Stakeholders' theory and its contribution to the sustainable development of a tourism destination

The forecast of continuous transformations in the world, and the analysis of their influence on the principles that guide the tourism development of a locality are essential to the efficient management of this sector. In this context, tourism destinations face the commitment of finding sustainable development models, since failure to reach this goal will probably result in an activity with few future perspectives. In particular in developing countries, resistance that prevents the implementation of management principles related to sustainability in tourism destinations can still be felt. The development models adopted in these places were, in many cases, inefficient and therefore did not bring social dignity to their residents. It is believed that the main mistakes of the managers of these receiving communities are related to the lack of stakeholder involvement and participation. The sustainability principle practices must be understood as an action centered on the mobilization capacity of the persons involved, in the motivation of their behavior and in the recognition of the importance of their opinion to the decision process. Up to the present, there have been few studies dedicated to a more detailed theoretical analysis about this issue applied to the sustainable tourism development of a locality. Thus, the conceptual milestones that may support the initiatives in this matter are still under discussion. This study proposes an evaluation of the sustainability concept applicability which is extended to the analysis of the stakeholder behavior and involvement. Therefore it is necessary, in the first place, to know the human relations that determine this process and the interests and goals that are part of them, since such initiative is a fundamental condition to design sustainable actions.