The Balance Between Economic Development and Environmental Protection: Sustainable Tourism in Juneau City

Abstract

To effectively balance economic gains and ecological conservation in tourism-intensive cities, this study examines Juneau, Alaska—a quintessential tourism-dependent city—and constructs a multi-objective optimization framework for sustainable tourism based on a stochastic movement model. By modeling the stochastic fluctuations of beer and housing prices and incorporating symbolic functions to quantify tourist behavior choices and local residents' response strategies, the framework establishes a constrained optimization model to systematically optimize overall social, economic, and environmental benefits. Key parameters were estimated using linear regression methods, combined with Monte Carlo simulation techniques to conduct stochastic simulations and evaluations of profit and sustainability indicators under various scenarios. Results indicate that setting hotel accommodation prices at $160 per night and limiting annual visitor numbers to approximately 15,800 can maximize regional profits while significantly reducing environmental pressure, thereby alleviating resource competition between local communities and external tourists. The modeling mechanism proposed in this study not only provides a scientific quantitative decision-making tool for the sustainable development of resource-constrained tourism cities but also holds significant theoretical value and practical guidance for advancing tourism policy design that balances equity and efficiency.