The importance of sustainability is no longer debated today, and tourism is no exception to this reality. Tourism without sustainability should not be possible, although some stakeholders are still unsure how to make their operations sustainable.
We must remember that sustainability must meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs; this definitely creates a commitment for those of us living today and engaging in tourism today; both those of us who work in the tourism system and those who travel. The commitment, therefore, is for everyone.
There are three areas that tourism sustainability addresses, which must be intertwined to achieve it: economic, socio-cultural, and environmental. Regarding the economic aspect, it must be “efficient” to be sustainable. This means that tourism, like any economic activity, must be profitable, seeking in that efficiency the viability of businesses and the satisfaction of demand. Only by achieving these goals can we consider that the economic aspect of tourism is sustainable.
As for the socio-cultural area, it implies having “equity,” which means that there are benefits for the host society, respect for their socio-cultural values, and an improvement in the quality of life of those who live in tourist areas. Only when all these are met can we say that the socio-cultural aspect of tourism is sustainable.
Regarding the environmental aspect, the commitment to sustainability entails “conservation,” seeking to preserve biodiversity, make rational use of natural resources, and conserve them from an intergenerational perspective. When all this is achieved, the environmental aspect of tourism will be considered sustainable.
If we affirm that each of these areas, which already represent a world in themselves, must be interrelated, in the end, we must collectively achieve that the economy is completely based on the local community, conservation is carried out with absolute equity, and the integration of the economy/environment is total.
With so many facets in each of the dimensions of sustainability, the challenge is enormous. There are many and varied paths that can be taken to work towards and increasingly approach the desired goal.
The tourism company has the challenge of expanding its peripheral vision to 360° to discover in each of the three areas of sustainability what actions to take and which policies to establish to contribute to its commitment to the planet and future generations. Achieving it 100% and saying “we are already sustainable” is not realistic, as there will always be practices to improve and new goals to reach in the three dimensions. That is why sustainability is a utopia, a beautiful utopia that those of us in the tourism world must embrace, and just as the climber is attracted to the mountain and persistently advances to reach it, so must we advance with passion to become more sustainable in our institutional activities.
Tourism sustainability is utopian, but it is possible. And above all, it is a commitment for everyone.
