Sustainable Tourism Law

APPELLATIONS OF ORIGIN IN TOURISM 505 bases were consolidated through the search for formulas that would allow for a society capable of satisfying the needs of its members (Du Pisani, 2006). It is in this scenario, in which the concept of sustainable development was outlined as the result of a process of confrontation between the ideas of growth and conservation. The following decades were a time of debate and redefinition of the term. For some, sustainable development had to be able to meet human needs and improve the quality of life (cf. Allen, 1980). The sustainability of these arguments was questioned given that the planet’s finite resources would not be sufficient to maintain high levels of consumption across all the population. In this context, the need for least developed countries to have a period of growth was highlighted, aimed at meeting the needs of the population, but also taking into account environmental issues (Du Pisani, 2006). In 1987, the Brundtland Report marked a turning point with regard to the inclusion of sustainable development on the international agenda. Its content reflects an acknowledgement not only of the need to redistribute resources to the poorest countries, but also of the importance of ensuring that future generations have sufficient resources to meet their needs. In general terms, this document focuses simultaneously on social equity, economic development and environmental conservation. These three elements will become the basis of the so-called triple bottom line, and would be considered essential for any analysis that follows a sustainability perspective. The defence of sustainable development and its inclusion on the international agenda was the subject of criticism from very different angles. On the one hand, it was argued that there was no questioning of the ideology of economic growth and consumer culture (Euractiv, 2002). On the other hand, it was argued that policies for sustainability would not be able to respond to the needs of the world’s growing population (Mitcham, 1995). Others argued that technological development would be able to meet the challenges of growth and development, making sustainability policies unnecessary (Euractiv 2002). By the 1990s, the cross-sectoral nature of sustainable development could be seen through the dissemination of its principles to different areas, such as tourism. In 1995 the Charter for Sustainable Tourism stated that tourism development should be based on sustainability criteria. This document endorsed the three basic elements of sustainable development and argued that the tourism sector “must be ecologically bearable in the long term, economically viable, as well as ethically and socially equitable for the local communities” (UNWTO, 1995).