Active Tourism for Reducing Sedentary Behavior in Youth: A Systematic Review and Implications for Health Promotion and Economic Development (2015–2025)

The objective of this systematic review was to analyze the scientific evidence published between 2015 and 2025 on the impact of active tourism in reducing sedentary behavior among children and adolescents, and its implications for health promotion and the economic development of the sector. The PRISMA 2020 guidelines were followed, with searches conducted in PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science, including 13 studies with approximately 3100 participants across school, extracurricular, and residential camp contexts. The results show a consistent decrease in sedentary time during participation in active tourism programs, with moderate reductions in short-term interventions (≈5–15% or 20–30 min/day) and substantial decreases of up to 1.5–2 h per day in immersive programs. This displacement is mainly accompanied by increases in light physical activity, more limited improvements in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, and reductions in screen time when the use of electronic devices is restricted. Overall, active tourism emerges as an effective and safe intervention with biopsychosocial benefits to counteract sedentary lifestyles in the young population. Furthermore, it demonstrates considerable applied potential as a driver of economic development by generating demand for educational, recreational, and tourism services, fostering destination diversification, and promoting sustainable territorial growth models.