Author(s)

Markus Klemens Zaplata¹, Lutz Philip Hecker²

¹Hydrology and Water Resources Management, Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg, Siemens-Halske-Ring 10, Cottbus, Germany.
²Chair of Economics, in Particular Environmental Economics, Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg, Erich-Weinert-Straße 1, Cottbus, Germany.

Human endeavours are indebted to become more sustainable and self-sustained. One popular activity (or domain) has huge potential for major progress in sustainability in the short term, namely tourism. When receiving services, tourists interact directly with other humans who reside at their holiday destination, and tourists are typically receptive to their surroundings. This in itself is conducive to flexibility and convergence in the roles of tourism service-providers and recipients. Such a convergence of opportunities equates to individual temporal compensation and permeability within the distribution of roles. That may lead to more equality in people’s personal lives, and may be the key feature for tackling social and environmental problems in tourism, and to increasing sustainability. Thus, via convergence, tourism could become more equitable. In global agriculture it is the other way round: via the preservation and enhancement of divergence, agricultural practices could be more appropriately arranged alongside natural habitats, to achieve greater spatial sustainability all round.

Fairness Principle, Global Empowerment, Host-Guest Relationship, Temporal versus Spatial Demands, Travel

Klemens Zaplata, M. and Philip Hecker, L. (2018) Convergence in Tourism and Divergence in Agriculture as a Perspective to Foster Sustainability All Round. Advances in Applied Sociology, 8, 464-469. doi: 10.4236/aasoci.2018.85027.