Sustainable Narratives and Technologies in Tourism

The relationship between tourism and sustainability is complex. Even before sustainable tourism became a commonplace term (perhaps a watershed moment was the publication of the first issue of the Journal of Sustainable Tourism in 1993), it was acknowledged that tourism has great potential to improve peoples’ lives on the one hand, but that it can and frequently does come with negative impacts on the other. Notwithstanding the complex relationship between tourism and sustainability, what largely resonates with industry, policy makers, tourists and academia alike is a need to consider tourism’s impacts, positive and negative, underpinned by a desire to make the industry more sustainable (environmentally, socially and economically). Technological developments continue to shape many aspects of our lives, including tourism. Technological developments are driving change in tourism: From innovations to the tourism product, how it is designed, packaged, advertised and sold, to the entire restructuring (pivoting) of business models including how tourism start-ups may be financed (e.g. crowdfunding). Eco-innovations are similarly premised on evolving technology and lie at the vanguard of sustainable tourism. Whether eco-innovations in tourism are being adopted for business or for moral reasons; whether tourism businesses become more sustainable because it offers cost savings, or because a market opportunity has been identified, tourism firms need to be in a position to seize and develop these opportunities. In other words, the tourism firm needs to be part of a system that supports sustainable entrepreneurship.