Glocalising circular waste governance in tourism: legitimacy pathways from coastal destinations

Abstract

Circular waste challenges in tourism arise where global sustainability agendas meet the everyday realities of destinations facing seasonal pressures, uneven infrastructures and competing expectations of environmental care. This study examines circular-waste governance as a glocal process through which global circularity principles are translated into locally credible routines, responsibilities and governance arrangements. It adopts a two-phase design. Phase 1 maps research on coastal circularity from 2000 to 2026 and identifies five recurring legitimacy signals: fairness, low-friction routines, visible environmental gains, decision-embedded metrics and adaptive governance. Phase 2 examines these signals through interviews with 104 stakeholders across Vietnamese coastal destinations. The findings show that circular initiatives are judged through daily experiences of cleaning rhythms, infrastructural gaps, identity attachments and the perceived credibility of governing actors. The analysis identifies three legitimacy pathways through which circular measures consolidate, erode or fluctuate over time. Overall, the study highlights circular-waste governance as a legitimacy-mediated transition in which global principles gain practical force through local translation into credible routines and destination governance practices.