Abstract
Due to its potential to deliver economic benefits without major extractive activities, tourism is often considered as a means to sustainable development. However, there is inadequate problematization of the environmental impact of tourism in existing tourism research. A major weakness of the sustainable tourism discourse is the negligence of relatively well-known ecological principles of limits, entropy, and Jevons paradox. This selective review puts forth the argument of ecological limits to inform tourism sustainability research and advances two hypotheses for further problematization of the concept and future research. Consequently, it is argued that with the accelerating impoverishment of the biosphere, tourism could only meaningfully contribute to environmentally sustainable development by pivoting away from incremental solutions and by embracing the idea of transformative change through concepts such as degrowth and planetary limits.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aall, C., Klepp, I. G., Engeset, A. B., Skuland, S. E., & Støa, E. (2011). Leisure and sustainable development in Norway: Part of the solution and the problem. Leisure Studies, 30(4), 453–476. https://doi.org/10.1080/02614367.2011.589863.
Alcott, B. (2005). Jevon’s paradox. Ecological Economics, 54(1), 9–21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2005.03.020.
Bakker, M., & Messerli, H. R. (2017). Inclusive growth versus pro-poor growth: Implications for tourism development. Tourism and Hospitality Research, 17(4), 384–391. https://doi.org/10.1177/1467358416638919.
Barbier, E. B. (2011). Scarcity and frontiers: How economies have developed through natural resource exploitation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bebbington, A. J., Bebbington, D. H., Sauls, L. A., Rogan, J., Agrawal, S., Gamboa, C., et al. (2018). Resource extraction and infrastructure threaten forest cover and community rights. PNAS, 115(52), 13164–13173. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1812505115.
Becken, S. (2011). A critical review of tourism and oil. Annals of Tourism Research, 38(2), 359–379. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2010.10.005.
Becken, S. (2013). Developing a framework for assessing resilience of tourism sub-systems for climatic factors. Annals of Tourism Research, 43, 506–528. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2013.06.002.
Becken, S., & Hay, J. E. (2007). Tourism and climate change: Risks and opportunities. Toronto: Channel View.
Biancardi, C., Donati, A., & Ulgiati, S. (1993). On the relationship between the economic process, the Carnot cycle and the entropy law. Ecological Economics, 8(1), 7–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/0921-8009(93)90027-4.
Borucke, M., Moore, D., Cranston, G., Gracey, K., Iha, K., Larson, J., et al. (2013). Accounting for demand and supply of the biosphere’s regenerative capacity: The National Footprint Accounts’ underlying methodology and framework. Ecological Indicators, 24, 518–533. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2012.08.005.
Bridge, G., Barr, S., Bouzarovski, S., Bradshaw, M., Brown, E., Bulkeley, H., et al. (2018). Energy and society: A critical perspective. London: Routledge.
Brown, A. C., & McLachlan, A. (2002). Sandy shore ecosystems and the threats facing them: Some predictions for the year 2025. Environmental Conservation, 29(1), 62–77. https://doi.org/10.1017/S037689290200005X.
Bull, J. W., Milner-Gulland, E. J., Addison, P. F. E., Arlidge, W. N. S., Baker, J., Brooks, T. M., et al. (2019). Net positive outcomes for nature. Nature Ecology & Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-1022-z.
Cavagnaro, E., & Curiel, G. (2012). The three levels of sustainability. Sheffield: Greenleaf Publishing.
Ceballos, G., Ehrlich, P. R., Barnosky, A. D., García, A., Pringle, R. M., & Palmer, T. M. (2015). Accelerated modern human–induced species losses: Entering the sixth mass extinction. Science Advances. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1400253.
Chakraborty, A. (2019). Does nature matter? Arguing for a biophysical turn in the ecotourism narrative. Journal of Ecotourism, 18(3), 243–260. https://doi.org/10.1080/14724049.2019.1584201.
Chambers, N., Simmons, C., & Wackaernagel, M. (2000). Sharing nature’s interest: Ecological footprint as an indicator of sustainability. London: Earthscan Routledge.
Davenport, J., & Davenport, J. L. (2006). The impact of tourism and personal leisure transport on coastal environments: A review. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 67(1–2), 280–292. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2005.11.026.
Davies, J. (2016). The birth of the Anthropocene. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Dirzo, R., Young, H. S., Galetti, M., Ceballos, G., Isaac, N. J. B., & Collen, B. (2014). Defaunation in the Anthropocene. Science, 345(6195), 401–406. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1251817.
Drius, M., Bongiorni, L., Depellegrin, D., Menegon, S., Pugnetti, A., & Stifter, S. (2019). Science of the Total Environment, 652, 1302–1317. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.10.121.
Dubois, G., & Ceron, J.-P. (2006). Tourism and climate change: Proposals for a research agenda. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 14(4), 399–415. https://doi.org/10.2167/jost539.0.
Epler-Wood, M. (2017). Sustainable tourism on a finite planet. London: Routledge.
Exner, A. (2013). De-growth solidarity: The great socio-ecological transformation of the twenty-first century. In A. Exner, P. Fleissner, L. Kranzl, & W. Zittel (Eds.), Land and resource scarcity: Capitalism, struggle and well-being in a world without fossil fuels (pp. 185–244). London: Routledge.
Fletcher, R., Murray-Mas, I., Blanco-Romero, A., & Blázquez-Salom, M. (2019). Tourism and degrowth: An emerging agenda for research. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 27(2), 1745–1763. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2019.1679822.
GFN (Global Footprint Network). (2018). Ecological footprint. https://www.footprintnetwork.org/our-work/ecological-footprint/
Gogarty, B., Kirkpatrick, J., Fitzgerald, N., Jarman, S., McCormack, P., & Marthick, J. (2018). Commercial tourism in Tasmania’s wilderness threatens the attraction it exploits. Nature Ecology & Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-018-0723-z.
Gössling, S., & Hall, C. M. (Eds.). (2006). Tourism and global environmental change: Ecological, economic, social and political interrelationships. London: Routledge.
Gössling, S., & Peeters, P. (2015). Assessing tourism’s global environmental impact 1900–2050. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 23(5), 639–659. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2015.1008500.
Gössling, S., Peeters, P., Hall, C. M., Ceron, J. P., Dubois, G., Lehmann, L. V., et al. (2012). Tourism and water use: Supply, demand, and security. An international review. Tourism Management, 33(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2011.03.015.
Hall, C. M., Prayag, G., & Amore, A. (2018). Tourism and resilience: Individual, organisational and destination perspectives. Bristol: Channel View Publications.
Hamilton, C. (2017). Defiant Earth: The fate of humans in the Anthropocene. Cambridge: Polity.
Herring, H., & Sorrell, S. (Eds.). (2008). Energy efficiency and sustainable consumption: The rebound effect. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Hoekstra, A. Y., & Weidmann, T. O. (2014). Humanity’s unsustainable environmental footprint. Science, 344(6188), 1114–1117. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1248365.
Hooke, R. L., Martin-Duque, J. F., & Pedraza, J. (2012). Land transformation by humans: A review. GSA Today, 22(12), 4–10. https://doi.org/10.1130/GSAT151A.1.
Hughes, T. P., Anderson, K. D., Connolly, S. R., Heron, S. F., Kerry, J. T., Lough, J. M., et al. (2018). Spatial and temporal patterns of mass bleaching of corals in the Anthropocene. Science, 359(6371), 80–83. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aan8048.
Hughes, T. P., Kerry, J. T., Alvarez-Noriega, M., Alvarez-Romero, J. G., Anderson, K. D., Baird, A. H., et al. (2017). Global warming and recurrent mass bleaching of corals. Nature, 543, 373–377. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature21707.
Jackson, T. (2009). Prosperity without growth: Foundation for the economy of tomorrow. London: Routledge.
James, L. E. (2018). Half of the Great Barrier Reef is dead. National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/08/explore-atlas-great-barrier-reef-coral-bleaching-map-climate-change/
Jones, A., & Phillips, M. (Eds.). (2019). Disappearing destinations: Climate change and the future challenges for coastal tourism. Wallingford: CABI.
Joppa, L. N., Baillie, J. E. M., & Robinson, J. G. (Eds.). (2016). Protected areas: Are they safeguarding biodiversity?. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
Kaiser, J. (2007). Ecuador may limit Galapagos tourism. Science News. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2007/04/ecuador-may-limit-galapagos-tourism
Kerschner, C. (2015). Peak oil. In G. D’Alisa, F. Demaria, & G. Kallis (Eds.), Degrowth: A vocabulary for a new era (pp. 129–132). London: Routledge.
Kim, S., Filimonau, V., & Dickinson, J. E. (2019). The technology-evoked time use rebound effect and its impact on pro-environmental consumer behaviour in tourism. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, first online.. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2019.1643870.
Kuby, C. R., & Christ, R. C. (2019). Speculative pedagogies of qualitative inquiry. London: Routledge.
Lade, S. J., Steffen, W., de Vries, W., Carpenter, S. R., Donges, J. F., Gerten, D., et al. (2019). Human impacts on planetary boundaries amplified by earth system interactions. Nature Sustainability, 3, 119–128. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-019-0454-4.
LaVanchy, G. T. (2017). When wells run dry: Water and tourism in Nicaragua. Annals of Tourism Research, 67, 37–50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2017.02.006.
Lenzen, M., Sun, Y.-Y., Faturay, F., Ting, Y.-P., Geschke, A., & Malik, A. (2018). The carbon footprint of global tourism. Nature Climate Change, 8, 522–528. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0141-x.
Lew, A. A. (2014). Scale, change and resilience in community tourism planning. Tourism Geographies, 16(1), 14–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2013.864325.
Liu, J., Mooney, H., Hull, V., Davis, S. J., Gaskell, J., Hertel, T., et al. (2015). Systems integration for global sustainability. Science. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1258832.
Lozada, G. A. (2006). Entropy, free energy, work, and other thermodynamic variables in economics. Ecological Economics, 56(1), 71–78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2004.12.019.
McCool, S. F. (2016). The changing meanings of sustainable tourism. In S. F. McCool & K. Bosak (Eds.), Reframing sustainable tourism (pp. 13–32). Dordrecht: Springer.
McNeill, J. R. (2000). Something new under the sun: An environmental history of the twentieth century world. New York: WW Norton & Co.
Meadows, D., Randers, J., & Meadows, D. (2004). Limits to growth: the 30-year update. Vermont: Chelsea Green Publishing.
Mekonnen, M. M., & Hoekstra, A. (2016). Four billion people facing severe water scarcity. Science Advances, 2(2), e150323. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1500323.
Milano, C., Novelli, M., & Cheer, J. M. (2019). Overtourism and degrowth: A social movements perspective. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 27(12), 1857–1875. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2019.1650054.
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. (2005). Ecosystems and human well-being (Biodiversity synthesis). Washington DC: World Resources Institute.
Naidoo, R., Gerkey, D., Hole, D., Ellis, A. M., Golden, C. D., Herrera, D., et al. (2019). Evaluating the impacts of protected areas on human well-being across the developing world. Science Advances. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aav3006.
Pan, S.-Y., Gao, M., Kim, H., Shah, K. J., Pei, S.-L., & Chiang, P.-C. (2018). Advances and challenges in sustainable tourism toward a green economy. Science of the Total Environment, 635, 452–469. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.04.134.
Pandit, M. K. (2017). Life in the Himalaya: An ecosystem at risk. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Pendleton, L., Hoegh-Goldberg, O., Albright, R., Kaup, A., Marshall, P., Marshall, N., et al. (2019). The Great Barrier Reef: Vulnerabilities and solutions in the face of ocean acidification. Regional Studies in Marine Science, 31(100729), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rsma.2019.100729.
Pimm, S. I., Jenkins, C. N., Abell, R., Brooks, T. M., Gittleman, J. L., Joppa, L. N., et al. (2014). The biodiversity of species and their rates of extinction, distribution, and protection. Science. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1246752.
Rochmyaningsih, D. (2019). Is tourism endangering these giant lizards? Science News. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/01/tourism-endangering-these-giant-lizards
Rolston, H., III. (2012). A new environmental ethics: The next millennium for life on earth. New York: Routledge.
Ruhanen, L., Weiler, B., Moyle, B. D., & McLennan, C. J. (2015). Trends and patterns in sustainable tourism research: A 25-year bibliometric analysis. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 23(4), 517–535. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2014.978790.
Saarinen, J. (2006). Traditions of sustainability in tourism studies. Annals of Tourism Research, 33(4), 1121–1140. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2006.06.007.
Sachs, J. D. (2015). The age of sustainable development. New York: Columbia University Press.
Schreier, M. (2012). Qualitative content analysis in practice. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Scott, D., Hall, C. M., & Gössling, S. (2019). Global tourism vulnerability to climate change. Annals of Tourism Research, 77, 49–61. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2019.05.007.
Sharpley, R. (2000). Tourism and sustainable development: Exploring the theoretical divide. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 8(1), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669580008667346.
Sharpley, R. J., & Telfer, D. J. (Eds.). (2014). Tourism and development: Concepts and issues. Bristol: Channel View Publications.
Skrimizea, E., & Parra, C. (2019). Social-ecological dynamics and water stress in tourist islands: The case of Rhodes, Greece. Journal of Sustainable Tourism., 27(9), 1438–1456. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2019.1630420.
Smil, V. (2011). Harvesting the biosphere: The human impact. Population and Development Review, 37(4), 613–636. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2011.00450.x.
Sorrell, S., Miller, R., Bentley, R., & Speirs, J. (2010). Oil futures: A comparison of global supply forecasts. Energy Policy, 38(9), 4990–5003. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2010.04.020.
Spalding, M., Burke, L., Wood, S. A., Ashpole, J., Hutchinson, J., & Ermgassen, P. (2017). Mapping the global value and distribution of coral reef tourism. Marine Policy, 82, 104–113. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2017.05.014.
Steffen, W., Broadgate, W., Deutsch, L., Gaffney, O., & Ludwig, C. (2015). The trajectory of the Anthropocene: The Great Acceleration. The Anthropocene Review, 2(1), 81–98. https://doi.org/10.1177/2053019614564785.
Steibel, S., & Laforsch, C. (2019). Disentangling the environmental impact of different human disturbances: A case study on islands. Nature Scientific Reports. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-49555-6.
Steinberger, J. K., Krausmann, F., Getzner, M., Schandl, H., & West, J. (2013). Development and dematerialization: An international study. PLoS ONE. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0070385.
Ulgiati, S. (2015). Entropy. In G. D’Alisa, F. Demaria, & G. Kallis (Eds.), Degrowth: A vocabulary for a new era (pp. 97–99). London: Routledge.
UN (n.d.). Sustainable Development Goals. http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/.
UNWTO. (2011). Tourism towards 2030. Madrid: UNWTO. https://www.globalwellnesssummit.com/wp-content/uploads/Industry-Research/Global/2011_UNWTO_Tourism_Towards_2030.pdf
UNWTO. (2019a). UNWTO launches an online platform to achieve SDGs through tourism. http://media.unwto.org/press-release/2018-07-23/unwto-launches-online-platform-achieve-sdgs-through-tourism
UNWTO. (2019b). International tourism highlights 2019. Madrid: UNWTO. https://www.e-unwto.org/doi/pdf/10.18111/9789284421152
Venter, O., Sanderson, E. W., Magrach, A., Allan, J. R., Beher, J., Jones, K. R., et al. (2016). Sixteen years of change in the global terrestrial human footprint and implications for biodiversity conservation. Nature Communications, 7, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms12558.
Victor, P. (2008). Managing without growth: Slower by design, not disaster. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Walsh, S. J., & Mena, C. F. (2016). Interactions of social, terrestrial, and marine sub-systems in the Galapagos Islands. Ecuador. PNAS, 113(51), 14536–14543. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1604990113.
Washington, H. (2015). Demystifying sustainability: Towards real solutions. London: Earthscan Routledge.
WCED. (1987). Our common future (world commission on environment and development). London: Oxford University Press.
Weaver, D. (2011). Can sustainable tourism survive climate change? Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 19(1), 5–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2010.536242.
Wiedenhofer, D., Smetschka, B., Akenji, L., Jalas, M., & Haberl, H. (2018). Household time use, carbon footprints, and urban form: A review of the potential contributions of everyday living to the 1.5°C climate target. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 30, 7–17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2018.02.007.
Wilkie, A., Sarvansky, M., & Rosengarten, M. (2019). Speculative research: The lure of possible futures. London: Routledge.
Wilson, E. O. (2003). The future of life. New York: Vintage Books.
Wilson, E. O. (2016). Half Earth: Our planet’s fight for life. New York: Liveright.
World Resources Institute. (2008). Ecosystem decline: Annual net change in forest area by region: 1990–2005. https://www.wri.org/resources/charts-graphs/ecosystem-decline-annual-net-change-forest-area-region-1990-2005
World Resources Institute. (2011). Reefs at risk projections: Present, 2030, and 2050. https://www.wri.org/resources/charts-graphs/reefs-risk-projections-present-2030-and-2050
WTTC (2019a). Travel & tourism: Economic impact 2019 world. Document https://www.wttc.org/-/media/files/reports/economic-impact-research/regions-2019/world2019.pdf
WTTC (2019b). WTTC: Pathway for a sustainable future. https://i.emlfiles4.com/cmpdoc/0/2/7/4/4/files/636542_0scars-sustainability-action-plan.pdf?dm_i=YI8,6HX8U,VJ4SW7,PT5JX,1
Xu, Y., Song, J., & Zhang, W. (2014). Decomposing the impacts of time use on energy consumption. Energy Procedia, 61, 1888–1892. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2014.12.235.
Zittel, W. (2013). The end of the black epoch: Fossil fuel peaks. In A. Exner, P. Fleissner, L. Kranzl, & W. Zittel (Eds.), Land and resource scarcity: Capitalism, struggle and well-being in a world without fossil fuels (pp. 30–45). London: Routledge.
Acknowledgment
The author wishes to thank the anonymous reviewers for their feedback which made the paper better.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Chakraborty, A. Can tourism contribute to environmentally sustainable development? Arguments from an ecological limits perspective. Environ Dev Sustain 23, 8130–8146 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-020-00987-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-020-00987-5