Corporate social responsibility in tourism and hospitality

Abstract

The past decade has seen significant growth in the tourism and hospitality literature on corporate social responsibility (CSR). Indeed, over 70% of the articles on this topic have been published in the past five years. Through the application of a stakeholder lens, this paper explores how CSR has developed within the extant literature, paying particular attention to current gaps and highlighting the contributions of the research in this special issue. This emerging research on CSR in the context of tourism and hospitality is pushing past the boundaries of early approaches to corporate sustainability by providing empirical evidence to support the importance of integrating a range of stakeholder perspectives and needs throughout the planning, implementation, and evaluation of CSR initiatives. We observe that while there is ample research on certain stakeholder groups such as management, employees, shareholders, and consumers, there is less emphasis on the role of communities and ecosystems as stakeholders and very little related to suppliers, NGOs, and government. Although tourism and hospitality firms may not be subject to the same pressures as other industries, there remain important opportunities to both document and engage these external stakeholders in the journey towards sustainability.

Influence of Sustainability Practices and Green Image on the Re-Visit Intention of Small and Medium-Size Towns

“…There are currently many cities that have joined new practices that introduce the development of a positive awareness towards the conservation and care of the environment and of course, to generate communication channels to give visibility to this current as necessary [9,59]. This is where corporate social responsibility actions start that not only minimize the adverse effects on the environment but also seek to create more sustainable environments combining the quality of life and respect with the environment, thus reinforcing socially responsible actions [2,4].…”

“…With an excellent infrastructure of the services sector, Spain is the second most visited country in 2018, attended by thousands of tourists attracted by sun and beach tourism, climate, artistic and cultural heritage and gastronomy [1]. The leading world economies are betting on balanced and sustainable economic growth, which extends to all subsectors of tourism activity [2][3][4]. Small and medium-size towns (SMST) demand the approach of new lines of development and the need to reinvent a new growth model based on diversification, knowledge, innovation, productivity improvement and sustainability of the economy so that the objectives of balanced and sustainable growth are met, thus responding to the demands of the social, economic and environmental-related parties [5,6].…”

To Green or Not to Green: The Influence of Green Marketing on Consumer Behaviour in the Hotel Industry

“…The biggest increase was recorded in the recent recuperation period [1]. At the same time, more and more impacts of this growth are observed in different fields, with consequences regarding the influence of tourist consumption on the environment and the disruption of different social and economic variables in the most visited destinations [2,3]. In light of these impacts, more and more countries are implementing measures, prominently fiscal (ecotaxes), with the aim of encouraging changes in the behaviour of touristic consumers [4].…”

“…Thus, everything indicates that we are in a time in which both the implementation of sustainability measures and their communication are increasingly necessary [19], not only because this can entail an improvement in the quality of the tourist offering, but also because the risks of not acting in a sustainable way are emphasised, highlighting the harmful externalities in the aforementioned environment [1]. With regard to these topics, the theoretical approach providing the corporate social responsibility (CSR) concept has generated most of the literature and has grown the most in tourism and hospitality literature over recent years [2]. The concept refers explicitly to both the incorporation of responsible measures in the company value chain and also a specific emphasis on the response that these companies try to give to other groups of interest or stakeholders with them [20].…”

The Strategy of Thai Medical Services Promotion at Foreign Markets and Development of Medical Tourism

“…The questionnaire contained 29 questions overall, including only 2 open questions. The questions covered the respondents' personal data, trip details and also future plans information (Buathong & Lai, 2019;Font & Lynes, 2018).…”