Introduction
Globally, the tourism and hospitality industries have been confronted with unprecedented problems. On the one hand, existing strategies and policies have been insufficient to meet stakeholder expectations, while on the other hand, the industry's potential and capabilities have not been effectively leveraged to target the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Furthermore, creating value for the tourists and other stakeholders at the bottom of the pyramid (BoP) has received limited attention from academia, which is a crucial building block for targeting SDGs. Tourism has enormous potential to contribute to SDGs and serve the BoP market but limited attention from academia and practitioners has restricted its implementation. While SDGs encompass the social, economic, and environmental aspects, the focus of BoP is more on social and economic goals. Thus, making it a sub-strategy for achieving the SDG. Thus, studies in the book will aim to design strategies for the tourism industry in its potential to create socio-economic and environmental gains for stakeholders in the BoP and achieve the desired SDGs. In the context of tourism, limited knowledge poses a significant obstacle to the implementation of strategies to address BoP market needs. Furthermore, identifying how several SDGs could be targeted through tourism is vital for creating a more equitable and vital tourism industry. Integrating SDG strategies in tourism business models has proven to increase the potential to address all three components of sustainable development, i.e., economic, social, and environmental. By improving the quality of life and well-being, tourism provides economic impetus to the sustainability agenda and has the potential to achieve SDG 1 (No Poverty), SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), and. SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth). Ensuring equitable distribution of economic and non-economic resources to all social groups helps to achieve SDG 2 (zero hunger), SDG 5 (Gender equality), and SDG 16 (Peace, justice, and strong institutions). Also, tourism is one of the main causes of waste generation in the mountains. Practices such as waste reduction and transitioning from a linear economy to a circular economy in product designing could help in achieving the targets of SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production). Focusing on the environmental aspect, CSV helps the tourism industry respect the socio-symbiotic relationship and targets SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), SDG 13 (Climate Action), SDG 14 (Life Below Water), and SDG 15 (Life on Land). Bringing these components together, CSV fosters collaboration among governments, businesses, communities, and NGOs, which aligns with the objectives of SDG 17 (Partnership for goals). There is negligible research focusing on making tourism products inclusive for the BoP stakeholders. The literature supports that the customer in the BoP segment has a stronger emphasis on personalization, product, price, place, and process. Incorporating local stakeholders from the BoP segment is also an approach to interlink tourism and BoP. Strategies combining BoP and SDG will help the tourism industry in improving both ways. For instance, designing affordable and inclusive products and services in a manner that serves the socio-economic and environmental challenges and BoP needs. Similarly, localization in supply chains could be extended to include those from marginalized segments to promote local employment and provide them with decent economic work, micro-entrepreneurship, and collaboration. Additionally, improving the industry ecosystem fosters collaboration between stakeholders for improving processes and more personalized product development. Moreover, these approaches essentially contribute towards realizing the goals of SDGs. In a nutshell, it is observed that business models in tourism that cater to the needs of the BoP segment and for the betterment of the industry can act as a catalyst for achieving the SDGs. Tourism provides an opportunity for the government to interlink BoP and SDGs. For instance, by designing business models that integrate people from this segment, organizations can target SDG 1. Similarly, food tourism could act as a medium for the promotion of traditional food crops that benefit poor farmers and also make people aware of food wastage to target SDG 2. Tourism has shown tremendous potential in improving the lives of women in community tourism in hilly and tribal areas by providing them with decent job opportunities. These women, once from marginalized sections of society, are now financially empowered (SDG 5 and 8). Similarly, several other goals that the government finds difficult to target could also be achieved through BoP-targeted tourism development. And by creating shared value, the industry could ensure that the benefits are shared by the various stakeholders equitably.