Report for define, exemplify, and critically discuss the motivations, barriers, and management tools available for tourism businesses to be more sustainable.
1. Introduction
Tourism is a significant contributor to any country’s economy. Basically, tourism is an economic growth driver that creates jobs and helps in making countries better economically (Guevara 2018). Sustainable tourism has to do with tourism activities that focus on resource management while taking into consideration the economic and social needs, Castellani and Sala (2009). In general tourism activities include visiting family and friends, visiting tourist attraction centers, service providers as well as support facilities such as those involved in transportation. Sustainable tourism is associated with a couple of consequences, both in the negative aspect and the positive aspect. Negative attributes include loss of land; water is reserved for luxurious hotels; hence local people have less access to water, less agricultural activities, and there is an increase in carbon dioxide emissions (carbon footprints) in general. Arguably one the same note (Dietlmeir, 2013) notes that the investments in tourism have resulted in harsh effects on the environment, even though it appears as if the business has practices that are environmentally friendly.
Nevertheless, tourism has emerged a positive outcome following the growth of any country’s gross domestic product (Guevara, 2018). This essay aims to define, demonstrate, and critically discuss the motivations, barriers, and management tools available for the tourism business to be more sustainable. An in-depth look into this statement is achieved by the article below.
2. Motivations for tourism businesses to be more sustainable
There are various reasons why the tourism business needs to be more durable. Economic reasons take the lions share. According to Revell and Blackburn (2007), investors are taking sustainability actions to be more than a couple the amount of financial gain that trips in. It also follows that firms make decisions that offer a competitive advantage. These actions include cost reduction, among others. There is a need to satisfy a growing market in need of tourism activities. The ever increasing market fuels tourism businesses to strive to be sustainable. Tourists expect to be welcomed by an excellent environment (Budeanu, 2007). This suggests that customer needs also propel tourism business and sustainability. In his journal, (Budeanu 2007) gives an example where British tourists ask for the information on destinations’ environmental status, whereas Dutch tourists continuously query the availability of eco-labeled accommodations. Market needs is a critical component that propels tourism investors to strive to achieve a sustainable tourism business. According to Melubo et al., (2017), the positive gains that are associated with protecting a firm’s image encourage a tourism investment to be sustainable in the long run.
Corporate social responsibility is another key driver in a tourism business that is struggling to be sustainable. Sustainability is achieved through an investment desire to have the right relationships with society. The investors continually strive to meet the society’s expectation of the business and hence in return, the tourism business become sustainable. As the tourism business strives to deliver quality to its customers, it is at the same time involved in activities and procedural projects to the society that ensures that the company is aware of the surrounding environment. A model is presented by (Carroll 1991) that justifies the critical elements of the economic, social, ethical, and legal responsibilities of a tourism business. The duo Melubo et al. (2017) approve the corporate social responsibility approach as an excellent approach to a profit-making tourism business. To achieve this, CSR is implemented as a connection tool to notify the shareholders concerning the choices made by the tourism business. In the long run, this would enhance customer satisfaction hence sustainability (Castelo, 2013). To enable shareholders to benefit from CSR and have an economic gain from the positive image of the organization, Melubo et al. (2017) warn that the advantages may be approved even though the field is not yet comprehended exhaustively. This hints that the connection between CSR and tourism objective is an area where there is little existing information. As there is little information available, consequently, there is a need to develop a competitive advantage, although CSR is seen to have chances of reducing operating expenses as well as improving competitive advantage, which seems to propel sustainable tourism business, Moscardo, and Benckendorf, (2015).
Moreover, sustainability in the tourism business is fuelled by the sense if care a corporate has towards the community. A point closely related to the CSR concept, Melubo et al. (2015), explores a case study that looks into the motivation for the local and non-local tourism business in Tanzania, where they identified that company holds a view that they are part of a specific community. As such, they have a moral duty to ensure that the environment is well taken care of through sustainable activities and procedures. The study affirms that businesses find it attractive to participate in CSR due to reasons such as; tourist attraction, social legitimization, and meeting societal expectations. This has the suggestion that the need to boost the society’s welfare is a tourism business, sustainable driver.
Lastly, lifestyle choices propose that pro-sustainability trends in tourism are well explained through the user’s preferences and habits. Shaw and Williams (2004) argue that it is essential to put the concept of lifestyle entrepreneurship in mind when discussing sustainable tourism business. This concept is known to be maintaining a particular class of life supported by income-generating chances, which are maintained by the customers’ choices and lifestyle.
3. Barriers for tourism businesses to be more sustainable
On to the other side of the coin, there are several hindrances to sustainable tourism business as discussed below. First of all, it is complex to develop and put in place sustainable practices. According to (Day, 2012) tourism businesses have the drawback that they face in the form of challenges. These challenges are in the way of flexible compound systems with different individualistic actors who are mean to boost the sustainable tourism business. For example, the company that is responsible for the conveyance of tourism occurrence must work with a number of firms together in order to ensure the provision of quality goods and services, a practice that is met with progressive challenges at each stage. Contrary to the expectation, tour firms, accommodation providers, and transport providers have less contribution to the development of a sustainable business. In return, the tourism business is looking at becoming more sustainable and beating the barriers that hinder their efforts. Sustainable tourism relies on the universal approach where there is a need to look into all the actors as well as the scales associated with them in tourism, Paunovic, and Jovanovich (2017). It is worth noting that the composite issues that are related to sustainable tourism businesses need a continuous comprehensive response not only involving tourism but also the broader sustainability challenges. Day (2012) concludes that sustainable tourism is not a simple idea because investors are compelled difficult tasks of engaging in trade-offs, and they are understood differently by different people and cultures.
Another barrier comes about by the fact that customers are also a barrier to sustainability in tourism. According to Parsa et al. (2015), customers pose a barrier to involvement in the sustainable tourism industry. Customers look at being part of sustainability as an inconvenience and a non-issue to them. If customers can give more feedback, it would be used to boost durability, something which does not happen often. Bandura (1989) explains this behavior through the social cognitive theory where tourist customers can be said to borrow from their peers that cost reduction means cutting their wealth. Hence tourists act without a second thought on the implications of spending and also environmental responsibility. Due to this, investors shy away from investing, and consequently, this harms the investments such as tour firms, accommodation providers, and transport providers. In the long run, according to Parsa et al. (2015), this hinders the tourism business from sustainability. This is coupled with the fact that customers take greater environmental responsibility at their own premises and not hotels. This behavior could be explained by the fact that customers have in mind that they have spent a pound on the service; hence they do not feel the need to be responsible. Hotels must sensitize their customers on being a part of sustainability plans.
Another significant key barrier to tourism business sustainability is the financial implications of the process involved in attaining sustainability. Hao (2015) brings out the strong point that low return on investment and lack of enough funds to couple sustainability is a significant drawback to the tourism business. With the understanding that there is some business that has thrived without doing well in sustainable tourism and taking into consideration Banduras’ social cognitive theory, which speculates that human beings learn from observing others (Bandura 1989). Clearly, this leads business investors to the point that they do not see the need to invest in sustainable tourism. The financial barrier has to do with the number of resources available for investment in the tourism business. Investors in the sector may shy away from pumping more investment into the already existing market. According to Pineda and Brebbia (2012), tourism investors face a significant drawback when investing in sustainable business as there is a lot of capital involved in the same investment, and the rate of return on investment is low and unpredictable. Lack of resources, funds can force a business to participate in whitewashing, a practice that shows fake CSR to fool shareholders. This also has to do with efforts put together by firms in an effort to cushion from public knowledge their uncourtly facts about tourism sustainability. Right CSR strategies are a vital part of sustainability efforts and need resources in terms of time and funds.
4. Management tools available for tourism businesses to be more sustainable
One of the most used management tools by the tourism business to ensure sustainability is the corporate social responsibility approach. According to Lund-Durlacher (2015), CSR is viewed as the guiding business policy in which tourism investors bring together socio-environmental concerns in the investment strategies as well as interactions with the business owners. This prompts the management of the tourism business to be aware of the investment is a part of the larger society and hence ought to act responsibly towards the environment. This includes the responsibility of the tourism firm where the firm has to win the heart of the community.
It is worth noting that CSR tools in the business industry of tourism are a combination of a multi stake-holder system in which shareholders are on the receiving end as well as being partners on the implementation of the sustainability strategies.
CSR is a proven tool for the tourism business to carry out sustainable development, according to Cannas and Theuma (2013). Therefore CSR is a comprehensive proposal that supports economic and socio-environmental performance. Very much widely, CSR is used in looking at the challenge faced while trying to achieve sustainability in the tourism business. According to Cannas and Theuma (2013), there are also sustainable tourism indicators that are a useful tool in trying to manage sustainability in the tourism business. The duo points out that the signs are dependent on the demonstrated implementation of principles about sustainability. Cannas and Theuma (2013) go ahead and recognize the symbols as an essential evaluation tool that gives direction to the activities and processes towards sustainable development in the tourism investment. According to Jovicic and Llic (2010), this is the case in sustainable tourism business management. The duo sounds a warning that the sustainable indicators are not an obligatory comprehensive approach. The symbols are also complex to put in place for the actual procedure. Development of sustainability indicators is seen as a representation of the scientific knowledge for generations to come in a sustainable tourism business as pointed out by Jovicic and Llic (2010)
5. Conclusion
Investors doing tourism business take part in a broad aspect of practices to meet the CSR requirement of maintaining an image on the corporate being environmentally responsible. There are some advantages drawn from retaining the right firm image and a tourism corporate being a part of a community. The two ideas are a plus in ensuring that a tourism business is sustainable. On the other hand, the critical barriers to the sustainable tourism business and include financial factors, the complexity of the systems that are to be implemented to the industry to be sustainable. Customer practices is another major hindrance to the sustainable tourism business. Customers feel that being a part of sustainability is a form of inconvenience, perhaps a decrease in their luxury and also note forgetting that customers think that this may decrease their wealth portion perception. In conclusion, these factors result in investors shying away from investing, and in the long run, there is fell sustainability in the tourism business. Corporate social responsibility is the only primary tool for boosting sustainable tourism. In my view, all investors ought to adopt a CSR approach to enable them to reach sustainability in their tourism business.
References
Bandura, A. (1989). Social cognitive theory. In R. Vasta (Ed.), Annals of child development. Six theories of child development (pp. 1-60). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
Budeanu, A. (2007). Sustainable tourist behavior. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 31, 499-508.
Cannas, R. and Theuma, N. (2013) Strategies and tools for sustainable tourism destination management. International Association for Tourism Policy.
Carroll, A. B. (1991) The pyramid of corporate social responsibility. Business Horizons, 34(4), 39-48.
Castelo, B. M. (2013) Resource-based theory and CSR. In Idowu S.O., Capaldi N., Zu L., Gupta A.D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Corporate Social Responsibility. Springer: Berlin, Heidelberg.
Caystellani, V. and Sala, S. (2009) Sustainable tourism as a factor o local development. Germany: Tangram Ediz. Scientifiche.
Day, J. (2012) Challenges of sustainable tourism. Journal of Tourism Research & Hospitality, 1(2), 1-2.
Dietlmeier, C. (2013) Understanding and addressing motivations and barriers towards alternative travel modes. [online] Available at: https://www.academia.edu/4647249/Understanding_and_addressing_motivations_and_barriers_towards_alternative_travel_modes._A_social_marketing_approach_for_sustainable_tourism_mobility [03 November 2019].
Hao, H. (2015). Sustainable practices and barriers. [online] Available at: http://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1086&context=ttra [03 November 2019].
Jo, H. and Na, H. (2012). Does CSR reduce firm risk? Journal of Business Ethics, 110(4), 441-456.
Le, Y. et al. (2005). Business perspectives on adopting sustainable tourism practices. Téoros, 24(2), 58-68.
Lund-Durlacher, D. (2015). Corporate social responsibility in tourism. In: Education for Sustainability in Tourism – A Handbook of Processes, Resources, and Strategies. Moscardo, P. & Benckendorff, G. (eds.). Berlin: Springer, p. 59 – 73.
Melubo, K., Lovelock, B., & Filep, S. (2017). Motivations and barriers for corporate social responsibility engagement: Evidence from the Tanzanian tourism industry. Tourism and Hospitality Research, 1-12.
Moscardo, G. and Benckendorff, P. (2015) Education for sustainability in tourism. USA: Springer.
Parsa, H. G. et al. (2015) Sustainability, social responsibility, and innovations in tourism and hospitality. USA: CRC Press.
Paunovic, I. and Jovanovic, V. (2017) Implementation of sustainable tourism in the German Alps. Sustainability, 9(2), 226.
Pineda, F. D., and Brebbia, C. A. (2012) Sustainable tourism V. USA: WIT Press.
Weaver, D. (2015) Volunteer tourism and beyond: motivations and barriers to participation in protected area enhancement. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 23(5), 683–705.
[i]Revell A and Blackburn R. (2007) The business case for sustainability? An examination of
small firms in the UK’s construction and restaurant sectors. Business strategy and the
environment. 16(6):404-20.
16] Shaw G, Williams AM. From lifestyle consumption to lifestyle production:
changing patterns of tourism entrepreneurship. In: Thomas R, editor. Small firms in
tourism: international perspectives. Oxford: Pergamon; 2004. p. 99-114.