Sustainability indicators for the economic evaluation of tourism investments on islands

The sustainable tourism development is often a key element for the enhancement of island states. The fragility and the environmental, social and economic vulnerability that characterize these territories make the need to integrate the multiple aspects of sustainability into the decision-making processes concerning the definition of plans and programs of investment in the tourism sector increasingly urgent. Thus, the aim of the work is to build a dataset of sustainability indicators classified and weighed according to the subsequent characterization of a multi-criteria evaluation model. This dataset is obtained by defining an analysis procedure aimed at: selecting scientifically valid indicators, readily available by the analysts and easy to interpret by stakeholders; weighing the indicators themselves based on criteria shared in the literature; taking into account the uniqueness of the territorial reference system. The evaluation protocol proposed is substantiated in the subsequent steps of selection, classification, weighting and ranking of sustainability indicators for the analysis of tourism projects on the island. Innovative elements essentially concern weighting operation. In fact, the weight of each indicator is a function of several evaluation criteria and is estimated by using both statistical analysis methods and analytic hierarchy processes. The output of the study, consisting of the dataset of sustainability indicators, is a prerequisite for the subsequent characterization of a multi-criteria evaluation model able to select investment projects that balance the environmental, economic and social specificities of the island. This can determine greater effectiveness in the allocation processes of both public and private resources.