Tourism: Strategies for Sustainable Destinations

Topic Information

Dear Colleagues,

The global tourism industry is at an inflection point, urgently moving toward resilient, responsible, and strategically managed destinations. Our topic seeks rigorous academic contributions that advance the conceptual frameworks, policy architectures, and actionable business models essential for achieving this critical transition.

We invite submissions that explore and examine the functional application of the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) framework in strategic planning across the three essential sectors. While this framework provides a key focus, submissions addressing other high-impact, related topics are highly encouraged. Our core areas of interest include the following:

• Strategic Policymaking (Governance): Research on effective multi-level governance structures, policy diffusion, and the design of adaptive governance models to manage systemic crises like overtourism and climate change.
• Strategic Business Innovation (Industry): Studies on integrating sustainability into core business strategy, modeling circular economy pathways, and analyzing the role of green finance and ESG investment in driving competitive advantage.
• Academic Guidance (Theory): Development of advanced conceptual models and novel methodologies (e.g., System Dynamics, Agent-Based Modeling) to bridge sustainability theory with strategic destination practice. 

Prof. Dr. I-Fei Chen
Prof. Dr. Ruey-Chyn Tsaur
Dr. Mengta Chung
Topic Editors

Keywords

Participating Journals

Journal Name	Impact Factor	CiteScore	Launched Year	First Decision (median)	APC
Administrative Sciences admsci	3.9	6.6	2011	21.3 Days	CHF 1600	Submit
Conservation conservation	1.9	3.5	2021	23.1 Days	CHF 1200	Submit
Heritage heritage	2.6	4.3	2018	19.9 Days	CHF 1800	Submit
Sustainability sustainability	4.1	8.9	2009	17.9 Days	CHF 2400	Submit
Urban Science urbansci	3.2	3.7	2017	21.6 Days	CHF 1800	Submit

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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All Administrative Sciences Conservation Heritage Sustainability Urban Science

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22 pages, 1357 KB  

Open AccessArticle

Reconceptualising Tourism Destinations as Industrial Ecosystems: A Resource Flow Framework

by Gizem Kandemir Altunel

Sustainability 2026, 18(12), 6090; https://doi.org/10.3390/su18126090 - 13 Jun 2026

Viewed by 200

Abstract

Tourism destinations consume vast quantities of energy, water, food, and materials, yet these resource flows remain largely invisible in destination planning practice. The aim of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework that reconceptualises tourism destinations as industrial ecosystems and makes their [...] Read more.

Tourism destinations consume vast quantities of energy, water, food, and materials, yet these resource flows remain largely invisible in destination planning practice. The aim of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework that reconceptualises tourism destinations as industrial ecosystems and makes their material and energy flows visible, quantifiable, and amenable to destination-scale planning. Existing frameworks prioritise governance and demand management, leaving the material dimension of sustainability unaddressed. To this end, the paper proposes a multi-scale resource-flow framework grounded in industrial ecology. This is a conceptual framework paper: it develops analytical architecture for destination-scale resource accounting rather than reporting empirical measurements. The framework organises four analytical components—actors, flows, structural configurations, and feedback mechanisms—across macro, meso, and micro scales. Three planning capabilities are advanced: supply-chain-complete environmental accounting, resource hotspot detection, and policy design along the full causal chain from structural arrangement to environmental outcome. Material flow analysis, life cycle assessment, and industrial symbiosis mapping are presented as operational tools, illustrated through reference to high-intensity coastal tourism systems. Industrial symbiosis is positioned as a structural mechanism through which by-product valorisation reduces destination-level resource throughput. The study contributes a bridging framework between governance-oriented tourism planning and the material accounting rigour of industrial ecology, distinguishing it from circular economy models that supply a design principle but no material accounting, from urban metabolism approaches that assume temporally stable flows, and from regenerative development that is values-based rather than quantitative. The framework offers a foundation for more integrated and resource-efficient destination sustainability planning. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Tourism: Strategies for Sustainable Destinations)

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