Sustainable Tourism: The Tour Operators' Contribution

C o m m e n t s f r o m E x t e r n a l R e v i e w e r s
How to improve the documentation of actions aimed at sustainable tourism
development
The tourism industry has an enormous potential either to contribute to socio-economic development worldwide,
or to devastate local environments and cultures. In this context, these TOI case studies on the tour operators’
contribution to sustainable development break new ground in collecting best practices from tour operators aiming
to contribute to sustainable development.
While the information presented is impressive, the creation of long-lasting change in the business community
requires the development of a robust and well-defined business case. This is not always straightforward. It is
often difficult to quantify some of the intangible benefits companies uncover – such as employee motivation,
retention and attraction, gaining legal and local licenses to operate, and brand value and reputation. On the
other hand, there are also clear tangible benefits that some companies have mentioned in this report, such as
attracting new customers, willingness to pay more for more sustainable travel (sometimes!), increased customer
loyalty and lower costs.
Future case studies should provide more details on the financial benefits that companies uncover, underlining
the value of these initiatives to the company’s own financial success, but also encouraging other companies to
participate in the sustainability agenda.
Furthermore the social and environment benefits are clearly articulated in the case studies and demonstrate that
many in the industry are working hard to create social and environmental value in the work that they do. Once
again, however, while there has been some attempt to quantify and analyse these impacts, further analysis
should be undertaken to provide a more detailed and compelling overall picture.
Nonetheless, this is an exceptional first effort by the TOI and the individual operators, and we hope that the
initiative will go from strength to strength.
Sustainable Tourism: The Tour Operators’ Contribution
Kavita Prakash-Mani
SustainAbility