An overview of certification and
CSR standards in tourism
Responsible tourism and Corporate Social Responsibility
Mara Manente
The EARTH project
“RESPONSIBLE TOURIM AND
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
IN THE TOURISM SME’s”
(European Alliance for Responsible Tourism and Hospitality)
Objectives of the Study carried out by CISET
1.
Clarify what “responsible tourism” means, starting from a review
of different definitions and related concepts and investigate its
relationship with the Corporate Social Responsibility.
2.
Analyse and verify the effectiveness and validity of the existing
European assessment systems, classification and ranking.
3.
Identify obstacles to the implementation of assessment
programmes (mainly in the SMEs) and propose guidelines to go
over.
Tourists and responsible tourism
What can tourists do in favour of sustainable tourism?
Tourists can have a key role, if they modify:
• their decisional process, making a more conscious decision when they plan their
holiday and choose the tour operator, the accomodation and the other services they
need;
• their behaviours during the visit of the destination, being more responsible and ecofriendly.
In other words if they embrace the principles and the values promoted by responsible
tourism.
What is responsible tourism?
It was born in reaction to negative effects produced by mass tourism; it represents an
alternative form of tourism, a new way to conceive holidays which pushes a growing
number of tourists to make their travel choices and to behave according to values like
consciousness, sobriety, fairness and respect.
“Every form of tourism activities which respects and preserves in the
long term natural, cultural and social resources and contributes in
positive and fair way to the development and welfare of those people
who live, work and spend their holidays in a particular destination”
(International Coalition of Responsible Tourism).
RESPONSIBLE TOURISM AND CSR
“Responsibility” in tourism enterprises
Responsible Tourism
CSR
It has been developed in the context of
business theory and management policies.
”Continuing committment by business to
behave ethically and contribute to economic
development … while improving the quality
of life”: from the financial bottom line to the
triple bottom line
New attitude towards “travel” based on the
engagement of both supply and demand side
to adopt practices and behaviours respectful
of the host community and its whole
environment.
CSR (in the tourism sector) and responsible tourism are two different concepts moving from
diverse reasons and reflections
HOWEVER
Both of them push companies to integrate social and environmental concerns in
their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders (employees,
customers, local communities, etc.)
Tourism companies and CSR
What can tourism companies do in favour of sustainable tourism?
Businesses have to be aware of the economic, social and
environmental impacts they produce with their activities. Beyond
maximising profits, they have to act respecting their staff,
suppliers, consumers, the host community, the environment and
the other stakeholders.
Businesses who seriously adopt the Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) can contribute to the sustainable tourism
development better than other companies.
Tourism companies and CSR
CSR should not be separated from business strategy and
operations. It should be integrated into every strategy,
process and activity of the enterprise.
CSR actually concerns:
• the human resources policy,
• the use of productive factors,
• the relationship with suppliers,
• the communication and the relationship with consumers,
• the relationship with local communities in the destinations.
Tourism companies and CSR
Some principles of CSR are particularly crucial in the tourism sector, given its
characteristics. For example...
• The respect and the growth of host communities:
Especially in developing countries, benefits from tourism activities are not equally
distributed between actors, but are in favour only of international big tour operators
and hotel companies. Enterprises who seriously adopt CSR:
non only respect the local community but also recognise its role to be the
protagonist of the development of its destination;
involve local actors in tourism planning and in the production and distribution of
travel services;
employ local people;
choose local suppliers and pay them fairly;
educate tourists to respect and understand different cultures.
• The respect of environmental and cultural resources:
Attractiveness of a destination is based on environmental and cultural resources
that are unique, limited and not reproducible. Enterprises who seriously integrate
CSR in their business:
contribute to a more correct and responsible use of these resources;
respect the environment, for example compensating the CO2 emissions;
educate tourists to avoid damage to resources and support the conservation of
places they visit.
Tourism companies and CSR
The adoption of CSR also implies the assessment and the certification of the
“responsibility level” and of results obtained by the company from the environmental
and social point view.
The assessment/certification process represents an important step because:
• it allows companies:
 to understand their performance;
 to identify problems and the areas of improvement, defining the best policies and
practices to implement;
 to communicate, in a trasparent way, their commitment in favour of sustainable
development.
• it



allows tourists:
to know the more responsible tourism companies;
to enjoy real guarantees about the tourism products they buy;
to make a conscious decision in planning their holiday.
But how can tourism companies evaluate their “responsibility level”?
Tourism companies and CSR
There are many reporting/certification systems
designed for the tourism sector, that allow
companies to evaluate their CSR and show their
committment.
Some reporting/certification systems
in the European Countries
• “CSR Reporting Systems” of KATE –
Centre
for
Environment
and
Development, Germany.
Not only eco-certifications or eco-labels that monitor
the environmental dimension,
BUT
systems that have indicators
• to cover all the dimension of responsibility: social,
economic and environmental;
• to evaluate if the company is responsible with
regard to every stakeholder (employees, suppliers,
tourists, local communities) and if it contributes to
growth and development.
• “Responsible Tourism Standards” of
AITR – Italian Association for
Responsible Tourism, Italy.
• “Agir
pour
un
Tourisme
Responsable” of ATT – French
Association
of
Thematic
Tour
Operators.
• “Travelife Sustainability System”,
supported
by
many
European
federation of tour operators.
Tourism companies and CSR
Do tourism companies adopt CSR?
Are they ready to contribute to sustainable development?
According to experts, CSR is still largely a “terra incognita” in the tourism sector in
comparison with other industries and the use of reporting/certification systems is not
widespread.
All international hotel companies and big tour
operators have already adopted CSR and
individual ad hoc solutions to assess and
communicate their responsibility.
For example:
• Thomas Cook Group plc
• Tui Travel
• Kuoni
• NH Hotels
• Starwood Hotels
But big companies are only 10% of the
European tourism industry. The other
90% is represented by small and
medium enterprises ...
The majority of small and medium enterprises
find it difficult to organize their core business
in a socially and ecological responsible way.
There are of course some exceptions ...
Tour operators and travel agencies specialised
in responsible tourism, which produce and
distribute holiday packages in order to satisfy
the specific market segment of responsible
tourists.
For example the tour operators of the German
association “Forum Anders Reisen”: they use
the KATE certification to guarantee that
suppliers are local, that a fair part of income
remains in the destination, that they use
measures to reduce energy, water, paper
consumption
and
to
compensate
CO2
emissions, that they inform clients about
responsible tourism.
RESPONSIBLE TOURISM AND
CSR IN THE TOURISM SECTOR
•
The tourism industry “is still some way behind other industries in using the
framework of CSR to implement sustainability in a holistic way” (Kalish, 2002)
•
“In tourism the use of codes of conduct and certification is not widespread and is
not based upon agreed international standards” (Dodds and Joppe, 2005)
•
“CSR is no longer a luxury … but a necessity in the global marketplace” (Harms,
2009)
The reasons:
1.
SMEs find it difficult to organise their core business in a responsible way
(lack of knowledge, understanding and skills);
2.
Certification programmes are costly to run and require investments in long
term planning
3.
Plethora of certification programmes available: difficulty to identify the most
effective and credible
4.
“Some of them do not have delivered on promised marketing benefits and
consumer awareness” (Dodds, 2005)
THE ASSESSMENT PROGRAMMES ANALYSED
10 assessment programmes used in Europe have been analysed and 7
considered for comparison:
• Mainly designed for TO as strategic players of the value chain:
1. AITR (Italian Association for Responsible Tourism)
2. ATES ( Association pour le Tourisme Equitable et Solidaire)
3. QUIDAMTUR (Spanish Consultancy Company developing assessment
programmes for tourism enterprises)
4. KATE (Centre for Environment Development, German organisation working on
issues of sustainability and CSR mainly in tourism)
5. ATR (Agir pour un tourisme responsable, French association “des Tour Opérateurs
Thématiques, has developed a certification system for its members)
6. TOI (Tour Operator Initiative, Association of TO from different countries that have
committed to integrate sustainable development into their business)
7. Responsibletravel.com (first online travel agency specialised on responsible
tourism)
Process standards assessment
Assessment programmes according to Goodwin theory
Certification approach
TOI-GRI
First Choice- FTSE
KATE
FTO-Travelife
ATT-ATR
Quidamtur
AiTO
ATES
Responsibletravel.com
AITR
Responsible tourism approach
Product standards assessment
• TOI-GRI, First Choice-FTSEe KATE: they strictly follow a certification approach and assess
the process/performance standards
• AITR: adopts a market-driven perspective, certifying that the travel sold by its members
respects the principles of responsible tourism
• Other systems: they try to combine the two approaches at different level
13
The need to classify and evaluate the assessment
programmes ...
... So that to give valid support to decision-making by
formulating a guide for operators who wish to compare the
assessment programmes and decide which one would be
the best to use