Sustainability in Tourism: Impact of Attractiveness Factors in the World’s Most Visited Destinations

Abstract

Iconic destinations are benchmarks for tourism development, but their effects on the environment are debatable. To highlight the tourism attractiveness factors of sustainability in the world’s most visited destinations, we applied clustering and multiple regression to specific indicators for the period 2000–2020. We observed a relatively high heterogeneity in terms of sustainability, with destinations split into four clusters: C1 (France, Spain, Italy, Germany and UK), C2 (Mexico and Thailand), C3 (USA, China) and C4 (Turkey). Unsustainable factors in all destinations include the industry and construction sector, social insecurity, inflation and transport services development. Renewable energy consumption is sustainable, while economic growth, education and tourism indicators have antagonistic effects. The effects of tourism attractiveness factors on the environment have decision-making implications at all levels. The novelty of this analysis lies in the tourism attractiveness factors examined, and the results can help shape tourism development policies in balance with structural policies such as energy and environment.