Sustainability and tourism development in three Italian destinations: Stakeholders' opinions and behaviours

The paper focuses on tourism sustainability and environmental policies. It presents the findings of an empirical research study on environmental awareness in three Italian areas. The aim of the research was to study local stakeholders' environmental awareness so as to verify their willingness to support environmental needs. Institutional stakeholders and local tourism entrepreneurs were interviewed at each site. The areas have been analysed as case studies in order to evaluate the local communities' commitment towards protecting the environment. In addition, the opinions of different stakeholders within each site and across sites have been compared. This work also underlines the importance of endogenous processes of a socio-cultural type, such as primary drivers of innovative eco-compatible behaviours, compared with the role played by market-driven external forces or traditional government regulation. The findings demonstrate that, in lacking shared responsibility, conflicts and tensions inside the local community paralyse innovative environmental behaviours when they ought really to be turned into opportunities for debate so that shared strategies and solutions may be identified.