The Sustainable Commodity Chain and Responsible Tourism Businesses - Literature review Example

International Tourism Management: The Sustainable Commodity Chain and ‘Responsible’ Tourism Businesses By Candi s FACULTY OF BUSINESSADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT Contents Introduction 1 The Sustainable Commodity Chain 4 A Responsible Tourism Business 7 Making a Sustainable Commodity Chain for Tourism Responsible 10 Conclusion 12 Bibliography/ References 15 List of Tables Table 1: Types of Actors in General Production Chains and in Tourism Chains 5 (This page intentionally left blank) Introduction The notion of a commodity chain is a useful and pervasive metaphor for thinking about links between production, distribution and consumption of goods or services (Hughes, 2004, Pp. 1 – 5). According to Clancy (2002, Pp. 66 – 68), it is possible to consider a commodity chain as a network of labour and production processes that deliver a finished product or service as the end result. However, in an era of globalisation, it is likely that the network of labour and production processes will present a distributed structure, and this network may span the globe. Thus, Global Commodity Chain (GCC) analysis traces labour and production processes, from raw material extraction to manufacturing, marketing, processing, retail and consumption for a commodity chain that is widely dispersed geographically (Clancy, 2002, Pp. 66 – 68). Clancy (2002, Pp. 66 – 68) states further that the input / output dimension in the GCC analysis examines the life cycle of a product, beginning with raw material extraction, transformation into a product, to distribution and sales through consumption. The spatial dimension of the GCC analysis examines and explains geographic links within the commodity chain, while the governance dimension examines industry organisation, network management, distribution of material benefit and coordination and control aspects of the GCC network. Thus, commodity chain analysis presents benefits by helping to uncover how best to organise and operate the commodity chain to deliver optimal value. Nike presents an example of a global commodity chain for production of footwear (Clancy, 1998, Pp. 124 – 128). The core Nike organisation is involved with marketing and control of the brand footwear chain, which contracts out actual manufacturing and production to footwear manufacturers located in low labour cost countries around the globe. Thus, the core Nike organisation represents commodity chain governance, with manufacturers and freight services providers representing other actors providing value addition that delivers the final product. According to Ioannides (2006, Pp. 78 – 80), it is possible to consider international tourism as an industry, and a production system that is distributed in nature, which delivers a most important product of tourism, experience. Although experience may not be the only product of tourism, because people do visit places for other reasons, including spiritual satisfaction, family reunion or knowledge acquisition and learning, it is the most important because experience satisfies and fulfils. However, Ioannides (2006, Pp. 78 – 80) states further that although tourism is a product which tourists purchase, the experience that one enjoys being personal varies from one person to another. Thus, despite the difficulty of applying the commodity chain concept to tourism, it is possible to consider international tourism in terms of a commodity chain, or a set of distributed and interlinked processes, maintained by geographically dispersed business actors. The carefully designed and synchronised processes of the tourism commodity chain deliver optimally, the tourism experience. If a commodity chain that delivers products or services to customers fails to satisfy, it disintegrates because earnings cannot continue to maintain the commodity chain (Caalders, 2003, Pp. 7 – 10). In addition, if the geographically distributed stakeholders with interests that remain more focused on their locale are less than satisfied, it is likely that they will not want to remain a part of a commodity chain. Environmental impact of tourism can degrade destinations to render them unable to cope with more tourists. Thus, the concept of sustainability is important for all types of commodity chains, including the tourism commodity chain, and it makes sense to examine the sustainable commodity chain for tourism in detail. In addition, it is important to try to understand better, how actors, or businesses, associated with a sustainable tourism commodity chain may act synergistically in a responsible manner to make a tourism commodity chain responsible in the interest of all stakeholders. This essay presents a discussion about the previously mentioned issues that should interest everyone with an interest in international tourism management. The Sustainable Commodity Chain for Tourism According to (Caalders, 2003, Pp. 7 – 10), sustainability demands consideration of ecological, economic and social aspects in relation to one another, and this means that the sustainable commodity chain must satisfy the three P’s of sustainability: People, Planet and Profits. Thus, activities related to producing the tourism product for a destination should deliver long-term economic viability and a fair distribution of profits for all actors involved in making the commodity chain functional. The sustainable tourism commodity chain should satisfy clients, who are tourists, and maintain liveability for the regional culture and the social environment. Tourism should not destroy nature, environment and the landscape because without the destination, there will be no tourism. What the tourists wants to experience should exist to deliver the experience of tourism. Unless fair profits accrue to all those who are a part of a commodity chain for tourism, the motivation to sustain that which delivers the tourism experience will disappear. Thus, a sustainable tourism commodity chain satisfies and maintains all actors and delivers continuity for the future. According to Caalders (2003, Pp. 7 – 10), for a tourism commodity chain to approach sustainability, each link in the chain should be sustainable. It is important to remember that all production chains consist of players and actors, who act in a synergistic manner to deliver the product of tourism, the tourism experience, to tourists (Caalders, 2003, Pp. 7 – 10) and (Ioannides, 2005, Chapter 4). The table below presents a summary of the types of actors in the general production chains and in tourism chains (Caalders, 2003, Pp.11). General Production Organised Tourism Chain Individual Tourism Chains (Example) Chain (Example) 1. Consumer 1. Tourists 1. Tourists 2. Retailers 2. Travel agencies 2. Diverse (e.g. guidebooks, websites) 3. Intermediaries 3. Tour operators 3. Diverse (e.g. Internet) 4. Producers 4. Local tour operators 4. Tourists / tourists 5. Suppliers 5. Accommodation 5. Accommodation / transport / attractions /transport / attractions Table 1: Types of Actors in General Production Chains and in Tourism Chains, from (Caalders, 2003, Pp.11) In a typical tourism commodity chain for a destination, there will be many individual players, or businesses, for each actor group (Ioannides, 2005, Chapter 4). Thus, there will a number of hotels and motels catering to the needs of the tourists, a number of airlines transporting them to a tourism destination and a number of tour operators showing them the attractions. For a sustainable commodity chain that is growing, the number of actors will be steady, or broadly increasing, but for a commodity chain that fails to satisfy and sustain actor groups, the number of players associated with each group of actor types will be diminishing gradually. In addition, those players or businesses that fail to act responsibly to promote trust, care for the environment, and care for the tourists with constant innovation for competing and sustaining an income will lose. Thus, a sustainable commodity chain for tourism is one that can continue to satisfy and to deliver to actors and stakeholders in the future. Clearly, if tourists are not interested in a destination, hotels will gradually go bankrupt, airlines will cease operations and tour operators will turn their attention elsewhere. Thus, it is important to ensure that the marketing, execution of processes in the tourism commodity chain and the destination or attraction itself continues to attract and satisfy tourists over a long-term horizon. Without a capacity for selling a destination, the tourism commodity chain will collapse. Environmental damage to a tourism destination or less than satisfactory performance by actors associated with a tourism commodity chain will render the commodity chain unsustainable. A Responsible Tourism Business The Cape Town Declaration on Responsible Tourism in Destinations presents a summary of the expectations from a ‘responsible’ tourism business (International Centre for Responsible Tourism, 2010, “Cape Town Declaration on Responsible Tourism in Destinations”). According to the Cape Town Declaration on Responsible Tourism in Destinations, a responsible tourism business presents the following characteristics: It helps adequately to minimise negative economic, environmental, and social impacts from tourism while trying to involve local people in decisions that affect their lives and life chances. It makes adequate efforts to try to create greater economic benefits for local people and to enhance the economic well-being of the host communities. A responsible tourism business makes sincere efforts to improve working conditions and access to industry. It makes positive contributions towards the conservation of natural and cultural heritage for helping with maintenance of global diversity. A responsible tourism business will help cater for the needs of physically challenged people to promote inclusion. A responsible tourism business will try to provide experiences that are more enjoyable for tourists through more meaningful connections with local people, while demonstrating an understanding of local cultural, social and environmental issues. Respect for local culture, building up of host destination pride and confidence together with the promotion of respect between tourists and hosts are expected from a responsible tourism business. The responsible tourism business will uphold economic responsibility by assessing economic impacts before developing tourism, presenting quality products that enhance the destination and adopting equitable business practices. In addition, a responsible tourism business will market responsibly, try to maximise local economic benefits and provide appropriate and adequate support to other enterprises and businesses to sustain the tourism commodity chain. A responsible tourism business will commit to environmental responsibility by assessing environmental impacts, acting to minimise environmental damage, encouraging resource sustainability and better management of diversity. In addition, a responsible tourism business helps improve education and awareness for environmental responsibility and sustainable development. A commitment to social responsibility involving assessment of social impacts on host communities and other stakeholders, combating of exploitation of humans, the promotion of health and education together with the promotion of inclusion in tourism is expected from a responsible tourism business. Thus, a responsible tourism business encourages maintenance of a sustainable commodity chain that provides to the tourists, the local community and other actors in the commodity chain. However, if a tourism business is to try to help with maintaining a tourism commodity chain, such a chain must be sustainable so that the business can continue to operate and to earn to discharge its obligations. Making a Sustainable Commodity Chain for Tourism Responsible Nearly eight years after the adoption of the Cape Town Declaration on Responsible Tourism in Destinations, estimates suggest that only about two per cent of tourism businesses globally are participating in responsible tourism or Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives (Spenceley, 2008, Pp. 107 – 110). Clearly, it is not easy to impose a responsibility-based ethic on tourism businesses that span the globe and operate in different countries, but cooperate to deliver the product of tourism to tourists. Although the Cape Town Declaration on Responsible Tourism in Destinations presents moral and ethical concerns, it is important to understand that some nations and actors have a greater need and a greater capacity for living up to the ethical requirements associated with responsible tourism, compared to others. Poorer nations want to gain more from tourism, but there are limits to what tourists from even the richest nations can deliver and fluctuations in demand for global tourism do present uncertainties for tourism businesses (Higgins-Desbiolles, 2006, Chapter 5). The World Tourism Organisation encourages cooperation in matters related to international tourism and intergovernmental collaboration between national governments in matters related to tourism exists, but a global coherence is lacking perhaps because of the diversity of local and national situations. National efforts to regulate the national tourism industry often focus on national priorities (Dinica, 2009, Pp. 583 – 602). Thus, it is likely that an emphasis will exist on promoting responsible tourism in those nations that have a greater need for doing this, but a need exists for global intergovernmental collaboration under the umbrella of the World Tourism Organisation to try to further responsible tourism. On a national level, it is possible for national tourism organisations and governments to push for national Responsible Tourism Guidelines, codes and certification or accreditation systems for businesses associated with tourism (Malviya, 2005, Chapter 10) and (Spenceley, 2001, Pp. 1 – 11). A need exists for capacity building efforts to try to make national actors associated with tourism more capable of sustaining responsible tourism (Malviya, 2005, Chapter 10). National efforts develop into global collaborations, and it is possible to encourage the tourism industry to take a self-regulating approach. Certification or responsible tourism business and product labelling efforts can benefit responsible tourism initiatives if such efforts receive backing from national government tourism industry regulatory authorities (Medina, 2005, Pp. 281 – 294). However, it is important to understand that it is difficult for a vast majority of tourists who lack profound knowledge of tourism related issues to recognise the value of a responsible tourism business label or accreditation. Thus, market forces may cause tourists to select products and operators who offer more for less without responsible tourism products or accreditation, unless government supports responsible tourism initiatives or awareness exists. For developing nations with a potential for tourism that presently lack resources and substantial income from tourism, it may be fitting to impose a small tax on airline tickets or other tourism operations that will not deter tourists to try to gain the extra income to assist with responsible tourism initiatives. It is important to understand that, unless efforts persist to implement a sustainable commodity chain, uncertainty and a lack of capacity for competing with other destinations may erode what tourism already exists. Conclusion It is clear from the discussion presented in this essay that all actors associated with a commodity chain can only put in the effort to promote tourism to a destination if they have a sustainable commodity chain for tourism because promoting tourism and emphasising responsible tourism requires certain guarantees of income. Only a sustainable commodity chain can provide the stability needed by actors to plan and to try to present quality and responsibility in tourism. However, responsible tourism initiatives are essential for long –term viability of a commodity chain for tourism and for encouraging trust. Thus, efforts for making a sustainable commodity chain for tourism more responsible are essential for sustainability of tourism to a destination and these are worthy of the attention of national governments. International collaboration for responsible tourism backed by the World Tourism Organisation and major players in the tourism industry can only enhance the long-term future of tourism to protect and promote the interests of all stakeholders in tourism. (This page intentionally left blank) Bibliography / References Caalders, Janine et al 2003, Sustainable Tourism Chains: Connecting Small-Scale Enterprise in Costa Rica to the Dutch Tourism Market, Bureau voor Economie & Omgeving, retrieved: November 25, 2010, from: http://www.bureaubuiten.nl/srv_www.bureaubuiten.nl/pdf/Tourism%20chains.pdf Clancy, Michael 1998, ‘Commodity chains, services and development: theory and preliminary evidence from the tourism industry’, Review of International Political Economy 5:1 Spring 1998: 122–148, retrieved: November 24, 2010, from: EBSCO Clancy, Michael 2002, ‘The Globalization of Sex Tourism and Cuba: A Commodity Chains Approach’, Studies in Comparative International Development, Winter 2002, Vol. 36, No. 4, pp. 63-88, retrieved: November 24, 2010, from: EBSCO Coles, Tim and Hall, Michael C (Editors) 2008, International Business and Tourism: Global Issues, Contemporary Interactions, Routledge Dinica, Valentina 2009, ‘Governance for sustainable tourism: a comparison of international and Dutch visions’, Journal of Sustainable Tourism Vol. 17, No. 5, September 2009, 583–603, retrieved: November 26, 2010, from: EBSCO Goeldner, Charles R and Ritchie, Brent J. R 2009, Tourism: Principles, Practices and Philosophy, Eleventh Edition, John Wiley & Sons Inc Hughes, Alex and Reimer, Suzanne (Editors) 2004, Geographies of Commodity Chains, Routledge International Centre for Responsible Tourism, ICRT 2010, International Centre for Responsible Tourism Website, International Centre for Responsible Tourism, ICRT, retrieved: November 25, 2010, from: http://www.icrtourism.org/ Ioannides, Dimitri 2006, ‘Commentary: The Economic Geography of the Tourist Industry: Ten Years of Progress in Research and an Agenda for the Future’, Tourism Geographies Vol. 8, No. 1, 76–86, February 2006, retrieved: November 24, 2010, from: EBSCO Ioannides, Dimitri and Debbage, Keith G (Editors) 2005, The Economic Geography of the Tourist Industry: A Supply Side Analysis, Routledge Judd, Dennis R 2006, ‘Commentary: Tracing the Commodity Chain of Global Tourism’, Tourism Geographies Vol. 8, No. 4, 323–336, November 2006, retrieved: November 24, 2010, from: EBSCO Keeling, David J 2007, ‘Transportation geography: new directions on well-worn trails’, Progress in Human Geography 31(2) (2007) pp. 217–225, retrieved: November 24, 2010, from: EBSCO Malviya, Sanchey 2005, Tourism: Leisure and Recreation, Three Volumes, Isha Books Medina, Laurie Kroshus 2005, ‘Ecotourism and Certification: Confronting the Principles and Pragmatics of Socially Responsible Tourism’, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Vol. 13, No. 3, 2005, Pp. 281 – 295, retrieved: November 26, 2010, from: EBSCO Middleton, Victor T. C and Hawkins, Rebecca 1998, Sustainable Tourism: A Marketing Perspective, Butterworth-Heinemann Rodrigue, Jean-Paul. Comtois, Claude and Slack, Brian 2006, The Geography of Transport Systems, Routledge Schwartz, Karen and Tapper, Richard 2008,’ A Sustainable Supply Chain Management Framework for Tour Operators’, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Vol. 16, No. 3, 2008, pp. 298 – 314, retrieved: November 24, 2010, from: EBSCO Spenceley, Anna 2001, Development of National Responsible Tourism Guidelines and Indicators for South Africa - Literature review: Principles, Codes, Guidelines, Indicators and Accreditation for Responsible & Sustainable Tourism, South Africa Institute for Natural Resources, retrieved: November 26, 2010, from: http://www.nri.org/projects/NRET/guidelineslitrep.pdf Spenceley, Anna 2008, Responsible Tourism: Critical Issues for Conservation and Development, Earthscan Ltd Weaver, David 2006, Sustainable Tourism, Elsevier Read More