Sustainability-Oriented Innovation in Tourism Destinations: Born Ready or Bred for Success?

Sustainable development in tourism has been mainly concerned with the conservation and preservation of natural resources and cultural capital. Alternative forms of tourism such as eco, green, and slow tourism have emerged but generally remain niche areas. Drawing from the literature on strategic management and innovation, this chapter maintains that tourism destinations gain a competitive advantage from strategically deploying competencies and resources to develop sustainability-oriented innovations that enhance the attractiveness of the tourism product. This chapter characterizes sustainability-oriented innovation in the context of tourism destinations. It proposes a framework of four core capabilities—these are leadership, collaboration, marketing capacity, and innovation management capabilities—that together create an enabling environment for tourism destinations to innovate for sustainability. It concludes with some suggestions on how tourism destinations can achieve a transition towards sustainable development.