Corporate Social Responsibility in Tourism

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Corporate Social Responsibility in Tourism

• What do we mean by CSR?
• What drives industry towards CSR?
• Its people?
• Its financiers?
• Is tourism different from other industries?

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What is CSR?

• What defines social responsibility is not the
  exclusion of profit as an outcome, but its
  exclusion as a motive the fact that when an act
  is done simply as a means to the end of profit it
  is not then an act of business social
  responsibility
• (Chryssides and Kaler, 1993 232)

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• It is not from the benevolence of the butcher,
  the brewer, or the baker that we expect our
  dinner, but from their regard to their own
  interest. We address ourselves not to their
  humanity but to their self-love, and never talk
  to them of our own necessities but of their
  advantages
• Adam Smith (1776)

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Values behind CSR

• How do people in the tourism industry make CSR
  decisions?
• Deontology decisions should be made solely or
  primarily by considering one's duties and the
  rights of others.
• Teleology decisions are made based on the
  desired outcome

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Miller study, 2004

• Students use a mix of deontology and teleology
• Prior ethical education had no effect
• Female students more sensitive to ethical
  dilemmas
• All students less tolerant of unethical action
  with environmental scenarios

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Types of Corporate Social Responsibility

• Corporate Philanthropy
• Financial contributions directly to a cause or a
  destination
• community
• Community Volunteering
• Employees donation of their time and talents
  for social
• or environmental programs in the destination
• Cause Promotion
• Increasing the awareness and concern for social
  causes or
• disadvantaged populations

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• Corporate Social Marketing
• Behavior change campaigns such as education of
  travelers
• Socially Responsible Practices
• Community educational and social programs
• Environmentally Responsible Business practices
• Recycling and energy saving, pollution
  minimization,
• clean-up programs
• Value-based programs within the firm
• For example human resource and CSR accounting
  practices

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Examples of CSR

• Hotel chains providing scholarships to aboriginal
  students to study tourism
• Donations by industry of over 300,000 for local
  shelters, soup kitchens and youth programmes
• Building relationship with community where hotels
  are located

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Example of CSR

• First Choice Environment and People report
• www.fcenvironmentand people.com

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WTTC Social Leadership www.wttc.org

• Abercrombie and Kent
• Accor Hotels
• Avis
• Bristish Airways
• Marriott Hotels
• Carlson Group

• Radisson Hotels
• Singapore Airlines
• Taj Hotels
• TUI Group
• Worldspan

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Consumer sovereignty in tourism

• Consumers are switching allegiances,
  challenging traditional ethics, and actively
  seeking out products that are perceived to fulfil
  their needs, even if more costly. They do not
  look at the price of a product they ask if there
  is an environmental or moral issue involved.
  Tourists as consumers, are asking questions,
  seeking creative travel alternatives, and are
  willing to pay extra to obtain the travel
  experiences they desire
• Wight 19938

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Better to shop than vote?

• Low turnout in elections
• Low membership of political parties
• Turnoff of electorate towards politics
• Companies respond, politicians dont
• Government using consumers to fight their battles
  against companies
• Companies cannot take over all the roles of
  government - danger of excluding minorities

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• Are there enough new tourists to provide a
  business case for CSR?
• If not
• Will the industry take responsibility for the
  environment?
• Can we create concerned demand?
• Need for increase in awareness, information,
  measurement
• Does PR drive tourism industry to develop its CSR
  programme?

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Its financiers

• Investment funds
• Socially responsible investment portfolios
• 2.34 trillion invested in such portfolios in US
  (1 in 8)
• 336bn institutional investment across Europe
• 12.2bn retail investment across Europe

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• Investment provides controlling voice
• Interfaith Centre on Corporate Responsibility

275 faith- based institutional investors,
including national denominations, religious
communities, pension funds, endowments, hospital
corporations, economic development funds, asset
management companies, colleges, unions, and
publishing companies
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• Socially Responsible Investment provides greater
  demand, higher share price and access to capital
• DJSI, FTSE4GOOD,

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Is tourism different?

• Its people?
• Its public relations?
• Its financiers?
• Is tourism part of CSR movement?
• It needs to raise its profile?

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What do you think?
1. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is more
important now than ever before. 2. CSR is too
idealistic to put into practice. 3. CSR is
particularly important for the travel industry
because it is so dependent on the destinations
environment and society. 4. CSR is less
important for the travel industry than for other
industries. 5. The travel industry is
participating in CSR activities as much as other
industries are. 6. The potential environmental
benefits of CSR are more important than the
potential social benefits. 7. It is most
important that the accommodation sector embrace
CSR than other sectors in the travel
industry. 8. It is most important that the
transportation sector embrace CSR than other
sectors in the travel industry. 9. It is most
important that the attraction and entertainment
sectors embrace CSR than other sectors in the
travel industry. 10. Travel firms in the US
should serve as role models for travel firms in
the rest of the world in CSR practices. 11. Travel
firms with an international presence should
practice CSR more than those with only a
national presence. 12. CSR just means giving
money to good causes.