Circular Economy, Waste and Energy Management for a Sustainable Agro-tourism

Abstract

The development of tourism worldwide has raised important concerns in studies based on the actions of tourism activities on community and environment. Nowadays, the research directions also focus on the continuous development of the agro-tourism sector. The connection between agro-tourism and sustainable development (SD) requires new frameworks concerning prototypes/patterns. Hence, the current research focuses on the circular economy (CE) agro-tourism sustainable development. The results and discussion presented in the current paper enhance the sustainable use of the resources within this field. Introducing CE concepts in this sector promotes the adoption of the latest sustainability targets in terms of production, consumption, and ethical choices. In addition, the agro-tourism structures offer the opportunity of involving different stakeholders (e.g., tourists and staff) in the implementation of initiatives to improve the levels of sustainability in this sector. The research presents a model of agro-tourism activities based on two case studies located in rural regions (Italy and Romania) aiming to improve the agro-tourism systems best practices towards SD goals under a CE perspective and taking into account the waste, energy, and air pollution sectors. Moreover, this paper underlines the role of the participants involved in agro-tourism by stimulating important awareness and attention within the agro-tourism sector's impact on environmental impact and consequently the local community well-being.