Luxury tourism and sustainability: towards a new compatible model

This exploratory study analyses the compatibility between luxury tourism and sustainability, addressing at a theoretical level how classic luxury standards have shifted towards an experiential model. Based on a conceptual framework that develops the experiential luxury model and the delegitimisation of the necessary change in the tourism industry due to greenwashing, a case such as Six Senses is presented to introduce a framework of good practices, even though there are limitations that will be addressed in future studies. It is concluded that, although there are indications that luxury can be sustainable based on specific success stories, how operators are exploiting the concept of sustainability from a commercial and tangible perspective remains to be explored.