Propuesta de un sistema de indicadores de sostenibilidad turística para destinos urbanos

Considering the significant rise urban tourism is currently experiencing and the impact this activity generates in such environments, it is necessary to define sustainability indicators that allow an efficient management of this activity. Within this field, the objective of this research study is to create a proposal for a system of sustainable tourism indicators for urban destinations. This applied investigation, which uses a methodology that combines both qualitative and quantitative analysis, stems from the conceptualization of urban tourism and ist sustainability and the implementation and quantification of indicators. This initial analysis allows for the recognition of the urban destinations' sustainability dimensions and for the variables with greater incidence in order to generate a first list of indicators. This first theoretical list of indicators is applied in four pilot cases (urban destinations of Catalonia: Barcelona, Tarragona, Lleida and Girona), and results in a tested system with four dimensions (socio-cultural, economic, environmental and institutional) which collect 26 indicators. The results show that the lack of information for the quantification of indicators is one of the main limitations when it comes to measuring tourism sustainability. For this reason, the constant cooperation between public administration and the private sector is essential for the generation of data that allows the implementation of the sustainability indicators, turning these into really useful tools in tourism planning and