Abstract
Achieving the three pillars of sustainable tourism development has long been debated in the literature. This study revealed that sustainability and productivity are not mutually exclusive, analyzing Templestay as part of Korea’s 1700-year-old cultural heritage. The study discussed the challenging case of fulfilling triple-bottom-line sustainable social, environmental, and economic requirements in tourism development. Templestay has enormous potential to be one of the competitive tourism products as a cultural resource, attracting visitors to local areas. The prosperity and potentiality of Templestay may offer insightful contexts to bridge the gap between a sustainable philosophy and destination productivity. The study suggests further research to investigate tourism’s ontological and epistemological nature in terms of sustainability and productivity.
Highlights
Sustainability and productivity do not have to be mutually exclusive
This study explores the harmony of sustainability and productivity, analyzing the case of Templestay, which tries to resolve the severe conflicts between conservation and development
Templestay is a unique cultural activity that experiences the life of Buddhist monks at traditional temples, which preserve the cultural heritage of Korean Buddhism [6,7,8,10]
Summary
Tourism development is aware of the challenges associated with increasing productivity without harming sustainable principles. The sustainable principles largely influence opportunities for tourism development and its productivity to preserve attractive natural and cultural heritage. Templestay, in particular, may have the potential to be a sustainable form of tourism, being environmentally sound, socio-culturally identifiable, and economically viable. The sustainability of Templestay is based on setting limits on the number of visitors, symbiosis with the environment and wildlife, and conservation of socio-cultural life and natural resources surrounding the host temples [8,9]. Templestay offers a unique experience that may be a model to bridge the gap between sustainable philosophy and desired productivity. This study will contribute to future scholarly work of harmonizing sustainability and productivity through this framework
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