Framing the tourism industry into circular economy practices

Tourism is a fast-growing industry. It gives an important contribution to the economic development but, at the same time, it is also a significant contributor to environmental degradation and climate change. Considering that many of the tourist activities are based on the availability of natural ecosystems in good condition and accessible to tourists, it is crucial for the long-term success of the industry to develop strategies to mitigate its impact on the environment. Over the last years, Circular Economy (CE) has arisen as a tool to operationalize sustainable development principles and as a crucial guide of action for national and supranational policies. Considering the need of tourism industry to move toward a more sustainable approach, the main goal of the paper is to figure out how the CE may support the tourism supply chain into this transition. Starting from a literature review aimed to identify CE operationalization principles, the paper main goal is to evaluate how those principles may be applied into the tourism industry. Once identified CE operationalization principles, the paper offers a brief overview of literature analysing the potential of applying CE into the tourism industry. As circular tourism conceptualization and implementation is still under explored, this paper present a first attempt to frame circular tourism practices into the CE umbrella concept. To build the circular tourism implementation framework we first employ the 11R framework we have adapted for tourism sector CE implementation to identify CE practices applicable to this sector. Once the practices had been established, they will be framed to evaluate at which level it is possible to apply it, according to their potential implementation at destination level (decision-makers, local authorities, NGOs, industry agencies), and consumers level (travellers). Next, it poses the basis for the development of a circular tourism framework, which goal is to identify for each CE principle its potential implementation into the touristic supply chain. The recent proliferation of studies inherent in the circular approach has stimulated academic research by opening new currents of research and leaving mostly unexplored others. The application of the CE concept in the tourism sector is still unexplored and more efforts should be done to understand the potentialities of Circular Tourism. The objective of the paper was to create a framework for circular tourism implementation, identifying the interrelations existing between the circular economy and the development of a more sustainable tourism. CE principles and related practices have a great potential to ensure a balanced development of the industry, actively contributing in the achievement of long-term sustainability goals. The proposed framework may represent a solid baseline to further investigate the potential impact of CE practices on a touristic destination. As this is a preliminary study, the next step will be to identify for each of the 11 Rs the specific CE practices to be implemented by the touristic supply chain stakeholders. To give soundness to the project further development will include interviews with relevant tourism stakeholders to test the level of application of CE practices in the tourism sector; the categorization of CE practices in the hospitality industry into the framework proposed; and the application of the framework in our pilot project involving tourism firms in a coastal destination.