Holding Corporate Social Responsibility to account: its applicability in tourism development

Abstract

Tourism was introduced in Elmina and Cape Coast, (Ghana, Africa) home to three World Heritage Sites (slave dungeons during transatlantic slave trade) as a means to poverty reduction. However, almost fifteen years later, this was not achieved. A participatory approach to research revealed that lack of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) from the government, tourism intermediaries and developmental institutions was the key factor behind this failure. So far within the tourism industry no tangible areas of responsibility for sustainable tourism development were found and not even the host governments expressed concern for it. However, it could be argued that the intelligent application of [C (SR)] can lead to poverty reduction if it is practiced in a holistic, responsible, transparent and accountable manner