policies
• heritage
• destination
• benefits