Destination Stewardship

Tourism should do more than bring people to a place. It should help that place remain livable, distinctive and resilient for the people who call it home.

Destinations are living communities. Residents, local businesses, cultural traditions, public spaces, natural systems and history all shape them. As a result, tourism can strengthen a place—or place it under strain.

Destination stewardship begins with that reality. It asks not only how tourism can create opportunity, but who shapes tourism decisions, where its economic value goes, what a place must protect, what pressures it can sustain and who must answer for the results.

Pedestrians and street vendors along a narrow commercial street in Kingstown, St. Vincent, beside colorful shops and an arcaded building.

What Is Destination Stewardship?

Destination stewardship is the shared responsibility for shaping tourism so that it strengthens the place itself and the people who call it home.

Over several decades, tourism leaders, communities and researchers have challenged models focused mainly on promotion and visitor growth. Jonathan Tourtellot, founder of the Destination Stewardship Center, helped define and advance destination stewardship in modern tourism practice.

In Destination Stewardship: Drive Sustainability, Economic Renewal, and Cultural Integrity, author Tonya Fitzpatrick builds on that foundation. She examines how stewardship moves from principle to practice by asking who has a meaningful voice in tourism decisions, where economic value goes, what a destination must protect, what pressures it can sustain and who must answer for the results.

At the same time, destination stewardship overlaps with destination management and sustainable tourism, but the terms are not interchangeable.

Destination Marketing

Central question: How do we create demand and connect visitors with the destination?

Destination Management

Central question: How do we coordinate tourism and manage its effects on visitors, businesses and the place?

Sustainable Tourism

Central question: How do we reduce tourism’s negative impacts and increase its positive environmental, social and economic contributions?

Destination Stewardship

Central question: How do we govern tourism so that it supports the long-term health of the place and the people who live there?

These approaches overlap. However, destination stewardship does not replace marketing, management or sustainable tourism. Instead, it places them within a broader responsibility to care for the destination over time.

Why Destination Stewardship Matters Now

Tourism can create jobs, business opportunities, tax revenue and investment. However, more visitors do not automatically create a stronger destination.

Rapid growth can strain housing, infrastructure, natural resources and local culture. At the same time, visitor spending may rise while too little of that value reaches local businesses, workers and communities.

Destination stewardship looks at both sides of the equation. What value does tourism create? What costs or pressures does it produce? And are communities sharing the benefits and burdens fairly?

Ultimately, the goal is not simply to attract more visitors. It is to build a visitor economy that contributes to a healthy, resilient place.

Six Questions That Change the Conversation

Who has a meaningful voice in tourism decisions?

Who benefits economically from the visitor economy — and who does not?

What pressures are residents, infrastructure, culture and natural resources experiencing?

What should a destination protect or strengthen as tourism changes?

How should success be measured beyond visitor arrivals and spending?

Who is accountable for turning what a destination learns into action?

Tonya Fitzpatrick speaking with Ian Fitzpatrick during a Destination Stewardship author talk at Oak Bluffs Public Library.

Destination Stewardship in Practice

Destination stewardship becomes real when it changes decisions.

That requires more than good intentions or community listening sessions. Destinations need clear roles, meaningful public participation, reliable funding and measures that show leaders when to act.

In practice, stewardship may include tracking resident sentiment, supporting local businesses, protecting cultural and natural assets, managing visitor pressures and reinvesting tourism revenue in the place. Strong systems also make clear who acts when conditions change.

There is no single model for every destination. However, each place can define what matters locally, decide who has authority, measure progress and act on what it learns.

Cover of Destination Stewardship by Tonya Fitzpatrick, with a foreword by H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco.

Destination Stewardship: The Book

Kogan Page published Destination Stewardship: Drive Sustainability, Economic Renewal, and Cultural Integrity in April 2026. The book examines how tourism leaders and policymakers can move beyond short-term, volume-driven measures of success.

Drawing on global case studies, research and conversations with tourism leaders and practitioners, Fitzpatrick explores governance, community participation, local economic value, culture, resilience, funding and accountability. H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco wrote the foreword.

Building on that research, Fitzpatrick continues to develop practical approaches to destination stewardship. She is also developing a framework that translates recurring ideas from the book into a tool that destinations and other tourism stakeholders can apply to real decisions.

“I believe Ms Fitzpatrick has done a great service by collecting such an impressive amount of information that practitioners can put to use.”
— Jonathan Tourtellot, Destination Stewardship Center

Destination Stewardship Insights

Destination stewardship becomes clearer when we examine what happens in real places. The stories below appear on World Footprints and explore how tourism decisions affect communities, local economies, culture, the environment and quality of life.

In addition, future reporting and case studies will examine these issues through the experiences of destinations and the people who live in them.

Bergen Rows of brightly painted houses add character to Bergen’s historic streets

Bergen’s Green Paradox: How a Fjord City Is Managing Its Own Success

A woman stands in a dry mountain landscape in Kenya.

How Sustainable Tourism in Kenya Is Moving Toward Destination Stewardship

Tonya reading her copy of Destination Stewardship sitting on the couch in a living room.

I Almost Deleted the Email: Why Destination Stewardship Matters

Headshot of Tonya Fitzpatrick, author of Destination Stewardship, sporting long brown hair and bright smile.

About This Stewardship Work

Tonya Fitzpatrick is the author of Destination Stewardship: Drive Sustainability, Economic Renewal, and Cultural Integrity and co-founder of World Footprints.

Her work draws on journalism, research, global case studies and conversations with tourism leaders and practitioners. In particular, she examines how tourism decisions affect communities and places, with attention to governance, economic opportunity, culture, resilience and accountability.

Related reporting, case studies and analysis will continue to appear on World Footprints. Together, these stories connect destination stewardship to the experiences of communities around the world.

Bring Destination Stewardship to Your Audience

Tonya Fitzpatrick speaks with tourism leaders, policymakers, businesses, educators and community stakeholders about the choices that shape the future of destinations.

Drawing on the research and global case studies in Destination Stewardship, she explores community voice, local economic value, cultural integrity, resilience and accountability. She also tailors presentations to destinations and organizations seeking practical ways to move stewardship from principle to practice.

Frequently Asked Questions About Destination Stewardship

No single organization can steward a destination alone. Governments, destination organizations, tourism businesses, residents, community organizations, cultural institutions and resource managers may all share responsibility. However, effective stewardship requires more than consultation. It requires meaningful participation, clear authority, shared responsibility and accountability for results.

Destination management generally focuses on coordinating tourism and managing the visitor experience and its impacts. By contrast, destination stewardship takes a broader view of the place itself. It asks how tourism decisions affect resident well-being, local economic value, culture, natural systems and long-term resilience. It also asks who has the authority and responsibility to act when tourism threatens those conditions.

No, although the concepts overlap. Sustainable tourism focuses on reducing negative environmental, social and economic impacts while strengthening positive ones. Destination stewardship goes further by asking questions about governance, power, community priorities, shared responsibility and accountability. It asks not only whether tourism is more sustainable, but whether leaders are caring for the destination in ways that can endure.

Yes, but no single indicator can show whether leaders are stewarding a destination well. Visitor arrivals and spending remain useful measures. However, leaders should consider them alongside resident sentiment, housing and infrastructure pressures, local economic participation, cultural vitality, environmental health and workforce conditions.

Measurement also needs consequences. Strong stewardship connects indicators to targets, responsibility, budgets and action. As a result, changing conditions can lead leaders to adjust policy or management rather than simply produce another report.

Travelers are only one part of the stewardship system, but their choices matter. Where visitors spend money, how they behave, which businesses and experiences they support and how they use shared spaces can either reinforce or undermine local stewardship goals.

The greater responsibility, however, rests with the institutions and leaders that shape the conditions under which tourism operates. Travelers cannot compensate for weak governance, poorly designed tourism systems or policies that fail to protect community interests.