TRANSFORMATION DESIGN FOR RESPONSIBLE TOURISM: A PARADIGM SHIFT FOR LOCAL COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT AND WELL-BEING IN DESTINATION

This paper addresses the need to reflect on how systems for implementing tourism practices should be redesigned to facilitate sustainable social transformation in destinations. Responsible tourism today is implemented on existing (unsustainable) tourism systems and is visible through the planning of sustainable actions influenced by the political agenda and applied individually by service providers, stakeholders and tourists. If we shift the observation perspective of the system, can there really exist a form of responsible tourism that has a positive impact on the territories and communities that host it? In this scenario, transformation design of tourism fosters the implementation of processes and approaches that involve local communities and stakeholders in the definition of a new systemic social, cultural and economic paradigm. The paper presents a model for co-designing responsible tourism services in destinations, shifting the focus from consumer perception to the actual sustainability implications within host communities. The framework is intended as a cue for critical reflection with a view to resizing the tourism offer by questioning the current model of mass tourism in favour of a tourism structure oriented towards the creation of social and cultural value. The theoretical framework intends to propose a perspective in which destination tourism systems are designed giving greater value to communities, territories and cultural resources. The research aims to reflect on the concept of sustainability as a premise on which to design participatory practices for responsible tourism reaching a systemic sustainable balance moving from an extractive to a generative economy for local communities in destination.