The growth and spread of the concept of sustainable tourism: The contribution of institutional initiatives to tourism policy

In the last two decades sustainability has emerged as a force in the tourism industry, offering new directions and values for public policy, and inducing the creation of the concept of sustainable tourism. There have been a number of institutional initiatives in this respect, and they have shaped a framework for both theoretic and applied development, and have helped extend the paradigm of sustainability as a general feature of contemporary tourism.The content of this article sheds light on the process of creation and use of the concept of sustainable tourism through the analysis and evaluation of institutional initiatives in tourism policy in the last 20 years. The systematic analysis of 55 institutional documents covering international, European and Spanish initiatives has enabled us to demonstrate the importance of these in the adoption of sustainability by the tourist industry, and their contribution to the growth and spread of the concept of sustainable tourism.

► Institutional documents contributed to creation and use of sustainable tourism.
► The rhetorical use of sustainable tourism leads to multiple ways of application.
► There is a clear tendency to relate sustainable tourism to environmental matters.