Deliberately unsustainable tourism: a “no action, talk only” syndrome

Purpose Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Agenda 2030 appears increasingly unattainable, with the tourism sector continuing to be a major contributor to global unsustainability. However, stakeholders' willful/deliberate disregard for sustainable practices has been inadequately addressed in academic and practical discussions. Understanding the persistence of unsustainable tourism practices is therefore both urgent and equally important. Design/methodology/approach By integrating insights from existing literature and the current stance on sustainable tourism, this viewpoint explores the debate surrounding the deliberate ignorance of sustainable tourism, presenting its global reality and practical implications to inform strategies for moving forward. Findings This viewpoint argues the credible notion of deliberate ignorance as a catalyst for unsustainable tourism. Additionally, the agnotology view was adopted to further shed light on why stakeholders' deliberate inaction towards sustainable tourism could be cancerous and detrimental to the global sustainable efforts. Originality/value The present study pioneers the examination and discussion of the credible notion of deliberate ignorance as a catalyst of unsustainable tourism.