A THREE-LEVEL ESG INDICATOR SYSTEM FOR TOURISM: MICRO, REGIONAL AND MACRO-ECONOMIC DIMENSIONS

Аннотация

Tourism remains one of the world's fastest-growing economic sectors, yet its environmental
footprint and governance deficits remain insufficiently measured and managed. This article
addresses a persistent gap in the sustainability literature: the absence of a comprehensive, multilevel ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) indicator system specifically calibrated for
tourism in developing economies. Drawing on stratified field research covering 45 hotels across
four Uzbek UNESCO World Heritage cities (Bukhara 14, Samarkand 12, Tashkent 11, Khiva 8),
a survey of 247 international and domestic tourists, and 18 expert interviews conducted via the
Delphi method, a three-level indicator framework is developed and empirically validated. Microlevel baseline data from the 2024 field audit — including an average renewable energy share of
11.4%, local staff ratio of 53.2%, and GSI of 67.4/100 — establish the empirical gap against
SMART-compliant target values. Regional and national baseline data (e.g., regional carbon
intensity ~148 kg CO₂/tourist vs. target ≤80; national ESG tourism strategy score 42/100 vs. target
≥70) quantify the development reserves at each governance level. The gender equality index for
regional tourism (baseline ~0.47 vs. target ≥0.90) is identified as the largest Social component
deficit, followed by community stakeholder participation (~8.6% vs. target ≥30%). The article's
principal contribution is the first complete, three-level, SMART-compliant ESG indicator
taxonomy for Uzbekistan's tourism sector with empirically grounded baseline values at each level,
internationally benchmarked 2030 targets, and an actionable implementation architecture.