Stakeholders’ Perceptions Of Sustainability And Tourism Development In Remote Emerging Destinations: Insights From Aysen Patagonia

Sustainable tourism (ST), understood as tourism that contributes to the pursuit of sustainability, remains a pivotal facet of contemporary tourism discourse. However, after decades of theoretical debate, its practical adoption remains limited. Evidence of successful ST policy implementation is scarce, especially in the context of remote emerging destinations. Acknowledging the conceptual ambiguities and political hurdles that have hindered its widespread adoption, scholars have underscored the imperative of understanding local stakeholders’ perspectives on ST development to help bridge the gap between theory and practice. Addressing this gap is particularly critical to advance ST in remote emerging settings where its implementation faces unique challenges related to their intricate geographies and resource constraints. In light of this need, this investigation aims to explore stakeholders’ understanding of ST and its implementation in the Aysen Region of Chilean Patagonia (Aysen Patagonia). This remote destination, celebrated for its pristineness, boasts an incipient yet burgeoning tourist demand, which has led to the emergence of various sustainability challenges.

Grounded in the principles of interpretivism, the thesis adopts a qualitative exploratory approach to investigating the views of stakeholders. It employs purposive and snowball sampling techniques to recruit participants from across the public, private and voluntary sectors and conduct semi-structured interviews during 2020 and 2021. Data collection takes place in two communities of Aysen Patagonia: Puerto Aysén and Puerto Río Tranquilo. These localities represent contrasting tourism development contexts within the region—the former, an industrial town embracing tourism to strengthen its local economy, and the latter, a village heavily reliant on tourism dealing with issues of seasonal over-tourism. Reflexive Thematic Analysis is utilised to interpret the data and develop the findings of this investigation.

Findings reveal diverse stakeholder interpretations regarding sustainability in tourism development. Specifically, the study identifies five distinct approaches by which destination stakeholders interpret the meaning of sustainability concerning tourism development in remote emerging destinations: Local Community Well-being; Environment Protection; Economic, Social and Environmental Integration; Limits and Regulation; Economic Viability Over Time. These approaches allow the conceptualisation of the framework ‘Stakeholders’ Five Interpretations of Sustainable Tourism Development in Emerging Destinations’. The latter constitutes a novel conceptual contribution to the field, offering original insights into the socially constructed meaning of sustainability concerning tourism development in remote emerging settings. Regarding the implementation and advancement of ST, findings reveal that the adoption of sustainability in Aysen Patagonia’s tourism development process is considered limited as ST policy faces significant challenges in achieving successful implementation. Specifically, the examination recognises eight overarching political and socioeconomic factors that hinder the development of ST in Aysen Patagonia: Sustainability Gap between Discourses and Reality, Weak Destination Governance and Lack of Planning, Governing Cycles and Political Short-termism, Weak Environmental Policy and Minimal Enforcement, Centralism and Power Asymmetries, Sustainability is Not a Priority in Low-income Populations, Government’s Economic Priority and Budgetary Restrictions, and Resource Constraints and Infrastructural Precarity. These findings align with previous research on the subject while contributing novel perspectives on some hindrances to ST that remain under-researched in the context of emerging settings. Accordingly, these insights contribute to a deeper understanding of the complex interplay between sustainability goals and local realities in remote emerging destinations, thus enriching tourism literature focused on ST development in developing economies.

Thus, this research advances ST scholarship by offering a nuanced exploration of ST development within the unique dynamics of Aysen Patagonia, serving as a timely and critical contribution to the evolving discourse on ST. Ultimately, by elucidating challenges to implementing ST policy in this setting, this thesis encourages scholars, policymakers, and industry practitioners to advocate for inclusive policymaking and adopt context-specific approaches that reconcile the advancement of (sustainable) tourism with local developmental needs and aspirations in remote emerging destinations such as Aysen Patagonia - one of the last unspoiled natural treasures on Earth.