Sustainable Tourism Policy, Destination Management and Sustainable Tourism Development: A Moderated-Mediation Model

Abstract

In the recent years, the rapid growth of the tourism industry has risen to prominence as a global concern. Tourism empowers communities and uplifts the economy. However, it poses social and environmental challenges, which in turn draws attention to tourism patterns. Sustainable tourism promises protection of the environment and the social-cultural elements of any given destination. Hence, this study aims to understand the complex relationship between sustainability policy, management, and tourist behavior. Thus, we examined the relationships between sustainable tourism policy and destination management, destination social responsibility, and tourist value orientation with sustainable tourism development. We recruited participants at managerial level coming from 163 Malaysian companies and conducted a cross-sectional quantitative study, using partial least square structural equation modeling. We propose that sustainable tourism policy and destination management and destination social responsibility significantly impact sustainable tourism development. Moreover, destination social responsibility partially mediates the relationship between sustainable tourism policy destination management and sustainable tourism development.