This concluding chapter summarizes the book's key themes and findings with respect to (1) the factors influencing the competitiveness of destinations, (2) the environmental dimension of tourism, and (3) destination sustainability.

This chapter reviews the broader challenges of defining sustainability issues for a particular destination, in this case that of an emerging tourism country in Europe, Bulgaria. The search for an increasing level of revenues and development in an emerging destination is confronted in this chapter,...

This chapter elaborates on the networking nature of sustainable cultural tourism activities and dynamics in the Historic Centre of Oporto, Portugal. The chapter aims to (1) understand and discuss the importance of networking at the cultural tourism level; (2) identify if there is an official...

This chapter studies the profile of sustainable tourists and the expenditure patterns at destinations, using data from a survey of 1180 tourists who visited Andalusia, Spain, during 2013. The study begins by identifying the profile of a 'sustainable tourist'. Then, by means of a regression model,...

This chapter explores the expenditure and stay behaviour of tourists, and the capacity of these two variables in improving the sustainability of a nature-based destination such as Costa Rica. Two equations explaining the expenditure and stay patterns of international tourists arriving in Costa Rica ...

This chapter studies the role of tourism policy in providing adequate responses to the challenge of seasonality at a crowded coastal destination in Spain, the Balearic Islands. The study starts by developing a qualitative review of the evolution of successive marketing plans in the Balearics in the ...

This chapter analyses the seasonal concentration of tourism in the region of Andalusia, southern Spain, over the period 1999-2013. Employing microdata based on tourist surveys, segments of visitors showing a clear counter-seasonal behaviour are identified. In particular, the chapter focuses on...

This chapter investigates the role of environmental education for a sustainable tourism horizon, with an application to Turkey. The chapter explores how educational institutions help to conform to an environmental attachment in students, as a way of introducing and enlarging the presence of...

This chapter explores the capacity of environmental resources to become a competitive advantage for the hotel industry, making an application to Slovenia. The chapter investigates whether hotel managers perceive environmental management techniques as a competitive factor of this business, and the...

This chapter explores the degree of understanding of the green economy concept and the green practices undertaken by the tourism industry in Limpopo Province, South Africa. The findings show that there is generally a lack of understanding of the green economy concept among the 41 tourism businesses ...