Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
V Low, 3%
V High, 9%
High, 19%
Low, 44%
Medium, 25%
RTM Detailed levels
Figure 5.3
Levels of actual responsible tourism management behaviour
ship between attitude and behaviour, from a tourism business's perspective,
include the level of competitiveness in the business environment, the industry
sub-sector the business belongs to and the perceived costs of implementing RTM.
Tourism businesses, being usually quite small and lacking experience, perceive
implementing RTM to be difficult and expensive (for example, recycling or
procuring from smaller suppliers) and transfer the responsibility for social and
environmental change to 'large' corporations or government.
On a positive front, a majority of tourism businesses agreed to the potential
benefits of RTM including enhanced brand equity, customer loyalty, improved
employee morale and license to operate by surrounding communities. Table 5.2
shows the levels of agreement with scale items measuring the perceived cost and
the benefit of implementing RTM. The data show that attitudes agreement with
the benefits of RTM is high. The low levels of RTM practices highlights that the
perceived costs are outweighing perceived benefits. Tourism businesses are not
committing time and resources to addressing their management practices, result-
ing in a significant divide between attitude and behaviour. This is partly due to a
level of lethargy, resistance to change and lack of resources in the industry, but can
also be attributed to the channels for change not being in place. Businesses, for
example, expressed frustration at not knowing how and where they could procure
responsibly. Government policies and responsible tourism guidelines, aimed at
addressing transformation in the industry are therefore often ineffective, as the
challenge is not only one of awareness and education, but also of the will to imple-
ment change (Frey, 2007a).
The findings from the research do suggest that businesses that are employing
RTM practices enjoy tangible business benefits ranging from increased employee
morale to bottom-line profits (Frey, 2007b). The implication is that it pays to
manage responsibly. This confirms other international research in CSR and
provides a strong argument for the adoption of RTM.
Search WWH ::
Custom Search