According to the World Tourism Organization: The guidelines for the sustainable development of tourism and sustainable management practices apply to all forms of tourism in all types of destinations, including mass tourism and the various tourism segments. The principles of sustainability refer to the environmental, economic and socio-cultural aspects of tourism development, and an appropriate balance must be established between these three dimensions to guarantee its long-term sustainability.

Therefore, sustainable tourism must:

1. Optimal use of environmental resources, which are a fundamental element of tourism development, maintaining essential ecological processes and helping to conserve natural resources and biological diversity.
2. Respect the sociocultural authenticity of host communities, conserve their cultural and architectural assets and traditional values, and contribute to intercultural understanding and tolerance.
3. Ensuring viable long-term economic activities that bring well-distributed socio-economic benefits to all actors, including stable employment and income-earning opportunities and social services for host communities, and contribute to the reduction of poverty.

Tourism contributes to all the Sustainable Development goals: