Corporate social responsibility in tourism post-2015: a Development First approach

ABSTRACT

Most large tourism businesses have corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives that advance environmental, economic and social sustainability. Existing research shows that initiatives often tend to be ad hoc, however, and linked to cost-savings and the reputation of the business. We suggest that this approach equates with Tourism First planning. In response to the greater demands being placed on businesses to act responsibly in the post-2015 era, we propose a Development First framework for CSR that is adapted from Peter Burns’ tourism planning model. This framework has a holistic, sustainable and people-centred focus and enables geographers and other social scientists to analyse the potential for initiatives to lead to positive, long-term development outcomes in different localities.

摘要

绝大多数大型旅游企业有企业社会责任方面的举措, 以促进环境、经济与社会可持续发展。现有研究表明, 这些举措往往比较是临时的, 并且与节约成本和企业的声誉联系紧密。我们认为, 目前旅游企业社会责任的方法相当于旅游第一的规划方法 。为了响应后2015年代社会对企业履行社会责任更大的需求, 我们提出了企业社会责任发展第一的框架, 这个框架由伯恩Burn的旅游规划框架 改编而来。该框架系统全面、可持续, 并且强调以人为中心, 促使地理学者和其他方面的社会科学家分析这些举措在不同地点促进积极、长期发展后果的潜力。

KEYWORDS:

• Development first
• corporate social responsibility
• hotels
• tourism
• SDGs
• community development

关键词:

• 发展第一
• 企业社会责任
• 宾馆
• 旅游业
• 可持续发展目标
• 社区发展

Acknowledgements

Thanks go to study participants from Fiji who inspired the creation of a Development First framework. The authors would also like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions on an earlier draft.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Royal Society of New Zealand [MAU1206].

Notes on contributors

Emma Hughes

Emma Hughes is a Ph.D. candidate in the Institute of Development Studies at Massey University. Her research looks at the impact of corporate community development in the tourism sector from community perspectives. It is part of a larger study into private sector-led development in mining and tourism in the Pacific led by Regina Scheyvens and Glenn Banks.

Regina Scheyvens

Regina Scheyvens heads development studies at Massey, where she combines a passion for teaching about international development with research on tourism and development. Two books have emerged from this research: Tourism for Development: Empowering Communities (Pearson, 2002) and Tourism and Poverty (Routledge, 2011), along with articles on themes such as backpacker tourism, ecotourism, empowerment, sustainable tourism and CSR in tourism.