Sustainable Tourism as a Driving force of the Tourism Industry in a Post-Covid-19 Scenario

Soc Indic Res. 2021;158(3):991-1011. doi: 10.1007/s11205-021-02735-2. Epub 2021 Jun 12.

Abstract

The tourism industry is probably one of the most affected by the crisis caused by Covid-19. It is the responsibility of politicians, tourism professionals and researchers to look for solutions to revive this important industry. This article shows how the development of Sustainable Tourism can help in the sustenance of the tourism industry, since one of the premises on which Sustainable Tourism is based is the non-overcrowding of tourist destinations (essential factor in the current context). Considering this argument and the existing regulations on lockdown rules, social distancing and meet up, it is considered that the practices in Sustainable Tourism can become a potential solution to stimulate tourist movements and help the revival of the tourism industry. Therefore, more specifically, the main objective of this article is to know tourist´s perception among about Sustainable Tourism and to determine which factors help its development. In this sense, the use of structural equation models in a research of 308 tourists has determined how factors related to the tourists' attitude, motivation and perceived benefits provided by the development of Sustainable Tourism increase the intention to consume this type of tourism.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11205-021-02735-2.

Keywords: Factors; Mass tourism; Overcrowded destinations; Sustainable Tourism development; Sustainable tourism; Tourism crisis.