On the twenty-fifth anniversary of the opening of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya and its Economics and Business Studies, a group of professors from the tourism field of the institution reflect upon the current situation of the sector at a key moment. On the one hand, they bring their ideas on what has been the evolution of tourism over the last twenty-five years and the elements and key factors that have conditioned this evolution to date. On the other hand, based on the crisis generated by the effects of the pandemic, they deliberate on identifying possible future scenarios and the key factors that may condition them.

This contribution seeks to provide an overview of current research into sustainable tourism from two angles. It describes firstly the key arguments in the theoretical discussion on the idea of sustainability in the tourism sector, and secondly the areas of academic research that are of interest for research into tourism and sustainability. This study will enable a global evaluation of not only the factors that influence the discussion on the sustainability of tourism, but also the central thematic areas in which this matter is addressed.

Publications on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the tourism sector stem from the paradigm of sustainable tourism, in which there has been growing interest in relation to balancing the impacts of the tourism industry in terms of the key environmental, social and corporate issues. The two themes that have generated most references are, firstly, the business case or the possible relationship between its introduction and corporate financial performance, and secondly, commitments to stakeholders. Apart from these themes related to the drivers, publications have also focused on topics such as the types of practices implemented and other types of results achieved by them. In all these fields there is still great potential for development, while new themes are also emerging.

This contribution seeks to provide an overview of current research into sustainable tourism from two angles. It describes firstly the key arguments in the theoretical discussion on the idea of sustainability in the tourism sector, and secondly the areas of academic research that are of interest for research into tourism and sustainability. This study will enable a global evaluation of not only the factors that influence the discussion on the sustainability of tourism, but also the central thematic areas in which this matter is addressed.