Indicators of the assessment of sustainable development of tourism

The article explores the problem of building of a system of indicators of sustainable tourism development. A high significance of sustainable tourism development and the need for its constant monitoring at various levels are justified. It is concluded that, in general, indicators are a collection of the most important data that can be used to assess the sustainable tourism development at a point in time; they are the basis for building a management system for sustainable tourism development; they can be specific for certain destinations. The approaches to the assessment of sustainable tourism development proposed by various international organizations (UNWTO, Global Council for Sustainable Tourism, European Environment Agency, European Commission) and scientists are presented. The indicators of tourism development in Belarus are analyzed. It is concluded that the existing approaches to the assessment of sustainable tourism development can not be considered as universal ones, since for each specific region its own system of indicators is necessary which should take into account specific features of its historical, resource, geographical development. The author proposes a methodology for building a system of sustainable tourism indicators for specific destinations and regions using the theory of desirability. This will allow forming a system of indicators adapted to conditions and goals of the development of a specific destination or region.