To What Extent Can a Balance Between Sustainability and Economic Growth Be Achieved in the Tourism Industry?

This paper reviews international tourism research concerning the ongoing tension between the continuing rhetoric of sustainable tourism and the reality of achieving sustainability through tourism. A range of interrelated sociopolitical, institutional, and behavioural obstructions to implementing sustainability was identified. We discussed four central themes: overtourism, policy inertia, fractured governance, and techno-optimism. While it is clear tourism is locked into a growth paradigm that often greets ecological and social sustainability as a 'nice to have' rather than a fundamental prerequisite of tourism, our research showed that there are pathways towards more just and resilient, socially and ecologically sustainable futures. The case studies undertaken in the Philippines, Vietnam, and Tanna Island, Vanuatu, demonstrated how participatory planning, inclusive governance, and culturally embedded work can offer meaningful alternatives to the ongoing challenges of sustainability in tourism.