Perisseuo: The Enduring Myth of Sustainable Tourism

David Fennell and Richard William Butler ()
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David Fennell: Department of Geography & Tourism Studies, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON L2S 3A1, Canada
Richard William Butler: Department of Geography, University of Strathclyde, 16 Richmond St, Glasgow G1 1XQ, UK

Tourism and Hospitality, 2025, vol. 6, issue 4, 1-16

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to show that sustainable tourism, the widely accepted benchmark for the present and future responsible tourism industry is, and will continue to be, a myth. The paper takes the form of a review essay and relies on discussions of concepts, comparisons, and examples rather than field research and empirical data to define the problem and draw conclusions. We use the folkloric myth of Plutus, the god of wealth and abundance, to underscore two moral themes. The first is that wealth is blind, and second that seeking wealth and abundance is an entrenched aspect of human nature, with greed (avarice) consistently destabilizing societal improvements. Science shows us what the problems are (e.g., climate change), while ethics tell us how to address these problems. However, it seems that we still cannot find our way to a sustainable tourism future. What is playing out in the theatre of sustainable tourism, therefore, is far from a comedy and much more like a tragedy, as tourism in its current forms has become too much of a good thing, rendering “sustainable” a meaningless term. Overtourism, overdevelopment, disparities, and injustices are now the norm in the maelstrom of global tourism, with no palpable end in sight.

Keywords: sustainable tourism; myth of Plutus; overtourism; science; ethics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Z3 Z30 Z31 Z32 Z33 Z38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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