Table 5_Practiced but not articulated: a multi-stakeholder assessment of sustainability communication at the World Heritage city of Bukhara, Uzbekistan.xlsx

Residents demonstrated strong living-heritage practice, with 296 of 410 (72.2%) maintaining national clothing, music and traditions, but fewer than half (46.3%) were familiar with the concept of sustainable tourism and fewer than one third (32.9%) had ever attended a tourism planning meeting. Guides practiced sustainability operationally through low-emission transport and local purchasing (78.6%), yet only 16.7% explicitly communicated carbon reduction and 19.0% collaborated with environmental organizations, citing financial constraints and the absence of institutional frameworks.

Within each group considered separately, indicators of enacted practice stood higher than indicators of explicit articulation and participation, a within-group asymmetry consistent with an informational rather than a participatory communication model. The three groups are described side by side and are not ranked against one another. Because the design is cross-sectional and the three instruments were thematically parallel rather than identical, cross-group results are presented descriptively as baseline evidence.

The study contributes multi-stakeholder descriptive evidence from tourists, residents and local guides at one World Heritage destination, and identifies institutional voice, resident inclusion and guide capacity building as candidate priorities for destination management.</p>