Sustainable tourism intermediation: a ten-point management guide for the responsible marketing of destinations

Abstract

The aim of this work is to propose a ten-point business management framework that facilitates the effective integration of sustainability into the marketing of tourist destinations through intermediaries. The methodology adopts a qualitative, exploratory, and propositional approach, based on a narrative review of the literature on tourism intermediation, sustainable management, supply chain, digitalization, consumer behavior, and environmental communication, complemented by an intentional analysis of best practices developed by national and international operators. The evidence obtained was organized through thematic analysis and transformed into ten operational principles related to business strategy, supplier selection, product design, impact reduction, digitalization, training, transparency, local participation, demand orientation, and continuous evaluation. The main result of the research is the proposal of a ten-point framework for integrating sustainability into the marketing of destinations through tourism intermediaries. It is concluded that sustainability acquires a strategic character when it transcends the internal sphere of the company and extends to the supply chain, product design, and marketing. The ten principles constitute a flexible and transferable tool, although its application will need to be validated later in diverse tourism companies and contexts.