An overview of certification and CSR standards in tourismResponsible tourism and Corporate Social Responsibility

Mara Manente

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.

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

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 eco-friendly.

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 TourismNew 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.

CSRIt 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

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.

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.

Some reporting/certification systems in the European Countries

•“CSR Reporting Systems” of KATE – Centre for Environment and Development, Germany.

•“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.

But big companies are only 10% of the European tourism industry. The other 90% is represented by small and medium enterprises ...

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

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)

Assessment programmes according to Goodwin theory

13

• 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

Responsible tourism approach

AITR

ATES

Product standards assessment

Process

sta

ndard

s ass

ess

ment

KATE

Quidamtur

Certification approach

ATT-ATR

TOI-GRI

FTO-Travelife

AiTO

First Choice- FTSE

Responsibletravel.com

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