Towards a sustainable tourism definition from systems science perspective

The tourism system has as main components, social, economic and natural subsystems, which are linked together to give rise to tourism activities in particular contexts called destinations. Tourism to be regulated under a legal framework on protected areas, to offer interpretations regarding commercial activity and the natural protection, which at first seem contrary relations, arising from excessive use of natural and cultural resources to generate tourism services. However, under the perspective of these antagonistic, Systems Science can be considered as complementary. The purpose of this paper is to study the complexity of sustainability case study taking as a destination in the Mexican Caribbean, to highlight, through the Viable Systems Model, complementary relationships between economic development and natural care which converge in production of tourism services. This implies a holistic view that encompasses the subsystems (social, economic and natural) and the system above (sustainable tourism) described in the elements and relationships that make up the 5 sets of viable model.