Sustainable Tourism: The Tour Operators' Contribution

This document strengthens the message that tour operators are taking responsibility for their impacts at
destinations through the collective clout of firms of varying size and product. The case studies provide an
accessible source by reporting, through a single template, a variety of aspects of operations and planning, which
allows other tour operators to benchmark against them and drive the sector's standards up.
In order to maximise the transferability to other firms, however, these case studies could be more specific on
the corporate social decision-making and accounting. Details on the reasons why companies chose to take the
actions here reported, and not others, would facilitate understanding of how priorities were set. In particular,
for those companies where the actions reported are part of a tradition of sustainable activity, what were the
precedents that allowed the actions to be implemented? It would have therefore been more effective and useful
to record in more detail the corporate effort to facilitate sustainable change, in particular providing data on human
or financial investment that can be quantified and measured against the reported benefits. Although neither of
these two measures are fully quantifiable, they would make it easier for other tour operators to embark on the
path of sustainability.
Xavier Font
Leeds Metropolitan University
Sustainable Tourism: The Tour Operators’ Contribution