Sustainable tourism and corporate social responsibility in Australian hotel industry

Tourism and Hotel Management

Contemporary Issues in Tourism and Hotel Management

Nature has blessed every country with different set of resources which makes it unique and invites the attraction of people living in other parts of the world. If the countries utilize their resources efficiently, they can reap maximum economic benefits out of resources available to them. Beauty can also be a considered a resource which may be natural or created by the country itself. In both cases, it invites the attraction of people to visit the place. The promotion of beautiful areas of a country is responsibility of its tourism department.

The tourism department in any country ensures that the tourists coming to that very country may enjoy their stay and wish to come back again. In order to achieve visitor's satisfaction, the tourism department makes necessary measurements for better visits transportation facilities and lodging option. Hence, tourism department works in close coordination with hotel industry and both play an important role in generating revenues through attracting visitors.

It is important to mention that visitors coming from other countries play an important role in impression management of a country. It is because, the tourists are concerned about each and everything; the quality of food, the convenience to travel, the comfort of accommodation and the stability of political situation in a country. If any of these factors does not match with the expectation of tourist, he is more likely not to spread good word of mouth about the country.

The global recession has made it quite impossible for the tourists to visit other countries; hence affordability has been an issue in the recent years. The changing global political conditions and technological advancements have created new challenges for these industries. Hence, in most of the developing countries, tourism is at decline. It is, therefore, important for tourism department and hotel industry to adopt a sustainable approach towards their business activities.

The paper is about Australian tourism and hotel industry. Australia is one of the developed countries of the world offering luxurious standard of living to its people. People travel from all corners of the world to have an experience of its immaculate atmosphere and pleasant culture. Furthermore, it has top class universities of the world. Students from various other countries are enrolled in these universities and the visitors of the students are interested in sight seeing as well. Hence, Australian tourism department and hotel industry need to take necessary measures to maintain the standard of service for tourists.

Keeping in view the contemporary issues in hotel industry and tourism, the paper casts light on need of sustainable approach by these two departments. In addition to need of sustainable approach, there are certain aspects of corporate social responsibility related to hotel industry and tourism department. The paper explains them in the sections to come.

Definition of Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is defined as the responsibility of corporate sector which is mainly imposed on them for betterment of society. The concept finds its root in the fact the organizations are part of society and they use the resources of society, hence it is justified to demand a share of their profits for welfare of society. There are various dimensions of CSR and many organizations do not welcome it as it reduces their profit margins (Researcher, 2009). However, in many states, it has been made an obligation for the organizations. The concept of CSR is important from the perspective of sustainability.

Definition of Sustainability

Sustainability is defined as an ability to ensure present growth without compromising the future development. In other words, sustainability refers to efficient use of resources available to the human beings of present era in such a way that next generations get their due share of these resources and they can grow as well (Dillard, Dujon and King, 2009). Development refers to increase in capacity. When capacity is increased without the fear of loss in the future, the development is known as sustainable.

Environment

The first aspect of environmental sustainability is related to provision of clean air and water to all the generations. It is crucially important to the life of all living beings. Human beings are dependent upon other living beings for their food and other requirements. It is, therefore, important that the needs of other living beings are given the due share of importance and consideration.

The other aspect of environmental sustainability is related to global warming and clean and green environment (Andreas, Cooperman, Gifford & Russell, 2011 Top of FoBottom of F). With increased industrialization, the climate is changing and much pollution is caused. This pollution has led to major changes in the human lifestyle. There is close relationship between industrialization, improved life style, better standard of living and wish for tourism. People tend to move to the areas which are less prone to environmental pollution. They enjoy clean air and return back with glowing skin and bright eyes.

Economic

Economics is the most important construct of development of any country and its populace. It happens most often that rich countries either have abundant resources or they are efficient in resource utilization. The concept of scarcity of resources and their efficient use makes most of the literature of subject of economics. It provides the basis of sustainable development of economy as the economic indicators are calculated over the longer span of time.

It is broad daylight that every invention or innovations by the human beings have both pros and cons. The basic purpose behind industrialization was improved life style, but the factor of pollution has pushed human being back to the areas which are rich in natural beauty. Same is true for organizations. Organizations are established to earn profits and time has come when they need to reinvest the profits back in the society for the welfare of those who are the basic revenue generators. The contemporary literature about CSR considers it as an investment. This is the investment which leads to both tangible and intangible profits to the organizations. The intangible benefits are in the form of increased customer and employee loyalty (Werther and Chandler, 2010). Better image is also the outcome of CSR related initiatives (Gottschalk, 2011). The tangible profit is in the form of increased sales which is result of customer loyalty (Ber, and Lober, 2012). Employee loyalty results in low turnover and less cost to be incurred on hiring and training the new inductees.

Social Wellbeing

Corporate social responsibility is the social concern of organizations. It is based on the concept that social welfare is the responsibility of commercial organizations. Since they operate on the motive of profit generation and are in market just because they are earning profits, it is justified that they should share the profits with other stakeholders who are comparatively poorer than the organizations. Individuals have low capacity to run welfare programs, organizations have variety of sources and manpower can perform this function well.

In the regard of hotel management, the responsibility increases manifold. Since tourism focuses on natural beauty and invests high amount on recreation, the critics are of the view that these resources can better be utilized on the welfare of society.

The first aspect of CSR in hotel management is not only related to social welfare but also for sustainable development of hotel and tourism industry. If these industries do not rationalize their resource consumption, it is more likely that the criticism on these industries will question their very existence.

Another aspect of this concept is related to resource utilization for betterment of hotel industry and that of other industries. As population grows and diversity increases, the need of resources is increasing manifold.

Keeping in view the benefits of CSR and sustainability, it is of utmost importance for the hotel industry to align its plan with present and future demand of their services (Harris, Williams and Griffin, 2002). Particularly speaking in the context of hotel industry, it is important to mention that though it is closely related to tourism, however, tourism is not the only cause of growth of this industry. There are many other factors as well; the most important one of them is globalization. As trade barriers are removed and companies are investing their capital in various other countries, the entrepreneurs and business decision makers primarily choose the hotels for their accommodation.

Many commercial organizations have contracts with hotels to arrange the lodging of their employees at discounted rates. It creates direct connection between the hotel industry and other commercial organizations. If the commercial organizations grow, it is more likely that hotel industry will also flourish. It is no surprise to mention that hotel industry is need of commercial organizations. However, in the present era of political disturbance, the repute of famous hotels is at stake. This is the opportunity for guest house and other lodging schemes to exploit. However, the need to have accommodation facility is still there and may grow with the passage of time.

At one end of the quantum, hotel industry is merely a luxury offered to upper class to spend their holidays. On the other end, it is the dire need of businessman whose business setup is expanded all over the world and he needs to move to multiple cities throughout the year.

In the present era, where everything has been digitized and automated, hotel industry is no more an exception. Tourism department, in close coordination with the hotels, has launched many packages to invite the tourists (Travis, 2011). It has led to major development in the hotel industry and many hotels have gained much fame all over the world. Rather, hotels have launched themselves as multinational organizations and they are spreading the network of their branches in many other countries.

Conclusion

Despite much advancement in the field of technology, industry and recreation, man is still in the need of fresh air and green environment. It is again the time when resource utilization is to be planned. The need of today's tourism and hotel industry is not only to satisfy the current tourists. Its goal should be broad enough to apply profitability model to the future period as well (Edgell, 2006). As industrialization grows, the need for tourism will also grow and hotel industry will have huge margin of profitability if it has well designed strategic plan aligned with the requirements of sustainable growth.