sustainable development goals tourism

Sustainable tourism

Related sdgs, promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable ....

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Publications.

Tourism is one of the world's fastest growing industries and an important source of foreign exchange and employment, while being closely linked to the social, economic, and environmental well-being of many countries, especially developing countries. Maritime or ocean-related tourism, as well as coastal tourism, are for example vital sectors of the economy in small island developing States (SIDS) and coastal least developed countries (LDCs) (see also: The Potential of the Blue Economy report as well as the Community of Ocean Action on sustainable blue economy).

The World Tourism Organization defines sustainable tourism as “tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities".

Based on General assembly resolution 70/193, 2017 was declared as the  International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development.

In the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development SDG target 8.9, aims to “by 2030, devise and implement policies to promote sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture and products”. The importance of sustainable tourism is also highlighted in SDG target 12.b. which aims to “develop and implement tools to monitor sustainable development impacts for sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture and products”.

Tourism is also identified as one of the tools to “by 2030, increase the economic benefits to Small Island developing States and least developed countries” as comprised in SDG target 14.7.

In the Rio+20 outcome document The Future We want, sustainable tourism is defined by paragraph 130 as a significant contributor “to the three dimensions of sustainable development” thanks to its close linkages to other sectors and its ability to create decent jobs and generate trade opportunities. Therefore, Member States recognize “the need to support sustainable tourism activities and relevant capacity-building that promote environmental awareness, conserve and protect the environment, respect wildlife, flora, biodiversity, ecosystems and cultural diversity, and improve the welfare and livelihoods of local communities by supporting their local economies and the human and natural environment as a whole. ” In paragraph 130, Member States also “call for enhanced support for sustainable tourism activities and relevant capacity-building in developing countries in order to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development”.

In paragraph 131, Member States “encourage the promotion of investment in sustainable tourism, including eco-tourism and cultural tourism, which may include creating small- and medium-sized enterprises and facilitating access to finance, including through microcredit initiatives for the poor, indigenous peoples and local communities in areas with high eco-tourism potential”. In this regard, Member States also “underline the importance of establishing, where necessary, appropriate guidelines and regulations in accordance with national priorities and legislation for promoting and supporting sustainable tourism”.

In 2002, the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg called for the promotion of sustainable tourism development, including non-consumptive and eco-tourism, in Chapter IV, paragraph 43 of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation.

At the Johannesburg Summit, the launch of the “Sustainable Tourism – Eliminating Poverty (ST-EP) initiative was announced. The initiative was inaugurated by the World Tourism Organization, in collaboration with UNCTAD, in order to develop sustainable tourism as a force for poverty alleviation.

The UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) last reviewed the issue of sustainable tourism in 2001, when it was acting as the Preparatory Committee for the Johannesburg Summit.

The importance of sustainable tourism was also mentioned in Agenda 21.

For more information and documents on this topic,  please visit this link

UNWTO Annual Report 2016

In December 2015, the United Nations General Assembly declared 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development. This is a unique opportunity to devote a year to activities that promote the transformational power of tourism to help us reach a better future. This important cele...

UNWTO Annual Report 2015

2015 was a landmark year for the global community. In September, the 70th Session of the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a universal agenda for planet and people. Among the 17 SDGs and 169 associated targets, tourism is explicitly featured in Goa...

Emerging Issues for Small Island Developing States

The 2012 UNEP Foresight Process on Emerging Global Environmental Issues primarily identified emerging environmental issues and possible solutions on a global scale and perspective. In 2013, UNEP carried out a similar exercise to identify priority emerging environmental issues that are of concern to ...

Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

This Agenda is a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity. It also seeks to strengthen universal peace in larger freedom, We recognize that eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, is the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for su...

Status and Trends of Caribbean Coral Reefs: 1970-2012

Previous Caribbean assessments lumped data together into a single database regardless of geographic location, reef environment, depth, oceanographic conditions, etc. Data from shallow lagoons and back reef environments were combined with data from deep fore-reef environments and atolls. Geographic c...

15 Years of the UNWTO World Tourism Network on Child Protection: A Compilation of Good Practices

Although it is widely recognized that tourism is not the cause of child exploitation, it can aggravate the problem when parts of its infrastructure, such as transport networks and accommodation facilities, are exploited by child abusers for nefarious ends. Additionally, many other factors that contr...

Towards Measuring the Economic Value of Wildlife Watching Tourism in Africa

Set against the backdrop of the ongoing poaching crisis driven by a dramatic increase in the illicit trade in wildlife products, this briefing paper intends to support the ongoing efforts of African governments and the broader international community in the fight against poaching. Specifically, this...

Natural Resources Forum: Special Issue Tourism

The journal considers papers on all topics relevant to sustainable development. In addition, it dedicates series, issues and special sections to specific themes that are relevant to the current discussions of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD)....

Thailand: Supporting Sustainable Development in Thailand: A Geographic Clusters Approach

Market forces and government policies, including the Tenth National Development Plan (2007-2012), are moving Thailand toward a more geographically specialized economy. There is a growing consensus that Thailand’s comparative and competitive advantages lie in amenity services that have high reliance...

Natural Resources Forum, a United Nations Sustainable Development Journal (NRF)

  Natural Resources Forum, a United Nations Sustainable Development Journal, seeks to address gaps in current knowledge and stimulate relevant policy discussions, leading to the implementation of the sustainable development agenda and the achievement of the Sustainable...

Road Map on Building a Green Economy for Sustainable Development in Carriacou and Petite Martinique, Grenada

This publication is the product of an international study led by the Division for Sustainable Development (DSD) of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) in cooperation with the Ministry of Carriacou and Petite Martinique Affairs and the Ministry of Environment, Foreig...

UN Ocean Conference 2025

Our Ocean, Our Future, Our Responsibility “The ocean is fundamental to life on our planet and to our future. The ocean is an important source of the planet’s biodiversity and plays a vital role in the climate system and water cycle. The ocean provides a range of ecosystem services, supplies us with

UN Ocean Conference 2022

The UN Ocean Conference 2022, co-hosted by the Governments of Kenya and Portugal, came at a critical time as the world was strengthening its efforts to mobilize, create and drive solutions to realize the 17 Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

58th Session of the Commission for Social Development – CSocD58

22nd general assembly of the united nations world tourism organization, world tourism day 2017 official celebration.

This year’s World Tourism Day, held on 27 September, will be focused on Sustainable Tourism – a Tool for Development. Celebrated in line with the 2017 International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development, the Day will be dedicated to exploring the contribution of tourism to the Sustainable Deve

World Tourism Day 2016 Official Celebration

Accessible Tourism for all is about the creation of environments that can cater for the needs of all of us, whether we are traveling or staying at home. May that be due to a disability, even temporary, families with small children, or the ageing population, at some point in our lives, sooner or late

4th Global Summit on City Tourism

The World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and the Regional Council for Tourism of Marrakesh with support of the Government of Morroco are organizing the 4th Global Summit on City Tourism in Marrakesh, Morroco (9-10 December 2015). International experts in city tourism, representatives of city DMOs, of

2nd Euro-Asian Mountain Resorts Conference

The World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and Ulsan Metropolitan City with support of the Government of the Republic of Korea are organizing the 2nd Euro-Asian Mountain Resorts Conference, in Ulsan, Republic of Korea (14 - 16 October 2015). Under the title “Paving the Way for a Bright Future for Mounta

21st General Assembly of the United Nations World Tourism Organization

Unwto regional conference enhancing brand africa - fostering tourism development.

Tourism is one of the Africa’s most promising sectors in terms of development, and represents a major opportunity to foster inclusive development, increase the region’s participation in the global economy and generate revenues for investment in other activities, including environmental preservation.

• January 2017 International Year of Tourism In the context of the universal 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the International Year aims to support a change in policies, business practices and consumer behavior towards a more sustainable tourism sector that can contribute to the SDGs.
• January 2015 Targets 8.9, 12 b,14.7 The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development commits Member States, through Sustainable Development Goal Target 8.9 to “devise and implement policies to promote sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture and products”. The importance of sustainable tourism, as a driver for jobs creation and the promotion of local culture and products, is also highlighted in Sustainable Development Goal target 12.b. Tourism is also identified as one of the tools to “increase [by 2030] the economic benefits to Small Island developing States and least developed countries”, through Sustainable Development Goals Target 14.7.
• January 2012 Future We Want (Para 130-131) Sustainable tourism is defined as a significant contributor “to the three dimensions of sustainable development” thanks to its close linkages to other sectors and its ability to create decent jobs and generate trade opportunities. Therefore, Member States recognize “the need to support sustainable tourism activities and relevant capacity-building that promote environmental awareness, conserve and protect the environment, respect wildlife, flora, biodiversity, ecosystems and cultural diversity, and improve the welfare and livelihoods of local communities” as well as to “encourage the promotion of investment in sustainable tourism, including eco-tourism and cultural tourism, which may include creating small and medium sized enterprises and facilitating access to finance, including through microcredit initiatives for the poor, indigenous peoples and local communities in areas with high eco-tourism potential”.
• January 2009 Roadmap for Recovery UNWTO announced in March 2009 the elaboration of a Roadmap for Recovery to be finalized by UNWTO’s General Assembly, based on seven action points. The Roadmap includes a set of 15 recommendations based on three interlocking action areas: resilience, stimulus, green economy aimed at supporting the tourism sector and the global economy.
• January 2008 Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria The Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria represent the minimum requirements any tourism business should observe in order to ensure preservation and respect of the natural and cultural resources and make sure at the same time that tourism potential as tool for poverty alleviation is enforced. The Criteria are 41 and distributed into four different categories: 1) sustainability management, 2) social and economic 3) cultural 4) environmental.
• January 2003 1st Int. Conf. on Climate Change and Tourism The conference was organized in order to gather tourism authorities, organizations, businesses and scientists to discuss on the impact that climate change can have on the tourist sector. The event took place from 9 till 11 April 2003 in Djerba, Tunisia.
• January 2003 WTO becomes a UN specialized body By Resolution 453 (XV), the Assembly agreed on the transformation of the WTO into a United Nations specialized body. Such transformation was later ratified by the United Nations General Assembly with the adoption of Resolution A/RES/58/232.
• January 2002 World Ecotourism Summit Held in May 2002, in Quebec City, Canada, the Summit represented the most important event in the framework of the International Year of Ecosystem. The Summit identified as main themes: ecotourism policy and planning, regulation of ecotourism, product development, marketing and promotion of ecotourism and monitoring costs and benefits of ecotourism.
• January 1985 Tourism Bill of Rights and Tourist Code At the World Tourism Organization Sixth Assembly held in Sofia in 1985, the Tourism Bill of Rights and Tourist Code were adopted, setting out the rights and duties of tourists and host populations and formulating policies and action for implementation by states and the tourist industry.
• January 1982 Acapulco Document Adopted in 1982, the Acapulco Document acknowledges the new dimension and role of tourism as a positive instrument towards the improvement of the quality of life for all peoples, as well as a significant force for peace and international understanding. The Acapulco Document also urges Member States to elaborate their policies, plans and programmes on tourism, in accordance with their national priorities and within the framework of the programme of work of the World Tourism Organization.

‘Time to rethink, transform, and safely restart tourism’, says UN chief  

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Tourism “touches almost every part of our economies and societies”, enabling the historically marginalized, and “those at risk of being left behind, to benefit from development”,  declared  UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday, marking  World Tourism Day .  

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourism could result in a more than $4 trillion loss to the global economy, according to a  recent report  from the UN Conference on Trade and Development ( UNCTAD ). 

🎉Happy #WorldTourismDay🎉#WTD2021 celebrates EVERYONE in the tourism value chain.Because full recovery can only happen when we are all on board!🥳Join us live! 10.00 (GMT) 🔴💻 https://t.co/RK9VYCzgUj pic.twitter.com/UiomTYGFhY World Tourism Organization UNWTO

Emergency for developing countries 

Highlighting the fact that in the first months of this year, “international tourist arrivals decreased by a staggering 95 per cent in parts of the world”, Mr. Guterres said that tourism continues to suffer enormously due to the COVID-19 pandemic .  

“This is a major shock for developed economies, but for developing countries, it is an emergency”, he added.  

“Climate change is also severely affecting many major tourist destinations, particularly Small Island Developing States”, his message added. There, tourism accounts for nearly 30 per cent of all economic activity.  

Tourism for inclusive growth 

Acknowledging that many millions of livelihoods are in jeopardy, Mr. Guterres said that now it is “ time to rethink, transform, and safely restart tourism ”. 

“With the right safeguards in place, the tourism sector can provide decent jobs, helping to build resilient, sustainable, gender-equal, inclusive economies and societies that work for everyone”, he added. 

According to the United Nations specialized agency for responsible and sustainable tourism ( UNWTO ), tourism is a recognized pillar of most the  Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs) , particularly Goals 1 (poverty-elimination), 5 (gender equality), 8 (decent work and economic growth) and 10 (to reduce inequalities). 

In his message, Mr. Guterres went on to call for targeted action and investment,  towards green and sustainable tourism , “with high emitting sectors, including air and sea transport and hospitality, moving towards carbon neutrality”.  

Adding that everybody should have a say in how tourism shapes the future of our societies, the UN chief concluded that “only through inclusive decision-making can we ensure inclusive, sustainable growth, deliver on the promise of the SDGs, and transform tourism to fulfil its potential”. 

The sector could then become “an engine for prosperity, a vehicle for integration, a means to protect our planet and biodiversity, and an agent of cultural understanding between peoples ”, said Mr. Guterres. 

• World Tourism Day
• sustainable development goals
• climate change

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• A/70/472 - Sustainable development: report of the Second Committee [Arabic] [Chinese] [English] [French] [Russian] [Spanish]
• A/RES/70/193 - International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development, 2017 [Arabic] [Chinese] [English] [French] [Russian] [Spanish]
• A/RES/70/196 - Sustainable tourism and sustainable development in Central America [Arabic] [Chinese] [English] [French] [Russian] [Spanish]
• A/RES/70/200 - Global Code of Ethics for Tourism [Arabic] [Chinese] [English] [French] [Russian] [Spanish]
• Compendium of Best Practices in Sustainable Tourism

• Course Catalog

THE IMPORTANCE OF TOURISM FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

01 Sep THE IMPORTANCE OF TOURISM FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Sustainability is a concept that has been gaining social and political recognition, not least due to the coordinated launch of the Millennium Development Goals in 2000, and now with the 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Established in 2015 and promoted by the United Nations, the SDGs are key to ensuring an environmentally, economically and socially sustainable world.

The 2030 Agenda is the reference framework for all UN agencies, programs and funds, and the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is responsible for ensuring international tourism plays its part in its achievement.

The following guidelines have been established:

• The principle of sustainability refers not just to the environmental impact of tourism but also to its social and economic impacts.
• To protect and preserve the natural spaces and biological ecosystems of destinations.
• To respect the traditions and cultures of host countries and develop intercultural tolerance.
• To ensure economic activities that reduce poverty in the host country.

These guidelines are only the first link in a whole chain that is concerned with and advocates sustainable tourism.

These guidelines mean that as tourism restarts, the sector is ready to grow back stronger and better for people, planet and prosperity.

The UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) welcomed the UN General Assembly's (UNGA) adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular the tourism targets in Goals 8, 12 and 14, which address inclusive and sustainable economic growth, sustainable consumption and production (SCP), and the sustainable use of oceans and marine resources, respectively.

The UNWTO highlighted the potential of tourism to contribute to all of the Goals, and released a brochure summarizing the possibilities in relation to each SDG. For example, Goal 14 on oceans stipulates a target of increasing the economic benefits to small island developing States (SIDS) and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) from the sustainable use of marine resources, including through the sustainable management of fisheries, aquaculture and tourism. In relation to Goal 16 on peaceful and inclusive societies, UNWTO notes that tourism, though not directly referenced in the goal-set, promotes cultural tolerance and understanding, strengthens cultural identities and spurs entrepreneurial activities, thereby helping to prevent violence and conflict. On Goal 17 (means of implementation), tourism, due to its cross-sectoral nature, is said to potentially strengthen public-private partnerships (PPPs) and engage multiple stakeholders in the interests of sustainable development.

The brochure draws attention to the Sustainable Tourism Programme (STP) being implemented under the Ten-Year Framework of Programmes (10YFP) on SCP, administered by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

While welcoming the firm positioning of sustainable tourism in the 2030 agenda, the UNWTO notes that achieving the agenda requires a clear implementation framework, adequate financing and investment in technology, infrastructure and human resources. [ UNWTO Press Release ] [ UNWTO Brochure ] [ Sustainable Tourism Programme in 10YFP ]

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What Is Sustainable Tourism and Why Is It Important?

Sustainable management and socioeconomic, cultural, and environmental impacts are the four pillars of sustainable tourism

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What Makes Tourism Sustainable?

The role of tourists, types of sustainable tourism.

Sustainable tourism considers its current and future economic, social, and environmental impacts by addressing the needs of its ecological surroundings and the local communities. This is achieved by protecting natural environments and wildlife when developing and managing tourism activities, providing only authentic experiences for tourists that don’t appropriate or misrepresent local heritage and culture, or creating direct socioeconomic benefits for local communities through training and employment.

As people begin to pay more attention to sustainability and the direct and indirect effects of their actions, travel destinations and organizations are following suit. For example, the New Zealand Tourism Sustainability Commitment is aiming to see every New Zealand tourism business committed to sustainability by 2025, while the island country of Palau has required visitors to sign an eco pledge upon entry since 2017.

Tourism industries are considered successfully sustainable when they can meet the needs of travelers while having a low impact on natural resources and generating long-term employment for locals. By creating positive experiences for local people, travelers, and the industry itself, properly managed sustainable tourism can meet the needs of the present without compromising the future.

What Is Sustainability?

At its core, sustainability focuses on balance — maintaining our environmental, social, and economic benefits without using up the resources that future generations will need to thrive. In the past, sustainability ideals tended to lean towards business, though more modern definitions of sustainability highlight finding ways to avoid depleting natural resources in order to keep an ecological balance and maintain the quality of environmental and human societies.

Since tourism impacts and is impacted by a wide range of different activities and industries, all sectors and stakeholders (tourists, governments, host communities, tourism businesses) need to collaborate on sustainable tourism in order for it to be successful.

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) , which is the United Nations agency responsible for the promotion of sustainable tourism, and the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) , the global standard for sustainable travel and tourism, have similar opinions on what makes tourism sustainable. By their account, sustainable tourism should make the best use of environmental resources while helping to conserve natural heritage and biodiversity, respect the socio-culture of local host communities, and contribute to intercultural understanding. Economically, it should also ensure viable long-term operations that will provide benefits to all stakeholders, whether that includes stable employment to locals, social services, or contributions to poverty alleviation.

The GSTC has developed a series of criteria to create a common language about sustainable travel and tourism. These criteria are used to distinguish sustainable destinations and organizations, but can also help create sustainable policies for businesses and government agencies. Arranged in four pillars, the global baseline standards include sustainable management, socioeconomic impact, cultural impacts, and environmental impacts.

Travel Tip:

The GSTC is an excellent resource for travelers who want to find sustainably managed destinations and accommodations and learn how to become a more sustainable traveler in general.

Environment 

Protecting natural environments is the bedrock of sustainable tourism. Data released by the World Tourism Organization estimates that tourism-based CO2 emissions are forecast to increase 25% by 2030. In 2016, tourism transport-related emissions contributed to 5% of all man-made emissions, while transport-related emissions from long-haul international travel were expected to grow 45% by 2030.

The environmental ramifications of tourism don’t end with carbon emissions, either. Unsustainably managed tourism can create waste problems, lead to land loss or soil erosion, increase natural habitat loss, and put pressure on endangered species . More often than not, the resources in these places are already scarce, and sadly, the negative effects can contribute to the destruction of the very environment on which the industry depends.

Industries and destinations that want to be sustainable must do their part to conserve resources, reduce pollution, and conserve biodiversity and important ecosystems. In order to achieve this, proper resource management and management of waste and emissions is important. In Bali, for example, tourism consumes 65% of local water resources, while in Zanzibar, tourists use 15 times as much water per night as local residents.

Another factor to environmentally focused sustainable tourism comes in the form of purchasing: Does the tour operator, hotel, or restaurant favor locally sourced suppliers and products? How do they manage their food waste and dispose of goods? Something as simple as offering paper straws instead of plastic ones can make a huge dent in an organization’s harmful pollutant footprint.

Recently, there has been an uptick in companies that promote carbon offsetting . The idea behind carbon offsetting is to compensate for generated greenhouse gas emissions by canceling out emissions somewhere else. Much like the idea that reducing or reusing should be considered first before recycling , carbon offsetting shouldn’t be the primary goal. Sustainable tourism industries always work towards reducing emissions first and offset what they can’t.

Properly managed sustainable tourism also has the power to provide alternatives to need-based professions and behaviors like poaching . Often, and especially in underdeveloped countries, residents turn to environmentally harmful practices due to poverty and other social issues. At Periyar Tiger Reserve in India, for example, an unregulated increase in tourists made it more difficult to control poaching in the area. In response, an eco development program aimed at providing employment for locals turned 85 former poachers into reserve gamekeepers. Under supervision of the reserve’s management staff, the group of gamekeepers have developed a series of tourism packages and are now protecting land instead of exploiting it. They’ve found that jobs in responsible wildlife tourism are more rewarding and lucrative than illegal work.

Flying nonstop and spending more time in a single destination can help save CO2, since planes use more fuel the more times they take off.

Local Culture and Residents

One of the most important and overlooked aspects of sustainable tourism is contributing to protecting, preserving, and enhancing local sites and traditions. These include areas of historical, archaeological, or cultural significance, but also "intangible heritage," such as ceremonial dance or traditional art techniques.

In cases where a site is being used as a tourist attraction, it is important that the tourism doesn’t impede access to local residents. For example, some tourist organizations create local programs that offer residents the chance to visit tourism sites with cultural value in their own countries. A program called “Children in the Wilderness” run by Wilderness Safaris educates children in rural Africa about the importance of wildlife conservation and valuable leadership development tools. Vacations booked through travel site Responsible Travel contribute to the company’s “Trip for a Trip” program, which organizes day trips for disadvantaged youth who live near popular tourist destinations but have never had the opportunity to visit.

Sustainable tourism bodies work alongside communities to incorporate various local cultural expressions as part of a traveler’s experiences and ensure that they are appropriately represented. They collaborate with locals and seek their input on culturally appropriate interpretation of sites, and train guides to give visitors a valuable (and correct) impression of the site. The key is to inspire travelers to want to protect the area because they understand its significance.

Bhutan, a small landlocked country in South Asia, has enforced a system of all-inclusive tax for international visitors since 1997 ($200 per day in the off season and $250 per day in the high season). This way, the government is able to restrict the tourism market to local entrepreneurs exclusively and restrict tourism to specific regions, ensuring that the country’s most precious natural resources won’t be exploited.

Incorporating volunteer work into your vacation is an amazing way to learn more about the local culture and help contribute to your host community at the same time. You can also book a trip that is focused primarily on volunteer work through a locally run charity or non profit (just be sure that the job isn’t taking employment opportunities away from residents).

It's not difficult to make a business case for sustainable tourism, especially if one looks at a destination as a product. Think of protecting a destination, cultural landmark, or ecosystem as an investment. By keeping the environment healthy and the locals happy, sustainable tourism will maximize the efficiency of business resources. This is especially true in places where locals are more likely to voice their concerns if they feel like the industry is treating visitors better than residents.

Not only does reducing reliance on natural resources help save money in the long run, studies have shown that modern travelers are likely to participate in environmentally friendly tourism. In 2019, Booking.com found that 73% of travelers preferred an eco-sustainable hotel over a traditional one and 72% of travelers believed that people need to make sustainable travel choices for the sake of future generations.

Always be mindful of where your souvenirs are coming from and whether or not the money is going directly towards the local economy. For example, opt for handcrafted souvenirs made by local artisans.

Growth in the travel and tourism sectors alone has outpaced the overall global economy growth for nine years in a row. Prior to the pandemic, travel and tourism accounted for an $9.6 trillion contribution to the global GDP and 333 million jobs (or one in four new jobs around the world).

Sustainable travel dollars help support employees, who in turn pay taxes that contribute to their local economy. If those employees are not paid a fair wage or aren’t treated fairly, the traveler is unknowingly supporting damaging or unsustainable practices that do nothing to contribute to the future of the community. Similarly, if a hotel doesn’t take into account its ecological footprint, it may be building infrastructure on animal nesting grounds or contributing to excessive pollution. The same goes for attractions, since sustainably managed spots (like nature preserves) often put profits towards conservation and research.

Costa Rica was able to turn a severe deforestation crisis in the 1980s into a diversified tourism-based economy by designating 25.56% of land protected as either a national park, wildlife refuge, or reserve.

While traveling, think of how you would want your home country or home town to be treated by visitors.

Are You a Sustainable Traveler?

Sustainable travelers understand that their actions create an ecological and social footprint on the places they visit. Be mindful of the destinations , accommodations, and activities you choose, and choose destinations that are closer to home or extend your length of stay to save resources. Consider switching to more environmentally friendly modes of transportation such as bicycles, trains, or walking while on vacation. Look into supporting locally run tour operations or local family-owned businesses rather than large international chains. Don’t engage in activities that harm wildlife, such as elephant riding or tiger petting , and opt instead for a wildlife sanctuary (or better yet, attend a beach clean up or plan an hour or two of some volunteer work that interests you). Leave natural areas as you found them by taking out what you carry in, not littering, and respecting the local residents and their traditions.

Most of us travel to experience the world. New cultures, new traditions, new sights and smells and tastes are what makes traveling so rewarding. It is our responsibility as travelers to ensure that these destinations are protected not only for the sake of the communities who rely upon them, but for a future generation of travelers.

Sustainable tourism has many different layers, most of which oppose the more traditional forms of mass tourism that are more likely to lead to environmental damage, loss of culture, pollution, negative economic impacts, and overtourism.

Ecotourism highlights responsible travel to natural areas that focus on environmental conservation. A sustainable tourism body supports and contributes to biodiversity conservation by managing its own property responsibly and respecting or enhancing nearby natural protected areas (or areas of high biological value). Most of the time, this looks like a financial compensation to conservation management, but it can also include making sure that tours, attractions, and infrastructure don’t disturb natural ecosystems.

On the same page, wildlife interactions with free roaming wildlife should be non-invasive and managed responsibly to avoid negative impacts to the animals. As a traveler, prioritize visits to accredited rescue and rehabilitation centers that focus on treating, rehoming, or releasing animals back into the wild, such as the Jaguar Rescue Center in Costa Rica.

Soft Tourism

Soft tourism may highlight local experiences, local languages, or encourage longer time spent in individual areas. This is opposed to hard tourism featuring short duration of visits, travel without respecting culture, taking lots of selfies , and generally feeling a sense of superiority as a tourist.

Many World Heritage Sites, for example, pay special attention to protection, preservation, and sustainability by promoting soft tourism. Peru’s famed Machu Picchu was previously known as one of the world’s worst victims of overtourism , or a place of interest that has experienced negative effects (such as traffic or litter) from excessive numbers of tourists. The attraction has taken steps to control damages in recent years, requiring hikers to hire local guides on the Inca Trail, specifying dates and time on visitor tickets to negate overcrowding, and banning all single use plastics from the site.

Traveling during a destination’s shoulder season , the period between the peak and low seasons, typically combines good weather and low prices without the large crowds. This allows better opportunities to immerse yourself in a new place without contributing to overtourism, but also provides the local economy with income during a normally slow season.

Rural Tourism

Rural tourism applies to tourism that takes place in non-urbanized areas such as national parks, forests, nature reserves, and mountain areas. This can mean anything from camping and glamping to hiking and WOOFing. Rural tourism is a great way to practice sustainable tourism, since it usually requires less use of natural resources.

Community Tourism

Community-based tourism involves tourism where local residents invite travelers to visit their own communities. It sometimes includes overnight stays and often takes place in rural or underdeveloped countries. This type of tourism fosters connection and enables tourists to gain an in-depth knowledge of local habitats, wildlife, and traditional cultures — all while providing direct economic benefits to the host communities. Ecuador is a world leader in community tourism, offering unique accommodation options like the Sani Lodge run by the local Kichwa indigenous community, which offers responsible cultural experiences in the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest.

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" 45 Arrivals Every Second ." The World Counts.

Becken, Susanne. " Water Equity- Contrasting Tourism Water Use With That of the Local Community ." Water Resources and Industry , vol. 7-8, 2014, pp. 9-22, doi:10.1016/j.wri.2014.09.002

Kutty, Govindan M., and T.K. Raghavan Nair. " Periyar Tiger Reserve: Poachers Turned Gamekeepers ." Food and Agriculture Organization.

" GSTC Destination Criteria ." Global Sustainable Tourism Council.

Rinzin, Chhewang, et al. " Ecotourism as a Mechanism for Sustainable Development: the Case of Bhutan ." Environmental Sciences , vol. 4, no. 2, 2007, pp. 109-125, doi:10.1080/15693430701365420

" Booking.com Reveals Key Findings From Its 2019 Sustainable Travel Report ." Booking.com.

" Economic Impact Reports ." World Travel and Tourism Council .

• Regenerative Travel: What It Is and How It's Outperforming Sustainable Tourism
• How to Be a Sustainable Traveler: 18 Tips
• What Is Ecotourism? Definition, Examples, and Pros and Cons
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• 'The Last Tourist' Film Will Make You Approach Travel Differently
• Best of Green Awards 2021: Sustainable Travel
• Costa Rica’s Keys to Success as a Sustainable Tourism Pioneer
• What Is Community-Based Tourism? Definition and Popular Destinations
• What Is Overtourism and Why Is It Such a Big Problem?
• What Is Experiential Tourism?
• What Is Voluntourism? Does It Help or Harm Communities?
• Food Sovereignty: Definition, Principles, and Importance
• Best of Green Awards 2021: Eco Tech
• 10 Ways to Be an Eco-Conscious Tourist
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The future of tourism is sustainable and regenerative

To make tourism sustainable and even regenerative, travellers themselves must undergo a mindset shift — but that's not easy in a cost-of-living squeeze. Image:  Reuters/Jonathan Ernst

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• Japanese domestic tourism is recovering from the shock of the pandemic but international travel is lagging.
• Travellers increasingly demand sustainable and affordable options — but those are hard to come by in a cost-of-living squeeze.
• To make sustainable and regenerative tourism a reality, travellers themselves must undergo a mindset shift.

Since the significant easing of its pandemic border control measures last October, Japan has seen a steady return of foreign tourists.

According to the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO), the number of visitors to Japan in July reached 2.32 million, recovering to about 80% of 2019 levels.

And Japanese people are travelling their own country more, too. According to the travel trend survey by Japan Travel Bureau（JTB), 72.5 million people in Japan traveled within their country during the summer vacation season in July and August — almost returning to pre-pandemic levels. International travel, meanwhile, was low: 1.2 million people , which is 40% of the 2019 figures.

Many people wished to travel abroad but were unable or unwilling to do so cited concerns about safety and health, the lengthy immigration procedures involved in international travel and the unfavourable exchange rates and high costs.

For the outbound recovery to gain momentum, a safe and economically enabling environment is essential.

Have you read?

3 ways hotels and tourists can work together to decarbonize travel, japan airlines' clothing rental service aims for sustainable tourism, overtourism: a challenge to sustainability.

As the influx of tourists revitalizes local economies, a growing concern is emerging: the resurgence of overtourism, where popular destinations are flooded with an excessive number of visitors. In response, Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has announced plans to develop solutions this coming autumn to combat overtourism, addressing its negative impacts on local life, including congestion, traffic jams and litter.

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, overtourism had started to plague certain Japanese tourist spots. As Japan's tourism industry and tourist destinations hit hard by the pandemic make strides toward recovery, it essential to view these challenges as opportunities for positive change and transform tourism into something more sustainable.

Hotels across Japan are accelerating their sustainability efforts. One noteworthy example is the Tokyo Station Hotel, located within the Tokyo Station building, which is designated as a National Important Cultural Property, is implementing the " CO₂ Zero STAY " programme to virtually eliminate CO₂ emissions generated during a stay by all rooms booked through the official website.

The World Economic Forum’s Platform for Shaping the Future of Mobility works across four industries: aerospace and drones; automotive and new mobility; aviation travel and tourism; and supply chain and transport. It aims to ensure that the future of mobility is safe, clean, and inclusive.

• Through the Clean Skies for Tomorrow Coalition , more than 100 companies are working together to power global aviation with 10% sustainable aviation fuel by 2030.
• In collaboration with UNICEF, the Forum developed a charter with leading shipping, airlines and logistics to support COVAX in delivering more than 1 billion COVID-19 vaccines to vulnerable communities worldwide.
• The Road Freight Zero Project and P4G-Getting to Zero Coalition have led to outcomes demonstrating the rationale, costs and opportunities for accelerating the transition to zero emission freight.
• The Medicine from the Sky initiative is using drones to deliver vaccines and medicine to remote areas in India, completing over 300 successful trials.
• The Forum’s Target True Zero initiative is working to accelerate the deployment and scaling of zero emission aviation, leveraging electric and hydrogen flight technologies.
• In collaboration with the City of Los Angeles, Federal Aviation Administration, and NASA, the Forum developed the Principles of the Urban Sky to help adopt Urban Air Mobility in cities worldwide.
• The Forum led the development of the Space Sustainability Rating to incentivize and promote a more safe and sustainable approach to space mission management and debris mitigation in orbit.
• The Circular Cars Initiative is informing the automotive circularity policy agenda, following the endorsement from European Commission and Zero Emission Vehicle Transition Council countries, and is now invited to support China’s policy roadmap.
• The Moving India network is working with policymakers to advance electric vehicle manufacturing policies, ignite adoption of zero emission road freight vehicles, and finance the transition.
• The Urban Mobility Scorecards initiative – led by the Forum’s Global New Mobility Coalition – is bringing together mobility operators and cities to benchmark the transition to sustainable urban mobility systems.

Contact us for more information on how to get involved.

This initiative, which uses the carbon offset system, calculates and visualizes the amount of CO₂ emissions generated by guest stays and invests the equivalent amount in emissions reduction activities, thereby reducing the emissions to virtually zero. All costs are covered by the hotel itself, meaning that guests contribute to expanding forest conservation efforts and supporting renewable energy simply by staying at the hotel.

Another player in the sustainable hospitality scene is Mori Trust Hotels & Resorts. They are taking steps to preserve tourism resources by introducing eco-friendly amenities like wooden and bamboo toothbrushes and hairbrushes, as well as razors and shower caps with reduced plastic content. They are also eliminating individual packaging for soaps and amenities while charging for these items. The company is currently reassessing the amenities used in their 18 hotels nationwide, which collectively use around 16 tons of plastic each year, and aims to cut down the plastic used in amenities by over 90% by 2024.

Traveller behaviour and tourism

As hotels and other players in the tourism industry move towards a more sustainable future, it is equally crucial that travellers, who are the main drivers of tourism, follow suit and change their attitudes and behaviours.

According to the Sustainable Travel Report 2023 , which gathered insights from over 33,000 travellers across 35 countries and territories, 76% of global travellers — and 56% of Japanese travellers — express a desire to embrace more sustainable travel over the coming 12 months. On the other hand, 76% of global travellers and 75% of Japanese travellers say that the global energy crisis and rising costs are impacting their spending plans. This has led to travellers being more budget-conscious, with only 43% of global travellers and 22% of Japanese travellers willing to pay extra for certified sustainable travel experiences.

In light of this trend, offering discounts and financial incentives by tourism providers may motivate travellers to opt for sustainable travel options. Furthermore, providing more information and choices can also promote sustainable travel, since almost half of both global and Japanese travellers feel there are not enough sustainable travel options available to them.

Regenerative tourism: the future of tourism

"There's one thing we can do: actively choose sustainable hotels and resorts, and contribute to their economic impact. Guests are the key to creating a sustainable environment," says travel journalist Naoko Terada, highlighting a crucial step that we all must take.

To achieve sustainable tourism that considers environmental, social and economic impacts, it is essential to change the mindset of travellers, who must act responsibly in terms of their impact on local communities and the natural environment. The realization of a future in which regenerative tourism, a further evolution of sustainable tourism, becomes mainstream depends on changing the behaviour of both hosts and travellers.

In the World Economic Forum's Travel & Tourism Development Index 2021: Rebuilding for a Sustainable and Resilient Future , Japan took the top spot in the development index ranking.

Japan, a highly regarded tourist destination, is leading the way in the future of regenerative tourism — where the more tourists visit, the more the place changes for the better — which will have a significant impact on the transformation of the global tourism industry.

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Rural Tourism and the Sustainable Development Goals. A Study of the Variables That Most Influence the Behavior of the Tourist

José maría lópez-sanz.

1 Economics and Business Management Department, Faculty of Economics, Business and Tourism, Universidad de Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, Spain

Azucena Penelas-Leguía

Pablo gutiérrez-rodríguez.

2 Department of Business Administration, Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, Universidad de León, León, Spain

Pedro Cuesta-Valiño

Associated data.

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

Tourism is an activity that contributes directly and indirectly to the development of rural areas. But this development needs to be sustainable. To do this, appropriate policies that positively influence these areas from an economic, social and cultural point of view must be implemented. All this in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goals. This study will analyze the contribution of rural tourism to develop and implement policies to promote sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture and products. The variables that most influence the tourist behavior, motivation, the destination image, and the satisfaction obtained by the tourist will be analyzed. After an exhaustive review of the literature, an empirical investigation was carried out with 1,658 valid surveys among rural tourists in Soria, a Spanish province with one of the highest levels of depopulation. A structural equation model was drawn up to discover the relationships between the variables. The results demonstrated the importance of the motivation in the formation of the destination image, as well as satisfaction with the trip. In the same way, we will verify which component of the image of the destination (affective or cognitive) has the most influence on their formation, and how the image of the destination, like motivation, influences tourist satisfaction. The proposed model could be used in many studies that analyze the different variables that influence consumer behavior since its reliability and predictive capacity have been proven. The results of the study can also be used by the authorities to design or modify the most appropriate strategies that influence rural tourism, specially promoting the destination image as a variable that positively influences tourist satisfaction.

Introduction

This study is an original investigation of the rural tourists' behavior, attending to the most important variables that help to understand this behavior. It is analyzed how policies focused on rural tourism should be in line with Sustainable Development Goals defined by the UN in 2017, especially with objective 8 “Decent Work and Economic Growth,” to promote sustainable tourism, which creates jobs and promotes culture and local products, as can be seen in the goal 8.9 of that goal number 8.

Rural tourism has gained broad acceptance in Spain. The wide range of accommodation and activities included in the definition of “Rural Tourism” makes it a very attractive option to consumers. In Spain, it is now an important alternative to sun and beach tourism, which has traditionally been a very popular choice of vacationers.

As a consequence, for depopulated and depressed areas in Spain, this kind of tourism has become an additional economic activity, so they no longer depend exclusively on primary activities such as agriculture and livestock. There are extensive opportunities for agrotourism, combining tourism with agriculture-related activities, which indicate the potential synergies between them. The local authorities managing rural tourism must therefore implement policies to promote its development. For Polo ( 2010 ), the development of the rural tourist activity is very suitable for improving the development of the rural areas, likewise Marzo-Navarro ( 2017 ) stated that rural tourism promotes the development and economic growth of the destination areas, for which it is a priority to achieve the objectives of economic, sociocultural, and environmental sustainability. The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) ( 2021 ) has recognized that “tourism is one of the driving forces of global economic growth and is currently responsible for the creation of 1 in 11 jobs. By giving access to decent work opportunities in the tourism sector, society, in particular, young people and women, can benefit from improved skills and professional development. The sector's contribution to job creation is recognized in target 8.9: by 2030, devise and implement policies to promote sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture and products.” To this end, it is thus very important to analyze a range of variables and components that may influence rural tourism behavior.

Among the most influential variables, satisfaction is a key factor that indicates what the trip has meant to the tourist. Many studies have demonstrated the importance of perceived value and satisfaction in tourist behavior (Barsky and Labagh, 1992 ; Tam, 2000 ; Choi and Chu, 2001 ; Tian-Cole and Cromption, 2003 ; Petrick, 2004 ; Yoon and Uysal, 2005 ; Hutchinson et al., 2009 ; Kim et al., 2009 ; Jin et al., 2013 ; Asgarnezhad et al., 2018 ; Chin et al., 2019 ; Penelas-Leguía et al., 2019 ; Castro et al., 2020 ). Several studies considered “word-of-mouth” a very important factor to explain the future behavior and it is the link between satisfaction and loyalty (Hutchinson et al., 2009 ; Kim et al., 2009 ; García, 2011 ; Lai et al., 2018 ; Xu et al., 2020 ). It is, however, essential to discover how the tourist's image of their destination, and their other motivations, drive them to choose that destination. To Tasci and Gartner ( 2007 ), destination image is a key factor in successful tourism development. To Ejarque ( 2016 ), this image has a vital importance in tourists' selection processes. And a tourist's motivation has an important impact on destination image formation, as Li et al. ( 2010 ) and Sancho and Álvarez ( 2010 ) explained in their studies. It is, however, interesting to investigate the influence motivation has on overall visitor satisfaction, as per Albayrak and Caber ( 2018 ).

Conceptual Framework and Hypothesis

Research framework.

In this research, we reviewed the literature on the variables that affect tourist behavior (motivation, image and satisfaction). We then used the results of this review to lay the foundations of a behavior model using Structural Equations, with Partial Least Squares (PLS) as the chosen method, as you can see in Figure 1 . This will indicate the links between those variables and the strength of these relationships. Thus, the main objective of the research is to analyze the links between tourist motivation, destination image and vacation satisfaction. And as secondary objectives, which complement the analysis, we expose:

Proposed theorical model.

• - To research how motivations influence destination image formation.
• - To analyze the link between destination image and satisfaction with rural tourism
• - To research the importance of the affective and cognitive components of the image in forming the overall destination image.

Research Hypothesis

Motivation has been widely studied by various authors and in different areas, from psychology to sociology and marketing. Motivation is the driving force of the process. A consumer can have a positive attitude to the purchasing process, an excellent image of the product or service, but if they aren't strongly motivated, the process doesn't begin. A motive, as Santesmases ( 2012 , p. 261) explains, is “the reason why the consumer purchases the product.” Consumers buy something because they get a benefit, and those benefits satisfy needs. Motivation is therefore, according to Santesmases (p. 261), “a general disposition that leads to the behavior aimed at obtaining what the consumer wants.” Kotler ( 2016 , p. 199) defines motive as “a need that is sufficiently pressing to drive the person to act.”

From the tourism point of view, motivation is one of the most important and most extensively studied variables. Wong et al. ( 2018 ), point out the influence that motivations have on the tourism process, especially on the tourist. One of the early studies was by Dann ( 1977 ). He attempted to explain the reasons why people travel, as well as their choice of destination. This was the first-time push and pull factors were discussed.

One of the most relevant and important studies of this topic is by Crompton ( 1979 ). This author found nine key motives for a tourist's choice, seven of which were categorized as socio-psychological (escape from a perceived mundane environment, exploration and evaluation of self, relaxation, prestige, regression, enhancement of kinship relationships and facilitation of social interaction), and two cultural motives (novelty and education). The socio-psychological motive, also referred to as “push” motives, explain the wish to take holidays, while cultural motives, also called “pull” motives, explains the choice of the destination or the kind of destination. In addition to this author, Crandall ( 1980 ), based on Crompton's work, continues the explanation of the value of motivation in tourist behavior, and list seventeen personal motives. These are, clearly, an extension to Crompton's nine motives.

Other authors, such as Line et al. ( 2018 ), focus on the importance of motivations in tourist behavior. They explain the importance of motivation, with a special link between motivation and sustainability programs. González and Vallejo ( 2021 ), they also explained that importance. Polo et al. ( 2016 ) evaluate the motivations with influence in the rural tourist in Spain, their behavior and the different strategies, and Prebensen et al. ( 2010 ) study tourist behavior, in this case, the sun and sand tourist and the link between motivations to travel, tourist satisfaction and intentions to communicate with others by word-of-mouth.

Regarding the practice of rural tourism, Penelas-Leguía et al. ( 2019 ) classified the different motivational factors into which tourist motivation is divided. These factors were natural and cultural motivations, social motivations, personal motivations, novelty motivations and escape motivations, reaching the conclusion that natural and cultural and social motivations are the ones that have the most influence on the formation of tourist motivation. Buffa ( 2015 ), also focused on the study of cultural and natural motivations in rural tourism practice, concluding that tourists, especially the youngest, feel motivated when traveling to discover new cultures, new natural spaces, contemplate the natural and artistic heritage, be in contact with the local population and contact with nature. Han et al. ( 2017 ), continues in this line, on the importance of nature and natural heritage in tourism decision-making. Luo and Deng ( 2007 ), exposed the environment and nature as one of the main reasons that move tourists to visit a tourist area, while Gnoth and Zins ( 2010 ) and Kim and Prideaux ( 2005 ), considered that motivation cultural and knowing the cultural heritage of the area, were the main reason that moves the tourist. Regarding social motivations, several studies point out this type as the main factor when making decisions by tourists. Van der Merwe et al. ( 2011 ) exposed the great importance of these motivations, after an exhaustive review of the literature. Lee et al. ( 2004 ) and Park et al. ( 2008 ), focused their studies on the key importance of social motivations in the tourist's behavior. Moreno et al. ( 2012 ), exposed the three main types of motivations that move tourists, highlighting cultural motivations and social motivations, as well as those of “self-expression.”

Therefore, we observe the importance of natural and cultural and social motivations in tourist decision-making, so we propose the following hypotheses:

• Hypothesis 1.1 (H11): “Cultural and natural motivation is the main dimension of the tourist motivation.”
• Hypothesis 1.2 (H12): “Social motivation has an important relevance in the formation of tourist motivation.”

About the link between tourist motivation and destination image, several authors have studied this influence. For Li et al. ( 2010 ), destination image is an essential component of tourist destination success, because if the place has a recognizable image, it will be more likely to be chosen by tourists as a place for recreation and leisure. In this study, they recognize three motivational factors: intellectual, belonging and escape. Each of them has a direct effect on the cognitive component of the image, but for the escape dimension of the motivation, this effect is negative. For the affective component of the image, the relationship is direct if we focus on the escape motivation as well as on the cognitive component.

Sancho and Álvarez ( 2010 ) point out the importance of motivation in the decision-making process of going on a trip and determining where to go. They consider five main motivations: past experiences, physical, cultural, interpersonal, social and prestige. They concluded that interpersonal and social motivations have a direct effect on the cognitive component of the image and on the overall image. They also found that the cognitive component has a direct effect on the affective component, which in turn affects the overall image. Madden et al. ( 2016 ) also analyzed this link, carrying out an exhaustive analysis of the literature, as did Dagustani et al. ( 2018 ), Pereira and Hussain ( 2019 ) and Santoso ( 2019 ), who presented a behavior model studying the relationship between motivations, destination image and tourist satisfaction. In addition to these authors, many others have studied the close relationship between motivations and destination image, and we would highlight the studies by Mayo and Jarvis ( 1981 ), Michie ( 1986 ) and Gong and Sun Tung ( 2017 ). It is also worth highlighting the study of Hwang et al. ( 2020 ), who study the relationship between the destination image and the tourist motivations, but inversely, how the destination image influences the formation of the tourist motivations.

We therefore conclude there is an important link between tourist motivations and destination image formation. Thus, we define the following as hypothesis:

• Hypothesis 2 (H2): “Tourist motivation significantly positive influences destination image formation.”

Image is a key factor when tourists are choosing their destinations, and crucial when planning a trip (Marine-Roig and Ferrer-Rosell, 2018 ). As Beerli and Martín ( 2002 ) point out, the image has an important impact on tourist behavior, and varies from person to person. In the same way, Foroudi et al. ( 2018 , p. 97) explain that “a positive image is much more likely to be taken into consideration and probably chosen in the decision process.” But this image has to be protected, because it can turn into a negative variable, as Bachiller et al. ( 2005 ) explain when they state the problem that overcrowding causes in the destination image. Additionally, Alrawadieh et al. ( 2019 ), point out that this feeling of overcrowding doesn't influence the image, but does influence intentions to visit the place again.

What does “destination image” mean? Many authors have contributed their own definitions. To Crompton ( 1979 ), destination image is “the sum of all beliefs, ideas and impressions that people associate with a destination.” In 1993, Echtner and Ritchie ( 1993 , p. 3) defined it as “perceptions of individual destination attributes, as well as, total, holistic impressions.” Baloglu and McCleary ( 1999 , p. 870) considered destination image to be “an individual's mental representation of knowledge (beliefs), feelings and global impression about an object or destination.” Sanz ( 2008 ), p. 98 explains to us that destination image is “the global perception of a destination, in other words, the representation in the tourist's mind of what he or she feels and knows about it.” And López-Sanz et al. ( 2021b ) defined destination image as the overall mental impressions each person has of a place or destination formed by knowledge as well as by the feelings the destination produces in them.

All these definitions have a common link. Destination image is made up of two components: the cognitive and affective components. Baloglu and McCleary ( 1999 , p. 870) defined both. For them, the cognitive component “refers to beliefs or knowledge about a destination's attributes,” whereas the affective component “refers to feelings about a destination, or attachment to it.” Many other authors, however, have written about the difference between the cognitive and affective components. Beerli et al. ( 2003 ) explain that the affective component is “individuals' feelings toward a destination or as an emotional response of individuals to a place,” while the cognitive component “is knowledge about a destination.” To Lee et al. ( 2008 , p. 814), the cognitive component “derives from factual information,” while the affective component “can be viewed as one's diffuse feelings about a specific tourism destination.” Other authors, such as Zhang and Zhang ( 2020 ), emphasize this division of destination image. We can therefore state that destination image is formed by the link between two components: cognitive, related to beliefs and knowledge acquired from external information sources or experience; and the affective component, related to feelings. These are strongly linked, in such a way if that the cognitive component changes after the first vacation, the affective response will also be affected. The overall image is made up of these two components. A destination choice depends on the overall image, and when we refer to destination image, we mean the overall image.

We have analyzed the components into which the overall destination image is divided. It is now necessary to focus on the elements that influence the tourist in forming that image. Several authors have discussed these variables. For Baloglu and McCleary ( 1999 ), the variety and type of information sources, and the tourist's age, education and motivation all influence destination image formation. For Beerli and Martín ( 2002 ), the perceived image of a place is formed by the interaction of several factors, such as the tourist's motivations, previous experience, preferences and other personal characteristics (sex, age, etc.); other psychological factors such as values, personality, lifestyle, etc. also have an influence. To Sirakaya et al. ( 2001 ), consumers' choice processes are influenced by their motivations, attitudes, beliefs and values, as well as other types of factors, such as time. Gunn ( 1993 ) states that destination image undergoes a constant process of modification. For this author, there are several steps in image formation. First of all, a destination image is generated from previous information (documentaries, acquaintances' experiences, etc.). Later, due to promotional information such as brochures, an induced image is generated. Nowadays, for those referred to as “2.0 tourists,” the importance of “on-line reputation” is increasing, so innovation is essential to building an initial image of destinations, especially the more traditional ones. For some places, destination image may be reinforced by heritage-related cultural events that are publicized over social networks (Campillo-Alhama and Martínez-Sala, 2019 ). This image may help individuals choose a destination, depending on their motivations. After the vacation and the tourist's personal experience, a final image is generated. For Um and Crompton ( 1990 ) and Ugarte ( 2007 ), the perceived image of a place will be formed by the interaction of the projected image (the destination image the promotional information projects) and the individual's needs, motivations, experience, preferences and personal characteristics, and this image is very resistant to change, even in times of economic crisis (Gkritzali et al., 2018 ). Thus, we propose the following hypotheses:

• Hypothesis 3.1 (H31): “Affective destination image has a positive influence on destination image formation.”
• Hypothesis 3.2 (H32): “Cognitive destination image has a positive influence on destination image formation.”

Overall satisfaction with the vacation is a very interesting variable, because, depending on the level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction, the degree of tourist loyalty to both the geographical area and the accommodation can be calculated. For Serra ( 2011 , p. 122), after the vacation the tourist, through introspection, evaluates the experience and a feeling of satisfaction or dissatisfaction is created. As a result, a post-trip attitude is generated. This modifies several factors, such as the tourist's perception of the destination and attitude toward it, and these in turn influence the destination image for the tourist and his or her relatives and friends. The development of a more digitalized and responsible economy is also highlighted from the point of the view of the influence on other consumers, as explained by Moreno-Izquierdo et al. ( 2018 ), in which the collaboration between citizens and tourists is the frame of reference. Sevilla and Rodríguez ( 2019 ) emphasize the emotion caused by viewing the landscape during the journey and stay, which produces a satisfactory or unsatisfactory response to the tourist's expectations. Park et al. ( 2018 ) concluded that providing additional information before each visit can improve tourist satisfaction. Fernández-Herrero et al. ( 2018 ), state that tourist “autonomy improves overall satisfaction with the destination,” while Rojas-De-Gracia and Alarcón-Urbistondo ( 2019 ) explain the link between satisfaction and the decision-making process.

In studying tourist satisfaction, it is very important to perform multilevel analysis. This enables us to see the “big picture” of the factors affecting overall tourist satisfaction (Radojevic et al., 2017 ). The link between destination image and satisfaction has been widely researched. The study by Olague de la Cruz et al. ( 2017 ) focuses on the link between tourist motivation, destination image and satisfaction. They explain how motivations influence both cognitive and affective image, and both of this influence tourist satisfaction. For Rajesh ( 2013 ), destination image has a direct influence on both overall satisfaction and destination loyalty. Additionally, tourist satisfaction influences destination image—in other words, the new destination image a tourist generates after the vacation depends on the level of satisfaction. It's important to review the research by Martín et al. ( 2016 ), into the influence of destination image on satisfaction, and of satisfaction on loyalty. Herle ( 2018 ), Cruz et al. ( 2018 ), Machado et al. ( 2009 ), Huete and López ( 2020 ) and López-Sanz et al. ( 2021a ) also researched this relationship. And we wish to highlight the study of Nysveen et al. ( 2018 ), who found a link between “green destination image” and tourist satisfaction. The expectancy disconfirmation theory will be used to explain the relationship between variables. This theory is very popular in consumer satisfaction research (Elkhani and Bakri, 2012 ; Kim et al., 2014 ). Positive disconformation happens when the final result is higher than initially expected, while negative disconformation happens when product performance and the final result is lower than expected at the beginning. Thus, we define the following hypothesis:

• Hypothesis 4 (H4): “Destination image has a positive influence on overall trip satisfaction.”

Correia et al. ( 2013 ), explain that there is a relationship between the motivational “push” and “pull” variables and overall tourist satisfaction. Battour et al. ( 2012 ), who concluded that tourist motivation positively influences vacation satisfaction, should also be reviewed. For their part, Hidalgo-Fernández et al. ( 2019 ) also conclude in their study that there is a relationship between the motivations or interests of the tourist and satisfaction with the trip, turning this satisfaction into recommendation of the destination. This relationship is also found in their study Forteza et al. ( 2017 ) and He and Ming ( 2020 ).

The decision to choose the Spanish province of Soria was taken because of several factors. First, this is Spain's least populous province [a population of 88,658 in 2020 (Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE), 2021 )], and this area is suffering a worrying level of depopulation. And, on the other hand, it is a province with great potential from the touristic point of view, because it has a wide variety of natural and cultural resources. The province includes many very different areas: the highlands, with a special landscape and similar weather to the Scottish Highlands (hence its name); cities with an important cultural heritage, such as El Burgo de Osma and Soria itself; very interesting archeological areas including Numancia, La Dehesa's Roman Villa and the ancient village of Tiermes; and attractive natural sites such as La Laguna Negra, the Lobos River Canyon and the Fuentona sinkhole.

This province therefore can and must leverage the Rural Tourism boom in Spain and implement rural development based on the service sector, not only in terms of the increasing amount of accommodation available, but also through all the related activities. This includes promoting tourist routes, both cultural through the province's many heritage sites, and natural routes, that can in turn link with adventure and sports tourism. The province can also promote “experience-based tourism,” as explained by Mazarrasa ( 2016 ). This kind of tourism offers some activities which are relatively passive, such as visiting a winery to observe the steps in wine production. There are also, however, activities for which the tourist can actively participate in the experience.

The significance of this study lies in the fact that it can be a starting point for the right marketing actions to improve Rural Tourism in the area and prevent depopulation to the extent possible. To be successful, these actions must be supported by the national, local, provincial and regional authorities.

Survey Design

This research is based on a descriptive study using primary data from a questionnaire used on a representative sample of tourist over 18 years old who visited the province of Soria (Spain) and stayed in a rural tourism establishment. The primary selection of the different items of constructs was based on a review of the literature. Previously, the items had been carefully chosen, and before sending out the survey, preceding qualitative research was carried out through a focus group, which included five professors who are experts in tourism and consumer behavior. As a result of this qualitative research, the final questionnaire was achieved, consisting of four constructs with a total of 16 items: five for cognitive image (Baloglu and McCleary, 1999 ); two for affective image (Baloglu and McCleary, 1999 ); seven for tourist motivation (Crompton, 1979 ) and two for tourist satisfaction (Lee, 2009 ). In order to obtain data to analyze, 1,658 valid questionnaires were completed by adult tourists who stayed in a rural tourism establishment in the province, between January 2016 to January 2017, which implies a sampling error of ± 2.45% (with a confidence interval of 95.5% and p = q = 0.5) (see Table 1 ).

Technical details of the study.

The data was collected through personal surveys. All items of the questionnaire used the same 4-point Likert-type scale, where 4 = a lot and 1 = little bit, except affective image and satisfaction items, where the scale was a 5-point Likert scale where 5 = strongly agree and 1 = strongly disagree (see Table 2 ).

Scales of the model's constructors.

A pretest of this questionnaire was performed on 50 people who had visited the province and stayed in a rural tourism establishment, to evaluate if the scales were well-constructed and the multiple questions on the questionnaire were understood. After checking that everything was correct, the data were collected personally in the tourist areas of Soria province.

Sample Size and Composition

The total sample consisted of 1,658 valid questionnaires of visitor over the age of 18 who were staying in a rural tourism establishment in the province of Soria (see Table 3 ).

Sample information.

The purpose of analyzing the information collected is to transform it into relevant information that assists the decision-making process. Several statistical techniques were applied to the data collected in the research, including Principal Component Analysis (PCA), and a model was prepared using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The programs used were IBM SPSS Statistic, DYANE 4 (Santesmases, 2009 ) and SmartPLS 3.2.28 (Ringle et al., 2015 ). Hair et al. ( 2011 ; p. 144) recommend selecting PLS-SEM if the research is exploratory or an extension of an existing structural theory. Hair et al. ( 2014 ) also recommend using PLS-SEM when formatively measured constructs are part of the structural model, the structural model is complex (many constructs and many indicators) and the data are non-normally distributed. It is possible to find these issues in this model, including a very complex structural model that was presented in the first moment.

Factor Analysis of Variables

To facilitate the analysis of some of the variables studied, a factor analysis was performed. The chosen technique was Principal Component Analysis (PCA), a factor analysis technique that reveals the underlying dimensions or factors in the relationships between the values of the variables analyzed (Harman, 1976 ). It is a statistical method used to summarize and structure the information of a data matrix to reduce the number of variables (Lozares and López, 1991 ). The aim of this method is to reduce the number of dimensions by obtaining linear combinations with maximum variance that are uncorrelated to the original variables (Aguilera et al., 1996 ). In this study, we have used this technique to reduce the number of variables for the destination image and motivations constructs, due to their high number of variables. After our analysis, the cognitive destination image, which started with 31 variables, had just five factors, “variety of natural attractions vs. situational elements,” “cultural interest,” “entertainment and luxury,” “restful and attractive environment,” and “attractive accommodation.” Regarding affective image, we started with four variables that were reduced to two factors, “internal affective image” and “external affective image.” Finally, for motivations, the initial 23 variables were reduced to five factors, “cultural and natural,” “social,” “personal,” “novelty,” and “escape.”

Having retained the relevant information in the factors, as mentioned above, this research aims to find possible links between motivations, rural tourism destination image and tourist satisfaction for Spain's Soria province. The research focuses on studying the direct and indirect relationships between the variables. To analyze the cause-effect relationships between latent constructs (Hair et al., 2011 ) the Partial Least Squares (PLS) technique, which enables researchers to examine the structural component of a model (Gefen et al., 2000 ), was chosen. PLS-SEM has advantages over other SEM tools, such as LISREL, because PLS can be applied to explore the underlying theoretical model (Gefen et al., 2000 ). PLS-SEM doesn't require restrictive distributional assumptions about the data (Compeau et al., 1999 ), and the use of consistent PLS (PLSc) corrects the behavior of relationship coefficients between latent variables in reflective constructs. If, as in our study, the results are very similar, it is not necessary to apply this algorithm, but the deviations of the model's path coefficients are minimized (Dijkstra and Henseler, 2012 ).

Behavior Model

The research studies the links between seven measured variables ( Figure 1 ). This required a selection to be made.

For tourist motivations, we started with five factors ( Table 4 ), but only cultural and natural motivations, and social motivations, have a loading of at least 0.3. The other ones (personal, novelty and escape), don't reach the required level. The valid items of every motivation factor are shown in Table 4 .

Rotated components matrix (Varimax method).

The destination image variable may be composed of the factors of the cognitive and affective images ( Table 4 ). Of the seven factors obtained for the cognitive and affective images, only variety of natural attractions vs. situational elements image, for cognitive image, and internal affective image, for affective image, have a loading of at least 0.3 or more on their constructs, resulting in seven valid items ( Table 2 ). To measure the satisfaction, tourist perception was used, based on the abovementioned theoretical discussion, with two items: destination satisfaction and satisfaction in terms of expectations.

Using all these factors, we presented a theoretical model, as seen in Figure 1 . The abovementioned link, between motivation, image and satisfaction is shown, as well as the factors that affect them most strongly.

The questionnaire was designed to measure seven different latent constructs: motivation (a second order construct with two dimensions), destination image (a second order construct with two dimensions) and satisfaction. The factor analysis was run to separately validate the measurement of those constructs. The Varimax rotation was used to assist in understanding the initial factor model. The factorial loads (see Table 4 ) provide evidence for the factorial validation of the scales.

The PLS measurement model is evaluated in terms of the inter-construct correlations, the correlations between items, Cronbach's Alpha, the reliability and the average variance extracted for every construct (AVE). In this case, the seven latent variables (two of which are second order constructs) are made up of scales with reflective items. The reliability, internal consistency and discriminant validity of every component in this study are assessed below.

The reliability assessment examines how each item is linked to the latent construct ( Table 4 ). In this respect, the most generally accepted and widely used empirical rule is the one proposed by Carmines and Zeller ( 1979 ), who state that, to accept an indicator as part of a construct, it must have a loading ≥0.707. In this case, only one of the 16 indicators used ( Table 2 ) doesn't reach this acceptable reliability level. However, as Chin ( 1998 ) and Barclay et al. ( 1995 ) explain, a loading of at least 0.5 can be acceptable if other indicators that measure the construct have higher assessed reliability. Furthermore, Falk and Miller ( 1992 ) propose a loading of 0.55—in other words, 30% of the variance of the manifest variable is related to the construct. The loading-−0.64—that didn't exceed the first condition did exceed these latter proposed levels and has a higher loading in its construct than in any other. These results strongly support the reliability of the reflective measurements (see Table 5 ).

Model cross loading.

Bold indicates the most important values in the different study variables .

Finally, motivation and image are valued as second-order reflective constructs for a molar model (Chin, 2010 ). The above discussion provides a basis for supporting the quality of the measurements of the components of these second order variables. The loadings of the dimensions of these constructs are also of interest. The statistics for all the dimensions were as expected, except for affective image, whose loading as a second order variable of image is 0.587 and therefore doesn't reach the AVE level of 0.707, although it exceeds the value of 0.55 (see Table 6 ).

Internal consistency and AVE.

With respect to internal consistency, two measurements are taken into consideration, Rho value (rho_A) and Composite Reliability (see Table 6 ). Nunnally and Bernstein ( 1994 ) suggests 0.7 as a level indicating “modest” reliability which is suitable for the early stages of research, and a stricter one of 0.8 for basic research. As shown in Table 6 , both indicators exceed the 0.8 value (except affective image, for which composite reliability is > 0.7 and Rho value is under 0.3).

Absolute fit indices determine how well a priori model fits the sample data (McDonald and Ho, 2002 ). These measures provide the most fundamental indication of how well the proposed theory fits the data. Included in this category is the Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR). The SRMR is an absolute measure of fit and is defined as the standardized difference between the observed correlation and the predicted correlation. Thus, it allows assessing the average magnitude of the discrepancies between observed and expected correlations as an absolute measure of (model) fit criterion. A value < 0.10 or of 0.08 are considered a good fit (Hu and Bentler, 1999 ). For this research model SRMR is 0.069 (below 0.08). Incremental fit indices, also known as comparative (Miles and Shevlin, 2007 ) or relative fit indices (McDonald and Ho, 2002 ), are a group of indices that do not use the chi-square in its raw form but compare the chi-square value to a baseline model. One of these indices is the Normed Fit Index (NFI). This statistic assesses the model by comparing the chi-square value of the model to the chi-square of the null model and values > 0.95 are recommended (Hu and Bentler, 1999 ) for a good fit. After the analysis it was found a NFI of 0.987 indicating a good fit.

The discriminant validity is obtained in two ways. First, the Average Variance Extracted (AVE) is examined, which indicates the amount of variance captured by the construct in relation to the variance due to measurement error. The value must exceed 0.50 (Fornell and Lacker, 1981 ). As shown in Table 6 , all the AVE values exceed that value, except for image construct, which is close to it (0.492). Secondly, the square root of AVE (in the diagonal of Table 10 ) is compared to the other constructs (below the diagonal in Table 7 ). These statistics suggest that every construct is stronger in its own measurement than in the measurements of other constructs.

Correlation and square root of AVE for first order latent variables.

Collectively, these results support the quality of the measurements. Specifically, the statistics suggest that the components of our measurements are reliable, internally consistent and they have discriminant validity.

Results of SEM

A PLS estimated model allows us to establish the variance of the explained endogenous variables by the constructs that predict them. Falk and Miller ( 1992 ) suggest that the explained variance of the endogenous variables ( R 2 ) should be ≥0.1. Related to this model, the indexes (see Table 8 ) explain the large variance of the second order variables, because the R 2 values of the dimensions (both image and motivation) exceed 0.5 (except in the case of the affective image, which exceeds 0.3). The R 2 value for satisfaction also exceeds 0.3. Stone-Geisser's Q 2 value must exceed 0, and this suggests a predictive relevance related to the endogenous construct model (Chin, 1998 ). In this case, all the variables exceed that value (the lowest is satisfaction with a value of 0.2).

R square and stone-geisser.

To obtain indications of external validity, image and tourist satisfaction need to be significantly linked with motivation, as the theory explains (Bagozzi, 1994 ). Based on this literature, a model in which motivation is a precedent and has a positive relationship with destination image was estimated, and this is also a precedent of satisfaction (see Figure 2 ).

Table 9 shows that the path coefficients are significant ( p < 0.001) since there aren't any non-significant coefficients. The significance of the coefficients was estimated using PLS bootstrapping with 500 samples, an appropriate quantity to obtain reasonable estimations of standard error (Chin, 2010 ).

Significance of the coefficients.

And since one of our hypotheses focuses on the indirect effect of the motivation with satisfaction variable, we can observe the existing relationship (0.47) through the results of Table 10 .

Direct and indirect effects of the coefficients.

In summary, in the model there is a direct and strong link between motivation and destination image (0.853). Motivation thus seems to be an important element influencing destination image. We have therefore proven that our hypothesis 2, “Tourist motivation significantly positive influences destination image formation” is correct (see Table 11 ).

Summary of hypothesis verification.

Regarding the hypotheses 1.1 and 1.2, “Cultural and natural motivation is the main dimension of the tourist motivation” and “Social motivation has an important relevance in the formation of tourist motivation,” the dimension of cultural and natural motivation is the one that reflects motivation (0.837) better than the other dimension of motivation, social motivation (0.251). It is possible that the type of motivation that is most influential will vary depending on the characteristics of the destination. In this case, motivations related to nature and culture are the most significant (see Table 11 ).

It is the cognitive image dimension that best reflects destination image (0.905) and there are some problems in considering the affective image to be a good reflection of destination image. The hypothesis 3.1, “Affective destination image has a positive influence on destination image formation” is therefore incorrect, while hypothesis 3.2, “Cognitive destination image has a positive influence on destination image formation” is correct. There is also a positive and direct link between destination image and satisfaction (0.556), and as a result we can accept the hypothesis 4, “Destination image has a positive influence on overall trip satisfaction” (see Table 11 ).

On the other hand, and indirectly, a relatively important link (0.470) between motivation and satisfaction has been found (see Table 10 ), especially if we consider the current difficulty in influencing satisfaction. This is a consequence of a strong link, which is direct and positive, between motivation and destination image. This relationship between tourist motivations and satisfaction was studied by Correia et al. ( 2013 ), explained that there is a relationship between the motivational “push” and “pull” variables and overall tourist satisfaction. Battour et al. ( 2012 ), who concluded that tourist motivation positively influences vacation satisfaction, should also be reviewed. For their part, Hidalgo-Fernández et al. ( 2019 ) also conclude in their study that there is a relationship between the motivations or interests of the tourist and satisfaction with the trip, turning this satisfaction into recommendation of the destination. This relationship is also found in their study Forteza et al. ( 2017 ) and He and Ming ( 2020 ). Thus, we can check that motivation seems to be an important element in influencing both destination image and satisfaction, which has significant entrepreneurial consequences.

Discussion and Conclusions

Theorical discussions.

This study aims to analyze how rural tourism, in line with the Sustainable Development Goal number 8 of the UNWTO (World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), 2021 ), can serve to sustainably develop the most depopulated rural areas (Marzo-Navarro, 2017 ). We must focus on the social and economic sustainability of this type of tourism, which should translate into improving the quality of life of the indigenous population of the area (Pérez de la Heras, 2004 ), and culturally and socially enriching the local population (Rytkönen and Tunón, 2020 ). The social well-being of local economies is linked to tourism in those areas (Tasci, 2017 ) and increases the sustainability of the local population.

The analysis of rural tourism has been carried out through the relationship that exists between the motivations that move the tourist (Dann, 1977 ; Wong et al., 2018 ), which is one of the most important variables for decision-making in tourism (Prebensen et al., 2010 ; Polo et al., 2016 ; Line et al., 2018 ; González and Vallejo, 2021 ); the image of the tourist destination, a key factor when tourists are choosing their destinations, and crucial when planning a trip (Marine-Roig and Ferrer-Rosell, 2018 ); and satisfaction with the trip, a relationship studied by Forteza et al. ( 2017 ), Hidalgo-Fernández et al. ( 2019 ) and He and Ming ( 2020 ). This relationship has served to study the behavior of rural tourists related to sustainable development goals, especially goal number 8 “decent work and economic growth.”

From an academic point of view, the proposed Structural Equation Model could be used in many studies researching the links between the three variables studied (tourist motivation, destination image and trip satisfaction), because its reliability and predictive capacity have been proven, as shown by the results obtained. It is not only useful for research into rural tourism, but also for general tourism research, as well as for research into other kinds of rural tourism that have recently become popular, such as adventure tourism, sport tourism, cultural tourism and, in countries with a traditional wine industry, wine tourism.

Summary, we have demonstrated the importance of these three variables in the study of the rural tourism behavior and, thanks to this study, real and effective measures can be taken for the sustainable development of the rural area and thus be able to meet the objective number 8 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Managerial Discussions

From a managerial point of view, this research can assist all those authorities that influence rural tourism policies in Spain's Soria province and the rest of Spain, when making policies to promote this kind of tourism, specially promoting the cognitive image that each of us have of a tourist area. We have seen the importance to these rural areas, the country's most depopulated, of tourism (Flores and Barroso, 2012 ) as a complement to their more traditional activities (principally agriculture and livestock). Depopulation in these areas is a critical problem (del Romero, 2018 ), since in some places, including some that offer rural, cultural, and natural attractions, the population has almost completely disappeared. This also leads to a loss of heritage for the province and for the country in general.

The results obtained demonstrate the importance of studying the variables used, especially the image of the tourist destination (Beerli et al., 2003 ), for the promotion of the tourist area. This promotion seems very important, as explained by Baloglu and McCleary ( 1999 ) and Zhang et al. ( 2018 ). And as we have verified, this image is formed especially as a result of the knowledge we obtain about the destination (Sanz, 2008 ), much more than from the feelings that the destination causes in us.

It is also important, as Prebensen et al. ( 2010 ), Polo et al. ( 2016 ), Line et al. ( 2018 ), and González and Vallejo ( 2021 ) explained, to analyze the motivations that drive tourists. Sancho and Álvarez ( 2010 ) point out the importance of motivation in the decision-making process. Therefore, the different administrations involved in tourism policies, as well as the owners of rural establishments, should consider the different motivations that influence decision-making (Wong et al., 2018 ), as well as the formation of the community destination image (Mayo and Jarvis, 1981 ; Michie, 1986 ; Gong and Sun Tung, 2017 ). In addition, due to the indirect but strong link between tourist motivations and satisfaction with the trip (Fernández-Herrero et al., 2018 ), the need to cover these motivations must be considered, especially cultural, natural and social motivations (Penelas-Leguía et al., 2019 ), so that the tourist has a satisfactory trip, which will positively influence loyalty with the destination (López-Sanz et al., 2021b ) and will have an impact on better business results for tourist establishments of the area (Moliner et al., 2009 ).

From the point of view of the Sustainable Development Goals, especially Goal 8, “Decent Work and Economic Growth,” the development of rural tourism can directly help to achieve this SDG (Alcivar, 2020 ), as well as to avoid depopulation that threatens these regions of Spain so much (Maroto and Pinos, 2020 ), promoting quality employment and avoiding exodus to the city and to other richer areas.

Limitations and Future Research

The main limitation of this study is that we have focused on a Spanish province. It would be convenient to apply this methodology to a complete study, focusing on the Autonomous Community of Castilla y León, to which Soria belongs, or even the entire Spanish state. A comparative study could also be made with other provinces with similar levels of depopulation in Spain, to compare both the strategies that are carried out in each of them, as well as the differences in the motivations that move tourists to those other provinces like the image that each one projects.

Another future line of research would be to extend the study to other different motivational factors, not only natural and cultural and social, to obtain other conclusions about tourist behavior. In addition, due to the discovery of the strong indirect effect that tourist motivations have on satisfaction, the study could be extended toward loyalty with the destination, and check if this indirect effect also applies between the tourist motivations and loyalty with the destination.

Finally, a similar study could be carried out by directing the questionnaire to tourists who focus on nature tourism, to discover any differences between them and rural tourists.

Conclusions

Therefore, if we look at in the principal and secondary objectives, the proposed model ( Figure 2 ) below, shows the direct link between the motivations that drive a tourist and his or her perceived destination image, as well as between image and overall tourist satisfaction with the trip. A link between motivations and satisfaction has been demonstrated, although it is indirect. These relationships demonstrate the importance of these three variables in the rural tourist behavior.

This study is important to be able to make decisions, especially from the point of view of local, regional and national tourism policies, to promote sustainable rural development and economic growth in the area, promoting job creation, to meet the Goal number 8 of Sustainable Development. With this economic development, a sustainable social development is directly achieved that is one of the pillars for the eradication of inequalities and poverty in rural areas.

Data Availability Statement

Author contributions.

All authors contributed to conception and design of the study, organized the database, performed the statistical analysis, wrote the first draft of the manuscript, wrote all the sections of the manuscript, contributed to manuscript revision, read, and approved the submitted version.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher's Note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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Sustainable Development Goals Report 2020 - Goal 8 - Tourism

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Small Island Digital States: How Digital Can Catalyse SIDS Development

April 3, 2024.

Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are increasingly becoming Small Island Digital States. Digital is positively impacting lives and livelihoods across SIDS – improving the reach and effectiveness of government and public service delivery, providing exciting new opportunities for citizen engagement and empowerment; and shaping new products, sectors, and opportunities. This major publication serves as a roadmap for SIDS' policymakers, decision-makers, and innovators. It advocates for an inclusive digital transformation that benefits all parts of society. From Tuvalu's venture into the metaverse, to the recent launch of National Digital Strategies by Suriname, Niue, and the Cook Islands; and the open-source digital health leadership of Mauritius. SIDS are going digital. Small Island Digital States is grounded on extensive Digital Readiness Assessments conducted by UNDP in collaboration with over 15 SIDS governments around the world. It also draws on digital products and services, initiatives, and innovations being shaped and delivered by UNDP Country Offices across the global SIDS community. The report sets out recommendations tailored to SIDS across five critical pillars for inclusive and sustainable digital success: connectivity, government, regulation, the economy, and people. It also explores the role and potential of data in SIDS development, highlights how young people in SIDS are becoming digital leaders, and how digital can support key sectors in SIDS – from tourism, to agriculture, and how digital is enabling financial inclusion.

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How To Achieve The Sustainability Goals Through Tourism

A recent OMT research carried out by the Japan International Cooperation Agency has turned the spotlight on the role that the tourism sector plays in the protection of the planet. More precisely, the research highlights the importance of tourism  for the achievement of the 17 sustainable development goals of the 2030 Agenda .

The fast-growing tourism sector has a huge impact on the society and the economy of countries. For this impact to be positive, tourism needs to be sustainable . This means that it needs to respect both the environment and the local communities. That’s when it can actively contribute to all the  sustainable development goals (SDGs), as shown by this pie chart provided by the Stockholm Resilience Centre.

Tourism And Environmental Goals

Starting from the bottom layer of the pie chart, you can see that sustainable tourism can foster the 4 goals related to the  protection of the biosphere . Let’s see how:

• Tourism and SDG 6  –  Clean water and sanitation . The tourism sector can be actively involved in responsible and efficient water management, other than carrying out periodic checks of the pollution level.
• Tourism and SDG 13  –  Climate action .  Tourism significantly contributes to carbon emissions through polluting means of transport like planes, or not so eco-friendly accommodation . The path of Eco-travel might be of considerable help for the protection of the planet.

• Tourism and SDG 14  –  Life below water . The protection of marine ecosystems also involves tourism, especially maritime and coastal tourism. Proper management of underwater life leads to economic advantages for both the infrastructure and local communities, who sometimes have marine resources as their main source of income.
• Tourism and SDG 15  –  Life on land . Just like marine ecosystems, terrestrial ones deserve particular attention when it comes to preserving their biodiversity. A kind of tourism that engages in the conservation of natural heritage is not only good for tourism itself but also for the health and well-being of both local communities and the flora and fauna of the area.

Tourism And Social Goals

The achievement of environmental goals is the foundation for noticing benefits from the social point of view, too. Therefore, tourism also interconnects with SDGs which have to do with the well-being of society:

• Tourism and SDG 1  –  No poverty . The tourism sector, by diversifying the supply of goods and services, has the power to create more and more jobs for the benefit of local communities. Moreover, in terms of tourism development, it can invest in infrastructure which may also be helpful for people who live in poverty.
• Tourism and SDG 2  –  Zero hunger . Sustainable tourism is capable of stimulating sustainable food production which comes from local and organic supply chains. Thanks to its infrastructure, it can also contribute to a constant and stable supply of food goods and services in the area.
• Tourism and SDG 3  –  Good health and well-being . The connection between tourism, health, and well-being is very strong since travellers tend to choose hospitality structures that put hygiene first. Indirectly, it is also possible to reinvest the taxes generated by tourism in the local people’s healthcare.
• Tourism and SDG 4  –  Quality education . By demanding a great workforce, tourism has the potential of favoring quality education through highly professional education programs. In addition, it can raise consumers’ awareness of sustainable development goals.
• Tourism and SDG 5  –  Gender equality . Women represent 58% of the people employed in the tourism sector, even if they often have low-qualified or informal roles. Thus, the tourism sector might be a suitable context for empowering women in several ways, helping them to shatter the infamous “glass ceiling”.

• Tourism and SDG 7 –  Affordable and clean energy . The tourism sector is very energy-intensive. Therefore, it could promote the use of clean and renewable energy , with the result of making local communities participants in the “green revolution”, too.
• Tourism and SDG 11  –  Sustainable cities and communities . The places visited by tourists are “real” places, inhabited by citizens with specific needs. This is the reason why it is necessary that tourism engages in making tourist destinations more sustainable, for both visitors and local communities.
• Tourism and SDG 16  –  Peace, justice, and strong institutions . A responsible kind of tourism should deal with the harmonious coexistence of different cultures and religions. Consequently, it plays a crucial role in the promotion of human rights and public health.

Tourism And Economic Goals

Responsible tourism, if practiced systematically, can contribute to achieve the sustainable development goals in terms of economy, too. As a matter of fact, it is closely linked with the remaining SDGs of the 2030 Agenda:

• Tourism and SDG 8  –  Decent work and economic growth . Tourism is an important sector for global economic growth and it can create jobs in least-developed countries, too.

• Tourism and SDG 9  –  Industry, innovation, and infrastructure . Infrastructure and innovation are essential for the development of tourism. Consequently, they are one of the main investments in the sector. Tourism can therefore have an impact on public policy in order to get more eco-friendly and efficient infrastructure.
• Tourism and SDG 10  –  Reduce inequalities . Given its deep connection with local communities, tourism is an important weapon against inequalities. In fact, it does not only have an impact on the environment but also on the development of local and rural economies.
• Tourism and SDG 12  –  Responsible consumption and production . Through responsible consumption and production, tourism helps to speed up the “green transition”.

To conclude, tourism plays a key role in the achievement of the sustainable goals. By taking a systematic and organized approach, this sector could lead to several changes and make the goals of the 2030 Agenda more and more achievable.

Click here to read the entire research

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UN Tourism | Bringing the world closer

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• 17 Jan 2018

New Publication: Tourism and the Sustainable Development Goals – Journey to 2030

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The report is developed in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and aims to build knowledge, empower and inspire tourism stakeholders to take necessary actions to accelerate the shift towards a more sustainable tourism sector by aligning policies, business operations and investments with the SDGs. 

The research is based on an analysis of 64 countries' Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) on the SDGs- submitted to the United Nations High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development in 2016 and 2017, eight Mainstreaming, Acceleration and Politcy Support (MAPS) country roadmaps and corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities of 60 global tourism companies. 

We hope this report will provide sound and meaningful guidance to all players in the tourism sector to make the case for tourism as a key driver to our ambitious journey to 2030. 

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