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inter-generational and intra-generational), disparities and growth in ecological footprint,
environmental degradation and depletion and damage to fi nite or fragile resources, climate
change, accumulation of chemicals and waste disposal. For example, Middleton and Hawkins
(1998) highlighted the specifi cs of population growth, global warming and the greenhouse
effect, ozone layer depletion, acid rain, deforestation, desertifi cation, and the pollution and
depletion of water resources. Porritt (2005) draws our attention to the depletion of fossil fuels,
extreme climatic events, damage to coral reefs and wetlands, soil erosion and the salinization of
agricultural land and the loss of biodiversity; also the disparities in access across the world to
resources such as clean water, food, fuel and the provision of health care. These latter issues
are captured at the higher level by notions of distributive and social justice. An examination
of world maps (www.worldmapper.org, a collaborative project based at the University of
Sheffi eld) vividly demonstrates the disparities amongst the global population in any number
of categories, for example, in terms of purchasing power, production of greenhouse gases,
pollution and hazardous waste, or ecological footprint. The maps displaying tourism such as the
origin of tourists, tourism expenditures and tourism profi t illustrate the inequalities across
the global population in the rights, access and ability to travel for leisure purposes. In all cases,
the shape of countries and regions appear grossly distorted to our eyes accustomed and attuned
to seeing maps of the world presented according to land mass.
This jumble of illustrative issues can be subordinated into the three pillars of sustainable
development, namely the environmental pillar, the social pillar and the economic pillar. These
three pillars of sustainable development also underpin the thinking behind corporate social
responsibility (CSR) and the so-called Triple Bottom Line. Many landmark events and confer-
ence reports have moulded our understanding of sustainable development and responsibility
from the initial wake-up calls (e.g. Rachel Carson's Silent Spring in 1962) through the well-
embedded contributions of the Brundtland Report (1987) 'Our Common Future' and United
Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) or the Earth Summit (1992)
to, say, the International Conference on Responsible Tourism in Destinations in Cape Town
2002 which examined the guiding principles for economic responsibility, social responsibility
and for environmental responsibility, the Copenhagen Earth Summit in 2009 and the Rio+20
United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in June 2012. In recognition of this
improvement in understanding and call for action, professional marketing bodies such as the
UK's Chartered Institute of Marketing and the American Marketing Association have also sought
to realign marketing to the Triple Bottom Line approach.
Why do businesses buy into responsible tourism?
The reasons why businesses buy into responsible tourism gives insight into the potential gap
between the conceptualisation, international agreements and documentation of sustainability,
and the on-the-ground marketing practice of specifi c tourism businesses across the different
industry sectors. Towards the end of the 1990s, Middleton and Hawkins (1998) discussed ten
reasons for business involvement with sustainability. They gave consideration to legal compliance
and the advantages to businesses of moving ahead of statutory requirements, the reduction of
operational costs through the implementation of effective environmental management systems
(a popular argument with businesses to 'sell' more responsible practice), and compliance with
investors' funding criteria and investment risk reduction. From a communications angle, legal
compliance and anticipatory developments in environmental performance enabled businesses to
minimize and even avoid negative PR and the accompanying damage to brand, goodwill and
reputation. Strong performance in sustainability also yielded benefi ts for strategic competitive
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