Transitioning to a green economy: the case of tourism in Bali, Indonesia

Abstract

This paper presents a framework for a green economy transition in tourism destinations. While the literature has suggested many models to guide sustainable tourism, very few studies have investigated the green economy in a tourism context. The main distinguishing factor between the green economy and sustainable development may be described as the acknowledgement of climate change as an existential threat to society and the aim to avoid policy, management and governance fragmentation (which has been common for environmental issues) by addressing greenhouse gas emissions, resource efficiency and social inclusiveness holistically at the economic level. This study frames the green economy concept from a tourism perspective and presents a model for translating the green economy concept into a tourism stakeholder engagement process. The model was tested in the case study of Bali, Indonesia, involving research methods such as visioning group techniques with tourism stakeholders, tourism economy and employment forecasting, resource efficiency estimates as well as resident and visitor surveys. This was followed by an analysis from a green economy stance to develop a Green Growth 2050 Roadmap for Bali tourism. The result is a framework which may be particularly relevant for tourism destinations experiencing rapid change without the capacity to respond.