Sustainable Tourism in Juneau Based on a Multi-objective Model

Juneau, Alaska, USA has become a popular tourist destination in recent years. While tourism spurs economic growth, it also brings significant pressure on the environment and local infrastructure. To help address the sustainability issues related to tourism, a multi-objective dynamic programming model is constructed that optimizes economic, environmental, and social outcomes for tourism management. Specifically, this paper builds three models corresponding to the three objectives: the economic model, the environment model, and the social impact model. The tourist volume is estimated through the tourist demand model. This paper stimulates the results over a 5-year period by the model and recommends a dynamic tax rate in a range of 3.2% to 5.0%, with a schema of government expenditures with large portions of environmental protection and infrastructure construction. This study can inform evidence-based strategies to balance tourist growth and sustainable goals. The findings can serve as a model for other communities facing challenges from tourism.