The ability of businesses to influence the sustainability of tourism development is generally examined from two standpoints: the regulatory frameworks requiring particular actions with respect to how business is carried out, or to clients; and the measures/policy instruments companies implement voluntarily. This paper draws attention to a third (indirect but important) way in which businesses’ influence on tourism sustainability can be examined: their opportunities for engagement as stakeholders in policy processes. In some countries such opportunities are available voluntarily, in others they may be statutory/legally-based, or both. Besides, such opportunities may be available in one or more policy domains: tourism and recreation policies, biodiversity conservation, climate change, broader environmental policies, and so on. In such contexts, tourism businesses operate in policy arenas of different sizes and structures, as other stakeholder types and citizens are also often present. In these arenas, the balance of power across participants will be influenced by the participatory rights available to each actor through legislation, and how actors decide to respond and mobilize themselves, to exert those rights. Tourism businesses are a heterogeneous group, and often prioritize sustainability differently. Besides, public authorities may use loopholes and shortcuts available in the legal framework, to further influence the balance of power among participating actors.