Positioning “Sustainability” in Sustainable Tourism and Sustainable Development

This paper identifies how Sustainability is positioned in the respective ideas and practices of Sustainable Tourism and Sustainable Development.The answers to this theme are derived from interpretations of the three questions.First, the question, "What is Sustainability?"reveals the reality that in order to solve the problems of Unsustainability arising from the Advanced Modern World, it is inevitable to develop ideas and practices of Sustainability that aims for the Sustainable World.Second, the question, "How is Sustainability positioned in Sustainable Development?" discusses the fact that the Sustainable Development advocated by the United Nations is based on the premise of Advanced Modernization and aims at the "Sustainability of Development" that produces Unsustainability Problems.Third, the question "How is Sustainability positioned in Sustainable Tourism?" examines, based on the first and second questions, the reality that "Genuine Sustainable Tourism," which took over the practice of Alternative Tourism, has contributed to the construction of Sustainable Communities through tourism.The Alternative Tourism emerged in response to the situation where Mass Tourism, a product of Advanced Modernization, created problems of Unsustainability.This paper focuses on the examples of Sustainability of local communities through the means of tourism, as suggested by Genuine Sustainable Tourism, which inherited the idea and practice of this Alternative Tourism, and argues for the importance of exploring the "means of Sustainability" for the creation of the Sustainable World.tainability has been actively discussed around the world since the advocacy of Sustainable Development [SD] (Browry 2018: 157).However, the ambiguity and polysemy of the concept of "Sustainable Development [SD]" has been criticized since 1987 when it was proposed, and the debate over "Sustainability" is still confused accordingly (Latouche 2009: 9-13).The discussion of the second question organizes this confusion and reiterates the meaning and contradictions of the literal orientation toward "Sustainability of Development" in Sustainable Development [SD].Third, the question of "how Sustainability is positioned in Sustainable Tourism" is examined.The process of building the concept of "Sustainable Tourism [ST]" is more complex than that of the SD concept (Yasumura 2022b; 2023), as will be discussed in detail in Chapter 4. For this reason, the discussion of "Sustainable Tourism [ST]"and "Sustainability" is complicated even among those involved in tourism.At present (2023), the implementation of ST is led by the United Nations World Tourism Organization [UNWTO], which promotes ST as part of the Sustainable Development Goals [SDGs].In contrast, this paper will highlight the fact that before SD was proposed, the practice of "Alternative Tourism [AT]" was sought and practiced for "Sustainability," although it was not called ST at the time.Then, the probability that ST, as considered in this paper, can be a clue to overcoming unsustainable realities will be discussed.In search of answers to the above three questions, this paper compares the position of "Sustainability"in "Sustainable Development [SD]"and "Sustainable Tourism [ST],"and based on the results, examines the meaning and significance of tourism that brings Sustainability, or "Genuine Sustainable Tourism." What is Sustainability?This chapter considers the question, "What is Sustainability?"focusing on the reality that gave birth to the idea of Sustainability and the historical background of that reality.The idea of Sustainability was created in response to a "unsustainable reality."However, the unsustainable reality emerged in the 1960s, about 30 years before the term "Sustainable" or "Sustainability" gained attention in the early 1990s.From the early 1970s, this reality began to be recognized worldwide as global problems that threatened the survival of the human/ natural world (UNEP 1972).This paper refers to these serious global problems as "Unsustainability Problems."These "Unsustainability Problems"are the reality of "destruction of nature and ecosystems," which could endanger life on earth, 1) and the reality of the enormous "economic disparity" that continues to widen between developed and underdeveloped countries.These two realities were called the "environmental problems" and the "North-South problem," respectively, in the 1970s, as described below (2.1.3).These Unsustainability Problems continue to emerge from the trend of the era of "Advanced Modernization"and the "Advanced Modern World"formed from the trend.In the next section (2.1), we will clarify the structure of Advanced Modernization and the Advanced Modern World that produces the Unsustainability Problems.