CSR and tourism

This week’s article will focus on corporate social responsibility and tourism.

Traditional Chinese hotel

 

CSR and tourism

The tourism industry is a big industry where CSR principles are not very often common practices. As a result of the tourism industry the energy consumption is rising, increased cost of garbage and sewage disposal, surface consumption and loss of biodiversity put a lot of pressure on the environment. Yet pure, unsullied nature, beautiful landscapes, cultural heritage and foreign cultures represent the core elements of the supply side of tourism. To maintain these elements, the resources vital to tourism must be managed in a sustainable way and a preference for sustainable products and services should be encouraged through corporate social responsibility. (European Cities Marketing, 2011)

Traditional Chinese hotel

Hotels in China and sustainability

China is in the middle of an economic boom and it’s also has the world’s largest programme of new hotel construction. The country’s hotel development continues at a pace that would see at least three new 150+ room hotels every day in the next years. China currently has 2.7 million hotel rooms but that number is expected to grow to 9.1 million by 2039. (O'Neill, 2016)
The result of China’s hotel growth is increases in energy and water consumption and an rising carbon footprint. China’s hotels consume more water and energy per square metre and per occupied room than those in other countries. The most important reason is that sustainability is not always a priority for some firms. They don’t even have the capital to upgrade their equipment for the conservation of water and energy. (O'Neill, 2016)

Importance of CSR principles for organisations

It can help organizations to bolster the image of their organization for the outside pubic. They show to their customers that they are willing to invest in CSR and do not care only about profit. The  companies are seen as more trustful and reliable to their customers. It can even grow your customer base as you’re attracting a different customer segment. At first it looks like a big investment for companies to work with CSR principle but at the end it will help the business grow.
Branding has changed as a result of digital media creating real-time conversations about companies’ activities whether or not the companies want it. Consumers expect transparency, authenticity and higher standards of ethical conduct from organisations. Therefore it is important to have CSR guidelines. Unilever, for example, takes the number one spot in the ranking for its corporate goal to ‘make sustainable living commonplace’, which is evident in projects such as Foundry Ideas, a global crowdsourcing platform that looks to solve sustainability issues in the areas of nutrition, sanitation and hygiene. (Chahal, 2015)

Control aspects

It is important to have a controlling authority which can check whether the companies comply to CSR guidelines. As we see in other sectors companies do not always take the necessary measures to assure guidelines. The melamine scandal in China for example is an perfect example of a company which did not comply to the rules and due to the lack of a control mechanism it ended dramatically. The melamine scandal back in 2008 were milk companies mixed up milk with melamine. Six children died and an estimated 54.000 babies were hospitalized.
It is important to have a third party or an international organization which can check whether these guidelines are followed by the companies.

Bibliography

Chahal, m. (2015, 10 13). Marketingweek. Retrieved from www.marketingweek.com: https://www.marketingweek.com/2015/10/13/the-top-100-companies-for-brand-purpose/

European Cities Marketing. (2011, 09 12). Corporate social responsibility and toursim. Retrieved from www.europeancitiesmarketing.com: http://www.europeancitiesmarketing.com/corporate-social-responsibility-and-tourism/

O'Neill, S. (2016, June 9). Hotels in China must be more sustainable says report. Retrieved from www.greenhotelier.org: http://www.greenhotelier.org/our-themes/energy/hotels-in-china-must-be-more-sustainable-says-report/