National Features of ESG-principles Application in the Concept of Sustainable Tourism Development

The term «sustainable tourism development» was introduced into international circulation by the recommendations of the World Tourism Organization in the late 1980s as a systemic and holistic understanding of the multi-sectoral development of a territory carrying out tourism activities. Over the past decades, these ideas have been significantly supplemented and developed. With the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015 by the UN General Assembly, which are a system of 17 goals «to achieve a better future for all», a holistic concept of sustainable tourism development began to form, which in recent years has integrated ESG principles (environmental, social and corporate governance). The article contains the author’s systematization of the theoretical foundations of the emerging ESG model in tourism based on the implementation of ESG principles, as well as the results of a study of its evolutionary adaptation in individual countries of the Asia-Pacific and South African regions faced with environmental problems of unmanaged tourism development. The conducted analysis, firstly, indicates the growing importance of the ESG model application in the development of sustainable tourism as an important mechanism promoting the harmonious development of tourist destinations without harming the environment and local community; secondly, it allowed to identify the national and regional specifics of the application of the sustainable tourism concept; thirdly, it showed the priority of the environmental goals of the ESG model application in the modern conditions of development of tourist destinations in developing countries due to the emerging negative consequences of the destruction of natural systems as a result of the uncontrolled flow of tourists to most unique resort destinations. As a result of the conducted analysis, problem areas of sustainable tourism development in the regions of the North Caucasus associated with the use of the ESG model as a tool for regulating the concept of sustainable tourism development were identified, which opens up ways for the application of this concept taking into account regional specifics. The article emphasizes the importance of maintaining the diversity of ways to achieve sustainable tourism development and proposes to focus not only on environmental, but also on economic and social factors when implementing ESG models.