Sustainable Tourism: its Interpretation and Operational Scope

The application of sustainability principles in tourism is an essential reference for the processes of development and promotion of potential destinations and for the restructuring of current ones. However, there is a dichotomy between the wide spread of the concept of sustainable tourism and the limitations of the reached progress. This paper intends to encourage a theoretical discussion to examine the definitions of sustainable tourism from diverse approaches, viewpoints and scopes, and to analyze the relevant aspects of its operability, related to the integration of massive and sustainable tourism and to the implications of sustainable development, politics and social participation