Preserving and Utilizing Tourism Resources for Sustainable Futures: Heritage, Community, and Innovation
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Tourism, Culture, and Heritage".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 October 2026 | Viewed by 1566
Special Issue Editor
Interests: tourism economics; tourism development
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Tourism resources—whether natural landscapes, cultural heritage, or industrial relics—are vital assets for sustainable development. However, many of these resources face threats from neglect, overuse, or insufficient preservation efforts. At the same time, communities are increasingly seeking innovative ways to utilize heritage and tourism resources to strengthen local identity, generate economic opportunities, and foster social cohesion. Balancing preservation and utilization is therefore essential to building resilient and sustainable societies.
This Special Issue invites research that explores the ways in which tourism resources can be effectively preserved and responsibly utilized in a sustainable manner. We welcome interdisciplinary approaches that link, for instance, tourism studies, cultural heritage, urban planning, economics, environmental science, and community development. Both theoretical and practical perspectives are encouraged.
Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Strategies for preserving cultural, natural, and industrial heritage as tourism resources;
- Innovative models for utilizing heritage sites in tourism, education, and community development;
- The role of nostalgia, cultural identity, and community participation in resource preservation;
- Governance and policy frameworks for sustainable tourism resource management;
- Case studies of the adaptive reuse of industrial and cultural sites;
- Tensions and synergies between tourism development and heritage conservation;
- Comparative approaches to the sustainable utilization of tourism resources across different regions.
By gathering original research articles and reviews, this Special Issue seeks to provide fresh insights into how tourism resources can be preserved, reimagined, and utilized as foundations for sustainable futures. We anticipate that this Special Issue will inspire both scholars and practitioners to advance innovative sustainability practices in tourism and heritage management.
We look forward to receiving your contributions.
Dr. Won-seok Lee
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- sustainable development
- tourism resources
- heritage conservation
- sustainable tourism
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.
