Bridging the science-policy gap in sustainable tourism: evidence from a multiple case study analysis of UNWTO INSTO sustainable tourism observatories

While monitoring sustainable tourism (ST) has become popular in the twenty first century, a clear implementation gap has been acknowledged worldwide. This paper argues that the inadequate implementation might be linked to a knowledge gap on procedures, approaches and instru- ments to operationalise evidence-informed destination management. Indeed, the routines and procedures to run an inter-institutional adaptive management cycle at the interface between research organisations and the tourism ecosystem are mostly unknown. Based on the identified science-policy gap, this paper addresses the role of the UNWTO INSTO observatories as innovative catalysts to co-create an adaptive transfor- mation of the tourism system, i.e. to bridge indicator-based knowledge production on sustainability performance, knowledge transfer and knowl- edge use, and to foster concrete actions and a transformation at any level. The catalytic role of INSTO observatories is explored by means of an exploratory and qualitative study. A multiple case study was con- ducted on selected observatories (Guanajuato in Mexico, Algarve in Portugal, Sleman in Indonesia) to capitalise on the individual experiences and identify strengths and challenges of different approaches to evidence-informed decision-making procedures. Lessons learnt from the case studies shed light on possible strategies to fill the science-policy gap and foster mutual learning at INSTO level and beyond.