Optimizing or maximizing growth? A challenge for sustainable tourism

Abstract

Virtually all destinations seek to increase tourist numbers, pursuing economic maximization strategies. Considerably less attention is paid to optimizing existing tourist systems to create more profitable, stable, resilient and potentially more sustainable entities. While aspects of tourist expenditure, average length of stay and seasonality as three key destination management variables have received considerable attention in the literature, focus has usually been on the identification of “profitable” tourism markets by considering observed patterns of spending, length of stay and vacation timing. Building on such earlier studies, this paper focuses on flexibilities in these parameters: could tourists have spent more, stayed longer or visited during a different season? Perceptions of destination expensiveness as a potential deterrent to visitation were also addressed. Based on a sample (n = 1914) of domestic and international tourists in the Swedish cities of Kalmar and Stockholm, data were collected in face-to-face interviews using questionnaires. Results indicate considerable potential to optimize the Swedish tourism system with regard to all variables studied, while also providing new insights for destination management in the context of economic resilience. Results also indicate the need for researchers everywhere to have detailed market knowledge if they are to persuade the industry to change its sustainability behavior.

Keywords:

• average length of stay
• destination management
• expenditure
• seasonality
• sustainability
• vulnerability

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Percentages are based on respondents who have responded to the two relevant questions (n = 1538).

Additional information

Funding

Funding of this project by the Swedish tourism's research and development fund (Besöksnäringens forsknings-och utvecklingsfond) is gratefully acknowledged. Amata Ring's contribution to this paper was funded by the Australian Research Council under the Discovery Grant Scheme [grant number DP110101347] and [grant number DP120103352].

Notes on contributors

Stefan Gössling

Stefan Gössling is a professor at the School of Business and Economics at Linnaeus University, Kalmar, and the Department of Service Management, Lund University, both in Sweden. He studied geography and biology, and holds a PhD in human ecology from Lund University. He is interested in all aspects of sustainable tourism.

Amata Ring

Amata Ring did her doctoral studies at Vienna University of Economics and Business in the area of tourism destination competitiveness. She was then a research fellow at the University of Queensland, specializing in segmentation and consumer heterogeneity. She recently returned to Austria and is now a marketing consultant at GfK Austria.

Larry Dwyer

Larry Dwyer is a professor in the Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana. He publishes widely in the areas of tourism economics, management and policy, with over 200 publications in international journals, books, government reports, chapters in books, and monographs.

Ann-Christin Andersson

Ann-Christin Andersson is a graduate of the tourism programme at the School of Business and Economics at Linnaeus University, Kalmar. She is particularly interested in social media and rating systems in tourism.

C. Michael Hall

C. Michael Hall is a professor at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, and is also affiliated to the University of Oulu, Finland and Linnaeus University, Sweden. His main areas of research are tourism, regional development, social marketing, conservation and environmental change, gastronomy and sustainable consumption.