Turismo activo y desarrollo sostenible. Efectos de las actividades de turismo activo sobre la sostenibilidad y buenas prácticas para empresas y destinos. El caso de Mallorca

Abstract

This paper presents the undertaken research on two main objects of study: active tourism as a relevant tourism subsector and sustainable development as a key concept in the 2030 Agenda, which aspires to achieve different global objectives: the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Considering these objects of study to be addressed, and with the purpose of exploring the relationship between both, the theoretical framework for this thesis was defined, by examining the concept of sustainability, the role of active tourism -services, companies, positions against sustainability-, and the relationship between both. The literature review on these themes allowed identifying possible effects of active tourism on sustainability aspects, as well as the specific factors that can cause such effects. The objectives formulated from the gaps identified in the reviewed literature were addressed from two research methods: semi-structured interviews and fuzzy logic techniques. Specifically, incidence matrices were applied to assess, in a first study, degrees of incidence of different types of active tourism activities on dimensions of sustainable development and, in a second study, effects on aspects of sustainable development caused by features or specific factors in active tourism companies. Both data analysed using this methodology and the thematic analysis which emerged from the interviews led to results that showed how active tourism can contribute to sustainable development goals. The conclusions drawn from this work highlight those elements in active tourism companies which are most determining in the contribution of this subsector to certain aspects of sustainable development and present the theoretical and practical implications involved in the contributions of this pioneering research. Finally, a decalogue of good practices in active tourism and sustainable development for companies and destinations is proposed.