Monitoring System for Sustainable Tourism in Swiss Alpine Regions. Tool for regions to act on their own initiative

Topics

• Governance capacity
• New forms of decision-making

Abstract

The paper is a follow-up to SCHNELL et. al. (2002), and it goes on in the reporting of an ongoing project for the development of a monitoring system for sustainable tourism development. It is useful to QT2 because it provides a review of the more recent literature in tourism research on sustainable tourism. New studies suggest that sustainability may not be enough, and that it is perhaps more appropriate to speak instead of sustained value creation for the tourist, the tourism industry, and the local communities. Recent research emphasizes the ability to mobilize beneficial actions by creating a culture that triggers the most important of all internal resources and initiatives. The authors suggest that adding value requires the involvement of communities and stakeholders in an equitable process. Therefore, it is important to build relationships and alliances to strengthen the capacities of local communities and transform local economies in a sustainable way that is also good for the environment. These concepts recall those of social capital, cohesion, and good governance, even though the terms are not employed by the authors. As the paper continues, it is observed that the selection of indicators for a monitoring system may occur only if there is a comprehensible reference framework. The authors distinguish different levels in such a framework: normative (i.e., more general objectives), strategic (provide directions to implements the norms), and operative (more concrete plans). At the normative level, it is suggested following previous experiences that all relevant interest groups have to be included in the process of structuring tourism development: that is, good governance is required in sustainable development. At the strategic level, the authors identify different goals on the basis of the existing national and international definitions (i.e., supported by officially endorsed and politically legitimate documents). Of more interest for QT2 are the following strategic goals: • Social capital: satisfying the social needs (relationships, quality of life) of the local inhabitants; • A just distribution of roles and involvement of all interest groups should be strived for while upholding the principle of gender upstreaming; • The regional population should not become victim of tourism development; • Tourism should contribute to the quality of life and to satisfying the socio-cultural needs of the local population; • Heightened awareness of tourism among the population which is projected outwards; • Free access to information and transparent decision-making processes as the foundation for good cooperation among the various actors; • Efforts are to be made to achieve cohesion from a social, geographic and time standpoint. The above strategic goals, again, refer to good governance and social cohesion, which appear to be linked to sustainable development and, implicitly, to stop or prevent population decrease.

Journal / Publisher / Institution

43th Congress of the European Regional Science Association

Reference to the original publication

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Further information

Monitoring System for Sustainable Tourism in Swiss Alpine Regions. Tool for regions to act on their own initiative