Sustainable tourism versus wellbeing - the hosts and guests perspective

Abstract

It would be an understatement to claim that the term “wellbeing’ is reaching its peak of popularity nowadays. The term gained momentum in 2003-2005, following the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) (2003, 2005) that opened the field for interdisciplinary researches. In the MEA perspective, wellbeing is correlated with sustainable development and with ecosystem services, both seen as inextricable elements of one global process, necessary to lead properly to“our common future”. The following article presents a theoretical analysis of the ‘wellbeing’ term in relation to sustainable tourism and to host and guest communities. Wellbeing of hosts, in accordance with UNWTO (2005) or UNGA (2015), should be achieved when sustainable tourism guidelines are fulfilled. Wellbeing of guests is necessary to make any destination attractive for tourism. For the start, their needs and expectations will not overlap.