Sustainable tourism indicators as policy making tools: lessons from ETIS implementation at destination level

Abstract

This paper aims to analyse the roles sustainable tourism indicators (STIs) play in policy making processes at destination level through a three-dimensional framework: 1) instrumental (direct use of information for decision-making), 2) conceptual (awareness raising) and 3) symbolic (legitimate decisions). The European Tourism Indicator System (ETIS) is taken as a reference system as the only common framework developed by the European Commission to measure and monitor tourism sustainability. Our empirical research follows a three-step approach. Firstly, we analysed ETIS to investigate its potential to be linked to tourism policy. Secondly, we took Zuid Limburg, the Netherlands as a case study, to assess the role of ETIS pilot implementation at the destination. Finally, we performed a comparative analysis of 11 destinations that have tested ETIS, to better frame the weight of the indicator roles in local policy making processes. We conclude that so far the STIs developed within ETIS have had limited instrumental and symbolic use, while their conceptual role, related to the social learning process resulting from their implementation, can be considered a pre-condition for other roles to emerge. Moreover, the indicators’ role within policy making is closely linked to the specific governance context, influencing and being influenced by it.

KEYWORDS:

• Sustainable tourism
• indicators
• European Tourism Indicator System (ETIS)
• policy making
• tourism destinations

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Maria Laura Gasparini

Maria Laura Gasparini is Research fellow and PhD candidate at the Center for Advanced Studies in Tourism, Bologna University. Her main research areas are sustainability monitoring, community-based tourism and transnational cultural routes. She represents Planeterra Foundation in Europe as community tourism advisor and is part of the consultancy network Planet 4 People. In the past, she has collaborated with Green Destinations and Sustainable Travel International.

Alessia Mariotti

Alessia Mariotti is Associate professor in Economic Geography. She directed the Center for Advanced Studies in Tourism, Bologna University between 2014 and 2018. Her research focuses on various issues of tourism, but especially in relation to local and regional development, transnational cultural routes, social sustainability and participatory planning. She is a member of the UNESCO/UNITWIN Network “Culture, Tourism and Development” and of the University Network for Cultural Routes studies of the Council of Europe.