Stories of Sustainability in Tourism

Stories have become a common element in many tourism promotional campaigns reflecting a “story turn” in tourism practice and in marketing more generally. This story turn is not new to the broader social science disciplines of anthropology, sociology, and psychology and there is a growing body of evidence that stories can be powerful forms of persuasion. This chapter argues that while stories have always been central to tourist experiences and are increasingly important in tourism promotion, their potential use in other aspects of tourism has yet to be fully explored. Within this context stories could be used in a variety of ways to improve the sustainability of tourism. After briefly reviewing the story turn, this chapter outlines an overall model that identifies places where stories might be used to enhance the sustainability of tourism within destinations. The chapter then focuses on the use of stories in tourist experiences to encourage them to engage in more sustainable action both during and beyond the tourist setting. Using the relevant literature to identify the features of effective stories for sustainability, the chapter describes a set of principles for the design and use of stories for sustainability in tourism