1. Sustainability of mass tourism
Stanislav Ivanov
Email: stanislav.ivanov@vumk.eu

2. The Speaker ...
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• Editor-in-chief of the European Journal of
Tourism Research (http://ejtr.vumk.eu)
• Vice Rector for Academic Affairs and Research at
International University College, Bulgaria (
http://www.vumk.eu)
• Member of the International Association of
Tourism Experts (http://www.aiest.org)

3. Content
• What is Sustainable tourism?
• The role of alternative tourism for the sustainable
development of the destination
• The role of mass tourism for the sustainable
development of the destination
• Sustainability: alternative vs. mass tourism
• Sustainability of mass tourism: the tourism policy
objective
• Macro- and micro-techniques for sustainable
management of visitor flows
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4. What is Sustainable tourism?
• Sustainable tourism: tourism that balances its
economic, social and environmental impacts in
such a way that the increase in the economic
welfare of the local population is not at the expense
of social degradation and severe environmental
problems.
• Sustainable tourism is NOT type of tourism, but
state of tourism – every type of tourism can be
sustainable or not.
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5. What is Sustainable tourism? (2)
• Sustainability of tourism is analysed in 3 dimensions
(Swarbrooke, 1999): environmental, economic, social
• Overwhelming attention in literature is paid on
environmental dimension (e.g. Rossello-Batle et al.,
2010; Radwan et al., 2012)
• Social dimension is usually associated with CSR
(Bengisu & Balta, 2011; Bohdanowicz & Zientara, 2008)
• The evaluation of the economic dimension of
sustainability should reflect how well they integrate
into local economy (Ivanov, 2005)
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6. The role of alternative tourism for the
sustainable development of the destination
Benefits:
•More equal spatial and temporal distribution of
visitor flows in the destination
•Considering the interests of local population
•Considering the culture of local communities
•Stimulating the local economy
•Protection of environment
•Stimulating the mutual understanding between
societies
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7. The role of alternative tourism for the
sustainable development of the destination
Threats:
•Transforming alternative tourism into mass tourism
•Purposive limitation of tourism development –
‘small is beautiful’
•Tourism elitism
•Eco-imperialism
•Projection of sense of cultural superiority by tourists
•Interference in the way of life of local population
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8. The role of mass tourism for the sustainable
development of the destination (1)
Benefits: stem from the huge economies of scale
•Low prices leading to democratisation of travel
•Spatial concentration of visitor flows and their
diversion from sensitive areas
•Enormous savings from/for infrastructure
construction, usage and maintenance
•Large number of jobs created
•Diverse knowledge and skills of tourism employees
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9. The role of mass tourism for the sustainable
development of the destination (2)
• High tax revenues in the government and
municipal budgets
• Inclusion in tourism supply of tourist resources
that would otherwise not be profitable for
use/visitation
• Possibilities to influence tour operators via
increased bargaining power of hoteliers
• Increased possibilities for innovations
• Transforming the concept of sustainable
development into economic benefits
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10. The role of mass tourism for the sustainable
development of the destination (1)
Threats:
•Disregarding the interests of local communities
(who says what they want?)
•High human footprint on the territory – ‘leave
nothing from you, take nothing with you’ (so what?
Ain’t humans part of nature?)
•Gradual ‘conquest’ of new territories through the
expansion of resorts
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11. The role of mass tourism for the sustainable
development of the destination (2)
• Aculturation
• Cultural cocoon
• Criminal activities (only in mass tourism?)
• Pollution (is it really less in alternative forms of
tourism?)
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12. Sustainability: alternative vs. mass
tourism
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Sustainability
dimensions
Alternative tourism Mass tourism
Environmental
dimension
4-high 3-medium
Social dimension 4-high 4-high
Economic
dimension
2-low 5-very high
5-point scale:
1- very low, 2-low, 3-medium, 4-high, 5-very high

13. Sustainability of mass tourism: the
tourism policy objective
• The tourism policy objective should NOT be
eliminating mass tourism at all or substituting it
with alternative tourism, but making mass
tourism more sustainable.
• Sustainability should not be sought only via
alternative tourism but via mass tourism as well
through ‘synthesis of the mass tourism thesis
and the alternative tourism antithesis.’ (Weaver,
2013).
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14. Macro- and micro-techniques for sustainable
management of visitor flows (Ryan, 2003)
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Macro-techniques Micro-techniques
Honeypots Visitor number restrictions
Spatial dispersion of visitors Pricing and price
discrimination
Zoning Paths and signage in parks
Green policies Entry points control
Suburban green areas Stimulation of natural
processes (fires, floods,
landslides)
Educating the tourists

15. To conclude:
Sleep well and do
not feel guilty
that you are a
mass tourist.
Without you
someone would
be starving …
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16. References
• Bengisu, M., & Balta, S. (2011). Employment of the workforce with disabilities in the hospitality
industry. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 19(1), 35–57.
• Bohdanowicz, P., & Zientara, P. (2008). Corporate social responsibility in hospitality: Issues
and implications. A case study of Scandic. Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism,
8(4), 271–293.
• Ivanov, S. (2005). Measurement of the macroeconomic impacts of tourism. Unpublished Ph. D.
thesis, University of Economics – Varna, Bulgaria.
• Radwan, H.R.I, Jones, E., & Minoli, D. (2012). Managing solid waste in small hotels: a
comparison of green and non-green small hotels in Wales. Journal of Sustainable Tourism,
20(4), 533–550.
• Rossello-Batle, B., Moia, A., Cladera, A., & Martinez, V. (2010). Energy use, CO2 emissions and
waste throughout the life cycle of a sample of hotels in the Balearic Islands. Energy and
Buildings, 42(4), 547–558.
• Ryan, C. (2003). Recreational tourism. Demand and Impacts. Cleverdon: Channel View.
• Swarbrooke, J. (1999). Sustainable Tourism Management. London: CABI Publishing.
• Weaver, D. (2013). Asymmetrical dialectics of sustainable tourism: toward enlightened mass
tourism. Journal of Travel Research (in press)
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17. THANK YOU FOR THE ATTENTION!
QUESTIONS?
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