Sustainable Tourism: The Tour Operators' Contribution

F o r e w o r d
I am often asked, ‘What is the Tour Operators’
Initiative?’ or ‘Why are you a member of the Tour
Operators’ Initiative?’ What raises some eyebrows is
that, in the Tour Operators’ Initiative (TOI), businesses
in the same sector collaborate by sharing ideas and
practices, despite the increasingly competitive nature
of the tourism industry. Yet, it makes sense, not only
from the sustainability perspective but also business-wise. In the end, the answer is rather simple: sustainability
is the only option for the tourism industry.
The Tour Operators’ Initiative is a group of committed tour operators that have understood that collaboration is
the key element for the successful implementation of their individual strategies and actions for sustainability. It
provides a neutral platform for sharing and refining ideas on strategies and actions, as well as a mechanism for
acting together. Thus, the TOI does not replace the commitment and actions of the individual companies, but
aims at catalysing the results.
One of the first activities carried out by the TOI Secretariat after the launch of the Initiative in 2000 was to collect
from the individual members ‘good’ examples of how a tour operator can effectively integrate the principles of
sustainability into its various areas of operations. This effort was a success, not only because it demonstrated
that the members of the TOI actually take action, but, most importantly, because it helped spread awareness that
tour operators can actually do something about sustainability.
This new collection of case studies, which brings together revised versions of the first series of examples with
many other new ones, offers a broad sample of the different actions that tour operators can take to address
sustainability in different contexts. We – the members of the TOI – found this exercise very useful and enriching,
and we hope that not only other tour operators, but also other tourism actors, will find these examples inspiring.
We recognise that none of these practices alone is sufficient to effectively address the challenges of sustain-
ability. We also recognise that all are ‘works in progress’ and that we need to constantly revise our activities to
take into account new issues and challenges. We are thus open to feedback from all our readers on ways to
improve our performance and our results.
Tom Selänniemi
Manager for Sustainable Tourism Aurinkomatkat
Chairman of the Tour Operators’ Initiative
Sustainable Tourism: The Tour Operators’ Contribution