Theoretical Divide

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Journal of Sustainable

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Development: Exploring

the Theoretical Divide

Richard Sharpley

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Tourism and Sustainable Development:Exploring the Theoretical Divide

Richard Sharpley

University of Northumbria, Longhirst Campus, Longhirst Hall, Morpeth,Northumberland NE61 3LL, UK

Despitethesignificantattentionpaidbytourismacademicsandpractitionerstosustainabletourismdevelopmentinrecentyears,therehasbeenaconsistentfailurewithinthetourismliteraturetorelatetheconcepttothetheoryofitsparentalparadigm,sustainabledevelopment.Asaresult,theapplicabilityofsustainabledevelopmenttothespecificcontextoftourismisrarelyquestioned.Thispaperaddressesthisomissionintheliterature.Reviewingdevelopmenttheoryandthenotionofsustainability,itproposesamodelofsustainabledevelopmentagainstwhichtheprinciplesofsustain-abletourismarecompared.Itisarguedthattourismdevelopmentremainsembeddedinearlymodernisationtheorywhilsttheprinciplesofsustainabletourismoverlookthecharacteristicsoftheproductionandconsumptionoftourism.Asaresult,significantdifferencesbetweentheconceptsofsustainabletourismandsustainabledevelopmentarerevealed,suggestingthattheprinciplesandobjectivesofsustainabledevelopmentcannot be transposed onto the specific context of tourism.

Downloaded by [Sun Yat-Sen University] at 19:02 24 December 2014 IntroductionOverthelastdecade,theconceptofsustainabletourismdevelopmenthasbecomethefocusofincreasingattentionamongsttourismtheoristsandpracti-tionersalike.Ithasnowachievedwidespreadacceptanceasadesirableobjectiveoftourismdevelopmentpolicyandpracticeandmanyorganisationsrepre-sentingdestinationsortourismindustrysectorshavepublishedsustainabletourism development plans and sets of principles (for example, IFTO, 1994).Nevertheless,theconceptofsustainabletourismdevelopmentremainsthesubjectofvigorousdebate.Itisvariouslyinterpretedanditsvalidityasameansand/orendoftourismdevelopmentisquestionedinmanyquarters,reflecting,inpart,thelackofclarityorconsensusconcerningitsmeaningorobjectives.Defi-nitionsabound,totheextentthat‘definingsustainabledevelopmentinthecontextoftourismhasbecomesomethingofacottageindustryintheacademicliteratureoflate’(Garrod&Fyall,1998:199).Suchdefinitionsfallprimarilywithintwocategories;thosewhichare‘tourism-centric’(Hunter,1995),focusingonsustainingtourismasaneconomicactivity,andthosewhichconsidertourismasanelementofwidersustainabledevelopmentpolicies(Cronin,1990).Sustain-abletourismhasalsobeenreferredtoasan‘adaptiveparadigm’,encompassingasetofmeta-principleswithinwhich‘severaldifferentdevelopmentpathwaysmaybelegitimisedaccordingtocircumstance’(Hunter,1997:859).Whilstthisconceptualisationofsustainabletourismasakindoffree-floatingdevelopmentprocessisundoubtedlyattractive,neatlyside-steppingtheneedforaconcisedefinition,itneverthelessdoeslittletosharpenthefocusofstudyontotheprocesses and overall viability of the concept.

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JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABLE TOURISM© 2000 R. SharpleyVol. 8, No. 1, 2000

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2Journal of Sustainable TourismDownloaded by [Sun Yat-Sen University] at 19:02 24 December 2014 Moreimportantly,however,although‘sustainabletourismshouldbeconsis-tentwiththetenetsofsustainabledevelopment’(Stabler&Goodall,1996:170),suggestingthatthesustainabletourismdiscourseshouldbebuiltuponasolidtheoreticalfoundationandunderstandingoftheconceptfromwhichithasbeenborn,therehasbeenaconsistentandfundamentalfailuretobuildatheoreticallinkbetweentheconceptofsustainabletourismanditsparentalparadigm(Lanfant&Graburn,1992:112).Thisisnottosuggestthatsustainabletourismhasbecometotallydivorcedfromsustainabledevelopment.However,thevalidityofthesustainabledevelopmentconceptanditsspecificapplicabilitytotourismarerarely,ifever,questioned.Thatis,withafewrecentexceptions(forexample,Wall,1997;Mowforth&Munt,1998),thereappearstobearigidaccep-tancethattheprinciplesandobjectivesofsustainabledevelopmentcanbeeasilytransposedontomosttourismdevelopmentcontexts(Inskeep,1991:xviii).Asaresult,anumberoffundamentalquestionswithrespecttotourism’spotentialroleinthedevelopmentprocessingeneral,andthevalidityofthesustainabletourism development concept in particular, are overlooked.Thepurposeofthispaper,then,istobuildatheoreticalbridgebetweensustainabletourismandthebroaderframeworkofsustainabledevelopmentinordertointroduceamoresolidtheoreticalfoundationtothesustainabletourismdevelopmentdebate.Assuch,itdoesnotseektoaddtothealreadyconsiderableliteratureconcernedwiththedefinitionandprocessesofsustainabletourismdevelopment,buttoexplorethetheoreticalbasisand,hence,thevalidityoftheconcept.Thefirsttask,therefore,istobrieflyreviewthetheoryofsustainabledevelopment.What is Sustainable Development?Theconceptofsustainabledevelopmentsuffersthesamedefinitionalprob-lemsasitdoesinitstourism-specificguise.Morethan70differentdefinitionshavebeenproposed(Steer&Wade-Gery,1993)and,perhapsinevitably,‘peoplefrommanydiversefieldsusethetermindifferentcontextsandtheyhaveverydifferentconcepts,approachesandbiases’(Heinen,1994).Morespecifically,ithasalsobeencriticisedforbeingbothambiguousandinherentlycontradictory(Redclift,1987;Worster,1993).Itsambiguityliesinanabsenceofsemanticandconceptualclarity,resultinginitsfocusandpurposebeinginterpretedinavarietyofways(Lélé,1991),whilstsomecommentatorsalsodoubtthecompati-

bilityofresourceconservationandeconomicdevelopment(Friend,1992);theyregardsustainabledevelopmentasanoxymoron.Certainly,inthecontextofneo-classicaleconomicsandthemoretraditionalecologicalperspective,thetechnocentric(economicgrowth/resourcesubstitution)approachtodevelop-mentisdiametricallyopposedtotheecocentric,deep-ecologyapproachwhichrepresentsavirtualrejectionofeventhesustainableexploitationofnature’sresources (O’Riordan, 1981a, 1981b; Turner, 1993).

Tofurthercomplicatematters,otherssupporttheviewthattheconceptofsustainabledevelopmentinfactmediatesbetweenthesetwopolarpositions,providingaforumatwhichamultitudeofviewpointscanbeaddressed.Inotherwords,accordingtoSkolimowski(1995),andinasimilarveintoHunter’sconceptofan‘adaptiveparadigm’referredtoabove,theinherentambiguityof

Tourism and Sustainable Development Theory3theconceptis,paradoxically,itsstrength.Itisevident,then,thatauniversallyacceptableinterpretationofsustainabledevelopmentisunlikelytobeforth-coming.However,asLélé(1991)suggests,thephilosophyofsustainabledevel-opmentmaybeexploredbysplittingitintoitsconstituentpartsandassessingeachseparately.Inotherwords,sustainabledevelopmentarguablyrepresentsthejuxtapositionoftwoseparateobjectivesorprocessesandmaybeconsideredas an equation (Lélé, 1991):

Sustainable development = development + sustainability

Thus,thetheoryofsustainabledevelopmentcanbeusefullyexploredbycombiningdevelopmenttheorywiththeconceptofsustainability.Inevitablythisover-simplifiesthecomplexamalgamofpolitical,economic,culturalandecologicalprocessesencompassedbysustainabledevelopment.Nevertheless,itdoesprovideausefulbasisforconceptualisingitsinherentprinciplesandobjec-tivesandtheextenttowhichtheycanbetransposedontothespecifictourismdevelopment context.

Downloaded by [Sun Yat-Sen University] at 19:02 24 December 2014 DevelopmentDespitetheattentionpaidtotourismasavehicleofdevelopment,relativelyfewattemptshavebeenmadeinthetourismliteraturetodrawondevelopmenttheory,notableexceptionsbeingBritton(1982),Erisman(1983),Lea(1988)Pearce(1989),Harrison(1992),deKadt(1992),Opperman(1993),Dieke(1995)andTelfer(1996).Inshort,theconceptsoftourismanddevelopmentremain‘adiscor-dantandunreconciledsetofthoughts’(Nelson,1993:4).However,toappraisetourism’spotentialrolein(sustainable)development,itcannotbeviewedinisolationfromthebroaderdevelopmentalcontextofwhichismeanttobeapart.Developmentisanambiguoustermthatisusedtodescribebothaprocessthroughwhichasocietymovesfromoneconditiontoanother,andalsothegoalofthatprocess.Thatis,thedevelopmentprocessinasocietymayresultinitsachievingthestateorconditionofdevelopment.Yet,developmentdoesnotrefertoasingleprocessorsetofevents,nordoesitimplyasingle,staticcondition.Thus,developmentmaybeseenasaterm‘bereftofprecisemeaning…[and]…littlemorethanthelazythinker’scatch-allterm,usedtomeananthingfrombroad, undefined change to quite specific events’ (Welch, 1984).Theconceptofdevelopmenthasevolvedovertime(Goulet,1992).Tradi-

tionally,ithasbeendefinedintermsofWestern-stylemodernisationachievedthrougheconomicgrowth(Rostow,1960;Redclift,1987:15).Indeed,develop-mentandeconomicgrowthhavebeenwidelyconsideredsynonymous.However,recognitionofthefrequentfailureofeconomicgrowthpoliciestosolvesocialandpoliticalproblemsresultedintheaimsofdevelopmentbecomingmorebroadlyredefined(Seers,1969).Initially,itcametobeseenasaprocessofmodernisationwiththeemphasison‘howtoinculcatewealth-orientedbehaviourandvaluesinindividuals’(Mabogunje,1980:38),butthiswassupersededbythebroaderconceptofdevelopmentasthereductionofwidespreadpoverty,unemploymentandinequality.People,ratherthanthings,becamethefocusofattentionandthenotionofself-reliance,inparticular,becameafundamentaldevelopmentalobjective.Thus,developmentnowimplied‘interalia,reducingculturaldependenceononeormoreofthegreat