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Tourism and solid waste generation in Europe: A panel data assessment of the Environmental Kuznets Curve
Abstract
The relationship between tourism growth and municipal solid waste (MSW) generation has been, until now, the subject of little research. This is puzzling since the tourism sector is an important MSW generator and, at the same time, is willing to avoid negative impacts from MSW mismanagement. This paper aims to provide tools for tourism and MSW management by assessing the effects of tourism volume, tourism quality and tourism specialization on MSW generation in the UE. This is done using the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) framework. The study considers a panel data for 32 European economies in the 1997-2010 periods. Empirical results support the EKC hypothesis for MSW and shows that northern countries tend to have lower income elasticity than less developed countries; furthermore, results confirm a non-linear and significant effect of tourism arrivals, expenditure per tourist and tourism specialization on MSW generation.
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... Tourism is one of the fastest-growing industries in the world [17]. In 2019, 745 million tourist arrivals were recorded in Europe, accounting for 50% of the international market [52]. ...
... These aspects highlight the need for municipalities to complement traditional urban waste management plan with tailored strategies that account for seasonality, type of tourism, and tourists' behaviour. Such strategies require strengthening waste infrastructure capacities, often involving higher operational costs [17], and recognizing tourists as critical stakeholders in the implementation of local waste management roadmaps [36]. ...
... Acknowledging that the challenges posed by plastic waste in urban environments with high tourism intensity are multi-dimensional, requiring a comprehensive approach that encompasses technological innovation, legislative actions, behavioural changes, and cooperation among multiple stakeholders [17], this study discusses the perspective of municipalities in managing and minimizing waste in EU capital cities, by considering plastics and bioplastics as material streams to be attended. ...
The surge in demand for plastic materials, coupled with the rising trend of out-of-home food consumption, has posed significant challenges to urban waste management systems. These challenges are intensified in touristic cities where touch-and-go tourism leads visitors to spend most of the day outside, resulting in a high generation of waste in urban areas. While existing research focuses predominantly on the hospitality sector, the role of public administrations remains underexplored. This study addresses this gap by surveying city managers from ten European capitals, providing a comprehensive overview of plastic waste management and prevention patterns. Results reveal that legislative measures and plastic bans are effective, but local initiatives and social programs require further support. Waste generated in public areas is less scrutinized than residential waste, and differences in municipal waste collection schemes hinder proper sorting. Findings underscore the need for collaborative efforts in both waste prevention and management to strengthen partnerships with hotels, restaurants and shopkeepers, as well as the proper design of waste logistics and infrastructure and dedicated communication campaigns in tourist hotspots.
... Penanganan sampah yang tidak tepat akan berkontribusi terhadap 1,6 miliar ton CO2 emisi gas rumah kaca (World Bank, 2018), peningkatan pencemaran air, tanah dan udara serta tingginya biaya eksternalitas pengelolaan sampah (Mazzanti, Montini and Zoboli, 2009). Selain itu, berdampak serius terhadap gangguan kesehatan masyarakat (Arbulú, Lozano and Rey-Maquieira, 2015). Dalam hal ini, permasalahan timbulan sampah menjadi semakin penting untuk dipelajari dan pengembangan kebijakan serta mekanisme lain untuk dapat menangani masalah ini (Henry, Yongsheng and Jun, 2006;Gui, Zhao and Zhang, 2019). ...
... Hubungan pertumbuhan ekonomi dan degradasi lingkungan dapat dijelaskan oleh Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC), pada awalnya pertumbuhan ekonomi meningkat seiring dengan kerusakan lingkungan, tetapi kemudian pertumbuhan ekonomi mampu menurunkan kerusakan lingkungan (Chen, 2010). Sebagian besar studi telah meneliti EKC dalam aplikasi CO2, SO2, NO2, polutan air dan deforestasi namun studi EKC dalam aplikasi timbulan sampah serta faktor-faktor yang berpengaruh pada timbulan sampah masih sangat minim (Mazzanti, Montini and Zoboli, 2009;Arbulú, Lozano and Rey-Maquieira, 2015;Ercolano et al., 2018). Selain itu, studi terkait EKC dan timbulan sampah menunjukkan hasil yang beragam, studi Mazzanti, Montini and Zoboli (2009) menghasilkan temuan bahwa timbulan sampah mengalami penurunan seiring peningkatan pendapatan per kapita dan mendukung hipotesis EKC seperti studi lainnya (Song, Zheng and Tong, 2008;Arbulú, Lozano and Rey-Maquieira, 2015;Ercolano et al., 2018). ...
... Sebagian besar studi telah meneliti EKC dalam aplikasi CO2, SO2, NO2, polutan air dan deforestasi namun studi EKC dalam aplikasi timbulan sampah serta faktor-faktor yang berpengaruh pada timbulan sampah masih sangat minim (Mazzanti, Montini and Zoboli, 2009;Arbulú, Lozano and Rey-Maquieira, 2015;Ercolano et al., 2018). Selain itu, studi terkait EKC dan timbulan sampah menunjukkan hasil yang beragam, studi Mazzanti, Montini and Zoboli (2009) menghasilkan temuan bahwa timbulan sampah mengalami penurunan seiring peningkatan pendapatan per kapita dan mendukung hipotesis EKC seperti studi lainnya (Song, Zheng and Tong, 2008;Arbulú, Lozano and Rey-Maquieira, 2015;Ercolano et al., 2018). Namun, beberapa studi lain menemukan hasil yang tidak mendukung hipotesis EKC (Chen, 2010;Jaligot and Chenal, 2018;Gui, Zhao and Zhang, 2019). ...
Provinces on the island of Java contribute greatly to national economic growth. However, this is not enough to be an indicator of development. Economic growth not only generates positive externalities but also generates waste. Other socio-economic characteristics also play a role in variations in the amount of waste generation, so it is important to study it for sustainable development planning. This study aims to analyze the effect of economic growth proxied by per-capita GRDP on waste generation on the island of Java in 2010-2019 and test its suitability with the Environmental Kuznet Curve (EKC) hypothesis. This study also analyzes the influence of other variables such as population density, education level and the government's role in spending on environmental management in Java. The analysis technique used is panel data regression using data from 6 provinces in Java during the 2010-2019 period. By using two model specifications, the results of the study show that the effect of economic growth on waste generation has not fully formed the EKC curve, but rather has a positive slope. The population density variable shows a positive and significant effect on waste generation. While the level of education and environmental spending have a negative effect on waste generation, it is not significant for BLH. The results of this study can support policy implications in encouraging new strategies to reduce waste generation and integrate environmental management.
... Based on Kuznets (1955), this theory was put forth by scholars Grossman and Krueger (1991). According to this idea, economic expansion affects environmental degradation as measured by CO 2 emissions to a point when it becomes sustainable and has a negative influence (Arbulú et al. 2015;Ozturk et al. 2016;Mikayilov et al. 2019;Anser et al. 2020;Fethi and Senyucel 2021;Porto and Ciaschi 2021;Gao et al. 2021). The second perspective includes research that examines the relationship between tourism growth and environmental degradation (De Vita et al. 2015;Zaman et al. 2016;Pablo-Romero et al. 2019;Alizadeh 2020;Anser et al. 2020). ...
... This study provided evidence supporting the Kuznets curve. Numerous empirical studies that explored and validated the EKC hypothesis in global tourism have been conducted in recent years (Ozturk et al. 2016;Fethi and Senyucel 2021) by groups of countries (Anser et al. 2020;Adedoyin et al. 2021), in Latin America (Pablo-Romero et al. 2019;Ochoa-Moreno et al. 2022) and Europe (Arbulú et al. 2015;Saqib and Benhmad 2021a, b). In this same line, Ekonomou and Halkos (2023) processes regression tests of contemporary panels that consider possible structural ruptures and phenomena of cross-dependence in panel data. ...
... In other words, as tourism increases, it has a positive and significant effect on the deterioration of the ecological footprint in both regions. These results are similar to those found by authors such as Porto and Ciaschi (2021) and Arbulú et al. (2015), who by using generalized least squares verified that tourism activity causes an increase in environmental degradation, measured through carbon emissions for 18 Latin American and 32 European countries. This suggests that the non-linear impact of tourism on the environmental degradation of countries is not sustainable as tourism increases, so efforts to mitigate environmental degradation from tourism must be implemented (Simo-Kengne 2022). ...
In addition to the socio-economic advantages, tourism has been proven to be one of the most important sectors with adverse environmental effects. Therefore, this study examines the relationship between tourism and environmental sustainability by using a panel data from 32 countries in Latin America and the European Union for the period 2000–2019. Several techniques of cointegration and convergence of clusters are used to meet this objective. The empirical results show that on average, tourism growth has a negative impact on the environment in the two groups of countries, which could be attributed to the heterogeneity of the level of regional tourism development. On the other hand, the convergence of tourism growth and environmental sustainability is evident at different adjustment speeds in the different sample panels. It generates empirical evidence on whether the current expansion of the tourism sector in Latin American and European countries entails significant environmental externalities by using the ecological footprint variable as an indicator of environmental sustainability and foreign tourist arrivals as an economic indicator.
... Moreover, industrialization has many interconnections with urbanization, both of which are contributing negatively to sustainable waste management (SWM). Industrialization has not only affected the industrial sector [22][23][24][25] but also the agricultural [26][27][28][29][30] and the commercial sectors [31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38]. ...
... Waste creation can be attributed to the novel economic structure, especially the industrial sector (e.g., manufacturing, construction, and mining) [22][23][24][25], agricultural sector (e.g., crop residues, packaging waste, agrochemicals, and pesticides) [26][27][28][29][30], and commercial sectors (e.g., hospitality, healthcare, office buildings, and fashion) [31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38]. Significant is the adoption of bio-based products under the notion of circular bio-economy [75] in order to disrupt this waste down-spiraling. ...
... Furthermore, the commercial sector and its sub-sectors have a multifaceted effect on MSWM as there are plenty of activities that generate massive waste volumes. Hospitality and tourism, [31][32][33], hospitals and health centers [34,35], and fashion industry [36][37][38] have been at the center of modern consumerism, but at the same time at the spotlight of the SWM. Overall, the target is to demonstrate the opportunities from waste crisis abatement. ...
As waste proliferation becomes an apparent problem in the European Union (EU), there are two ways to cope with waste generation: circular economy (CE) and sustainable development principles and strategies. The present study demonstrates a socioeconomic approach of sustainable waste management (SWM) with understanding over the negative externalities of municipal solid waste management (MSWM) and household hazardous waste (HHW) management. Discussion over the adoption either of weak or strong sustainability covers the gap over what policy is better for copying with waste. Hence, SWM should be a core strategy for policymakers who deal with the waste crisis. Waste generation also creates a plethora of negative externalities to the environment; however, a peculiar and virtuous aspect of waste is the capability of generating energy from it. Waste-to-Energy (WtE) has been neglected due to the occurrence of other crises like the exponential population growth, urbanization, industrialization, economic turbulences, COVID-19, and war: shortly—the multi-crisis. The present study contributes to the existing literature by delving into the impacts of waste on peoples’ lives and the transition from the linear into a circular pathway.
... The use of waste as a proxy of environmental degradation allows scholars to investigate the existence of a waste Kuznets curve (WKC), which predicts an inverted U-shaped dependence of waste production on economic development [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. The concept that waste production decreases while economic growth increases is usually referred to as the "decoupling effect" [1,6,21]. ...
... The use of waste as a proxy of environmental degradation allows scholars to inves gate the existence of a waste Kuznets curve (WKC), which predicts an inverted U-shap dependence of waste production on economic development [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. The concept th waste production decreases while economic growth increases is usually referred to as t "decoupling effect" [1,6,21]. ...
... In fact, the contribution of the agricultural sector is mainly described (i.e., 59 authors) by CO 2 emissions due to the production process. Scholars have mainly focused their attention on municipal waste [17,19], e-waste [15], and waste generated by the tourism [13] or construction sectors [14]. ...
The environmental Kuznets curve has received widespread attention from scholars for its ability to vividly capture the dynamics between economic growth and waste generation. The so-called waste Kuznets curve (KWC) has been used in different fields (e.g., municipal waste, e-waste, construction waste, tourism waste, etc.); nonetheless, WKC studies into agricultural waste remain relatively scarce. Due to the impact of agriculture on socio-economic development and environmental protection, this study applied KWC to the Italian agricultural sector. The aim was to investigate whether a “decoupling effect” exists between agricultural production and waste generation and assess the effects of certain socio-economic variables. The analysis was based on a panel dataset, including geographical observations at a regional level and a time series of 14 years (2002–2015). Empirical results show that the delinking point has not yet been reached, but can be reached if specific policy instruments are applied. Our evidence suggests that public expenditure for environmental protection or the promotion of organic farming could help to achieve this goal. Future studies are recommended to further validate the waste Kuznets curve for agriculture using a wider set of economies and longer panel data.
... Hal ini sejalan dengan penelitian yang dilakukan oleh Arbulú et al., (2015) menghasilkan terdapat pengaruh positif antara kepadatan penduduk terhadap produksi sampah. Hal ini dapat disebabkan oleh semakin berkembangnya berbagai aktivitas ekonomi dengan penduduk yang semakin meningkat kesejahteraanya, maka hal tersebut dapat berpotensi menjadi masalah terhadap lingkungan berupa sampah. ...
... Sejalan dengan penelitian Andriyanto et al., (2022) pendidikan memainkan peran penting terhadap perilaku masyarakat pengelolaan sampah. Penelitian lain yang dilakukan oleh Arbulú et al., (2015) menghasilkan bahwa tingkat pendidikan berpengaruh negatif terhadap produksi sampah. Berarti bahwa ketika masyarakat memiliki tingkat pendidikan yang baik semakin tinggi tingkat kesadaran terhadap pentingnya menjaga lingkungan sehingga produksi sampah dapat ditekan. ...
This study examines the environmental effects of urban development by analyzing the influence of population, regional economy, and human development on waste generation in Sumatra, Indonesia. Using panel data from 10 provincial capitals and applying the generalized least squares (GLS) method, the study finds that population density and Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) based on expenditure—a proxy for consumption levels—are positively associated with increased waste production. In contrast, the Human Development Index (HDI) exhibits a negative relationship with waste generation. The study contributes to the literature by employing a panel-data approach to explore the interplay between human development and waste production in urban Sumatra, offering insights for sustainable urban planning.
... The empirical literature on the impact of municipal solid waste generation, especially at the cross-country level, highlights the influence of socioeconomic conditions, as measured by indicators such as real gross domestic product per capita (Yılmaz, 2020;Namlis & Komilis, 2019;Gnonlonfin et al., 2017;Arbulu, Lozano, & Rey-Maquieira, 2015), as a determinant of municipal solid waste generation per capita. Moreover, it is widely recognized that the amount of municipal solid waste generated is closely correlated with the improvement of the population's living standard (Hondroyiannis et al., 2024;Tomić & Schneider, 2018). ...
... These studies include Mazzanti and Zoboli (2009), who conducted a longitudinal study based on panel data for the EU-25 countries over the period 1995 to 2005. Similarly, Arbulu et al. (2015) applied a comparable methodology using panel data for the EU-32. The countries included in the study were observed between 1997 and 2010. ...
... (2) Investigating the influence of tourist volume on other variables, such as economic growth or environmental sustainability (Arbulú, Lozano, & Rey-Maquieira, 2015;Ridderstaat, Singh, & DeMicco, 2019;Selvanathan, Jayasinghe, & Selvanathan, 2022). Most studies employ econometric models with yearly data to analyze the interdependencies A c c e p t e d v e r s i o n between tourism and other sectors. ...
... Despite these diverse research themes and methodologies, many extant studies rely on discrete, low-frequency data (e.g., annual or monthly data), which may not capture the full dynamics of tourist volume (Arbulú et al., 2015;Balli et al., 2016;Silva et al., 2019). This limitation points to the need for advanced methods such as FDA that can model tourist volume as continuous functions, providing deeper insights into its complex patterns. ...
Understanding the spatiotemporal dynamics of tourist volume is crucial for effective tourism management and planning. However, existing tourism data analysis methods often fail to capture the complex, continuous fluctuations and temporal variations in tourist behavior. To address this challenge, we apply functional data analysis (FDA) in the tourism industry to provide a more nuanced understanding of tourist volume dynamics. Specifically, we perform FDA on real-time tourist volume data from 56 major attractions in Beijing, China, revealing intrinsic fluctuation patterns, key factors driving tourist arrivals, and the dynamic characteristics of attractions across temporal scales. Our findings enhance the ability to optimize attraction management, marketing strategies, and policy-making, while also advancing tourism data science by integrating FDA. This approach fills the methodological gap and offers a comprehensive framework for exploring the spatiotemporal complexities of tourism data.
... Although tourism brings a number of socio-economic benefits to tourist areas [8], there are a number of environmental impacts that are closely related to tourist activities, especially in countries that depend strongly on it. One of the key issues is represented by the overgeneration of waste during peak seasons. ...
... Consequently, increasing rates of solid waste generation urge the necessity to effectively manage solid waste streams at a local level [9]. The increasing volume of waste is exacerbated by the massive use of fast-moving consumer goods, which is on the rise in the tourism industry [11] and the increasing number of tourist arrivals; multiplying the size of the problem [8]. It follows that this increasing volume of municipal waste generated by tourism can overburden local waste management systems [12]. ...
Each year citizens of the European Union (EU) generate 2.5 billion tonnes of waste; equating to five tonnes of waste per person per year. To ensure optimal material recovery, and to support the move towards a circular economy, proper separate collection of waste is necessary. The current trend of increasing collection rates, encouraged by EU legislation, is promising; however, progress is uneven both across and within EU member states. While European and national targets provide the overarching driver for better waste collection, regional and local implementation is crucial for achieving continued progress. Therefore, it is vital to consider the disparity among the different EU countries when introducing new materials, such as bioplastics (bio-based and/or biodegradable plastics), into current national waste management streams, and any new introductions should be carefully evaluated before further actions are recommended by local authorities. As a member state that is heavily reliant on tourism, proper solid waste management is of vital importance in Greece, especially during the peak summer season. Considering the rapid expansion of bioplastics in the European market, it is important to assess the readiness of municipalities in Greece to manage this new category of solid waste. Data collected from 51 Greek municipalities via questionnaire (distributed to public authorities or waste management companies) showed that the current situation and capacities for adapting waste management streams to process bio-based and/or biodegradable plastics is still limited in Greece. Therefore, the readiness of Greece to process an increasing proportion of bioplastics within the waste stream (using the current waste management systems) is very low, as a result, such innovative materials are currently seen more as a problem than a ready-to-implement solution.
... Meanwhile, Dogan et al. confirmed that energy use and tourism development contribute to increased carbon dioxide emissions, while increased trade volume can improve environmental quality [33]. Moreover, Arbulú et al. used panel data from EU countries and found a significant relationship between the TI and environmental degradation [34]. These studies suggest that as RE increases, tourism development tends to have a more significant negative impact on developed economies, highlighting the need for further research and analysis on Macao. ...
A harmonious integration of urban tourism, economy, society, and environmental development is crucial for the sustainable development of urban tourism. This study takes the Macao Special Administrative Region as a case, constructing an evaluation index system and a coordination development model for the tourism industry (TI), regional economy (RE), and ecological environment (EE). The study analyzes the coordinated development of these three systems from 2014 to 2023 and uses the GM(1,1) model to forecast the coordination development trend from 2024 to 2026. The results show that during the observation period, the comprehensive evaluation indices of the TI and EE subsystems exhibited significant growth, particularly in the EE system, which had a marked positive impact on the coupling coordination degree. The RE system, however, experienced a short-term decline due to the impact of the pandemic. Despite that, there is still considerable room for improvement in the coupling and coordination capability between Macao’s TI, RE, and EE. In recent years, the relationship between the three has shifted from an initial stage of gradual imbalance to a primary coordination stage. The forecast indicates that in the next three years, the degree of coupling coordination among Macao’s TI, RE, and EE will increase massively, with the systems becoming more synergistic. By 2026, the coordination is expected to progress from the primary to the intermediate stage. This study reveals the dynamic synergistic relationship among the TI, RE, and EE in Macao through the coupled coordination model, verifies the applicability of the coupled coordination theory in the study of sustainable development of regional tourism, and expands its research connotation in the context of coping with emergencies. At the same time, this paper puts forward three suggestions to promote the multifaceted development of the tourism industry, to promote the optimization of the structure of the regional economy and its multifaceted development, and to build an ecologically civilized city. At the same time, the paper puts forward three suggestions, expecting to provide more in-depth theoretical support and practical guidance for the sustainable development of Macau and other tourist cities.
... For tourismdriven economies and sectors across European regions, this focus presents a substantial challenge, as tourism is a significant contributor to waste generation-primarily plastic, paper, and organic (food) waste-representing 6.8% of total waste in Europe (EEA 2019). According to Arbulú et al. (2015), the tourism sector produces higher levels of municipal solid waste compared to other economic sectors. Multiple studies demonstrate that municipal solid waste generation increases markedly during peak tourist seasons, including findings from Menorca (Mateu-Sbert et al. 2013), Havana, Cuba (Espinosa Lloréns et al. 2008), a tourist region in Malaysia (Teh and Cabanban 2007), 10 pilot EU tourist regions (Obersteiner and Gruber 2017), and EU tourist cities (Ramusch et al. 2016). ...
The hotel industry is characterized by a linear consumption–production model that significantly impacts the environment through high energy and water usage, biodiversity loss, waste generation, road congestion, CO 2 emissions, and pollution. Existing circular economy literature predominantly addresses the manufacturing sector, with a notable lack of focus on its application within tourism. This study investigates circular practices, based on the 3R principle, in the hotel sector concerning water, energy, waste management, human resources, and corporate social responsibility across two distinct destinations: a sun‐and‐beach destination and an urban destination. It formulates five hypotheses to examine the extent to which hotel characteristics—specifically age, size, category, chain affiliation, and type—significantly influence the adoption of circular economy measures. The research reveals that hotel size, category, age, and type play significant roles in the adoption of circular practices. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of how the hotel industry can transition toward a more circular model, highlighting the necessity for tailored strategies based on specific characteristics of each hotel and destination.
... Knowledge of clean technology and green consumption is key in this transition (Lavany, 2022). Based on research by Arbulú et al. (2015), found that education has a significant effect on reducing waste generation. The level of education underlies public awareness to protect the environment in Chen 26 Humanita. ...
Environmental degradation is an important issue that currently challenges the continuity of sustainable economic development in a big city like Yogyakarta. This study analyzes what factors affect environmental quality. By using annual panel data from 2017-2023 in Yogyakarta City and proposing Panel Data Regression Analysis as the analysis method. The results show that GDP and Education have a positive effect on Environmental Quality, Population has no significant effect on Environmental Quality, and Tourists have a negative effect on Environmental Quality. An increase in per capita income and getting a proper education will improve the quality of the environment. However, the increase in population has no effect because public awareness still needs to be improved in environmental conservation efforts. Tourists increase consumption, so environmental pollution is getting higher. The implications of this research are useful for the government to develop policies that focus on raising awareness and stricter environmental regulations in Yogyakarta.
... On the other hand, studies such as that of Arbulú et al. (2015) indicate that while higher tourism spending increases MSW generation, per tourist spending reduces it. Their analysis, covering EU nations from 1997 to 2010, supports the EKC hypothesis that MSW generation declines as per capita income rises. ...
... The impacts of tourism, particularly in mass destinations and characterized by seasonality, induce the existence of diseconomies, primarily environmental and socio-anthropic [42][43][44]. In fact, at the destination or locality level, the increased pressure exerted by the concentration of internal tourist flows at certain times of the year leads to increased load on environmental resources, waste production and the consequent increase in demand for services related to waste recovery/disposal in specific treatment facilities [45][46][47]. In some areas of the coastal South, tourism growth has triggered a radical process of landscape transformation. ...
Coastal and marine environments generate a multiplicity of Ecosystem Services (ESs) critical to humanity. The study provides a partial estimate of the tourism pression on ESs in coastal municipalities in the South of Italy. It develops a series of tests to understand the existence of correlations between the tourist penetration rates (TPR) of each municipality and the tourist extra pressure recorded in municipal solid waste (MSW) production and drinking water consumption in the reference year. The relative results return positive and significant relationships in both cases, but the correlation is higher in the association between TPR and MSW. Further tests substitute tourist density rate (TDR) for TPR, but the variables result non-correlation. Coastal municipalities experience greater increases in tourist pressure on the anthropic and ecological component because of large tourist inflows. Moreover, tourist extra pressure is more than proportional in demographically smaller municipalities.
... One study found that the water footprint of each tourist is about two to three times that of a local resident [15]. The impact of municipal solid waste management is one of the least investigated areas [16]. While waste represents one of the most visible impacts affecting tourism and the environment [17], previous findings show a wide fluctuation in the generation rate [18]. ...
The development of geotourism and the establishment of geoparks can generate new job opportunities, new economic activities, and additional sources of income, with great significance in achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Tourists often consume more energy and water and generate more waste in order to seek a more comfortable state during their travels. This research took Zhangye Danxia National Geopark in the north slope of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau in China as an example and combined field research with questionnaires to construct a non-radial model (SBM) based on energy-water-waste-economic nexus. From the perspective of consumption, this research focuses on the consumer characteristics of geotourism sustainability based on the energy–water–waste–economic nexus (GTS-EWWE) and the driving factors behind them under different degrees of consumption. The elderly, children, and high-income tourists can contribute more to the sustainability of geotourism. Stay duration in the geopark and energy consumption are the native driving factors behind the sustainability of geotourism. However, with the improvement of the tourism consumption level, the marginal effect of the negative influence of both factors is diminishing gradually. While tourism expenditure is a positive driving factor, the tourist’s travel mode and the consumer’s awareness of ecological–environmental actions will contribute more to the sustainability of geotourism. New energy technologies to promote the green development of geoparks is significant. This research aims to provide a reference for the sustainability assessment of geoheritage sights and to provide evidence for the appropriate management policy with respect to their sustainable development.
... In contrast, Chen and Pao (2022) opted for the vector error correction model to analyse non-stationary time series data. Other parametric approaches included analytical hierarchy processes (Colasante et al., 2022;D'Inverno et al., 2024), environmental Kuznets curve analysis (Arbulú et al., 2015;Ari and Ş entürk, 2020), linear regression and its variations (Banacu et al., 2019;Hondroyiannis et al., 2024b;Smejkalováa et al., 2020), clustering techniques (López-Portillo et al., 2021) and compliance index models (Egüez, 2021). However, many of these methods are subject to statistical limitations, primarily related to assumptions regarding the functional form of the production (or cost) functions and the distribution of residuals. ...
The need to balance ecosystems and ensure the well-being of all people underlines the urgency of closing product life cycles. In recent years, the circular economy (CE) has emerged as one of the most relevant factors in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. This paper presents a systematic literature review (SLR) of waste management efficiency at the European level. Furthermore, it presents a standard data envelopment analysis (DEA) of 27 European countries over the period 2017–2021, focused on municipal waste. Three models (i.e., economic, technical, sustainable) are proposed to optimise the rates of municipal waste recycling and circular material use.
The SLR, based on an initial set of 216 articles that was subsequently refined through double screening to 31, highlights the strategic role of the waste management, recycling and municipal solid waste triangle. The results of the DEA indicate stronger synergy between technical and sustainability dimensions than between economic and sustainability components. Moreover, they highlight fragmented performance in Europe, with distinct clusters of countries emerging as top performers in each of the three models, and the Netherlands, Slovenia, France, Italy, Germany and Sweden demonstrating superior performance for both CE outcomes and sustainable performance. Overall, the results emphasise the strategic role played by technology in facilitating an efficient circular model of municipal waste management to minimise landfilling and other environmentally detrimental practices, thereby stimulating the development of sustainable communities for optimised waste management, in line with broader sustainability objectives.
... Many studies have shown that increased tourism can adversely affect local environmental quality, resulting in overexploitation of natural resources and environmental pollution (Arbulú et al., 2015;. For example, Peeters et al. (2024) noted that transportation is the greatest contributor to tourism-related emissions, yet it is largely overlooked. ...
It is of great significance to explore the impact of tourism development on the neighboring economy. The Lijiang Ancient City (LAC) is a World Cultural Heritage Site and one of the important tourist destinations in China. However, the impact of an urban tourism boom on farmers' income in neighboring rural communities is not clear. Drawing on a comprehensive dataset of 672 field surveys conducted between 2009 and 2016 in the Lashihai watershed of Yunnan Province, China, we produce compelling evidence indicating that the tourism boom in the LAC has had a positive impact on farmers' income in neighboring rural communities. Our findings reveal that increasing per capita income in nearby communities by about 6.99% to 8.55% for every 10% increase in tourism activity; however, this impact diminishes as the distance to the LAC increases. Furthermore, the tourism boom has facilitated a harmonious and mutually beneficial coexistence between agriculture and tourism in neighboring communities, leading to the enhancement of farmers' livelihood strategies and expanded employment opportunities. Additionally, notable disparities in the economic impacts of the LAC tourism boom. Both non‐poor farmers and those with higher social capital have experienced a positive increase in income. The effect on income is more pronounced for farmers residing in closer proximity to Lashihai lake, compared with those residing farther away. This study provides an empirical basis for promoting synergistic urban–rural development and rural revitalization.
... A wealth of literature based on the EKC explores various environmental degradation scenarios and corresponding economic contexts, including the pressing issue of CO 2 emissions [5][6][7], as well as pollutants like SO X and NO X [8]. Additionally, studies employing the EKC framework delve into other environmental concerns such as water pollution [9,10] and municipal solid waste [11,12]. These analyses serve as a theoretical foundation for addressing these environmental challenges. ...
The mounting volume of construction waste in China has been steadily rising over the years, yet has largely been overlooked. The environmental Kuznets curve offers a theoretical framework for understanding environmental management by illustrating the relationship between economic development and environmental degradation. This paper applies the environmental Kuznets curve concept to China’s construction waste generation, utilizing per capita construction waste and gross domestic product per capita as environmental and economic indicators, respectively. Panel data from 31 Chinese provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions spanning from 2000 to 2022 are analyzed. This study reveals an N-shaped relationship between per capita construction waste generation and gross domestic product per capita in China. Additionally, this paper employs the stochastic impacts by regression on population, affluence, and technology model to assess the factors influencing construction waste generation. In descending order of impact, these factors are the size of China’s secondary industry value added (19.34%), construction labor productivity (19.33%), gross domestic product per capita (18.54%), urbanization rate (17.77%), year-end resident population (17.22%), and the technical equipment rate of construction enterprises (8.83%). All these factors contribute positively to construction waste generation. These findings are pivotal in guiding efforts towards minimizing construction waste at its source and for the sustainable development of the construction industry.
... The scientific literature has analysed the relationship between tourism and waste management using many different approaches. First of all, the traditional (and in some cases recent) scientific literature has mainly used data on tourist arrivals and overnight stays to analyse the impact of tourism demand on waste generation [23][24][25]. However, recent studies use a more suitable indicator (equivalent tourist), which allows a better comparison of the impacts of tourists and residents [1,11,26]. ...
Most studies analysing waste generation consider the impact on the resident population; however, in the case of tourist destinations, it is important to differentiate the impact between the local population and tourists. This research separates these two population groups using the stochastic impacts by regression on population, affluence and technology (STIRPAT) model for the case of Ibiza. The results confirm different waste generation patterns in tourist and non-tourist populations depending on the waste type (non-sorted and sorted). Moreover, our analysis found that the amount of waste generated per person decreased over time, demonstrating the growth of circular economy practices in the destination. Furthermore, the STIRPAT model highlights the development of a circular economy, showing a downward trend in the generation of non-sorted waste and a positive trend towards collecting recyclable materials. Finally, the results confirm that waste generation patterns vary by season, population, and waste type. Additionally, for both populations, there is a reduction in per capita non-sorted waste generation (this is more significant for the non-tourist population). In contrast, per capita sorted waste generation has increased for both types of population.
... The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis has been applied to various environmental issues to explore the relationship between economic development and environmental quality. Empirical studies examining the EKC Hypothesis have investigated various environmental indicators, including air pollution [29,30], water pollution [31,32], deforestation [33,34], ecological footprint [35], and waste generation [36][37][38][39][40][41] across different countries or regions. In the case of the e-waste recycling rate, this relationship could be either linear or U-shaped, as the rate of e-waste recycling represents an environmental improvement. ...
This study examines the impact of government ideology on e-waste recycling in 30 European countries from 2008 to 2018. This study seeks to enhance the e-waste recycling literature by introducing a novel determinant, examining the unexplored relationship between government ideology and e-waste recycling rates in European countries, thus addressing a substantial research gap. Utilizing panel quantile regression on an unbalanced dataset, the findings revealed that the increased influence of right-wing parties in government was associated with lower e-waste recycling rates. Conversely, greater influence of left-wing or center-wing parties was correlated with higher recycling rates across all quantiles analyzed. The estimation results remain robust when different indicators of government ideology were employed. Overall, the study underscores the importance of political ideology in shaping e-waste recycling policies and environmental sustainability efforts. It emphasizes that effective policies should align with the political commitment of the governing body.
... As a result, international tourist inflows are a distinct type of export. Thirdly, improper solid waste management may decline a destination's reputation because the environment's resources are used in the production of the tourist experience [3]. The Tanjungan Ecovillage has not had a solid waste management system yet. ...
The aims of the study are to present waste composition and improve waste management at the tourism destination of Tanjungan Dam Ecovillage, Mojokerto. The sampling and interviews were conducted for estimating the characterization and management practice of solid waste. The results showed that the tourism destination generated solid waste of around 18.82 kg/day. The generation rate of organic waste was 1.68 kg/day and 5.94 kg/day of inorganic,. Another waste generated from this destination is yard waste, which was around 11.2 kg daily. The result of the interview with the ecovillage officers presented that the awareness of waste management was still low. The solid waste management of the ecovillage was collect-transport-dispose with low rates and efficiency. Furthermore, there is no segregation of the waste, no control of inorganic waste, no regular schedule of yard waste collection, and no education for the tourists to rising their awareness about solid waste. To improve the solid waste management system and ensure the ecovillage’s sustainability, these facts had to be overcome.
... In practice, national trajectories may differ, unlike what is assumed by standard panel FE and RE estimation models. In the WKC literature, a common pattern consisting in offering a single vector of parameters averaged at the sample-level using pooled estimators for all units i has been observed (Arbulu et al. 2015;Boubellouta and Kusch-Brandt 2021a;Yilmaz 2020). Indeed, the standard STIRPAT specification (Eq. 1) assumes homogeneous elasticities for all vectors of observational units i that prevent cross-country differences from persisting. ...
Socio-ecological theories have long been in search of general principles to characterise anthropogenic activity-environmental change dynamics. Besides allowing for more flexible hypothesis testing, stochastic-extended IPAT and ImPACT baselines opened the door to multiple environmental applications in which solid waste generation took a growing stage. This paper surveys Waste Kuznets Curve’s original foundations and underlines why the nature and shape of the hypothetical curvilinear income-waste response function tend to compare to a “black-box”. It then stresses why diverging conclusions are linked to heterogeneous estimators’ choices differing in their statistical assumptions and powers; whereas generic patterns hardly emerge (e.g., income elasticities of waste generation vary even when the mathematical functional form does not; population elasticities are sensitive to time-varying data and income groups). Next, we identify persisting biases of endogeneity which threaten the internal validity of WKC conclusions, if uncontrolled for (e.g., simultaneity, waste measurement errors and garbage policy confounding effect); along with other identification problems including within-panel heterogeneity with systematic slope variations and cross-sectional and spatially dependent income series. Although we propose a set of theoretically justified instrumental variables to exogenously predict income levels and ensure unbiased elasticities, we also detect and underline that additional threats to external invalidity do play out in practice (e.g., asymmetric geographical coverage and bias of case study selection due to environmental data constraints; missing policy-realm; within-waste heterogeneity hidden by widely aggregated indicators; and a non-systematic treatment of the technological effect). All prevent the waste literature from converging and should be considered by future empirical assessments.
... However, the pressure that tourism places on the environment and local communities, including those of small islands, can become unsustainable (Wang et al., 2021). Waste production is one of the most obvious negative environmental impacts of the industry (Dolnicar et al., 2020), yet it remains one of the least studied (Arbulú et al., 2015). This is due in no small part to the lack of accountability for waste generation, which has no specific measurement system, unlike water and energy consumption (Diaz-Farina et al., 2023). ...
The hotel industry is increasingly developing voluntary measures to tackle waste generation, but they fall short of the problems faced by municipal waste services in many tourist destinations. This paper exemplifies how a collaboratively designed waste tariff reform for hotels in a tourism-intensive municipality can achieve a sustainable waste management system through stronger collective action, involving not only the hotel sector but also the city council and waste management companies. The co-created Pay-As-You-Throw tariff meets the demands of the stakeholders by establishing a progressive waste charge that penalizes hotels based on their waste generation intensity, defined as the ratio between waste flows and size. In addition, a competition system is introduced by imposing penalties (or rewards) according to whether the waste generation intensity is above (or below) the sector average during the settlement period, incentivizing waste prevention, recycling and encouraging long-term investment in sustainable waste management. The tariff is consistent with the principles of the EU’s Circular Economy Package and offers hotels a competitive advantage, while ensuring a progressive waste charging system and waste management cost recovery. Empirical results of the co-created tariff show a reduction in waste generation intensity and signs of increased recycling rates.
... However, the pressure that tourism places on the environment and local communities, including those of small islands, can become unsustainable (Wang et al., 2021). Waste production is one of the most obvious negative environmental impacts of the industry (Dolnicar et al., 2020), yet it remains one of the least studied (Arbulú et al., 2015). This is due in no small part to the lack of accountability for waste generation, which has no specific measurement system, unlike water and energy consumption (Diaz-Farina et al., 2023). ...
The hotel industry is increasingly developing voluntary measures to tackle waste generation, but they fall short of the problems faced by municipal waste services in many tourist destinations. This paper exemplifies how a collaboratively designed waste tariff reform for hotels in a tourism-intensive municipality can achieve a sustainable waste management system through stronger collective action, involving not only the hotel sector but also the city council and waste management companies. The co-created Pay-As-You-Throw tariff meets the demands of the stakeholders by establishing a progressive waste charge that penalizes hotels based on their waste generation intensity, defined as the ratio between waste flows and size. In addition, a competition system is introduced by imposing penalties (or rewards) according to whether the waste generation intensity is above (or below) the sector average during the settlement period, incentivizing waste prevention, recycling and encouraging long-term investment in sustainable waste management. The tariff is consistent with the principles of the EU’s Circular Economy Package and offers hotels a competitive advantage, while ensuring a progressive waste charging system and waste management cost recovery. Empirical results of the co-created tariff show a reduction in waste generation intensity and signs of increased recycling rates.
... The Kuznets curve was also studied to capture the impact of the development of certain sectors on the environment, tourism being one of the fields chosen for carrying out scientific studies considering the importance of this sector in certain countries. The results of these studies confirmed the major impact that the development of domestic and international tourism has on the environment (Arbulú et al., 2015;De Vita et al., 2015;Ozturk et al., 2016;Zaman et al., 2016;Anser et al., 2020;Papavasileiou and Tzouvanas, 2021). Each of the statistical methods applied emphasizes important aspects of the research and contributes to the confirmation or rejection of the research hypotheses as follows: ...
... this is known as the (environmental) Kuznet's curve (Dinda, 2004;Kuznets, 1955). While the actual occurrence of such relationship is much debated, and dependent on a myriad of factors, it is nonetheless a helpful framework to conceptualize trajectories for sustainable development, inducing within the context of growing tourism industries (arbulú et al., 2015;Ozturk et al., 2016). ...
... (Zaman et al., 2016). b) Contaminación de cuerpos de agua, deterioro de paisajes o emisión de residuos sólidos por la actividad turística (Arbulú et al., 2015;Bella, 2018;Chan y Wong, 2020;Díaz-Farina et al., 2020;Ghosh y Mitra, 2021). ...
Se realizó un estudio econométrico sobre probable desacoplamiento económico para contrastar una hipótesis de curva ambiental de Kuznets para residuos sólidos urbanos (RSU) en 186 municipios de importancia turística en México para los años 2010 y 2015 empleando datos de panel. Para ello se estimaron modelos de efectos aleatorios, efectos fijos y efectos fijos con errores estándar robustos de clúster, teniendo como variables independientes un indicador de ingresos municipales per cápita, la densidad poblacional, la población y la escolaridad promedio. Los resultados sustentan significativamente que no hay evidencia estadística de desacoplamiento entre generación de RSU e ingresos y por tanto no hay evidencia de que exista una probable curva de Kuznets para los municipios estudiados. No obstante, se requieren futuras investigaciones que incluyan más municipios turísticos, un mayor horizonte temporal, y relaciones espaciales entre municipios, además de variables de reciclaje.
... Tourism contributes to environmental pollution in developing countries, especially on islands and low-income settings (Arbulú et al., 2015;Pham Phu et al., 2019;Qin et al., 2021). This is due to the lack of functional infrastructures and services (Mohee et al., 2015), and the inflow of more and unexpected waste types generated by tourists that otherwise would not occur on site (Tsai et al., 2021). ...
Open dumping and burning of solid waste are common practices in low-income countries. On small and touristic islands, the problem is exacerbated due to the additional volume of waste amount generated by tourists. This article presents how, using Nosy Be island in Madagascar as a case study, waste recovery and recycling can be fostered by tourism to tackle the waste challenge. About 95% of the waste of Nosy Be is openly dumped, discarded to sea or openly burned. Field analysis, interviews with local stakeholders and waste flow analysis served as methodological tools to assess the current solid waste management (SWM) system of Nosy Be. Stakeholder mapping and involvement as well as first exchange among local and international actors provided the basis to identify key practice and opportunities. Research findings highlight the importance of active participation and involvement of local partners supported by international experts, to suggest how touristic centres can serve as core of circular approaches. The article presents potential circular models to be implemented in Nosy Be, taking tourism as the entry point including the aspects of financial support, separated waste flows and the interest in 'green tourism marketing'. This case study underlines how international cooperation, touristic activities and common efforts can potentially help low-income communities improve their SWM practices.
... In addition to increasing CO2 releases, tourism additionally results in a rise in the strong drain. Arbulú et al. (2015) discover an important correlation between tourism and waste creation using committee information from European nations. According to the above research, affluent nations experience greater ecological deterioration due to tourism than L.D.C.s. ...
Tourism is a significant economic growth and development source, but it relies heavily on the energy sector and contributes to carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. This study examines how tourism growth, renewable energy, and real GDP affect CO2 emissions in the BRICS countries. The researchers used panel unit root, Pedroni, and Kao methods to test for a long-run equilibrium relationship among the variables. The results reveal that tourism growth harms CO2 emissions in the long run, with a 1% increase in tourism growth leading to a 0.05% decrease in CO² emissions. Renewable energy usage also harms CO² emissions, with a 1% increase in renewable energy leading to a 0.15% decrease in CO² emissions in the long run. CO² emissions and real GDP show a U-shaped relationship in the long run, supporting the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis. This hypothesis suggests that CO² emissions increase with economic growth at low-income levels but decrease with economic growth at high-income levels. Therefore, the study implies that tourism growth can significantly lower CO2 emissions by promoting renewable energy usage and economic development.
... Smart technologies have the potential to enhance the sustainability of tourist destinations by providing real-time data on tourist behavior and environmental conditions [72]. These data can be used to manage resources more effectively [73][74][75][76][77], reduce waste [78][79][80][81], and minimize the negative impacts of tourism on the environment and host communities [82]. Another area of research is the use of digital technologies to support local communities [83]. ...
Sustainability has become a key consideration for tourist destinations, and digitalization is increasingly being used as a tool to enhance sustainable tourism development. This paper aims to map the intersection between sustainability and digitalization in tourist destinations using a bibliometric analysis. The study is based on a bibliometric analysis of the existing literature in academic journals, conference proceedings, and books published between 2012 and 2022 from the Scopus database. Biblioshiny is used to visualize data. The results show that there is a growing interest in the convergence of sustainability and digitalization in tourist destinations, with an increasing number of publications in recent years. The co-occurrence analysis identified key themes and concepts such as sustainable tourism, digital technologies, smart tourism, social media, big data, smart city, COVID-19, digital marketing, and destination marketing. The study also highlights the different ways in which digitalization is being used to enhance sustainability in tourist destinations, including the use of smart technologies, data analytics, social media, and online platforms. However, the study also identified challenges and limitations to the integration of sustainability and digitalization, such as the need for stakeholder collaboration, data privacy concerns, and the potential for a digital divide.
Oggi il problema della produzione e della gestione dei rifiuti interessa ogni angolo del pianeta. I dati allarmanti sulla produzione totale di rifiuti urbani e l'evidente basso tasso di trattamento differenziato dei rifiuti evidenziano questa situazione, che in molti contesti ha raggiunto un livello di emergenza. Soprattutto nel settore turistico, che svolge un ruolo sempre più cruciale nell'economia di molte regioni, la quantità e la qualità dei rifiuti generati costituiscono una preoccupazione significativa a causa della crescente complessità della catena di produzione e distribuzione delle merci. Questo studio nasce nell'ambito di un progetto di ricerca-azione partecipativa incentrato sulle destinazioni turistiche della regione Friuli Venezia Giulia. Esamina le pratiche e le strategie attualmente adottate ̶ o che dovrebbero essere adottate ̶ per migliorare la gestione dei rifiuti e promuovere comportamenti virtuosi e azioni preventive. Sono stati sviluppati percorsi condivisi di co-creazione della conoscenza con i politici, le aziende di gestione dei rifiuti e i principali stakeholder del settore turistico di ogni comune coinvolto, che hanno portato a una comprensione più approfondita delle problematiche legate alla raccolta e alla gestione dei rifiuti e, di conseguenza, alla formulazione di iniziative mirate alla loro, seppur parziale, risoluzione. Questo lavoro analizza le sfide comuni relative alla gestione dei rifiuti affrontate dalle destinazioni turistiche, propone misure per diffondere una visione di Rifiuti Zero e delinea le sfide associate. Una chiara conclusione emersa da questo processo è che, nonostante il tempo considerevole richiesto e le notevoli difficoltà di collaborazione con le istituzioni pubbliche e gli attori dell'economia turistica, sono necessarie iniziative che vadano oltre la semplice implementazione di miglioramenti tecnologici. Al contrario, devono porre l'accento sul trasferimento delle conoscenze e sui cambiamenti negli approcci e nelle pratiche in tutti i settori della produzione di servizi turistici e nei vari aspetti della vita sociale.
As global water resources face growing pressures from climate change and population growth, understanding the factors driving water stress becomes crucial. The tourism sector, one of the fastest-growing economic sectors worldwide, plays a pivotal role in this dynamic, often exacerbating water scarcity in regions with water stress. This paper explores this critical relationship through a theoretical framework based on the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis, introducing, as a novelty, water stress as the dependent variable through the water exploitation index plus (WEI+). The findings support the EKC hypothesis, revealing a non-linear yet diminishing effect of tourism volume—measured by international tourist overnights—on WEI+. This trend may be attributed to the fixed components of tourism-related water consumption and the adoption of water conservation practices by tourism enterprises. The findings also indicate that countries with intensive tourism tend to exhibit a lower EKC intercept compared to those with lower tourism intensity, likely due to heightened pressure on policymakers and businesses to curtail water consumption. By illustrating the varying impacts of tourism on water use across different income levels and regional contexts, this paper highlights the need for adaptive and region-specific strategies for water resource management.
Waste generation and composition are crucial aspects of environmental sustainability. Recently, they have gained attention from researchers due to their close association with social and environmental issues. The objective of this study is to assess the validity of the Waste Kuznets Curve (WKC) hypothesis about urban solid waste production in the top ten countries with the highest urban solid waste generation among the OECD member EU countries. The study analyses the impact of socio-economic control variables on per capita urban solid waste generation. A panel regression model was used for the sample group of countries from 1995 to 2019, and predictions were made. WKC hypothesis, which suggests a negative relationship between per capita urban solid waste generation and per capita real income, was invalid based on the results. Furthermore, the inclusion of control variables such as the Human Development Index, population density, and unemployment rate had a significant impact on the generation of urban solid waste per capita. When the relevant literature is evaluated, it is envisaged that the study will contribute to the very limited literature in which the WKC hypothesis is tested in the model, in which socioeconomic variables are also taken into account, due to the specificity of the current period and the selected country group.
This paper analyzes environmental efficiency in the tourism sector, considering the joint production of desirable (overnight stays) and undesirable (tourism waste) outputs while addressing spatial dependence among destinations. Employing the enhanced hyperbolic distance function methodology, we integrate stochastic frontier analyses and spatial econometric techniques. The study investigates the 41 tourist areas of Spain between 2000 and 2019, and the results obtained reveal that they operate with a high average efficiency level and exhibit diminishing returns to scale. A significant contribution of this study, besides providing a useful reference for the design of policies to support destinations with efficiency gaps, is the estimation of shadow prices for waste in terms of overnight stays. This enables the calculation of a different ecotax for each tourist zone, providing valuable insights into the formulation of effective tourism policies that can guide policymakers in designing sustainable development strategies. The results obtained indicate that the most popular Spanish destinations, such as the Canary Islands and several coastal areas around the Mediterranean, should implement higher ecotaxes ranging from 3.3 to 6 euros per overnight stay. Additionally, calculating the shadow prices of tourism waste generated by each visitor can contribute to raising their environmental awareness.
The worldwide demand for wildlife tourism-based experiences has driven a global increase in demand for wildlife tourism experiences within protected areas. Tourism within protected areas has both positive and negative effects. The positive effects relate to the increased financial support for conservation initiatives that provide concrete substantiation for the long-term survival and conservation of protected areas. The negative effects, however, relate to the increased tourism infrastructure and the environmental impacts of accommodating guests and their hospitality staff within the protected areas. Of particular interest in this chapter is the issue of Waste management in protected areas, specifically recyclable waste. A mixed method single case study research design was employed to determine baselines and benchmarks of recyclable waste at a wildlife tourism lodge in the Greater Kruger Park area. Reflections on general waste management were also made regarding proposed principles for responsible waste management in protected areas.
The increase in global waste generation is an important issue directly addressed in the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)-12 and OECD countries produce large amounts of waste. In this context, the study examines the influence of waste generated and recycled on the load capacity factor (biocapacity/ecological footprint) in 28 OECD countries from 2000 to 2021 using novel panel data approaches. The study employs augmented mean group and novel half-panel jackknife estimation approaches within the Load Capacity Curve (LCC) hypothesis and confirms the LCC for OECD nations. In addition, the long-term prediction results illustrate that waste generation increases environmental destruction, while waste recycled supports the increase in the load capacity factor. The study recommends policymakers in OECD countries to support economic growth and increase investment in waste recycling technologies to achieve SDG-12.
To date, no studies have been undertaken on Pasaran Island to investigate waste generation and composition, rendering this research significant for laying the groundwork for precise and sustainable waste management planning. Existing studies predominantly center on waste generation concerning community behaviour, stakeholder roles in management, and the technical assessment of waste management aspects. Consequently, this study aims to quantify waste generation and composition on Pasaran Island. Sampling adhered to the SNI-19-3694-1994 standard over eight consecutive days, focusing on household waste for domestic waste samples and selecting commercial establishments, mosques, and schools as sources for non-domestic waste samples. The research reveals an average waste generation rate of 0.13 kg/person/day on Pasaran Island. Organic waste predominates, constituting 44% of the total, originating from household activities like kitchen waste and waste deposited on the island by the sea. Plastic, encompassing bottles, bags, and food packaging, ranks as the second most prevalent waste type at 26% of the total. Residents in tourist areas exhibit distinct waste generation characteristics. The findings can be utilized for the development of the tourism sector to consider organic waste as the primary focus, it must be addressed first.
This paper adopts a meta-frontier non-parametric directional distance function framework to measure the ecoefficiency of municipal solid waste (MSW) services in 258 municipalities in the Apulia region from 2012 to 2016. Model specification includes the operating cost per quantity of waste as input and the per capita quantities of sorted and unsorted waste as the desirable and undesirable outputs. The heterogeneities due to the different governance systems implemented in the six areas in which the regional territory was partitioned to manage the MSW service were considered. A dynamic distributional analysis of MSW ecoefficiencies was performed, and determinants affecting their measure were investigated. The results show that the average MSW service meta-frontier ecoefficiency decreased from 0.631 to 0.546, while the technology gap ratio value diminished from 0.899 to 0.827. Findings relative to the impact on ecoefficiency of variables measuring either the size or density of MSW services remain inconclusive.
This article has been published open access and can be downloaded for free from the link below
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clwas.2024.100131
This study aimed to determine the impact of tourism on environmental pollution and test the validity of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis for the Turkish economy based on data from 1975–2018 in cubic form by observing the impacts of tourism indicators on the environment. We analyzed the correlations among per-capita ecological footprint, international tourist arrivals, per capita GDP, the social globalization index, and urbanization rate using the ARDL limit test. Based on our research, we have found evidence that during the study period, there is an N-shaped correlation between tourist arrivals and ecological footprint in the Turkish economy. This contradicts the idea of an inverted U-shaped Kuznets curve for both the short- and long-term. Our findings reveal that domestic and national policies to fight against pollution need to be developed rather than wasting time by waiting for the end of the relationship between tourist arrivals and environmental pollution after a certain milestone.
Although tourism contributes significantly to municipal solid waste generation in many countries and regions, there is a lack of empirical investigations of the underlying mechanisms of this contribution. This study addresses this knowledge gap by examining the impact of tourism on municipal solid waste generation in 31 provinces of China during the 2004–2020 period. By applying multiple statistical methods for data triangulation, the study reveals strong and significant correlation between tourist arrivals and municipal solid waste generation (the linear term: = 0.087, p = 0.001; the quadratic term: = -0.048, p = 0.006), which is affected by the degree of tourism specialization of a province and its gross domestic product per capita. In the provinces with low gross domestic product per capita, tourism specialization amplifies the growth effect of tourist arrivals on municipal solid waste generation, whereas in the provinces with high gross domestic product per capita, tourism specialization reduces this effect. The study improves knowledge of complex relationship between tourism and municipal solid waste generation at a provincial level. The study also provides insights to refine management practices and policies on municipal solid waste in the context of tourism in China and beyond.
Tourism generates 8% of all greenhouse gas emissions. One way of reducing emissions is to deploy behavioral change interventions that entice tourists to behave in more sustainable ways. In search of the most effective approaches, we conducted a meta-analysis of 118 interventions tested in field experiments in the tourism context. Most studies targeted beliefs and focused on towel reuse, food waste, or resource use. Changing choice architecture (d = 1.40) and increasing pleasure (d = 0.66) emerge as the most effective approaches. Imposing penalties for unsustainable behavior (d = −0.12) and leveraging social norms to trigger sustainable behavior (d = 0.18) have limited effectiveness. Future work should re-direct attention from designing interventions that modify beliefs toward interventions that change choice architecture or increase the pleasure associated with the desired behavior, and aim at changing a wider range of behaviors, including green transportation and the avoidance of single use plastics.
While providing economic benefits, tourism also contributes to environmental problems. Besides regulatory measures to mitigate tourism’s impact on the environment, voluntary changes in the behavior of tourists are needed to encourage environment-friendly behavior. This research examines religious tourists’ pro-environmental behavior (PEB) by using the value-belief-norm (VBN) theory and the concept of religious beliefs. Data were collected through on-site and online surveys of 391 tourists who visited religious destinations and analyzed using partial least squares (PLS)-structural equation modeling. The results confirmed the relationships between tourists’ values, beliefs, and personal norms that predicted PEB. This study also found that religious beliefs strengthen the effect of personal norms on PEB. This research contributes to improving the understanding of religious tourists’ PEB and offers suggestions for destination management organizations (DMOs), religious center authorities, and policymakers to encourage the PEB of tourists in religious destinations.
The economic literature on urban solid waste collection is scarce, although this type of services has undergone organizational as well as regulatory reforms. This research studies the factors explaining why the costs imposed by this service vary among municipalities. To do so, first we derive a municipal cost function. We then specify and estimate an explanatory model on a sample of municipalities. Empirical results are used to study economies of scale, economies of scope and the impact on municipal costs of some factors directly related to the service, such as recycling, frequency and location of a landfill in the municipality. In addition to this, we analyse the effects on municipal costs of density, wage levels, peak periods and contracting out.
Several studies examined the relationship between environmental degradation and population growth. However, most of them don't take into account the difference between local population and tourist arrivals. This paper contributes to the literature by separating these two groups within the framework of IPAT-based models to measure the impact of tourist arrivals in terms of municipal solid waste generation for Mallorca. The model leads to a stochastic differential equations system, which showed that this mature tourist destinations have higher population elasticity than industrial economies. Moreover, the model allowed us to measure the elasticity of substitution between lower-income and higher-income tourists.
Abstract
Although research to date has addressed various elements of destination competitiveness there has been little attempt to systematically and comprehensively study the environmental competitiveness from the managerial perspective. This paper examines the environmental management of a tourist destination as a competitiveness factor. It follows the methodology of the Calgary Tourism Competitiveness Model that divides destination management into two parts: managerial and marketing efforts and studies them from environmental perspective.
The first hypothesis is that destination environmental competitiveness can be increased by proper managerial efforts in the field of environmental impact (EI) and environmental quality (EQ) management. Both aspects are interrelated. The cost saving aspect of EI management is an incentive for managers, while environmental concern is what is appreciated by potential visitors. As a factor of destination competitiveness from the standpoint of the potential visitors, the EQ of a destination is even more important, and it influences the destination choice much more strongly, however from the standpoint of a destination manager it is more complex, exacting and expensive to manage. This is especially true, if the destination environment has already been polluted and less relevant for some unpolluted “virgin” destinations.
In addition to environmental managerial efforts, the destination competitiveness can be enhanced through certain environmental marketing activities. Thus the second hypothesis refers to environmental marketing efforts. Since the environmental image, not the real EI and EQ managerial efforts, influence the destination choice, the environmental image of the destination has to be communicated to the potential visitors. Author argues that although both, EI and EQ aspects are relevant and inter-related, the importance of environmentally concerned destination image is sometimes overestimated. The EQ aspect is often avoided because the existing environmental quality of the already developed destination is poor and EQ improvement efforts seem too complex and expensive to destination managers.
Further, environmental management is categorised into four groups: management by codes of conduct, by self-developed environmental practice, by certified or awarded best practice and by accreditation schemes. Evaluation of each group has been carried out by using the Calgary Model and their usefulness for managerial and marketing efforts has been studied. Codes of conduct have proved to be too general and declarative and not very helpful for managerial acting. Self-developed best practice models are hard to explain to the public and are too subjective. They are unknown and thus less effective for an environmental image creation. The most efficient model is environmental management coded with an internationally known accreditation sign from an independent organisation, if it offers expertly made pre-set criteria, transparent awarding procedures and an international, trustworthy and well-known green logo that would normally be legally protected trade mark and can only be awarded by its legal and credible owner. These trade marks would be more useful for the environmental labelling of a destination and thus more useful for environmental image management. Although there are too many green labels on the travel market, only few communicate transparent and trustworthily EI message, and even fewer EQ message. Since EQ aspect is becoming increasingly important, destinations will have to incorporate the EQ issue into current managerial and marketing strategies, too.
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to examine the discharge volume of domestic solid waste in rural China and to explore the potential impact of various factors that contribute to it.
Design/methodology/approach
– The data used in this study come from a large-scale field survey conducted in six Chinese provinces. Based on the collected survey data, econometric model on the determinants of domestic solid waste discharge was constructed and used for analysis.
Findings
– Results from the study show that the per capita daily discharge of rural domestic solid waste was close to 1 kg in 2010, slightly less than the urban level of 1.2 kg. Results from descriptive statistical analysis and econometric estimation indicate that by implementing selected policy measures, the discharge of solid waste can be significantly reduced. In addition, the discharge of domestic solid waste is also closely related with local socio-economic development. In particular, the results show an obvious inverted U-shaped curve between discharge volume and income. The increase of off-farm labor opportunities would also reduce solid waste discharge in rural China.
Originality/value
– This paper focuses on domestic solid waste discharge and its determinants in rural China, a research area very important but seldom reported.
To date there is much literature identifying the need for sustainable tourism and for policy to address this need, however, there are few studies addressing sustainable tourism at a practical level or the effectiveness of policy implementation. This research focuses on the operational level of policy in order to gain a greater understanding of the barriers and possible solutions to implementation of sustainable tourism policy. This research focused on one of the Mediterranean's most popular sun, sea and sand tourist resorts – Calviá, located in Mallorca in the Balearic Islands, Spain. Calviá is an example of a mass tourism destination which, from a result of tourism pressure in the late 1980s, faced significant economic, social and environmental decline. By taking an integrated and collaborative approach to implement a sustainable tourism policy [using the participatory process of Local Agenda 21 (LA21)] Calviá received much international acclaim. This descriptive case study outlines the motivations behind establishing a sustainable tourism policy, the process, successes and barriers of implementation and lessons learned. By outlining sustainable tourism policy from development to evaluation, this case study hopes to provide recommendations for other destinations who aim to work towards sustainable tourism goals.
This paper outlines the historical context in which indicators appeared, and links this to the need for improving information systems. The conclusions are made with particular regard for emerging issues, the most recent of which is that of sustainable development. Owing to the rather low reliability of data and to the difficulty in defining the limits of tourism as an economic activity, articulating sets of sustainable development indicators (SDIs) appears to be even more difficult for tourism than for other industry sectors. Recent and current attempts show a great variety of methods and results. They relate in particular to
This paper deals with the relation between protection of land and local and regional development through a power and democracy perspective on planning. A Swedish case is used to illustrate the connection between planning, local power and local development, with reference to tourism in a Nordic context. When areas are protected, planning automatically becomes centralized, taking the planning process out of the hands of the local authorities. Within these state territories of set rules, regulations and institutionalized systems - eco-protectorates - the local population becomes powerless when it comes to making decisions about land-use and is unable to engage in economically viable tourism enterprises because of centralized decision-making. Even in nature-based tourism where the quality of nature is important, it could therefore be more advantageous to have access to non-protected land for nature tourism. This is even more so because the idea of regional and local development often appears to have been “attached” as an afterthought or pious wish to the central planning documents. With genuine intention to stimulate local and regional development, protection should itself be based on geographical awareness and sensitivity to the diverse conditions in which such development is visualized. Local initiatives regarding land-use and protection do not have to be in conflict with national and international ambitions and regulations but they easily can be.
Expansion of tourism in the northern periphery regions provides innovative resources for an economic boost to many of the peripheral communities. The northern ecosystems are however extremely vulnerable. It is therefore of vital importance for such communities to plan the growth of tourism along sustainable lines in order to secure long-term economic benefit from tourism. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) can handle multiple spatial criteria and provide a tool for the allocation of resources between conflicting demands and aid decision-makers in planning. Despite increased use of GIS in environmental planning and management, the application of GIS to tourism planning is still limited. This study aims to develop a methodology to generate a Tourism Decision Support System (TDSS) to aid planning of sustainable tourism. A GIS model was developed based on classification of identified impact factors and variables, as well as selected classification algorithms that were used to assess categories of ecological sensitivity that may aid decision makers in planning and managing sustainable tourism in sensitive areas that are facing the risk of being subjected to ecological degradation.
In Finland and other Nordic countries the economic and political significance of tourism for regional development has increased considerably in recent years, to the extent that in some regions it has become a crucial economic policy factor. Tourism is commonly looked on as having a favourable economic and social impact, introducing new, external sources of monetary income and opportunities to work in the regional economy and its operational cycle. Large amounts of public money are being spent nowadays on the development of tourism in the various regions of Finland. This paper discusses the role of tourism in regional economic and social development and provides an overview of the recent tourism development in northern Finland and its socio-economic implications. Examples of the economic and employment impact of tourism at the regional level are taken from an evaluation of the economic role of tourism in selected municipalities in northern Finland, by utilizing the so-called Nordic model for evaluating the regional and local tourism economy.
Waste generation and waste disposal are becoming increasingly prominent in the environmental arena, from a policy perspective
and in the context of delinking analysis. In general, waste generation is still increasing proportionally with income, and
economic and environmental costs associated to landfilling are also increasing. This paper provides a comprehensive analysis
of waste generation, incineration and landfill dynamics based on panel data for the EU25, to assess the effects of different drivers (economic, structural, policy) and the eventual differences between Western and
Eastern EU countries. We show that for waste generation there is still no Waste Kuznets Curve (WKC) trend, although elasticity
to income drivers appears lower than in the past. Landfill and other policy effects do not seem to provide backward incentives
for waste prevention, and in terms of landfill and incineration, as expected, they are respectively decreasing and increasing,
with policy acting as a strong driver. Eastern countries appear to be performing generally quite well, thus benefiting from
EU membership and related policies in terms of environmental performance. We can conclude that although absolute delinking
is far from being achieved for waste generation, there are some first positive signs of an increasing relative delinking for
waste generation and robust landfill diversion, and varying evidence of a significant role of the EU waste policies implemented
in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Our evidence suggests that if while landfill diversion is currently associated to a delinking
partly explained by EU policies, waste prevention must be the next objective of waste regulation efforts.
This article tests the hypothesis that democracies exhibit stronger international environmental commitment than non-democracies, using multivariate econometric techniques. A number of proxy variables are used in lieu of environmental commitment, a non-observable variable. Strong evidence is found that democracies sign and ratify more multilateral environmental agreements, participate in more environmental intergovernmental organizations, comply better with reporting requirements under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora, put a greater percentage of their land area under protections status, are more likely to have a National Council on Sustainable Development in their country and have more environmentally relevant information available than non-democracies. The findings suggest that a spread of democracy around the world will lead to enhanced environmental commitment worldwide. Results are robust with respect to inclusion or exclusion of developed countries in the sample. The use of four different variables for democracy also ensures robustness with respect to the measure of democracy. The strong evidence in favour of a positive link between democracy and environmental commitment stands in contrast to the somewhat weak evidence on such a link between democracy and environmental outcomes. The explanation presumably is that theory predicts a stronger positive link of democracy with environmental commitment than with environmental outcomes.
Over the years environmental issues have been playing a remarkable role in the global debate about the Earth future. Emissions of the "greenhouse effect" gases (GHG) are increasing, in despite of joint efforts to implement international agreements. In this context, this paper is aimed at investigating the Global Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis for a sample of 167 countries over the period 2000-2004, using a fixed effect model with spatial dependence. Another objective of this paper is to evaluate the role of the Kyoto Protocol as a global policy in order to reduce CO2 emissions per capita. To do so, a dummy variable, representing the countries that have ratified the Protocol is introduced into the left hand of regression. Besides, other three variables are inserted into the left hand of regression: the trade intensity, energy consumption per capita and population density. The econometric results, in principle, suggest the existence of an "N" shaped EKC, finding the following "turning points": US 27,487.56. Another important issue is the negative coefficient, and statistically significant, for the dummy variable for the Kyoto Protocol, showing the potential importance of international agreements for reducing the overall amount of CO2 emission per capita. Therefore, economic growth itself cannot replace multilateral policies that seek to reduce CO2 emissions. This result suggests that multilateral policies can help reduce GHG emissions, but more countries are needed to commit themselves with such a reduction.
An understanding of what may influence people's environmental behaviour is a prerequisite for achieving sustainability at both home and destinations visited. The current study has accordingly examined how a set of social psychological and socio-demographic factors influences a sample of the Norwegian population's willingness to behave environmentally friendly. The results of the seemingly unrelated regression analysis have shown that age, education, political orientation, two personal values, environmental concern, and personal norm influence Norwegians' willingness to behave environmentally friendly at a home setting, whereas income, gender, political orientation, a personal value, environmental concern and personal norm affect their willingness to behave in such a manner at a holiday setting. The results have indicated further that age, education, political orientation, and environmental concern have statistically stronger effects on Norwegians' willingness to behave environmentally friendly at home compared with the holiday setting. Theoretical and practical implications are provided.
The paper first places the research within the context of international initiatives of developing environmental indicators for the tourism sector: indicator frameworks, data constraints and communication needs, national versus local approaches and indicator development procedures. The question of data availability, collection and processing is often undermined, and the national scale is the most relevant to analyse tourism driving forces and tourism/transport interrelationships. The main results of the French national assessment, led by the French Institute for the Environment in 1999–2000, are then presented, from the driving forces of environmental impacts (such as spatial and temporal concentrations, or the evolution of tourism demand as regards to the environment) to environmental impacts at national and destination level. French mobility patterns are dominated by road transport; they are moving towards shorter stays and more frequent departures, which lead to a high impact situation. The accommodation capacity is strongly marked by secondary homes, which imply more constructions (and more space consumption) for the same number of stays. Environmental management initiatives, from public and private stakeholders, are still unable to counter these long-term trends.
A dynamic general equilibrium model of a small open economy specialized in producing tourism services is presented. The tourism package is a bundle of attri-butes provided by firms, the government and the natural environment. Investment in accommodation increases the number of visitors but also congests public goods and reduces environmental quality. The model is used to determine the conditions for the existence of a long-term double dividend. These conditions depend on both the initial level of environmental quality and the responsiveness of the tourism price to marginal changes in environmental and accommodation quality and congestion of public goods.
While there are numerous studies that use household-level and community-level data to examine the determinants of household solid waste generation rates, little empirical work has been previously undertaken using macroeconomic data. Using a cross-sectional time-series database of solid waste in countries that are part of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), we provide evidence on the economic and demographic determinants of generation rates of household solid waste. With respect to economic activity and population density, the results are largely consistent with results found in previous studies. However, additional insights are gained on the effects of factors such as household size and composition, as well as the degree of urbanization.
Towns and cities in Cameroon exhibit the burdens of waste management which characterise so many African cities. Several factors including inadequate financial resources, low levels of enforcement of regulations and poor governance often lead to poor solid waste management services. This paper presents a critical analysis of the state of solid waste management regulations in Cameroon and constraints this places on the delivery of sustainable waste management solutions. A case study of the Limbe Municipal Council is used to highlight some of the waste management related problems in the country. Results indicate that solid waste management services are rudimentary; essentially collect and dump. Current regulations do not adequately address waste handling or disposal. There are inefficiencies in the implementation of waste management policy due to the devolved responsibilities between several governmental agencies and the local councils. The paper discusses some of these constraints and concludes with suggestions for improving the delivery of sustainable waste management solutions.
Although research to date has addressed various elements of destination competitiveness there has been little attempt to systematically and comprehensively study the environmental competitiveness from the managerial perspective. Since the Calgary tourism competitiveness model brought a systematic approach to tourism competitiveness research, this paper selectively uses its management element as a tool to link the competitiveness and environmental management. Following the model the destination management is divided into two parts: (1) managerial and (2) marketing efforts. This paper studies them from environmental perspective. First, destination environmental competitiveness can be increased by appropriate managerial efforts related to environmental impact (EI), and environmental quality (EQ) management. Second, the destination competitiveness can be enhanced through certain environmental marketing activities. Further, environmental management is categorised into groups: management by codes of conduct, by self-developed environmental practice, by certified or awarded best practice and by accreditation schemes. Their usefulness for environmental destination management and competitiveness is evaluated.
Economic globalisation is seen by many as a driving force for global economic growth. Yet opinion is divided about the benefits of this process, as highlighted by the WTO meeting in Seattle in late 1999. Proponents of economic globalisation view it as a positive force for environmental improvement and as a major factor increasing the likelihood of sustainable development through its likely boost to global investment. These proponents mostly appeal to analysis based on the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) to support their views about environmental improvement. But EKC-analysis has significant deficiencies. Furthermore, it is impossible to be confident that the process of economic globalisation will result in sustainable development, if ‘weak conditions’ only are satisfied. ‘Strong conditions’ probably need to be satisfied to achieve sustainable development, and given current global institutional arrangements, these are likely to be violated by the economic globalisation process. Global political action seems to be needed to avert a deterioration in the global environment and to prevent unsustainability of development. This exposition demonstrates the limitations of EKC-analysis, identifies positive and negative effects of economic globalisation on pollution levels, and highlights connections between globalisation and the debate about whether strong or weak conditions are required for sustainable development. The article concludes with a short discussion of the position of WTO in relation to trade and the environment and the seemingly de facto endorsement of WTO of weak conditions for sustainable development. It suggests that WTO's relative neglect of environmental concerns is no longer politically tenable and needs to be reassessed in the light of recent developments in economic analysis. The skew of economic growth, e.g. in favour of developing countries, is shown to be extremely important from a global environmental perspective.
The relationship between national carbon dioxide emissions intensity (CO2 emitted per unit of Gross Domestic Product) and level of economic development has changed from essentially linear in 1962 to strongly curvilinear in 1991. The inverted-U curve reached statistical significance briefly in the early 1970s and increasingly since 1982. This is the result not of groups of countries passing through stages of development, but of efficiency improvements in a small number of wealthy countries combined with worse performance in poor and middle-income countries. The curvilinear relation is deepening and is likely to persist due to constraints on poorer countries in the world economy.
La contaminación generada por la acumulación de residuos sólidos está presente en todas las metrópolis de América Latina, afectando el ecosistema. Dicha contaminación es causada por la población y su aglomeración en zonas urbanas. Los datos estadísticos de las metrópolis latinoamericanas permiten establecer una relación directa entre población y acumulación de residuos sólidos y también entre nivel de ingresos y generación de residuos, mostrando que la relación población-residuos sólidos está mediada por variables económicas y culturales. La información de generación de basura por persona y su respectivo nivel socioeconómico permite establecer diferencias de cantidad y calidad de los residuos generados por individuos de distinto nivel socioeconómico, que a su vez se asocian a diferentes estilos de vida y patrones de consumo. Así, la producción de basura es potenciada por la dinámica de producción y consumo y por la dinámica demográfica, siendo un efecto no esperado de ambas, que convierte los residuos sólidos en un subproducto del modelo de desarrollo y la dinámica demográfica. En el escenario planteado, el problema ambiental de los residuos sólidos en .las metrópolis de América Latina aparece como irresoluto y la decisión de resolverlo de manera fundamental pasa por cambiar el modelo de desarrollo y el comportamiento de la sociedad. Una solución menos extrema consiste en hacer un manejo integral de los residuos sólidos a través de políticas de gestión integral.
The measurement of tourism is not an easy task. The Economics of Tourism Destinations provides a succinct guide to the economic aspects of tourism for students and practitioners alike to decipher the methods of measurement of supply, demand, trends and impacts.In nine chapters, The Economics of Tourism Destinations takes the reader through the economic characteristic of the tourism sector, to methods of measurement, tourism demand and supply, impacts and forecasting all with the focus on tourism destinations. International case studies are used throughout including tourism surveys in the UK and other European countries, congress centre in Bruges and income generation in several destinations.Aimed at year three undergraduates and postgraduate students, this text is suitable for those on master levels courses and practitioners already in the industry.
The environmental Kuznets curve posits an inverted-U relationship between pollution and economic development. Pessimistic critics of empirically estimated curves have argued that their declining portions are illusory, either because they are cross-sectional snapshots that mask a long-run "race to the bottom" in environmental standards, or because industrial societies will continually produce new pollutants as the old ones are controlled. However, recent evidence has fostered an optimistic view by suggesting that the curve is actually flattening and shifting to the left. The driving forces appear to be economic liberalization, clean technology diffusion, and new approaches to pollution regulation in developing countries.
We examine the reduced-form relationship between per capita income and various environmental indicators. Our study covers
four types of indicators: urban air pollution, the state of the oxygen regime in river basins, fecal contamination of river
basins, and contamination of river basins by heavy metals. We find no evidence that environmental quality deteriorates steadily
with economic growth. Rather, for most indicators, economic growth brings an initial phase of deterioration followed by a
subsequent phase of improvement. The turning points for the different pollutants vary, but in most cases they come before
a country reaches a per capita income of $8000.
In this paper, we consider two basic aspects of demand analysis, with application to the demand for natural gas in the residential and commercial market. The more fundamental one consists in the formulation of a demand function for commodities--such as natural gas--whose consumption is technologically related to the stock of appliances. We believe that in such markets, the behavior of the consumer can be described best in terms of a dynamic mechanism. Related to this is the more specific problem of estimating the parameters of the demand function, when the demand model is cast in dynamic terms and when observations are drawn from a time series of cross sections. Accordingly, this paper is centered around these two major themes, although, as the title suggests, the emphasis is placed on the second one. In Section 1, we present the theoretical formulation of the dynamic model for gas. In Section 2, the results of the estimation of the gas model by ordinary least squares methods are presented. These results, together with more fundamental theoretical considerations, suggest a different approach. The essence of this approach, which is not restricted to the gas model, is discussed in Section 3, while two alternative procedures for estimating the coefficients of the dynamic model in the light of this new approach are proposed in Section 4. It is subsequently shown that the application of these procedures to the gas data produces results that are reasonable on the basis of a priori theoretical considerations.
The aim of this paper is to identify why independent hotels decide to affiliate and give up their highly valued independence. Based on interviews with 12 independently owned hotels and five affiliations active on the Swedish market, it became evident that independence is important, but factors such as development with technical solutions, internet, the use of smart phones, social media, sales and marketing, central purchasing and loyalty cards are difficult to pursue as an independent hotel. The results also showed that marketing organisations and referral chains are the preferred options, as their offerings are more in line with the view of strategic entrepreneurship that the hoteliers expressed. Even agency-related aspects such as control rights affected the entrepreneurs' aspiration to affiliate, at the same time as the respondents thought their way of running the business was the most efficient. The results from the research add to the knowledge associated with agency theory, strategic entrepreneurship and resource-based view of the firm. More practically, it gives the independent hoteliers a possibility to assess the current situation and decide what options could be valuable, while the affiliations would be able to better align their offerings to attract new hotels.
Tourism can sustain high levels of employment and income, but the sector is a source of environmental and health impacts. One of the most important is the generation of municipal solid waste (MSW). However, there is a lack of studies which quantify how much the tourist population engages in total MSW and separately collected recyclables. The aim of this paper is to estimate the impact of the tourist population on MSW, both total and separately collected, for the period 1998-2010, for the Mediterranean island of Menorca (Spain). We use dynamic regressions models, including data for monthly stocks of tourists. The results show that, on average, a 1% increase in the tourist population in Menorca causes an overall MSW increase of 0.282% and one more tourist in Menorca generates 1.31kgday(-1) (while one more resident generates 1.48kgday(-1)). This result could be useful to better estimate the seasonal population of different regions, since intrannual fluctuation of MSW is used as a proxy measure of actual population (the sum of residents and tourists). Moreover, an increase of 1% in the tourist population causes an increase of 0.232% in separately collected recyclables and an additional tourist generates 0.160kgday(-1). One resident selectively collects on average 47.3% more than one tourist. These results can help in the planning of waste infrastructure and waste collection services in tourist areas.
Using data sets from Italian provinces that include rich northern and poorer southern regions, this article examines to what extent income and municipal waste generation are linked and at what level of income they become delinked. The analysis shows that the turning point occurs at very high levels of value added per capita (in the range of 22,586 to 31,611), exemplified by a very limited number of wealthy (northern) Italian provinces. The authors also find that some recently adopted waste policy and waste management instruments have influenced waste generation at source, independent of socioeconomic characteristics. This supports the argument that more effective waste management instruments that target waste prevention at the source need to be implemented in line with the stated priorities of the EU and member countries. The findings also imply that developing countries in particular should not wait to implement waste reduction policies until household incomes and consumption levels increase.
Collectively, small hotels constitute a significant solid waste management (SWM) problem. Little research has focused on the SWM practices of small hotels. In the United Kingdom, much of the solid waste generated by small hotels goes to landfill. This study uses a constructionist approach to investigate SWM issues in small hotels in a local authority in Wales and examines the role of the public sector in helping small hotels manage their solid waste effectively. The results revealed that only a minority of small hotels were considering the adoption of sustainable SWM practices, either because hoteliers felt negatively about sustainable SWM alternatives or perceived challenges – an issue which necessitates government intervention. At the time of this study, the public sector provided only very modest services to enhance SWM practices. This study proposes a best practice model for the public sector to encourage small hotels to manage their solid waste effectively, in order to reduce or even eliminate waste for landfill. Local authorities' support is required to make waste management hierarchy options more accessible to small hotels and should incentivise better waste management through increasing the gap between the costs of landfill and recycling waste.
Waste disposal is an issue that is becoming increasingly important in policy terms in the European Union, and in Italy, a country showing strong geographical heterogeneity in waste management. This paper analyses the process of decoupling/delinking between economic growth and landfilling trends in a framework where economic, policy, geographical elements and spatial issues are all considered as drivers behind the phenomenon. We exploit an original and very rich provincial panel dataset over 1999–2005 for the 103 Italian provinces. Evidence shows that the observed ‘absolute’ decoupling between economic growth and landfilling is driven by a mix of structural factors. Among the main factors, population density, more than the provincial income level, emerges as a crucial driver: local opportunity costs and landfill externalities matter in shaping waste policies and local commitment to a transition away from landfilling of waste (landfill diversion). However, not only structural factors are relevant. If on the one hand landfill taxes are not a significant driver of the phenomenon, waste management tools, such as separated collection for recycling, and the tariff system connected to waste services, bring about significant effect on the amount of landfilled waste. Moreover, regarding the analysis of spatial interrelations across provinces, we note that the presence of incinerators in nearby provinces increases landfill diversion, due probably to free riding behaviour or intra-provinces ‘agreements’ on waste management; this is not true for nearby landfill sites, that cause for a given province a strong lock in effect. Future research could strengthen the analysis of policy effectiveness at regional level, focusing on policy endogeneity, and the full investigation of spatial correlations in waste disposal performances.
This study investigates the macroeconomic forces underlying forest clearcutting practices across Canada. In keeping with the relevant literature on environmental degradation, three forces are assumed to influence forest clearcutting: per capita gross domestic product (GDP), technology, and population density. While previous work has used models that assume linear relationships between the latter two variables and environmental degradation, this paper employs a more flexible (quadratic) model. Pooled regression analysis in the Atlantic, Quebec, Ontario, Prairie, and British Columbia regions between 1975-99 indicates that while technological change tends to have an inverted U-shaped relationship with forest area clearcut, population and GDP/capita tend to have the opposite effects. This last variable finding strongly rejects the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis of an inverted U-shaped relationship between GDP/capita and forest area clearcut in Canada.
The literature on trade openness, economic development, and the environment is largely inconclusive about the environmental consequences of trade. This study treats trade and income as endogenous and estimates the overall impact of trade openness on environmental quality using the instrumental variables technique. We find that whether or not trade has a beneficial effect on the environment varies depending on the pollutant and the country. Trade is found to benefit the environment in OECD countries. It has detrimental effects, however, on sulfur dioxide (SO2) and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in non-OECD countries, although it does lower biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) emissions in these countries. We also find the impact is large in the long term, after the dynamic adjustment process, although it is small in the short term.
This study investigates the environmental management practices among different categories of hotels in the Greater Accra Region (GAR) of Ghana. Existing literature on hotels’ environmental management practices provided the theoretical underpinning for the study. Using the stratified sampling method, a sample of 52 hotel managers from the various categories of hotels in region completed questionnaires on the study. A test on the hypothesis using the chi-square method supported the fact that larger hotels (Three to five star) were at the forefront of adoption and practice of environmental management practices. Also, for the hotels with environmental policies, such policies were geared towards achieving safe, clean and healthy environments.
This study revisits the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis for water pollution by using a recent dynamic technique, which is the generalized method of moments (GMM) approach, for a board sample of 97 countries during the period 1980–2001. On a global scale, as we cannot obtain the EKC relationship between real income and biological oxygen demand (BOD) emissions, this paper further classifies these countries into four regional groups – Africa, Asia and Oceania, America, and Europe – to explore whether the different regions have different ECK relationships. The empirical results show evidence of the inverted U-shaped EKC relationships’ existence in America and Europe, but not in Africa and Asia and Oceania. Thus, the regional difference of EKC for water pollution is supported. Furthermore, the estimated turning points are, approximately, US38,221 for America and Europe, respectively.
The current study sought to extend the theory of planned behavior (TPB), which is rooted in the theory of reasoned action (TRA), to more comprehensively explain the formation of customers’ intention to revisit a green hotel. In particular, the extended TPB incorporates the critical constructs in the consumer behavior and marketing literature (i.e., service quality, customer satisfaction, overall image, and frequency of past behavior) into the original TPB model. Results of a structural analysis revealed that the new model provides a better fit with the data, and explains significantly greater amounts of variance in revisit intention in comparison to the TRA and TPB. Added constructs in the new model considerably contribute to improve our understanding of the complicated process of green hotel customers’ decision-making. In this study, all relationships appeared to be significant as conceptualized according to the theory. In addition, a mediating effect of satisfaction and attitude was found. The article includes discussions on theoretical and managerial implications.
Waste generation and waste disposal are issues that are becoming increasingly prominent in the environmental arena both from a policy perspective and in the context of delinking analysis. Waste generation is still increasing proportionally with income, and economic and environmental costs associated to landfilling are also increasing. Thus, the need of accelerating the eventual delinking process by the introduction of policies at all stages of waste production and disposal.This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of waste generation, incineration, recycling and landfill dynamics based on panel data for the EU25, to assess the effects of different drivers (economic, structural, policies) and the eventual heterogeneity on such evidence between western and eastern EU countries.We show that for waste generation there is still no absolute delinking trend, although elasticity to income drivers appears lower than in the past. Landfill and other policy effects do not seem to provide backward incentives for waste prevention. Regarding landfill and incineration, the two trends, as expected, are respectively decreasing and increasing, with policy effects providing a strong driver. It demonstrates the effectiveness of policy even in this early stage of policy implementation. This is essential for an ex post evaluation of existing landfill and incineration directives. Nevertheless, it signals the risk of widening gaps between early adopters and countries which postpone ratification and implementation.It is also worth noting that EU15 and EU10 groups of countries show some different waste trends and driving forces of waste generation and landfill diversion hen analysed separately. We may conclude that although complete delinking is far from being achieved – especially for waste generation, there are some positive signals, and signs of a quite significant role of the EU waste policies implemented in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
The relationship between deforestation and income across 66 countries of Latin America, Africa and Asia is examined. Institutional characteristics as well as macroeconomic policies of each country are hypothesized to impact deforestation. Results show strong evidence of an environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) relationship between income and deforestation for all three continents. Institutional structure and macroeconomic policy significantly affect the tropical deforestation process. Improvements in political institutions and governance significantly reduce deforestation. The factors leading to deforestation differ across regions, however, and there is no one-size-fits-all global policy recommendation for restraining the tropical deforestation process.
In the recent special issue of Ecological Economics devoted to the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis, Rothman speculates that: “what appear to be improvements in environmental quality may in reality be indicators of increased ability of consumers in wealthy nations to distance themselves from the environmental degradation associated with their consumption” (Rothman, D., 1998. Environmental Kuznets curves – real progress or passing the buck?: a case for consumption-based approaches. Ecol. Econ. 25, 178). Consistent with Rothman’s general hypothesis of ‘distancing’ as a possible source of EKC results, this empirical study advances and tests a line of argument in which internal migration plays a central explanatory role for an observed EKC for US hazardous waste sites. Two specific hypotheses tested are: (i) proximity to hazardous waste site build-up emerges as a factor in the migration decisions of individuals as per capita income increases beyond a threshold level; and (ii) the level of income at which the EKC turns downwards is equal to the threshold level of income in (i). Results provide evidence that migration is a contributing factor to the observed EKC.
The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis postulates an inverted-U-shaped relationship between different pollutants and per capita income, i.e., environmental pressure increases up to a certain level as income goes up; after that, it decreases. An EKC actually reveals how a technically specified measurement of environmental quality changes as the fortunes of a country change. A sizeable literature on EKC has grown in recent period. The common point of all the studies is the assertion that the environmental quality deteriorates at the early stages of economic development/growth and subsequently improves at the later stages. In other words, environmental pressure increases faster than income at early stages of development and slows down relative to GDP growth at higher income levels. This paper reviews some theoretical developments and empirical studies dealing with EKC phenomenon. Possible explanations for this EKC are seen in (i) the progress of economic development, from clean agrarian economy to polluting industrial economy to clean service economy; (ii) tendency of people with higher income having higher preference for environmental quality, etc. Evidence of the existence of the EKC has been questioned from several corners. Only some air quality indicators, especially local pollutants, show the evidence of an EKC. However, an EKC is empirically observed, till there is no agreement in the literature on the income level at which environmental degradation starts declining. This paper provides an overview of the EKC literature, background history, conceptual insights, policy and the conceptual and methodological critique.
Environmentally responsive hospitality solid waste minimization (SWM) programs and practices are urgently needed. A strategic SWM approach means first implementing material elimination or reduction. Second, institute procedures to reuse and extend product life. Third, seek avenues to recycle waste prior to resorting to disposal. Two perspectives to guide SWM efforts are described. The biosphere perspective highlights the interdependent nature of our global environment. The life-cycle analysis perspective assesses cradle-to-grave impacts of SWM alternatives. Together, these views and practices can result in cost avoidance, can enhance consumer image and employee morale, and can lessen environmental impacts.
This paper presents a critical history of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC). The EKC proposes that indicators of environmental degradation first rise, and then fall with increasing income per capita. Recent evidence shows however, that developing countries are addressing environmental issues, sometimes adopting developed country standards with a short time lag and sometimes performing better than some wealthy countries, and that the EKC results have a very flimsy statistical foundation. A new generation of decomposition and efficient frontier models can help disentangle the true relations between development and the environment and may lead to the demise of the classic EKC.
Institutions for secure property rights and better environmental policies for moving the system towards a sustainable growth path can reduce the height of an environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) relationship between income and deforestation. This study examines the impact of these specific institutional factors on the EKC relationship for deforestation across Latin American, African and Asian countries. The factors related to agricultural production, population, economy and governmental policies of each country are hypothesised to affect deforestation. Results of the Latin American countries show significant evidence of an EKC relationship for deforestation and also relevance of the institutional factors to reduce the rate of deforestation. Improvements in institutions for secure property rights and better environmental policies can thus significantly reduce the rate of deforestation without hindering the level of economic growth. Evidence also suggests that the effect of agricultural production on deforestation could be halted by strengthening institutional factors. There was found to be complementarity between the institutional factors and forest sector polices, and an additive effect between the institutional factors and forest products export promotion policies, which could also eventually reduce the rate of deforestation.
Improvements in some measures of air and water quality can accompany rising per capita income, as illustrated by the so-called environmental Kuznets curve. For pollution variables which show such a relationship, we hypothesize that a more equitable distribution of power contributes to these outcomes, by enhancing the influence on policy of those who bear the costs of pollution, relative to the influence of those who benefit from pollution-generating activities. An empirical analysis of international variations in seven indicators of air and water quality supports this hypothesis. Literacy, political rights, and civil liberties are found to have particularly strong effects on environmental quality in low-income countries.
Rapid economic growth in Singapore has resulted in a large increase in refuse output. Landfill sites and incinerators are now reaching capacity levels and the need to build new ones is putting pressure on Singapore's limited land resources. In response to this as well as to rising collection, infrastructure and operating costs, a waste minimisation strategy was initiated by the Ministry of the Environment in 1990. By 1995, it has resulted, among other things, in the establishment of 1,313 waste recycling centres and the undertaking of various pilot recycling projects in housing estates. Despite some good initial participation rates from residents in pilot projects, findings from a 2 yr old recycling project in a public housing estate show that the present level of participation by residents there is low with the core reasons being that of inconvenience, lack of incentives and unfamiliarity. For better results, it is suggested that future efforts should improve on the operational, publicity, educational and financial aspects of recycling schemes.
This paper attempts to explain the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) or inverted U-shaped relationship between income and environmental degradation in the framework of endogenous growth model. Considering a closed economy, one part of capital is used for commodity production, which generates pollution that degrades existing environment, and the remaining part is used for abating pollution (i.e., upgrading environment). Sufficient abatement activity improves/restores environmental quality. A sufficient abatement activity (associated with commodity production) could only lead optimally towards steady state. The ratio of allocation of capital between two sectors (production and abatement) is fixed along the optimal path, but it varies along the non-optimal path that exists in the off-steady state. In the economy, allocation of capital for abatement activity varies over time. Thus, a change from insufficient to sufficient allocation of capital (i.e., investment) for abatement activity is the basis for an inverted U-shaped relationship between environmental quality and economic growth.