The Hidden Power of Sustainable Tourism Indicator Schemes: Have We Been Measuring Their Effectiveness All Wrong?
采用系统思维方法，通过专家研讨会构建因果循环图，揭示可持续旅游指标体系在实施中引发的对话、学习、网络发展等隐藏动力，而非仅依赖线性政策路径。
Evaluating whether sustainability indicator schemes contribute to better sustainable destination management has proven challenging. We adopt a systems thinking approach to shed light on the elusive impacts of sustainable tourism indicator schemes. We conduct online participatory workshops with 19 experts in sustainable tourism monitoring, to produce a causal loop diagram that illustrates how destination systems behave when indicator schemes are implemented. The results show that until now, these schemes have been expected to follow utopian, evidence-based, policy pathways to change, but we now understand that this linear-thinking approach fails to recognize the complex interplay of factors that occur during implementation. We find that indicator schemes can spark a rich, yet unappreciated, series of conceptual, instrumental, and structural dynamics. We conclude that the hidden power of these schemes lies in their ability to foster dialog, stimulate learning, incentivize network development, challenge stakeholder worldviews, and steer systems change toward sustainable destination management.