23. Socially sustainable tourism: Beyond measuring economic outcomes
A sustainable tourism approach seeks to balance economic growth, environmental protection and social equity when developing an area’s tourism industry. In doing so, it aims to minimise tourism’s negative impacts on the environment and local communities, while maximising the benefits for stakeholders. Sustainable tourism practices include promoting responsible travel; conserving natural and cultural heritage; supporting local economies; and ensuring inclusive, equitable tourism development.
Importance of socially sustainable tourism in Nordic policies
The Socially Sustainable Tourism project conducted a number of policy analyses and case studies exploring the Nordic countries’ tourism policies. These reveal that while tourism’s social aspects are seen as highly relevant, they are for the most part not well conceptualised. For instance, indicators on localised benefits and how local population are affected are lacking, and it is often unclear what the socially sustainable tourism concept entails in practice.
In short, although people consider tourism’s social aspects to be important, they also find it difficult to measure and assess them. This points to the need for relevant, properly though-out tools that can address this gap. Only then can the wellbeing of local communities be adequately considered and addressed.
The Socially Sustainable Rural Tourism project
The Socially Sustainable Rural Tourism research project, which started in 2022 and was finalised in 2025, explored sustainable tourism development in the Nordic context from a sociocultural perspective. Given that tourism in the Nordics is primarily viewed as a regional development tool, the project’s focus is mainly on regional and local tourism.
Building on this, the project examines how the Nordic countries view the social and cultural impacts of tourism development, particularly when it comes to the indicators used to evaluate the social dimensions of sustainability.
Methods used
The project employed a multi-method approach, with the initial phase consisting of a literature review of academic publications, grey literature and national policy documents from the eight Nordic countries.
This was followed by a series of case studies conducted in each of the eight countries/territories, selected to ensure diversity and relevance. These involved interviews with a variety of tourism-related actors, including public officials, tourism planners, tourism workers and business owners. Additionally, policy and document analyses were conducted for the eight case study regions.
Key findings
A key finding of the project is that while there is a strong focus on sustainable tourism in the Nordic countries, the emphasis has mainly been on economic and environmental sustainability. By contrast, social sustainability has not been accorded the same attention, despite its recognised importance. This is partly due to the fact that tourism’s economic and environmental aspects are more easily measured by traditional indicators.
As touched on above, the results show that although there is some awareness of tourism’s social aspects, the concepts applied are unclear and taking meaningful measurements is often seen as difficult. In light of this, authorities and the main stakeholders involved should take proactive and meaningful steps to consider the wellbeing of locals living in tourist destinations.
In a nutshell, it is not enough to measure the effects of tourism in purely economic and environmental terms. Rather, we must give equal regard to the social dimension if we are to achieve sustainable tourism development across the Nordics.
