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Tourism consumption has grown into a major economic factor for modern societies. However, the environmental impact of tourism has become a significant concern, leading to an increased focus on sustainable tourism policies. While governments and institutions have introduced frameworks to promote ecological transition in the tourism sector, the effectiveness of such policies remains unclear. This study provides a seminal attempt to examine the complex relationship between tourism demand and sustainable tourism policies. To do so, a gravity model framework has been adopted to examine incoming international tourism flows in Italian provinces in 2019. The findings reveal a positive association between tourism demand and sustainable labels. This study also suggests that eco-labels are appreciated by tourists and have a role in the destination decision-making process. It highlighted the need for continued research to identify effective sustainable tourism policies that can balance the economic benefits of tourism with environmental considerations

The transition to more environmentally sustainable production processes and managerial practices is an increasingly important topic. Many industries need to undergo radical change to meet environmental sustainability requirements; the tourism industry is no exception. In this respect, a particular aspect that needs further attention is the relationship between airport performances and investments in environmental sustainability policies. This work represents a first attempt to provide empirical evidences about this relationship. Through the application of a non-parametrical method, we first assess the efficiency of the Italian airports industry. Secondly, we investigated the relationship between airports performance and management commitment toward the ecological transition using a Tobit regression model. The results show that airports adherence to formal multi-year ecological transition programs has a positive and consistent impact on their performance.

Many studies have analyzed empirically the determinants of survival for innovative startup companies using data about the characteristics of entrepreneurs and management or focusing on firm- and industry-specific variables. However, no attempts have been made so far to assess the role of the environmental sustainability of the production process. Based on data describing the characteristics of the Italian innovative startups in the period 2009-2018, this article studies the differences in survival between green and non-green companies. We show that, while controlling for other confounding factors, startups characterized by a green production process tend to survive longer than their counterparts. In particular, we estimate that a green innovative startup is more than twice as likely to survive than a non-green one. This evidence may support the idea that environment sustainability can help economic development.