Cancino, Naara

Tourism activities often lack comprehensive guidelines for identifying optimal strategies that suit local contexts and their complex impacts on sustainability. To fill this gap, we need theories linking institutional efforts with outcomes, considering local nuances. This study adapts the Coupled Infrastructure Systems Framework (CISF) for tourism, aiming to overcome fragmentation and advance a contextualized theory of sustainable tourism. We conducted a meta-analysis of 90 case studies to identify contextual and institutional variables cited as key causes of observed economic, social and environmental tourism outcomes.
Subsequently, we examined the influence of these variables on outcomes across all cases in which they were present. Results reveal 10 contextual (preexisting asymmetries in the community, high tourist influx, external influences, seasonality, political stability, tourism knowledge, cultural believes, infrastructure resources, resident's age, and development stage) and 11 institutional (communities' degree of involvement, congruence between benefits and costs, non-residents interventions, high tier policy development, monitoring rule compliance, educational tourism, clearly defined boundary rules, management transparency, government intervention, institutional innovations, nested enterprises) categories as the most frequently identified drivers of sustainable tourism outcomes.
Additionally, we show how certain institutional strategies mitigate or intensify effects based on contextual attributes. Community involvement plays a vital role in achieving ST outcomes, while their involvement as developers yields positive social and environmental results; economic benefits peak when communities engage in decision-making without direct management roles. These findings provide valuable guidance for sustainable tourism development and research, highlighting the need for inclusive, context-specific management approaches.