Sustainable Development and Tourism. The Case of Lanzarote Island in the Light of the 2030 Agenda

Sustainability is an issue whose importance has steadily increased in the last decades, becoming more and more a priority than just a set of good practices. This is proved by the charts and treaties ratified since the end of the 80s, starting with the UN's Brundtland Report and its first definition of sustainable development with the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development issued in 2015. A set of 17 goals that all adhering countries should pursue to assure a sustainable future for future generations. In the meanwhile, in 1995, the "Charter for sustainable tourism" was published in Lanzarote, one of the eight Canary Islands, declaring that tourism undoubtedly plays a crucial role in contributing to sustainability since it can promote destinations and offer services that pay attention to the local environment, economy, culture and society, in other words, to "heritage". It did not happen by chance that Lanzarote was chosen as the cradle of sustainable tourism: although its fame spread much later than other archipelago islands, its development was carefully planned, carried out and managed to prevent any damage to local culture and landscape. In this paper, we explore the case study of Lanzarote, to explain in details the threats that this destination managed to face (e.g. overtourism, environmental and cultural loss), along with those factors that have been crucial for the island's sustainable development: a wide range of natural and cultural features (warm climate, sea, volcanic landscape, vernacular architecture, agriculture, gastronomy and history), the involvement of local society in tourism activities, the adoption of legislative measures for the protection of natural and cultural heritage, the improvement of infrastructures and technology and the collaboration between public and private stakeholder. However, thanks to the prominent figure of the local artist César Manrique, all those factors were strategically linked, conceiving the idea of a network of tourist sites: the Centers of Art, Culture and Tourism (also known as CACT). This network contributed to the creation of a well-known brand whose strategy is to offer a set of "alternative tourist products", in addition to the classical model of sun, sea, sand, that is sustainable for both the environment and the local society and does not exclude existing traditional activities like farming, fishing and crafts. We compare all the characteristics introduced in this paper with the 12 sustainable tourism aims established by the World Tourism Organization and the 17 goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to check Lanzarote's sustainability degree objectively.