The role of tourism in sustainable development strategies

© University of the Aegean. In recent years, sustainability has become a fundamental component of all planning processes, while, on the other hand, tourism is seldom seen as a key or priority sector in overall planning. In this article, diverse approaches to sustainable planning that include tourism are examined in order to provide a conceptual framework and some points of reference to contextualize the posterior analysis of a recent planning process undertaken in Catalonia, Spain. The discourse focuses on the proposals, the difficulties encountered in establishing objectives and indicators, leading finally to an evaluation of the suitability and foreseeable effectiveness of the measures approved.