تجزیه و تحلیل اهمیت عملکرد از گردشگری پایدار: مقایسه بین توریست های بین المللی و ملی

Sustainable tourism—with its focus on the economic, social, and environmental impact of tourism—has been an issue since the publication of the Brundtland Commission Report in 1987. The objective of this research paper is to use importance–performance analysis (IPA) to examine the performance of one particular tourist destination with regard to social and environmental sustainability, and to establish whether international tourists and national tourists differ in the sustainability factors they consider important. A quantitative questionnaire was handed out to national and international tourists at tourist offices in Bologna, Italy. The questionnaire contained scales to measure the tourists' satisfaction with the destination and their hotels from a sustainability point of view, and their views on the importance of such factors. The conclusion is that their opinions vary considerably: for example national tourists rank the environmental sustainability of their holiday destination more highly than do international tourists. The results of the study can be used by destination managers in Bologna and elsewhere to improve the sustainability factors that tourists think are most important, while other tourist destinations could also conduct similar studies to examine their sustainability performance.

According to the World Tourism Barometer (UNWTO, 2012), international tourist arrivals grew by over 4% in 2011 to 980 million, and are expected to reach one billion during 2012. Representing over 60% of the world's tourism, the tourism sector is Europe's largest industry, and is expected to grow even further (UNWTO, 2012). Tourism resources are limited by natural, economic, social, and cultural circumstances and will not survive continued growth (Tao and Wall, 2009); nevertheless, it is often seen as the great hope for economic development in regions and communities, especially in developing countries or in economies suffering from negative growth because of ongoing structural changes in society. The expansion of the tourism industry encourages stakeholders to invest in the sector without always considering the possible side-effects of such investments on the environment and on social development. As a result, there have been calls for the European Union (EU) to take the necessary steps to achieve successful sustainable tourism. As things stand, the goal in Europe is to guarantee economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable tourism (European Commission, 2003), and there is also a consensus within the EU that tourism development should be made sustainable (Bramwell and Lane, 1993 and Gössling et al., 2005). The question is, how? The standard notion of sustainable tourism had its starting-point in the Brundtland Commission Report (1987), which defined sustainable development as the balance between economic, social, and environmental issues. The tourism industry itself recognizes the same sustainability issues, but sees them mainly from the perspective of producers and providers. In recent years, politicians, tourism producers, and researchers have agreed that the tourism industry must become sustainable to survive. If all stakeholders in the tourism sector shared the same understanding of what it takes to achieve sustainability, then it would be relatively easy; however, where stakeholders disagree about where the responsibility lies or where the ‘sacrifices' have to be made, a lasting agreement on sustainable tourism is unlikely and any consensus would be hard to maintain and such problems arise when the priorities of sustainability collide with stakeholders' particular interests. Even where stakeholders from the private and public business sectors are able to reach an agreement on sustainability, can we expect tourists to take any responsibility in the matter, and if so, are there any differences between categories of tourist as to their perceptions of sustainable tourism? And how does tourism consumption contribute to environmental, social, and economic sustainability at the destination level? Existing research on sustainable tourism is insufficient given the increasing importance of tourism as the engine of regional and local development. Previous studies have overlooked one or both of the two sustainability perspectives presented in this research paper: a tourism destination's sustainability performance, and the sustainability factors that tourists consider most important in a tourism destination. To understand better the extent to which tourism providers meet tourists' needs, importance–performance analysis (IPA) is here applied in a study of a mass tourism destination in Italy. The objectives of the study are twofold: to examine the social and environmental sustainability performance of a mass tourism destination in Italy; and to identify the sustainability factors that are considered important by international tourists, as opposed to national tourists, at the same destination. To identify possible strengths and weaknesses in the destination's performance, the study uses an importance–performance analysis (IPA), a technique used to understand tourists' level of satisfaction with regard to their expectations of standards of service (Tosun et al., 2007). The results of the present study can be used by destination management to improve their performance in the areas of sustainability that tourists think are most significant. At the same time, it can help tourist management to work more efficiently with sustainable tourism development at the destination level.

This study contributes a new perspective to the ongoing debate about sustainable tourism. The focus in previous research has been mainly on the definition of sustainable tourism; our study considers how tourism can be developed in a sustainable way. For most destinations, it is always economic sustainability that is most important. There is an inherent contradiction in this, and while other studies have shown that the one solution might be to work separately with social and environmental sustainability (Sharpley, 2000 and Sorensson, 2010), the present study has concentrated on the combination of those social and environmental sustainability attributes that tourists consider most important in a tourism destination. For destination management, it is important to remain attractive to tourists, and thus knowledge about social and environmental attributes is important. To that end, the results of this research shed light on the processes that can lead to a more sustainable future for tourism, but with a different focus to what has normally been seen in academic research. The tourism industry's expansion has both positive and negative impact on local communities. At tourism destinations, stakeholders try to use the attributes as efficiently as possible (Caber et al., 2012). By measuring tourists' perceptions of different attributes at a destination, stakeholders can try to satisfy them. One of the best techniques for this type of analysis is IPA (Caber et al., 2012 and Martilla and James, 1977). Since the 1980s, tourism researchers and stakeholders alike have outlined the issue of sustainable tourism, yet few have looked at tourists' perceptions of sustainability factors. This study has investigated the performance of a mass tourism destination when it comes to social and environmental sustainability, but there are limitations to the study, especially given academic literature's disregard of the tourists' perspective. The results must be treated with caution, and there is a need for further studies in this direction. The results show that there are two different tourists groups (segments) that visit Bologna. The national tourists are returning visitors, with 86% there for the second time or more. Most of the international tourists were first-time visitors (75%). Most tourists, national and international, had a degree (53% and 62% respectively), a level of education that may well have bearing upon their travel habits. The study establishes that there are differences between the sustainability factors that were important to the two different groups of tourists. For the national tourists, environmental sustainability was much more important: something reflected in the fact that most of them were returning visitors who were staying in their own properties or with relatives or friends. The results show that in order to perform well on sustainability (as tourists see it), a mass tourism destination needs to seriously consider how to manage its performance in environmental issues. The national tourists' concerns about environmental issues may well reflect their interest in striking a balance between common environmental issues. These issues have to be collectively dealt with at the destination, and must take into consideration the private tourism producer's need for good economic performance and the tourist's interest in a clean and safe environment. Another statistically significant result is the smallness of the differences between the national and international tourists when it comes to social sustainability factors. One reason may be that the tourists are in Bologna to experience the art and culture that particular destination has to offer—in other words, the social sustainability factor may be the very reason for choosing Bologna as their destination in the first place. The results of this study can be used by destination managers in Bologna to improve performance in those factors tourists feel are important, but currently show low performance. Equally, it addresses concerns that transcend the specific and local: Similar studies are possible for different destinations. Sustainable tourism is important, and tourist management, tourism producers, tourists, and researchers all have their own part to play in addressing the matter. In its discussion of sustainability at tourist destinations, scholarly research has not yet attained the level of sophistication that the subject warrants. It has been demonstrated here that it is possible to talk of ‘sustainable development’ at a mass tourism destination, but to do so we need a more nuanced discussion of development and sustainability as two parallel but mutually dependent processes. It is crucial here to recognize the distinction between consumers' perceptions and producers' performance of sustainability at a destination. This study has shown that one way might be to separate out the three different strands of sustainability—economic, social, and environmental—even though any destination is likely to be dependent on all three of them. The study has also shown the importance of including the tourists' perspectives on sustainability, not just those of the stakeholders at a destination.