Research Note: Measuring Tourism Sustainability: An Empirical Comparison of Different Weighting Procedures Used in Modelling Composite Indicators

Abstract

This paper compares three different procedures for weighting sustainability indicators in the construction of composite indicators of tourism sustainability (TS). The case of Croatian coastal destinations is used. The particular weighting procedures are: (a) factor analysis (FA); (b) expert panel survey; and (c) the equal weights technique. As the results of this study reveal, the weights attached to different sustainability indicators can differ significantly depending on the weighting procedure used. Accordingly, inappropriate choice of weighting procedure could distort the relative importance of different sustainability indicators and thus could result in imperfect decisions by policymakers. The authors argue that the suitability of factor analysis as a weighting procedure in the construction of composite indicators of TS is rather questionable.

Keywords

sustainability tourism weighting procedure composite indicator

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Blackstock

K.L.

McCrum

Scott

White

(2006a), A Framework For Developing Indicators of Sustainable Tourism, Macaulay Institute, Aberdeen.

Blackstock

K.L.

Scott

A.J.

White

McCrum

(2006b), Indicators and Sustainable Tourism: Summary of Interview Findings, Macaulay Institute, Aberdeen.

Blancas

F.J.

Gonzalez

Lozano-Oyola

Perez

(2010), ‘The assessment of sustainable tourism: Application to Spanish costal destinations’, Ecological Indicators, Vol 10, No 2, pp 484–492.

Butler

R.W.

(1999), ‘Sustainable tourism: A state-of-the-art review’, Tourism Geographies, Vol 1, No 1, pp 7–25.

Castellani

Sala

(2010), ‘Sustainable performance index for tourism policy development’, Tourism Management, Vol 31, No 6, pp 871–880.

Ceron

J.P.

Dubois

(2003), ‘Tourism and sustainable development indicators: The gap between theoretical demands and practical achievements’, Current Issues in Tourism, Vol 6, No 1, pp 54–75.

Chávez-Cortés

Maya

J.A.A.

(2010), ‘Identifying and structuring values to guide the choice of sustainability indicators for tourism development’, Sustainability, Vol 9, No 2, pp 3074–3099.

Choi

H.S.C.

Sirakaya

(2006), ‘Sustainability indicators for managing community tourism’, Tourism Management, Vol 27, No 6, pp 1274–1289.

Čorak

Hendija

Ivandić

Marušić

(2008), Stavovi i Potrosnja Turista u Hrvatskoj – TOMAS LJETO 2007, Institut za turizam, Zagreb.

10.

Hunter

Shaw

(2007), ‘The ecological footprint as a key indicator of sustainable tourism’, Tourism Management, Vol 28, No 1, pp 46–57.

11.

T.G.

(2001), ‘Assessing progress of tourism sustainability’, Annals of Tourism Research, Vol 28, No 3, pp 817–820.

12.

T.G.

(2005), ‘Development of a tourism sustainability assessment procedure: A conceptual approach’, Tourism Management, Vol 26, No 3, pp 431–445.

13.

Ministry of Environmental and Nature Protection of the Republic of Croatia (2008), ‘Sea bathing water quality in the territory of the Republic of Croatia’, Ministry of Environmental and Nature Protection of the Republic of Croatia, Zagreb (http://www.mzoip.hr/doc/Brosura_EN_2008.pdf, accessed 4 February 2014).

14.

Pulido

J.I.

Sánchez

(2009), ‘Measuring tourism sustainability. Proposal of a composite index’, Tourism Economics, Vol 15, No 2, pp 277–296.

15.

Rummel

R.J.

(1988), Applied Factor Analysis, Northwestern University Press, Evanston, IL.

16.

Tsaur

S.H.

Lin

Y.C.

Lin

J.H.

(2006), ‘Evaluating ecotourism sustainability from the integrated perspective of resource, community and tourism’, Tourism Management, Vol 27, No 4, pp 640–653.

17.

Twining-Ward

Butler

(2002), ‘Implementing sustainable tourism development on a small island: Development and the use of sustainable tourism development indicators in Samoa’, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Vol 10, No 5, pp 363–387.

18.

Vera

J.F.

Ivars

J.A.

(2003), ‘Measuring sustainability in a mass tourist destination: Pressures, perceptions and policy responses in Torrevieja, Spain’, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Vol 11, No 2–3, pp 181–203.

19.

White

McCrum

Blackstock

K.L.

Scott

(2006), Indicators and Sustainable Tourism: Literature Review, Macaulay Institute, Aberdeen.