Back to the future: The singular times and multiple temporalities of tourism planning

A review of the literature 

In tourism and elsewhere, the term polycrisis has been used to describe the simultaneous occurrence of disparate crises in which the temporal dimensions of the past, present and future become mutually implicative. From this point of view, critical reflection on the role of tourism planning in building the future is essential since our decisions in the present have the power to shape the tourism of tomorrow. Tourism planning specifically is dedicated to the design and management of the future of tourist destinations. This study argues that beyond a strategic and efficient design and management of destinations, planning can become an ethical practice that aspires to build more desirable, fair and sustainable tourism futures. Given the inequalities, polycrises and complexities of the sector and the planet, it is urgent to rethink the current models and tools for planning, management and development of destinations. This article reviews the relationship between tourism planning, time and temporality by analysing how the future has been understood in previous studies. To this end, the study starts from the intersection between post-developmental and critical approaches in tourism, with their focus on plurality and fair futures, and complexity theory in the social sciences, with its focus on uncertainty and social change. An integrative methodology of literature analysis was applied based on 344 publications on tourism planning. This method allowed us to analyse three interrelated dimensions: how do we understand the future within tourism planning? (epistemological perspective), how is this process carried out? (methodological perspective), and, finally, what kind of futures are being proposed? (ontological perspective). 

The findings reveal two contrasting and interrelated approaches to the future in the planning literature. The first approach conceives tourism planning as a linear process, where the future is seen as a predictable and singular outcome determined by a chain of cause and effect that can be anticipated. In this perspective, sequential planning models predominate, which seek to forecast the future based on a detailed analysis of the present and through systematic processes aimed at achieving specific objectives. These spatial, strategic, systemic and controlled approaches assume that tourism sector stakeholders can work in balance towards a common future, where change is perceived as a disruption that must be stabilised and strategically managed or to which destinations must simply adapt. 

In an intermediate spectrum, participatory, adaptive and modelled approaches propose a vision of the future that integrates both predictability and uncertainty. Here, tourism planning is not reduced to a rigid sequence but rather admits the coexistence of multiple possibilities, and causality is seen as something more complex and non-linear. These approaches seek the simultaneous transformation of order and change, often through participatory and adaptive processes of tourism planning, although at times they still reflect a linear and rational approach to time and space. Examples include the application of causal assumptions in collaborative efforts and the conception of sustainability as an achievable outcome at the end of implemented processes. 

At the other extreme, more radical and emergent approaches reject the idea of ​​predicting the future, emphasising planning as a continuous process of building and transforming the future in the present. In this perspective, the future is not something that is anticipated but rather created dynamically, through human action in public policy communities, formal and informal networks, or complex, constantly evolving systems. Here, the future is inherently multiple and emergent, and time and space are designed, created, or destroyed as relationships and actions develop. In these approaches, change and social transformation are active processes sought through principles such as tourism degrowth, co-design of experiences, ethics, justice and reconciliation, reflecting a vision of the future that is deeply open and in constant transformation. 

This contrast highlights how, while more traditional approaches focus on predictability and control, more emerging conceptions of tourism planning emphasize uncertainty, collaboration and the co-creation of futures in a context of continuous change and dynamic networks. Based on these findings, tourism planning can be conceptualized as the practice of redesigning places and spaces by integrating traditional, linear, cause-effect time with multiple, subjective and circular temporalities based on perceptions, ongoing dialogues and flexible paths without set goals. By acknowledging planning in this way, we acknowledge the dynamism and rhythms of destination transformation processes in which past and present intertwine in the ethical (re)design of future tourism geographies and places.