Can we measure well-being? Rethinking ‘sustainability’ in nature-based tourism

Has ‘sus­tain­ab­il­ity’ in travel & tour­ism become too nar­rowly focussed on a single ‘P’, Plan­et, side­lin­ing the well-being of people? 

Beth All­good thinks it may have, espe­cially in the nature-based and eco­tour­ism niches. 

Ms All­good pro­poses how we might meas­ure well-being in order to man­age it. It’s her second “Good Tour­ism” Insight.

[You too can write a “GT” Insight.]

Sustainability must include people

When we in the tour­ism sec­tor talk about sus­tain­ab­il­ity, the focus often turns to envir­on­ment­al met­rics: hec­tares pro­tec­ted, emis­sions reduced, water saved. 

These are essen­tial, but they only tell half the story. What about the people liv­ing there? How do we know if tour­ism is truly help­ing loc­al communities? 

For trav­el­lers, sus­tain­ab­il­ity often means a des­tin­a­tion is and remains authen­t­ic, vibrant, and resi­li­ent, not just scen­ic. Are the com­pan­ies trav­el­lers sup­port improv­ing lives, or just min­im­ising harm? 

What sets nature-based tour­ism apart is not only care for the land but also care for the people who have long stew­ar­ded that land. That means tak­ing com­munity well-being as ser­i­ously as car­bon offsets.

But how do you meas­ure some­thing as intan­gible as com­munity well-being?

I believe you can, and you must. And with the right tools, you can do it in a rig­or­ous, respect­ful, and mean­ing­ful way.

Also read Beth All­good’s first “GT” Insight: “Where next for wild­life con­ser­va­tion, eco­tour­ism, & com­munity well-being?”

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Redefining what counts

Many tour­ism busi­nesses already give back. They donate to schools, sup­port clin­ics, and cre­ate jobs. These efforts mat­ter but they don’t always reflect how people feel about tour­ism or how it affects their daily lives.

Do res­id­ents feel a sense of belong­ing and con­trol? Are they truly bet­ter off? Are they inves­ted in tour­ism?  Do they feel con­nec­ted to the whole tour­ism enter­prise? If so, do they feel pos­it­ively about the industry?

How do you meas­ure some­thing as intan­gible as well-being, or ‘hap­pi­ness’ (often used as a short­hand for how people feel about their lives)? 

We need tools that cap­ture both tan­gible out­comes and lived experiences.

At OneNa­ture, the organ­isa­tion I foun­ded, we’ve spent more than five years explor­ing this with com­munity lead­ers and researchers. 

Most recently, a team from Columbia University’s Sus­tain­ab­il­ity Man­age­ment pro­gram helped refine how well-being can be meas­ured in com­munit­ies that live close to nature. 

Their research (PDF) con­firmed what we’ve long believed: Meas­ur­ing sus­tain­ab­il­ity requires both object­ive and sub­ject­ive information. 

That means track­ing all the con­cerns people have like the mater­i­al con­cerns of income and access to ser­vices, and more intan­gible con­cerns such as their level of trust and sense of con­nec­tion to place. 

Only then can we under­stand tourism’s full impact and improve upon it.

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How do we measure what matters?

To help tour­ism com­pan­ies, con­ser­va­tion organ­isa­tions, and com­munit­ies track well-being, we developed the Wild Hap­pi­ness Approach. This is a sur­vey and par­ti­cip­at­ory pro­cess that blends glob­al research with loc­al voices. 

We’ve used it in pro­jects in Kenya, Laos, Nepal, and Rwanda.

In Rwanda, with sup­port from Piper & Heath and in part­ner­ship with Red Rocks Ini­ti­at­ive for Sus­tain­able Devel­op­ment (thanks to an intro­duc­tion facil­it­ated by The “Good Tour­ism” Blog), the Wild Hap­pi­ness Approach revealed key insights about com­munit­ies near Vol­ca­noes Nation­al Park.

Life sat­is­fac­tion and social trust were high, but res­id­ents raised con­cerns about eco­nom­ic oppor­tun­ity and the impacts of park expan­sion. The data also con­firmed a strong link between cul­tur­al iden­tity and envir­on­ment­al well-being.

“The Wild Hap­pi­ness Sur­vey didn’t just cap­ture our chal­lenges, it high­lighted the strength of our com­munit­ies, their con­nec­tion to the envir­on­ment, and cul­tur­al resi­li­ence.” _ Greg Bak­un­zi, Exec­ut­ive Dir­ect­or, Red Rocks Ini­ti­at­ive for Sus­tain­able Devel­op­ment, Rwanda

Insights like these help tour­ism stake­hold­ers make bet­ter decisions for people and nature.

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Why should the tourism industry care?

Under­stand­ing com­munity well-being isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s a smart investment.

Tour­ism com­pan­ies that build trust with loc­al com­munit­ies are bet­ter posi­tioned to:

• Pro­mote peace and pre­vent or de-escal­ate conflict
  
• Devel­op long-term partnerships
  
• Pro­tect the char­ac­ter and integ­rity of des­tin­a­tions and the people who live there

When com­munit­ies thrive, con­ser­va­tion thrives. And when nature thrives, so does nature-based tourism.

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Why now?

Social impact is nev­er option­al. Trav­el­lers, donors, and investors expect com­pan­ies to demon­strate a pos­it­ive dif­fer­ence, not just tick ESG boxes.

And with donor gov­ern­ments redu­cing sup­port for com­munit­ies around the world, tour­ism busi­nesses have a unique oppor­tun­ity to step up by part­ner­ing more inten­tion­ally with the people at the heart of their destinations.

The good news? This doesn’t just help com­munit­ies, it strengthens busi­ness resi­li­ence, des­tin­a­tion qual­ity, and long-term sustainability.

Let’s stop guess­ing what mat­ters. Let’s meas­ure it.

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What do you think? 

Share your own thoughts in a com­ment below on how to meas­ure well-being in a nature-based (or any oth­er) tour­ism des­tin­a­tion. (SIGN IN or REGISTER first. After sign­ing in you will need to refresh this page to see the com­ments section.)

Or write a “GT” Insight or “GT” Insight Bite of your own. The “Good Tour­ism” Blog wel­comes diversity of opin­ion and per­spect­ive about travel & tour­ism, because travel & tour­ism is everyone’s business.

“GT” doesn’t judge. “GT” pub­lishes. “GT” is where free thought travels.

If you think the tour­ism media land­scape is bet­ter with “GT” in it, then please …

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About the author

Beth All­good is the founder and pres­id­ent of OneNa­ture, a US-based non­profit help­ing com­munit­ies and con­ser­va­tion part­ners meas­ure and improve well-being. 

With more than 25 years of exper­i­ence in con­ser­va­tion, anim­al wel­fare, and com­munity devel­op­ment, Beth believes true sus­tain­ab­il­ity means hon­or­ing the inter­con­nec­tion of all beings. Through research, part­ner­ships, and field­work, OneNa­ture works to build a world in which people and nature thrive.

Featured image (top of post)

An ener­get­ic wel­come to Red Rocks Rwanda. Pic taken Septem­ber 2023 by Dav­id Gillbanks.

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