Leave no one behind': towards sustainable innovations in tourism development

Abstract

Sustainable tourism was a major innovation in the 1990s, but due to the past and expected growth of global tourism, there are evolving needs to have innovations in sustainable tourism. So far, most sustainable tourism innovations have been incremental and based on local-scale management models and practices. These kinds of innovations are beneficial, but they are insufficient and may even hide other levels of needs for sustainability innovations that would also consider the wider system beyond a local scale alone. In this respect, the core question is how the tourism system could achieve a carbon-neutral state that would also include the sustainability governance of mobilities between tourists generating regions and destinations. This chapter discusses the nature and needs of social innovations in sustainable tourism management. The paper introduces some of the past innovation thinking in sustainable tourism and overviews future tourism governance needs, especially concerning climate change policies.