A research agenda for sustainable tourism

The aim of the individual chapters of this edited book was not to describe forms of sustainable tourism or define sustainability, but better understand the outcomes of the dynamic interactions by critically asking “What is it that tourism should sustain?” Alongside Chapter 8, which provides a comprehensive overview of tourism’s contribution to achieving the UN’s 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs), several chapters directly or indirectly address SDGs, for instance with reference to climate change (Chapter 7). Chapters also discuss some paradoxes related to sustainable tourism, such as the remaining dominance of neoliberal growth models despite claiming holistic sustainability (Chapters 9 and 13) or the technological advancements that have contributed to social media “good news shows” with influences on tourist behaviour. The book is written in a way that can also be beneficial for tourism practitioners, policymakers and destination managers that aim to understand the complexity of the tourism system and its positive and negative impacts on social and environmental sustainability more holistically.