Tourism-Based Circular Economy in Salento (South Italy): A SWOT-ANP Analysis

Pasquale Marcello Falcone

doi:10.3390/socsci8070216

Pasquale Marcello Falcone

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci8070216

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Abstract

This paper is aimed at eliciting, by means of a multi-level perspective, potential drivers and barriers of the tourism industry in order to generate valuable information for policy makers to improve policy strategies for an effective transition towards sustainability. A Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats–Analytic Network Process (SWOT-ANP) framework was employed to explore the potential development of a second-generation biorefinery in Salento (a touristic area located in the southeast of Italy in Apulia Region) able to integrate waste management, renewable energy and bio-products production based on resource circularity in the tourism industry. Results indicate that survey participants recognized a higher level of priority for the pressures coming from the overall external setting involving values, dominant practices, rules and technologies (landscape and regime) over the internal tourism industry dynamics (niche). Results also show that the top five ranked factors are mainly pertaining to weaknesses (excessive bureaucracy and lack of technology and infrastructure) and threats (social acceptability and lack of long-term planning by governments), which can concretely jeopardize the transition towards a greater sustainability in the investigated area. The analysis presented constitutes a valuable model for agenda setting in order to find adequate policy actions to promote the transition.

Highlights

Tourism is one of the key sectors for the socio-economic development of many countries worldwide (Muñoz and Navia 2015)
The mere analysis of different SWOT factors highlighted that a possible driving force of the tourism industry relates to the potential engagement of several knowledgeable stakeholders in sustainable production and consumption processes
Possible barriers to the development of a second-generation biorefinery encompass institutional, financial and social factors. These findings are in line with the literature, suggesting that one of the main concerns of local government officials is the potential negative effect of new projects and plants on the tourism industry (Vargas Payera 2018)

Summary

Introduction

Tourism is one of the key sectors for the socio-economic development of many countries worldwide (Muñoz and Navia 2015). The circular economy (CE) approach has the goal of making better use of resources/materials through reuse, recycling and recovery in order to minimize the energy and environmental impact of resource extraction and processing (Ardolino and Arena 2019). This goal is mainly pursued by redesigning the life cycle of the product, with the aim of having minimal input and minimal production of system waste (D’Amato et al 2017)

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Results

Conclusion