Socio-economic and environmental cost–benefit analysis for tourism products — A prototype tool to make holidays more sustainable

• A credible cost-benefit or ranking tool for tourism products has been lacking
• Such a tool has many potential values, and is widespread in other sectors
• A tool demonstrating potential applicability to tourism products is proposed
• Many current holiday products may have net negative impacts
• Positive difference is achievable

A credible socio-economic and environmental cost–benefit tool for tourism products has been lacking, despite many significant potential values, the huge impact of tourism products worldwide, and the increasingly successful application of such tools in other sectors. This paper describes development and trial of a prototype tool for holiday products that could determine the circumstances in which overall benefits of tourism outweigh burdens. Use of the prototype tool indicates that many current flight-based holiday products may have a net negative impact, but significant positive difference could be achieved through choosing shorter-haul or flight-free holidays, hotels with less leakage from the local economy and less non-recycled waste, and fewer but longer holidays with increasing daily discretionary spend. Further development could produce a robust cost–benefit tool for tourism products that could help the industry with ‘choice editing’ and identifying sustainability issues requiring closer attention.