The local tourism organisation promotes places within the area as destinations for tourists; locals were found to be not involved in the decision-making. Further, the focus of the tourism organisations agenda lies on economic growth.
On a small scale, this gives the potential to disruptive tourism as tourists gaze meets places which were intentionally set up for locals. Much more, the urgent request of change was found neglected whether tourism could be a driver for responsible growth towards the environment and human as asked by the UN. Meanwhile, a growing field of research was found, which focuses on a more inclusive viewpoint, considering a vast area of stakeholders and addresses considerable challenges. In short, the complexity of the field is included, towards addressing wicked problems like climate change.
Consideration result in researching the impact of tourism on the usage of everyday places of locals is examined in this thesis. Within the topic, further research is done on the extend of inclusion of locals in tourism development is researched. Through the lens of socially sustainable development and with the help of literature on places, it was possible to gain effects on the concrete example of locals aged 60+ in Sauerland/Germany were researched. Findings from In-depth interviews were compared to literature findings and tourism officials strategy. Current and future consequences of tourism industry development for locals well-being and belonging to place were outlined. To discover how socially sustainable tourism development could be gained from within destinations, the complexity of the field, locals’ acceptance of tourism industry and further research ideas and input on how long-term success could be established are outlined.