Short answer
When designing for coastal tourism, prioritize integrated management and marketing approaches that explicitly address sustainability, encompassing environmental, social, and economic factors.
- Field
- Sustainability
- Source
- European Journal of Tourism Research (2025)
- Method
- Systematic Review and Thematic Analysis
- Sample
- 224 studies
- Evidence
- Strong effect
Effective management and marketing of coastal tourism destinations are crucial for fostering responsible and sustainable development. This sustainability research insight is drawn from a 2025 study published in European Journal of Tourism Research. Using Systematic review and thematic analysis with 224 studies, researchers explored how this design variable affects real-world outcomes. The key design takeaway: When designing for coastal tourism, prioritize integrated management and marketing approaches that explicitly address sustainability, encompassing environmental, social, and economic factors.
Sustainable coastal tourism requires integrated destination management and marketing strategies.
Effective management and marketing of coastal tourism destinations are crucial for fostering responsible and sustainable development.
European Journal of Tourism Research · 2025
Key Findings
- 01Tourist motivations, experiences, and behaviours are central to understanding demand.
- 02Responsible and sustainable tourism development is a critical area of focus.
- 03Effective destination marketing, image, and attractiveness are key drivers.
- 04Destination management, planning, and development are essential for sustainability.
- 05Tourism impacts (both positive and negative) need careful consideration.
Application
Design takeaway
When designing for coastal tourism, prioritize integrated management and marketing approaches that explicitly address sustainability, encompassing environmental, social, and economic factors.
How to apply
When developing tourism strategies or infrastructure for coastal areas, conduct a comprehensive review of existing research to identify best practices in sustainable management, marketing, and impact mitigation.
Project actions
- 01When researching a tourism-related design project, consider the broader context of sustainability and destination management.
- 02Use thematic analysis to identify key research areas and potential design opportunities within your chosen domain.
Method & Evidence
Variables
Strengths & Limitations
Strengths
- +Comprehensive systematic review methodology.
- +Thematic analysis provides a structured overview of a broad field.
Limitations
The scope of this review is broad, and specific design interventions may require more focused research within particular sub-themes.
Reliability & validity
The systematic review methodology and adherence to PRISMA guidelines enhance the reliability and validity of the findings by ensuring a structured and reproducible approach to literature synthesis.
Think critically
How might the identified themes in coastal tourism research be applied to the design of non-tourism related coastal infrastructure to minimize negative impacts and maximize community benefit?
Design Principles
"Holistic Destination Design: Design for coastal tourism must integrate visitor experience, destination management, marketing, and sustainability principles to ensure long-term viability."
Understanding the multifaceted nature of coastal tourism, from visitor motivations to environmental impacts, allows designers and planners to create more resilient and appealing destinations. This holistic approach ensures that economic benefits are balanced with ecological preservation and community well-being.
What This Means for Your Design
To make coastal tourism good for the environment and local people, we need to think carefully about how we promote places and how we manage them, considering what tourists want and the effects of tourism.
How to use in your project
- 1.Reference this study to support the need for sustainable design principles in tourism-related projects.
- 2.Use the identified themes to structure your research and justify the focus of your design exploration.
Add to My Project
Quick Cite
Paragraph starter
This systematic review of coastal tourism research underscores the critical need for integrated destination management and marketing strategies to achieve sustainable development. The findings reveal that effective approaches must consider tourist motivations and behaviours, responsible practices, destination image, and the overall impacts of tourism, providing a robust framework for designing sustainable tourism experiences.
Source
European Journal of Tourism Research
Systematic review and thematic analysis of coastal tourism studies in tourism and hospitality research
journal · 2025
View sourceQuestions About This Research
- What does the research say about sustainable coastal tourism requires integrated destination management and marketing strategies?
- When designing for coastal tourism, prioritize integrated management and marketing approaches that explicitly address sustainability, encompassing environmental, social, and economic factors. Evidence: European Journal of Tourism Research (2025).
- Why does "Sustainable coastal tourism requires integrated destination management and marketing strategies." matter for design?
- Understanding the multifaceted nature of coastal tourism, from visitor motivations to environmental impacts, allows designers and planners to create more resilient and appealing destinations. This holistic approach ensures that economic benefits are balanced with ecological preservation and community well-being.
- How can designers apply this research?
- When designing for coastal tourism, prioritize integrated management and marketing approaches that explicitly address sustainability, encompassing environmental, social, and economic factors.
- What were the main findings?
- Tourist motivations, experiences, and behaviours are central to understanding demand.. Responsible and sustainable tourism development is a critical area of focus.. Effective destination marketing, image, and attractiveness are key drivers.. Destination management, planning, and development are essential for sustainability.
- What research method was used?
- Systematic Review and Thematic Analysis with 224 studies.
- How strong is the evidence?
- Evidence strength is rated Strong effect, based on a 2025 journal from European Journal of Tourism Research.
- What should I do differently in my next project?
- When developing tourism strategies or infrastructure for coastal areas, conduct a comprehensive review of existing research to identify best practices in sustainable management, marketing, and impact mitigation.
- What are the limitations?
- The review is limited to studies published in the Web of Science database and may not capture all relevant research across different disciplines or regions.