Green tourism and sustainable development in ASEAN-5: Evidence from panel data
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12928/optimum.v16i2.13962Keywords:
Green Tourism, Sustainable Development Index, ASEAN-5 CountriesAbstract
Tourism plays an important role in supporting sustainable development in ASEAN; however, its expansion can also generate environmental pressures that may undermine long-term sustainability. Green tourism offers an approach to balancing tourism development with environmental conservation and resource efficiency. This study examines the relationship between green tourism and sustainable development in five ASEAN countries—Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam—during the 2006–2021 period. Green tourism is proxied by the Environmental Performance Index (EPI), Travel and Tourism Development Index (TTDI), and Renewable Energy Consumption (REC), while Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is included as a control variable. The Sustainable Development Index (SDI) is used as the dependent variable. Using panel data regression, the Fixed Effects Model (FEM) is selected as the most appropriate estimation approach. The results indicate that EPI and TTDI have positive and statistically significant relationships with SDI, suggesting that stronger environmental performance and tourism development are associated with higher levels of sustainable development. In contrast, REC and GDP show negative and statistically significant relationships with SDI. These findings highlight the importance of strengthening environmental governance, improving sustainable tourism competitiveness, and accelerating the transition toward cleaner energy systems. The study provides empirical evidence that can support policymakers in designing integrated tourism and environmental strategies to advance sustainable development across ASEAN-5 countries.
References
Aboul-Atta, T. A. L., & Rashed, R. H. (2021). Analyzing the relationship between sustainable development indicators and renewable energy consumption. Journal of Engineering and Applied Science, 68(1), 45. https://doi.org/10.1186/s44147-021-00041-9
Aini, Y. N. (2024). Sustainable tourism in Southeast Asia: Balancing economic growth, employment, and carbon emissions through evidence-based strategies. Jurnal Kepariwisataan Indonesia: Jurnal Penelitian Dan Pengembangan Kepariwisataan Indonesia, 18(1), 157-174. https://doi.org/10.47608/jki.v18i12024.157-174
Ali, Q., Yaseen, M. R., Anwar, S., Makhdum, M. S. A., & Khan, M. T. I. (2021). The impact of tourism, renewable energy, and economic growth on ecological footprint and natural resources: A panel data analysis. Resources Policy, 74, 102365. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2021.102365
Ali, Z, Nasir, M. J., & Iqbal, S. (2024). A Qualitative Study On Socio-Economic Implications of Ecotourism In District Swat, KP: Perspectives From The Community. Migration Letters, 21(9), 185-201.
Amin, N., Shabbir, M. S., Song, H., & Abbass, K. (2024). Renewable energy consumption and its impact on environmental quality: A pathway for achieving sustainable development goals in ASEAN countries. Energy & Environment, 35(2), 644-662. https://doi.org/10.1177/0958305X221134113
Aransyah, M. F., Hermanto, B., Muftiadi, A., & Oktadiana, H. (2025). Exploring sustainability oriented innovations in tourism: Insights from ecological modernization, diffusion of innovations, and the triple bottom line. Cogent Social Sciences, 11(1), 2447396. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2024.2447396
ASEAN. (2020). Sustainable Development Goals Indicators Baseline Report 2020. Jakarta. Retrieved from https://www.aseanstats.org/publication/asean-sdg-report-2020/
ASEAN. (2021). ASEAN Green Hotel Standard 2021-2025. Jakarta.
Azam, M., Alam, M. M., & Hafeez, M. H. (2018). Effect of tourism on environmental pollution: Further evidence from Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. Journal of Cleaner Production, 190, 330-338. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.04.168
Bhaktikul, K., Aroonsrimorakot, S., Laiphrakpam, M., & Paisantanakij, W. (2021). Toward a low carbon tourism for sustainable development: A study based on a royal project for highland community development in Chiang Rai, Thailand. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 23(7), 10743-10762. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-020-01083-4
Block, Samuel, Emerson, John W., Esty, Daniel C., de Sherbinin, Alex, Wendling, Zachary A., & others. (2024). Environmental Performance Index Report. New Haven, CT: Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy. Retrieved from https://epi.yale.edu/downloads/2024-epi-report-20250106.pdf
Chen, S., Paramaiah, C., Kumar, P., Khan, S., & Haomu, Q. (2025). Toward sustainable tourism: Insights from green financing and renewable energy. Energy Strategy Reviews, 57, 101618. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esr.2024.101618
Clickable Insights. (2024). ASEAN's Uneven Tourism Competitiveness. Malaysia. Retrieved from https://clickableinsights.substack.com/p/aseans-uneven-tourism-competitiveness
Dai, T. (2025). Delving into the green growth dilemma and ESG investing in Southeast Asia. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 12(1), 193. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-04184-x
Del-Aguila-Arcentales, S., Alvarez-Risco, A., Jaramillo-Arévalo, M., De-la-Cruz-Diaz, M., & de las Mercedes Anderson-Seminario, M (2022). Influence of Social, Environmental and Economic Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) over continuation of entrepreneurship and competitiveness. Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity, 8(2), 73. https://doi.org/10.3390/joitmc8020073
Dogru, T., Marchio, E. A., Bulut, U., & Suess, C. (2019). Climate change: Vulnerability and resilience of tourism and the entire economy. Tourism Management, 72, 292-305. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2018.12.010
Elgin, C., & Elveren, A. Y. (2024). Unpacking the economic impact of tourism: A multidimensional approach to sustainable development. Journal of Cleaner Production, 478, 143947. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.143947
Goffi, G., Cucculelli, M., & Masiero, L. (2019). Fostering tourism destination competitiveness in developing countries: The role of sustainability. Journal of Cleaner Production, 209, 101-115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.10.208
Gössling, S., Balas, M., Mayer, M., & Sun, Y. Y. (2023). A review of tourism and climate change mitigation: The scales, scopes, stakeholders and strategies of carbon management. Tourism Management, 95, 104681. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2022.104681
Güney, T. (2021). Renewable energy and sustainable development: Evidence from OECD countries. Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy, 40(4), e13609. https://doi.org/10.1002/ep.13609
Hailiang, Z., Chau, K. Y., & Waqas, M. (2023). Does green finance and renewable energy promote tourism for sustainable development: Empirical evidence from China. Renewable Energy, 207, 660-671. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2023.03.032
Hickel, J. (2020). The sustainable development index: Measuring the ecological efficiency of human development in the Anthropocene. Ecological Economics, 167, 106331. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2019.05.011
Hickel, J., & Kallis, G. (2020). Is green growth possible?. New Political Economy, 25(4), 469-486. https://doi.org/10.1080/13563467.2019.1598964
Juwita, A. H., Suryanto, S., & Samudro, B. R. (2021). The impact of international tourism on economic growth and carbon dioxide emission in Asean Five country. Optimum: Jurnal Ekonomi dan Pembangunan, 11(1), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.12928/optimum.v11i1.3393
Khasanah, D. U., & Kurniawan, M. L. A. (2025). Panel seemingly unrelated regression on employment in tourism sector: Evidence in Central Java province. Eko-Regional: Jurnal Pembangunan Ekonomi Wilayah, 19(1), 11-19. https://doi.org/10.32424/er.v19i1.16851
Koens, K., Postma, A., & Papp, B. (2018). Is overtourism overused?: Understanding the impact of tourism in a city context. Sustainability, 10(12), 4384. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10124384
Li, R., Wen, H., Huang, X., & Liu, Y. (2023). Renewable energy: A curse or blessing-international evidence. Sustainability, 15(14), 11103. https://doi.org/10.3390/su151411103
Liodakis, G. (2023). Tourism, value appropriation, and ecological degradation. Tourism and Hospitality, 4(3), 406-418. https://doi.org/10.3390/tourhosp4030025
Liu, G., Brown, M. T., & Casazza, M. (2017). Enhancing the sustainability narrative through a deeper understanding of sustainable development indicators. Sustainability, 9(6), 1078. https://doi.org/10.3390/su9061078
Liu, X., Li, S., Zhu, Y., Song, K., & Wan, H. K. (2025). Research on the coupled dynamics and prediction of Macao's tourism-economy-ecosystem from a policy perspective. PLOS ONE, 20(5), e0321957. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0321957
Loviscek, V. (2021). Triple bottom line toward a holistic framework for sustainability: A systematic review. Revista de Administração Contemporânea, 25(3), e200017. https://doi.org/10.1590/1982-7849rac2021200017.en
Nguyen, Q. H. (2021). Impact of investment in tourism infrastructure development on attracting international visitors: A nonlinear panel ardl approach using Vietnam's Data. Economies, 9(3), 131. https://doi.org/10.3390/economies9030131
OECD. (2018). Environmental Performance Review: Policy Coherence and Green Growth. OECD Publishing.
Pan, S. Y., Gao, M., Kim, H., Shah, K. J., Pei, S. L., & Chiang, P. C. (2018). Advances and challenges in sustainable tourism toward a green economy. Science of the Total Environment, 635, 452-469. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.04.134
Peeters, P., & Landré, M. (2011). The emerging global tourism geography an environmental sustainability perspective. Sustainability, 4(1), 42-71. https://doi.org/10.3390/su4010042
Ridderstaat, J., Croes, R., & Nijkamp, P. (2014). Tourism and long-run economic growth in Aruba. International Journal of Tourism Research, 23(1), 88-102. https://doi.org/10.1002/jtr.1941
Rodríguez-Díaz, Belén, & Pulido-Fernández, Juan Ignacio. (2019). Sustainability as a key factor in tourism competitiveness: A global analysis. Sustainability, 12(1), 51. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12010051
Scheyvens, R., & Cheer, J. M. (2022). Tourism, the SDGs and partnerships. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 30(10), 2271-2281. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2021.1982953
Smallenbroek, O., Caperna, G., Papadimitriou, G. (2023). JRC audit of the Environmental Performance Index. Luxembourg: European Commission.
Suliswanto, M. S. W., Firmansyah, M., Rofik, M., Kurniawan, M. L. A., & Flejterski, S. (2026). A linkage of welfare: industry, small business, and job creation. Jurnal Ekonomi & Studi Pembangunan, 27(1), 71-83. https://doi.org/10.18196/jesp.v27i1.29081
Sun, K., Tao, M., & Che, S. (2026). Tourism's curved path to global renewable energy growth. Journal of Cleaner Production, 547, 147808. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2026.147808
Sun, X., Qing, J., Shah, S. A. A., & Solangi, Y. A. (2023). Exploring the complex nexus between sustainable development and green tourism through advanced GMM Analysis. Sustainability, 15(14), 10782. https://doi.org/10.3390/su151410782
Sun, Y. Y. Y., Faturay, F., Lenzen, M., Gössling, S., & Higham, J. (2024). Drivers of global tourism carbon emissions. Nature Communications, 15(1), 10384. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-54582-7
Tverijonaite, E., Sæþórsdóttir, A. D., Ólafsdóttir, R., & Hall, C. M. (2024). The interrelationships between renewable energy infrastructure and tourism: A thematic literature review. Environmental Development, 52, 101080. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envdev.2024.101080
UN Tourism. (2026). World Tourism Barometer. Washington.
United Nations. (2015). Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Washington.
UNWTO. (2022). Tourism for Sustainable Development Report. New York.
UNWTO. (2023). World Tourism Barometer: Strong Tourism Recovery Approaches Pre-Pandemic Levels. New York.
Uyar, A., Kuzey, C., Koseoglu, M. A., & Karaman, A. S. (2023). Travel and tourism competitiveness index and the tourism sector development. Tourism Economics, 29(4), 1005-1031. https://doi.org/10.1177/13548166221080357
Vhina, J. L., & Fazaalloh, A. (2026). The impact of fiscal decentralization on tourism development in Java Island: A study of district/city level data. Optimum: Jurnal Ekonomi dan Pembangunan, 16(1), 76-86. https://doi.org/10.12928/optimum.v16i1.15196
Warren, C., & Becken, S. (2017). Saving energy and water in tourist accommodation: A systematic literature review (1987-2015). International Journal of Tourism Research, 19(3), 289-303. https://doi.org/10.1002/jtr.2112
Wei, Z., & Lihua, H. (2023). Effects of tourism and eco-innovation on environmental quality in selected ASEAN countries. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 30(15), 42889-42903. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-17541-z
Wendling, Z. A., Jacob, M., Esty, D. C., & Emerson, J. W. (2022). Explaining environmental performance: Insights for progress on sustainability. Environmental Performance Index, 44, 100741. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envdev.2022.100741
Wendling, Z. A., Emerson, J. W., Esty, D.C., de Sherbin, A., Block, S., et al. (2026). Environmental Performance Index. New Haven, CT. Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy.
Wijesekara, C., Tittagalla, C., Jayathilaka, A., Ilukpotha, U., Jayathilaka, R., & Jayasinghe, P. (2022). Tourism and economic growth: A global study on Granger causality and wavelet coherence. PLoS ONE, 17(9 September), 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0274386
Wilkins, E. J., Dagan, D. T., & Smith, J. W. (2024). Quantifying and evaluating strategies to decrease carbon dioxide emissions generated from tourism to Yellowstone National Park. PLOS Climate, 3(4), e0000391. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000391
Wu, D., Liu, W., Ren, Y., & Li, H. (2024). Exploring energy and tourism economy growth nexus with dea-based index systems: The case of sustainable development of tourism destinations. Environmental Science & Policy, 160, 103858. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103858
World Economic Forum. (2024). Travel and Tourism Development Index. Washington.
Zheng, R., Osabohien, R., Madueke, E., & Jaaffar, A. H. B. (2023). Renewable energy consumption and business density as drivers of sustainable development. Frontiers in Energy Research, 11, 1268903. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenrg.2023.1268903
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Miftahul Jannah, Nani Sutarni
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
