Sustainable Island Tourism

Abstract

This chapter presents a brief selective review of recent literature from which the operative definition “sustainability diamond” emerges. Subsequently a tourism penetration index is developed for 40 small islands with populations of less than three million. The index scores loosely arrange destinations into three development stages across the life cycle: emerging, intermediate, and high impact. Descriptive profiles of the characteristics of these three stages are presented, followed by a means difference analysis employing a dozen socioeconomic variables. The chapter concludes that these are three empirically distinct stages of development, each having major policy challenges.

Citation

McElroy, J.L. (2015), "Sustainable Island Tourism", Tourism Research Frontiers: Beyond the Boundaries of Knowledge (Tourism Social Science Series, Vol. 20), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 123-140. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1571-504320150000020001