The Center for Sustainable Tourism emphasizes analyses of tourism's net impact on economic, natural, and social issues. Research at the Center utilizes the concepts of financial, environmental, and social accounting to quantify the impacts, ascertain potential tradeoffs, and identify synergy among these dimensions of sustainable tourism. While many opportunities exist to promote economic, environmental, and social objectives simultaneously, it is also often necessary to make choices between them, especially in the short term. As planning horizons lengthen, protecting and enhancing the environment and socio-cultural objectives become more important in sustaining economic growth. Over time these three dimensions of sustainability, often referred to as the "Triple Bottom Line," reinforce each other by creating long-term approaches that simultaneously promote better jobs, higher profits, better natural environments, and stronger social/cultural dimensions.
