Benchmarking international tourism sustainability under uncertainty: a novel hybrid Fermatean Fuzzy framework

Sustainable tourism planning requires robust decision-making tools capable of handling high uncertainty and conflicting criteria. This study introduces a novel hybrid decision-making model based on Fermatean Fuzzy logic to overcome the limitations of traditional assessment methods. To demonstrate the model’s applicability and validity, an extensive empirical analysis was conducted on 35 major international tourism destinations. The countries were assessed using a multi-dimensional indicator set encompassing economic, social, and environmental sustainability. Unlike conventional crisp methods, the proposed Fermatean Fuzzy framework successfully captures the ambiguity in tourism data. The results of the empirical application identify France, Germany, and Italy as top performers, driven largely by their established infrastructure and economic capacity. Furthermore, spatial analysis using Natural Breaks reveals significant regional disparities in sustainability performance. The study concludes that the proposed hybrid model provides a reliable methodological foundation for policymakers to monitor complex sustainability metrics, regardless of data volatility.