The new measures of success: how tourism destinations can begin moving towards sustainability

The tourism industry has typically measured success through economic indicators. Frequently, the “heads in beds” model, bookings, and economic numbers have been the primary indicators of how well a destination is doing.

But as we're starting to recognize the negative impacts of overtourism, it’s clear that economic data is only a small piece of the tourism story and falls short of painting a full picture of a destination’s wellbeing.

Photo by GLP Films

Why Move Away from Reliance on Economic Indicators?

Decades of mass tourism to popular destinations show how detrimental developing tourism strategies around economic indicators alone can be. By prioritizing numbers of visitors, destinations risk overtourism, which can threaten:

• heritage sites 

• local wildlife populations

• waterways, air health, and ecosystems

• quality of life for residents

• biodiversity

• authentic cultural expression

• economic wellbeing of local communities

• and plenty more

But economic indicators are easy to measure and are often considered an undebatable metric for success. And tourism, of course, is still a business – economic wellbeing is integral to keeping it afloat. So, of course, we aren’t opposed to measuring economic data. After all, it’s essential to the story. But it isn’t the only part of the story worth telling.

“Success” Should Vary by Destination

These days, a good story is all about the good your destination is doing. Not just financial, but social, cultural, and environmental good.

But what does that look like for destinations?

Unfortunately, there is no single right answer.

And that’s because no two destinations are alike. Different natural resources, ecosystems, cultures, heritage, weather, and geopolitical patterns uniquely define each location, meaning there is no “One Size Fits All” solution. And there are valuable characteristics for each place that may require special attention.

However, one thing reigns true: all these characteristics should be considered in the context of a specific tourism destination to move from unsustainable overtourism into sustainable destination management. 

Photo by GLP Films

Getting Started: Moving Destinations Toward Sustainability

If you’re a destination looking to improve your success indicators but don’t know where to start, there are several comprehensive tools you can reference to begin building a plan towards sustainable success criteria.

We recommend starting with these to get a good idea of key performance indicators you can begin tracking and strategically planning to improve. 

• Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) is a  tourism-specific global asset for pursuing sustainability within the industry.

• United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) take a global approach to equity, environment, and economics, but is a thorough standard to help identify critical factors to work with

• EarthCheck can help develop Destination Management Plans specific to your destination.

• ESG (Environmental Social Governance) frameworks can be valuable too: Although most commonly used for businesses, they can help improve or develop a sustainability plan for your destination and support individual businesses and organizations in improving their missions.

  • Global Reporting Initiative, the most commonly utilized framework, examines full supply chains, waste, emissions, social impacts, human rights, water, and more.

  • CDP, or Carbon Disclosure Project, may be used by businesses and destinations alike to report on carbon emissions-reducing initiatives, as well as water use and deforestation

• Many regions have sustainability plans. Do some research and see if there are guidelines or frameworks available for your region that you may closely follow to build an action plan towards a more sustainable tourism destination. 

Beyond the Numbers

Gathering more data around sustainability indicators is key. Waste reduction, emissions, water use, social equity improvements, ecosystem preservation, and biodiversity are just a few categories that can be captured for analysis. Technology works great with numbers– and it can play a valuable role in measuring these types of metrics. Learn how hotels can use technology to measure these metrics, as well as communicate them to guests and stakeholders.

But one thing that is often overlooked is qualitative data. As we shift from depending on economic indicators to evaluate success for destinations, we should begin to consider qualitative measurements, such as quality of life for residents, local community satisfaction, and visitors’ perception of experience and authenticity of place. 

To do this, building partnerships and community is essential. Surveys, questionnaires, conversational social media, and more can be used to gauge perceptions.

And when you begin to look at your destination as a steward of sustainability, we’re sure you’ll find the right metrics worth measuring.

Photo by GLP Films

How GLP Can Help you Define the Metrics for Your Success

At GLP, we work with destinations that are looking towards the future and seeking sustainability goals over quantity of visitors. We work with teams to help develop sustainability strategies that can improve the competitiveness of destinations, the quality of visitors, relationships with stakeholders to get them on board with sustainability objectives, and ultimately, your sustainability outcomes. 

If you’re curious about switching to a sustainable approach to success, and could use guidance, encouragement, and a robust marketing plan to align with your new objectives, we’d love to be part of your process.

Let’s chat, and see how we can help you move your brand into the future of tourism.