Tourist Industry: Sustainability and Local Versus Global Consumer Happiness

Abstract

Sustainability and the pursuit of happiness are concepts frequently used in the academic community as well as in the ordinary language. It is objectively difficult to define these terms and their characteristics as well as everything that is fashionable and trendy (Bauman, 1998, Globalization. The human consequences. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press; 2005, Liquid life. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press). Tourism applies both phenomena, as many accommodation facilities follow sustainable practices or are inspired by them. Moreover, desire for well-being represents one of the most important needs of the contemporary postmodern society, and it affects many tourists’ choices. These features are not always well-balanced in tour operators travel and holiday offers and in the protagonists’ experience. Moreover, the economic and global crisis, started in 2008, is causing deep transformations in the consumers’ habits and is posing a further element of complexity. With particular reference to Asian contexts of tourism, the article particularly focuses on how the tourism industry has become interested in a ‘return to nature’, rural themes and related aspects of ‘slow tourism’.