This module consists of an introduction to the general principles of sustainable tourism, with particular regard to social responsibility (e.g. waste and emissions management related to the tourist flow). To this purpose, the main Core Indicators defined by the ETIS system and introduced by the European Community to promote sustainable tourism are introduced. Particular attention was paid to present in depth the “Social and Cultural Impact”, “Economic Value” and “Environment Impact” ETIS indicators, by highlighting their connection with the three dimensions of sustainable development. The module presents also an overview of the strategies promoted and/or already put into practice at international and EU level (e.g “Urban Waste – Urban Strategies for waste management in tourist cities”).
The module presents also a sub-module dedicated to introduce responsible tourism as a type of sustainable tourism, where individuals, organizations and businesses are asked to take responsibility for their actions and the impacts of their actions. This type of sustainable tourism is presented by making references to the key documents on this topic (e.g. the “Cape Town Declaration” of 2002) and by stressing the principle accordingly to witch, unlike ecotourism, responsible tourism does not aim to create alternative tourist destinations to mass ones, but mainly aims to reduce the tourist pressure on traditional destinations, through the adoption of more sustainable solutions by both tour operators and visitors. Therefore, the sub-module presents the way how this tourism model counteracts the so-called 'overtourism' (i.e. the excessive and reckless tourist flow), by mitigating of the tourist flow itself and educating the behavior of operators and visitors.
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