Sustainable tourism indicators for cities from tourists’ perspectives: the case of Da Lat, Vietnam

Urban destinations, housing over half the world’s population, are overlooked in sustainable tourism research. Effective management requires selecting sustainable indicators, which are crucial for assessing economic, social, environmental, and governance aspects. However, systematic sustainability appraisal in tourism is still nascent, with previous studies lacking tourist perspectives. This study explores how tourists perceive sustainable tourism indicators in the context of a city destination. The study uses a quantitative approach with an online questionnaire featuring 53 sustainable tourism indicators, surveyed among 305 tourists in Da Lat, a well-known tourism city in the Central Highlands, Vietnam. Descriptive statistics based on mean analyses show that institutional sustainability indicators received the highest score, while environmental indicators were reported with the lowest score in the tourists’ view. The exploratory factor analysis of the importance given to sustainability indicators identified seven factors: 1) Institutional sustainability, 2) Socio-cultural sustainability, 3) Environmental sustainability, 4) Negative environmental impacts, 5) Urban Identity, 6) Sustainable labor in tourism, and 7) Negative socio-cultural impacts. The sustainable tourism development in Da Lat needs to consider the city’s internal issues concerning the planning and management of urban identity. The results demonstrate tourist awareness of sustainability issues and that, in the long run, this awareness might lead to changes in tourist preferences. Tourists see themselves as contributors, helping to enrich the city instead of contributing to overusing available resources. This research shows a more multidimensional sustainable tourism than the classic concept definition from tourists’ perspectives. The findings also highlight sustainability dimensions enhancing tourist experiences.