Circular Economy in Tourism: A System-Level Approach Sanna-Mari Renfors Satakunta University of Applied Sciences, Pori, Finland sanna-mari.renfors@samk.fi Abstract: Tourism is a sector where circular economy unfolds extensive opportunities. Despite being classified as a service sector, tourism depends on significant quantities and flows of exhaustible natural resources. As a result, circular economy in tourism has become an emerging field of study. This can also be ascribed to the fact that the topic of circular economy is currently high on the political agenda, especially in Europe. Because circular economy is receiving exponential attention from policy makers, it has also received more interest among tourism scholars. The aim of this paper is to increase understanding of circular economy in tourism research considering its systemic nature. The paper is based on a review of the scientific articles published in the years 2015-2022. The research question is: What are the recent developments and trends in the research on CE in tourism from a system-level approach? The findings indicate that the previous studies have mainly focused on the micro level from the environmental and business management perspectives in the hospitality sector. However, there are many emerging research themes, for example circular consumption behaviour, circular economy and smart tourism. In addition, other types of tourism companies should be considered, e.g., spas, events, and programme service providers. It is evident that more research is required on the meso and macro levels. In all levels, more attention should be paid on the social and cultural aspects of circular economy in tourism. Keywords: Circular tourism, Circular economy, Sustainable tourism, Circular practices 1. Introduction Tourism is a sector where circular economy unfolds extensive opportunities. The sector has a significant role in the ongoing economic transformation because it has a multiplier effect on the whole economy and can encourage circular flows among its suppliers and customers (Vargas-Sanchez 2021). The sector is strongly interlinked with other key industries, especially agriculture, construction, water supply, waste management, electricity, sewage, transport and logistics as well as food, drink and textile manufacture industries. Thus, tourism actors have an important role as enablers within circular transition (Einarsson & Sorin 2020). Despite being classified as a service sector, tourism depends on significant quantities and flows of exhaustible natural resources. Therefore, circular economy provides essential tools for solving environmental problems caused by tourism, and it contributes to the well-being of individuals and communities. Circular business models in the tourism industry improve environmental performance in tourism, and simultaneously they generate cost savings and the growth of revenue as well as help create local jobs (Zorpas et al. 2021). Circular economy is also connected to the long-term post-COVID-19 recovery of the tourism industry, which will be influenced by the speed of the transformation of the current linear production system to a circular one (Prideaux, Thompson & Pabel 2020). The concept of circular economy has become very popular since it was introduced by policy makers as a solution to reduce harm to the environment by countries, companies and consumers (Prieto-Sandoval, Jaca & Ormazabal 2018). Due to its potential to transform the use of resources in the economy, it is currently high on the political agenda. Because it is receiving exponential attention from policy makers, it has also started to gain more interest in tourism research. As a result, circular economy in tourism can be considered an emerging field of study and it has recently been advanced increasingly by tourism scholars. The aim of this paper is to increase understanding of circular economy in tourism considering its systemic nature by performing a literature analysis. The paper is based on a review of the scientific articles published in the years 2015–2022. The research question is: What are the recent developments and trends in the research on CE in tourism from a system-level approach? 2. Circular Economy in Tourism Circular economy is an economic system that represents a change of paradigm in how human society is interrelated with nature (Prieto-Sandoval et al. 2018). It is a system-level production and consumption model of economy operating within the planetary boundaries and aiming at regenerating natural and social capital (Sorin & Sirajavah 2021). It is an economy based on resource-efficiency with a mission to save resources by maximising efficiency and minimising their wastage (Sheldon 2022). In other words, circular economy aims at an in-depth transformation of the way resources are used; resources are reused and kept in a loop of production and usage 261 Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Tourism Research, ICTR 2023