Destination Unknown? The Emergence of Corporate Social Responsibility for Sustainable Development of Tourism

This dissertation explores the nexus between sustainable tourism development and corporate social responsibility (CSR). It addresses the scope for CSR to promote sustainable tourism in an international development context. This objective was pursued by exploring three sub-questions: what tools have been used to stimulate social responsibility in tourism; how has ecotourism influenced social responsibility in tourism; and finally, how have various stakeholders approached CSR in tourism? These questions were investigated through case studies within three research cycles, and documented in six published, peer-reviewed articles. Using a qualitative and exploratory approach, the author finds tourism to be lagging behind other industries in assuming a responsibility to mitigate its environmental and social impacts. Existent voluntary performance schemes for tourism sustainability, as well as alternative forms of tourism (ecotourism) are reviewed in order to identify their contributions to developing CSR in tourism. A significant deficiency of existent tools is identified in their neglect to address social impacts, especially the ones emerging in the contemporary context of globalization and trade liberalization in tourism

Choriocapillaris flow impairment predicts the development and enlargement of drusen

Purpose: To evaluate the choriocapillaris flow in regions of enlarged or new incident drusen in patients with early and intermediate age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Methods: We retrospectively reviewed and analyzed structural optical coherence tomography (OCT) and OCT angiography (OCTA) images of consecutive patients with early or intermediate AMD evaluated at the Doheny-UCLA Eye Centers between 2015 and 2018. All patients were imaged using a Cirrus OCT, and only one eye was included in the study. To be eligible for this analysis, patients were required to have a 3 7 3-mm OCTA scan acquired during the first visit (considered as baseline) and a fovea-centered 512 7 128 macular cube (6 7 6 mm) acquired at both the baseline visit and after a minimum of 1 year follow-up. The drusen maps generated from the macular cubes were used to generate a drusen area (DA) measurement and compute the difference between baseline and follow-up (\u394DA). After registering the structural OCTs to the baseline choriocapillaris (CC) OCTA, we analyzed and compared the baseline flow deficits (FD) within drusen-free region (FDDF), regions into which drusen enlarged or expanded at follow-up (FDEN), and regions in which new incident drusen (FDND) appeared at follow-up. Results: Forty-six patients were eligible for the analysis and had a mean follow-up of 1.47 years. Twelve eyes of 12 subjects had a \u394DA < 0.1 mm2. In these eyes, only the FDDF was calculated (40.37 \ub1 2.29%) and it was not significantly different from the FDDF of eyes with \u394DA 65 0.1 mm2 (40.25 \ub1 4.37%, p = 0.849). When comparing the different regions within the eyes with \u394DA 65 0.1 mm2, there was no significant difference between FDED and FDND (43.61 \ub1 4.36% and 44.16 \ub1 2.38%, p = 528), but both were significantly higher than FDDF (p = 0.001 and p < 0.001, respectively). Conclusions: Significant CC flow impairment is present under regions of intact retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) where existing drusen will enlarge into or new drusen will appear within 2 years. These findings suggest that location of drusen may not be stochastic but may be driven by regional deficits in the choriocapillaris

The interplay of agency, culture and networks in field evolution

We examine organizational field change instigated by activists. Contrary to existing views emphasizing incumbent resistance, we suggest that collaboration between incumbents and challenger movements may emerge when a movement's cultural and relational fabric becomes moderately structured, creating threats and market opportunities but remaining permeable to external influence. We also elucidate how lead incumbents' attempts at movement cooptation may be deflected through distributed brokerage. The resulting confluence of cultural and relational "structuration" between movement and field accelerates the pace but dilutes the radicalness of institutional innovation, ensuring ongoing, incremental field change. Overall, this article contributes to the emergent literature on field dynamics by uncovering the evolution and outcomes of collaborative work at the intersection of social movements and incumbent fields

Reviewing the IYE and WSSD processes and impacts on the tourism sustainability agenda.

Two major events marked 2002 as a milestone year for the sustainable development agenda and in particular for the tourism sector. The declaration by the United Nations of 2002 as ‘International Year of Ecotourism’ (IYE), culminated in the organisation of the World Ecotourism Summit (WES) in May 2002. This was followed in August 2002 by the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD), a global event where the research and business communities gathered to review the last decade’s achievements in making business and society more sustainable for future generations. A review of the proceedings of these events is carried out here, in light of the actions of different stakeholders. Policy-makers and the research community may consequently revisit the current tourism sustainability agenda, especially when scrutinised under the Global Code of Ethics in Tourism and considering the challenges posed by the Millennium Development Goals and their application to tourism policies

Tracking travel and tourism: Towards sustainability reporting for tour operators

Tourism is today the biggest industry in the world, and tour operators are a central link in the tourism supply chain. As a consequence of their key position, tour operators have the potential to influence both the primary producers of tourist services and the tourists. Increased awareness of the media and general public will create pressures on the tour operators - first to work towards incorporating sustainability principles in their operation, and second, to inform the concerned stakeholders about these efforts. This research investigates the application of sustainability reporting to the tour operating business, as a tool to communicate environmental, social and economic performance

Sustainability in ecotourism supply chains: Evidence from cases of Swedish ecotourism packages to Peru and to Nepal-Bhutan.

This paper presents application of sustainable tourism practices by leading tour operators in international ecotourism supply chains. Observations of actions implemented by the inbound and outbound operators creating the ecotourism experience are drawn from two case studies – one of trips to Peru and the other of trips to Nepal-Bhutan - both available on the Swedish market. The cases explore how sustainable tourism measures promoted by the outbound tour operator (OTO)are disseminated to, and endorsed by the inbound tour operators (ITOs) in destinations. The methodology used included participant observation as part of groups, complemented by field notes and data from extensive interviews with the operators’ ground staff, tour guides and management. Presentation of case studies supports a discussion on the role of ecotourism supply chains for the dissemination of a culture of corporate responsibility and for sustainable tourism practices in general

Aiming for sustainability in the tour operating business

Indications of what the tour-operating sector considers to be 'good practice' can be drawn from voluntary initiatives such as existing eco-labels and codes of conduct. However, practical implementation of such guidance varies greatly from one tour operator to another, depending on different types of factors, such as size, financial capacity, corporate structure, operational location, organizational culture, ownership type, etc. This paper investigates the dimensions of what is currently referred to as 'good practice' in the tour operating industry, with the aim of exploring their comprehensiveness and sufficiency as tools for making mass tourism a more sustainable business

A Model for Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships on Human Rights in Tourism

This paper presents a model for corporate social responsibility (CSR) created to integrate human rights issues in sustainable tourism, through public-private partnerships between the industry, non-governmental organisations (NGOs)and international governmental organisations (IGOs). The experience with the model in practice is described in a case study presenting a voluntary code of conduct adopted by the industry to prevent child sex tourism

Recognition schemes in tourism - from 'eco' to 'sustainability'?

Proliferation of voluntary instruments such as eco-labelling schemes and codes of conduct for tourism has been characterized by a strong environmental focus. This paper discusses the feasibility of creating recognition schemes that could address not only the ecological implications, but also the social and economic impacts of tourism activities. The analysis was performed by using a case study of the 'Certification for Sustainable Tourism' (CST), a labelling programme developed in Costa Rica, which was found to address not only environmental performance, but also cultural, economic and social impacts of tourism activities