Beyond sustainability: optimising island tourism development

This paper aims to identify the current challenges facing the sustainable development of island tourism and to develop a new conceptual approach to sustainable development based upon optimisation. The optimisation process for island tourism will be discussed through the development of a new life cycle model — the multifunctional interactive process cycle that is calibrated using a set of 15 island tourism status indicators. The paper also seeks to explain how a complex and dynamic tourism system can be developed that takes a destination towards an optimal sustainable state to satisfy both visitors and the local community. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.