Ineffective Sustainable Tourism
Is government leadership sufficient to initiate collaboration
amongst stakeholders leading to effective sustainable tourism?
Rotterdam, 2009 | RSM Erasmus University | Prof. Dr. Lucas Meijs
Lisanne Buik
Dahlia Darweesh
David Eberle
Pablo Mandelz
Ineffective Sustainable Tourism
Executive Summary
Sustainable tourism is an emerging trend in the tourism industry. Even
though this niche market is growing at a high pace tensions among
stakeholders lead to ineffectiveness in this approach. The absence of clear
leadership is mainly responsible for this lack of collaboration. This paper
therefore investigates whether ‘government leadership is sufficient to initiate
collaboration amongst stakeholders leading to effective sustainable tourism’.
Existing literature was used to assess the nature of ineffective sustainable
tourism and to depict tensions and challenges among stakeholders involved.
Governmental leadership was identified to be essential for the effective
implementation sustainable tourism. The case of Costa Rica’s sustainable
governmental story is a benchmark of successful state leadership in
sustainable tourism.
Even though governmental leadership in Costa Rica led to successful
collaboration amongst stakeholders thus confirming our narrowed
hypothesis, this sustainable story is not sufficient to support or oppose our
general hypothesis.
Future research should aim to analyze further data on sustainable tourism
and governmental leadership. For example, analyzing financial data of firms
engaging in sustainable tourism would reveal its long-term costs and
benefits.
Keywords: ‘sustainable tourism’, ‘ecotourism’, ‘eco-tourism’, ‘sustainability’,
‘leadership’, and ‘development’.
Acknowledgements
A special thank to Prof. Dr. Lucas Meijs for his guidance and to Alexander
Otgaar for his helpful insight into the topic.
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Ineffective Sustainable Tourism
Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
2 INTRODUCTION
4 An Emerging Trend
Structure
Methods of Research
Definitions
PROBLEM DEFINITION
The Issue
Trends
STAKEHOLDER DIAGNOSIS
4 4 5 6 9 9 10 11 Involved Parties
The Issue Life Cycle
Responsibilities
Tensions & Challenges
11 12 13 14 LEADERSHIP SOLUTION
19 Assessment Framework
Market
Civil Society
State
Synthesis
19 19 21 22 25 THE CASE OF COSTA RICA
27 Conceptual Model
Governmental Leadership
Ecological Issues
Socio-Cultural Issues
Critical Voices
Leadership Model
27 27 29 30 30 30 EVALUATION
33 CONCLUSION
34 BIBLIOGRAPHY
35 AFFIRMATION
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Ineffective Sustainable Tourism
Introduction
An Emerging Trend
A relatively new trend in the travel industry is ‘sustainable tourism’. Today’s
tourists are progressively interested in so-called ‘green travelling’, where the
leisure of one person does not harm the environment of others. According to
the New York Times, tourists are becoming increasingly anxious about the
‘carbon footprint’ their travels cause (Higgins, Carbon Neutral: Raising the Ante on
Eco-Tourism, 2006). “Many destinations are trying to get in on the ecotourism
train” (Hampton, 2008), says Stuart Hampton of Hoover’s, a think-tank. The
market size is estimated at $470bn a year, growing between 20% and 34%
(Hampton, 2008).
However, sustainable tourism in its current form is rather ineffective. The
major obstacles that occur when shifting from mass tourism towards
sustainable tourism are different stakeholder interests. In order to
implement sustainable tourism in an effective manner, leadership is
necessary. Costa Rica, for example, has successfully introduced and built
upon this new form of tourism; other countries are trying to follow suit
(Higgins, Buzzword of the Year: Eco-tourism, 2006).
Based on successful cases like Costa Rica, our research tries to evaluate
whether ‘government leadership is sufficient to initiate collaboration
amongst stakeholders leading to effective sustainable tourism’.
Structure
The structure of reasoning in this paper is based on the reflective circle
developed by Tulder (Tulder, 2007) (see figure 1). The research is limited to the
first four phases of the circle.
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Figure 1: Reflective Cycle
Source: Adapted from (Tulder & Zwart, 2006).
In the first phase, ‘problem’, the issue of ineffective sustainable tourism is
introduced and explained. The research methods used in this paper as well
as competing definitions about sustainable tourism are explained.
The second phase, ‘problem definition’, consists of a more in-depth analysis
of the problem examining the characteristics of the issue as well as past,
current, and future trends.
Stakeholders in the issue life cycle and their responsibilities are analyzed in
the third phase, ‘diagnosis’. Moreover, this phase also covers the issue
triangle showing tensions and challenges that arise due to stakeholder
competition.
In phase four, ‘design/outcome’, the part of the involved stakeholders are
assessed in regard to their contribution to effective sustainable tourism. To
demonstrate the different approaches of the stakeholders towards a solution,
most important stakeholders’ actions are analyzed and compared to a
governmental sustainable story of Costa Rica. This provides a framework to
define a hypothesis which then leads to a deeper understanding of the issue.
Methods of Research
The research methods used in this paper can be divided into two different
groups: literature review and qualitative research. The former helps to
describe the issue ‘sustainable tourism’, its causes, and the involved
stakeholders. The Journal Citation Reports (Thomson Reuters, 2009), an annual
publication by Thomson Reuters, includes two tourism-related journals in
the category “Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism”. Tourism Management is
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Ineffective Sustainable Tourism
“the leading international journal for all those concerned with the planning
and management of travel and tourism” (Elsevier, 2009). The bi-monthly
journal has an impact factor of 1.274 ranking third in its category and was
therefore considered essential to our paper. The quarterly journal Annals of
Tourism Research ranks fifth with an impact score of 1.104. Unlike the
previous journal, it focuses more on the academic viewpoint of tourism,
dedicated to “developing theoretical constructs” (Elsevier, 2009).
Two other papers not listed in the Journal Citation Reports were also used for
our research were selected using the website of the RSM Erasmus University
Library. The Journal of Sustainable Tourism, published by Routledge, is an
inter-disciplinary paper focusing on theoretical, conceptual, and empirical
research on this paper’s issue (Taylor & Francis, 2009). A more practical
approach is provided by the International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality
Management. Also inter-disciplinary and published by Emerald its audience
is largely managers (Emerald, 2009). Both publications are gainful for our
research due to their inter-disciplinary approach, which allows us to
examine our issue more thoroughly.
Since all chosen journals contained only tourism-related articles the
keywords used to search for relevant articles could be kept elementary. The
following keywords were selected: ‘sustainable tourism’, ‘ecotourism’, ‘ecotourism’, ‘sustainability’, ‘leadership’, and ‘development’.
Qualitative research, the second category, allows contributing to the current
level of knowledge about sustainable tourism. There are two different
approaches to the qualitative part. Firstly, to include a holistic view from a
tourism expert an interview has been conducted with Alexander Otgaar1.
Secondly, an individual, explorative case is presented to analyze the issue in
a narrower context. The choice of internet as the main source to collect data
was determined by the accessibility of the data assessed.
Definitions
Academia have been concerned about negative externalities as the inevitable
result of the limited carrying capacity of travel and tourism destinations
since the 1960s. Nevertheless, the term ‘sustainable tourism’ (ST) became a
common concept in literature only in the 1990s. This was a result of the
Brundtland Report published by the World Commission on Environment and
Development in 1987, which defined ‘sustainable development’ (SD) in
general as “a process that meets the needs of present generations without
compromising the ability of future ones to meet their needs” (World
Commission on Environment and Development, 1987). Even though there is a
consensus among academia on the definition by the WCED of SD, finding a
common definition of ST has been a matter of extensive debate. Ziffer has
illustratively described the definitional challenge:
1
Alexander Otgaar, Department of Regional, Port and Transport Economics - Erasmus
University Rotterdam
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Ineffective Sustainable Tourism
“The term has eluded firm definition because it is a complex notion which
ambitiously attempts to describe an activity, set forth a philosophy and espouse a
model of development (Ziffer, 1989).”
The intention of ST is to “reduce the tensions that arise due to the
interaction between tourists and the tourism sector with the destinations’
environments and communities” (UNWTO, 2001). The UNWTO states the
elements that the interaction between those dimensions of ST should
encompass. First, the optimal use of environmental resources that
constitute a key element in tourism development, maintenance of essential
ecological processes, and support to conserve natural heritage as well as
biodiversity. Second, respect to socio-cultural authenticity of host
communities, conservation of cultural heritage and traditional values, and
contribution to inter-cultural understanding and tolerance. Third,
confirmation of viable, long-term economic operations, providing socioeconomic benefits to all stakeholders that are fairly distributed, including
stable employment and income-earning opportunities, social services to host
communities, as well as a contribution to poverty alleviation.
This definition is summarized as follows: “Sustainable tourism development
meets the needs of present tourists and host regions while protecting and
enhancing opportunities for the future. It is envisaged as leading to
management of all resources in such a way that economic, social and
aesthetic needs can be fulfilled while maintaining cultural integrity, essential
ecological processes, biological diversity and life support systems” (UNWTO,
2001).
Bramwell and Lane defined ST as a
“process focused on minimizing environmental and cultural impacts, optimizing
visitor satisfaction and maximizing long term economic growth for the region where
tourism is developed”(Bramwell & Lane, 1993).
This definition still neglects the idea that ST is subject to a trade-off between
different stakeholders involved and was challenged by Hunter (1997) with
the idea that defining ST involves trade-offs between competing interests.
Due to the diverse interests of stakeholders involved finding consensus is
difficult. Therefore, after its initial introduction the concept has often been
treated as an ideology rather than as the basis of an operational definition.
Saarinen (Saarinen, 2006) identifies three traditions of ST each representing
the perspective of a major stakeholder sphere. First, the ‘resource-based
tradition’ tries to capture the environmental and ecological aspects of ST
including both natural and cultural capital of tourism destinations. The
second tradition, the ‘activity-based tradition’, attempts to cover the needs of
the market in a sustainable way, i.e. tourism today and in the future should
be economically viable. Third, the ‘community-based tradition’ refers to the
representatives of civil society, with a focus on human aspect and social
capital gained by engaging in ST.
In early publications on ST the concept was opposed to mass tourism, as if
the two were contradictions. However, researchers soon recognized that ST
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Ineffective Sustainable Tourism
is a preferred goal instead of a specific type of tourism. Today, the issue has
become more macro-oriented. Hardy and Beeton illustrate this shift in their
definition, presenting ST as an approach that is “applicable and attainable at
any scale of tourism” (from local to global) (Hardy & Beeton, 2001). The concept
of ST has been elevated by Farrell and Twining-Ward in their study on
complex system dynamics within ST requiring ‘adaptive management’ and
“resilience to disturbance rather than a focus on achieving stability and
balancing interests” (Farrell & Twining-Ward, 2005).
Still, there are more widely used definitions available all focusing on different
edges of the triangle of market, civil society, and state. Most of them try to
find an appropriate balance between the aspects of environmental
protection, economic development and the ethical elements representing the
needs of tourists and local communities. A common definition of ST was
introduced by Swarbrooke:
“Tourism which is economically viable but does not destroy the resources on which
the future of tourism will depend, notably the physical environment and the social
fabric of the host community” (Swarbrooke, 1999).
This definition focuses on the economic resources created by ST. Others
condemn this tourism-centered approach and rather emphasize the ethical
and ideological aspects of ST(Butler, 1999).
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Problem Definition
The Issue
Sustainable tourism is a broad term consisting of a variety of sub-groups.
Niche markets, such as ecotourism, are a form of sustainable tourism. The
primary goal of this emerging concept is to mitigate negative impacts on the
environment and to maximize development of the destination simultaneously
(Lu & Nepal, 2009). Despite the surge of concern about sustainable tourism,
conflicting interests among stakeholders undermine an effective approach to
this kind of tourism.
The world population is growing at a high pace. Also, per capita income is
increasing as well, especially in developing countries (Sachs, 2008).
Consequently, the total number of people seeking leisure in tourism
destinations will grow over the coming years. This surge creates a burden on
the environment and on our planet’s resources if not tackled accurately.
Therefore, sustainable tourism is necessary if we want future generations to
be able to visit the same places like we did.
Only by balancing stakeholders’ interests sustainable tourism can flourish.
Power inequalities among parties inhibit a common definition, approach,
and implementation. Civil society is a major victim of ineffective sustainable
tourism: local people, for example, might need to live in a wrecked
environment and lose employment in the tourism industry as tourists move
on to yet pristine destinations. Market and state both share the majority of
bargaining power regarding the implementation of sustainable tourism.
Their interests, however, are not congruent with those of civil society.
Obviously, unsustainable tourism is not beneficial for any party in the long
run. In short, the tourism industry would perish together with the decay of
tourism destinations.
Leadership, especially from governments (Neto, 2002), is necessary in order to
facilitate collaboration amongst all stakeholders involved. Otherwise,
stakeholders will continue to only pursue their own interests and the party
with the strongest bargaining power will shape the market context to a large
extent. In Costa Rica, a successful leader in sustainable tourism, the
government introduced a certification system to regulate their market
(Higgins, Buzzword of the Year: Eco-tourism, 2006). According to the same article,
many other governments followed suit and introduced national strategies for
ecotourism. However, sustainable tourism is still a minor issue on most
government’s agendas.
With sound government leadership in destination countries sustainable
tourism could become more effective. This paper investigates whether
government leadership in destination countries is sufficient to initiate
collaboration amongst stakeholders leading to effective sustainable tourism.
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Trends
‘Kondratiev waves’, introduced by Nikolai Kondratiev, are economic cycles
averaging 45 to 60 years in length. They consist of both periods of low and
high growth. The first wave started in 1770, while the fifth one began in
1980 and is to end in approximately 2015, leaving the three other cycles in
between. Each wave is characterized by periods of prosperity, recession,
depression, and improvement.
In the beginning of the current wave the main concern in the field of
sustainable tourism was its definition (see previous section). In 1993 the
Journal of Sustainable Tourism was established. It is the only journal that is
exclusively devoted to sustainable tourism research containing the largest
number of papers on the subject. It is also used as a convergence point by
researchers (Lu & Nepal, 2009). With an increasing amount of publications in
the 1990s, sustainable tourism was accepted in the tourism literature and
drew more attention from businesses, governments, non-governmental
organizations and tourists (Lu & Nepal, 2009).
In 2002 the United Nations named that year the ‘International Year of
Ecotourism’ (IYE) (Weaver & Lawton, 2007), triggering three main trends around
sustainable tourism. As a consequence, research has shifted its focus from
niche tourism to mass tourism. Originally concerned with the public sector,
such as parks and protected areas, its attention shifted to the private sector,
such as urban tourist sites. Moreover, awareness of the importance of
cultural sustainability has been increasing, leading to an intensifying
popularity in cultural and heritage sustainable tourism. Finally, alternative
sustainable tourism, e.g. farm tourism (Lu & Nepal, 2009), also gained
attention.
Today sustainable tourism is expanding from a few traditional ideas to
emerging topics and approaches. Collaboration and partnerships are
becoming increasingly important. Also, the role of NGOs working in the field
of sustainable tourism is becoming more significant. Tourism is generally
moving towards sustainability implying that sustainable tourism is
becoming less a specific type of product but more a common goal that needs
to be achieved (Lu & Nepal, 2009).
As the current Kondratiev wave is coming to its end, sustainability solutions
might get a boost as the next wave enters its prosperity period. The tourism
industry as well as governments still have time to present innovative
improvements, which will be the basis of a competitive advantage in the next
wave. How such innovations might look like is examined later in this paper.
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Stakeholder Diagnosis
Involved Parties
Sustainable tourism is a multi-faceted issue involving many intertwined
stakeholder parties. According to Tulder and Zwart (Tulder & Zwart, 2006),
stakeholders can be allocated either to the market, the state, or civil society.
These spheres can then be divided into primary and secondary stakeholders.
Relating the different parties to these categories allows a better
understanding of which parties are of major importance for this issue and
which ones are not directly influencing or influenced by sustainable tourism.
Obviously, the market is immediately connected with sustainable tourism:
travel agencies and tour organizers, airliners, hoteliers, and attractions are
all primary stakeholders. Agencies and tour organizers sell holidays and
trips to their customers. Airliners, hoteliers, and attractions deliver their
services to tourists and receive cash.
Civil society, consisting of the society as a whole, NGOs, and individuals, is
also heavily involved in the issue. Conflicting interests between the public
and private firms affects the wellbeing of a whole society (Jamal & Stronza,
2009). On the one hand, a society that receives tourists can be affected if, for
example, its beaches become wrecked and as an effect the country’s value
decreases. A society sending tourists, on the other hand, can be afflicted if
its people are unable to spend recreative holidays because there are no
beautiful places to go to anymore. NGOs and individuals, who pay for their
trip and experience the service, are primary stakeholders in sustainable
tourism.
Also the state has a major stake in sustainable tourism. For destination
countries tourism can be a large source of tax revenues. According to official
estimates, international tourism in Thailand accounted for 547bn baht of
revenues in 2007 (Tourism Authority of Thailand, 2008), roughly 6% of GDP
(domestic tourism adds another 4%).
Sustainable tourism therefore starts from the customer’s decision-making
point until the payment of taxes. Moreover, to a large extent governments
decide over laws, rules and regulations. Therefore, they directly or indirectly
influence and are influenced by decision-making in market and civil society.
There is a mélange of secondary stakeholders, including farmers and
environmentalists (Markwick, 2000) (Ryan, 2002). Farmers, for instance, are
influenced by tourism if it destroys their soil. There are various
environmentalists groups, e.g. National Geographic Center of Sustainable
Destinations, which promote sustainable tourism trying to affect decisionmaking in market, state and civil society. Yet, they are not directly affected
by this issue.
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The Issue Life Cycle
Issues can be defined as societal matters that lack unambiguous legislation
(Tulder & Zwart, 2006). Consensus on sustainable tourism has not been
reached so far, and legal regulations are not present either.
Figure 2: Issue Life Cycle
Source: Adapted from (Tulder & Zwart, 2006).
In the 1990s the term ‘green’ started to become a common expression for
environmental concerns in the Western world (see figure 2). Media was
giving more attention to the environment and to climate change, increasing
people’s awareness of the negative effects caused by each individual’s
actions. Sustainable tourism, in the birth period, was thus an utterance by
stakeholders (individuals and organizations) concerned about the
destruction of the world’s most beautiful sites.
Furthermore, companies and governments were mainly inactive. Yet, the
first NGOs in sustainable tourism sprouted: TIES, one of the oldest and
largest ecotourism organization worldwide, was founded in 1990 (CNN, 2008).
The triggering event that advanced sustainable tourism to the growth stage
in the issue life cycle was the emergence of niche and specialty tourism. Two
forces, market diversification of traveler needs and growing global
environmental pressures, expedited that niche market’s growth (Hassan S. S.,
2000). Visitors were becoming highly involved in making travel decisions
based on the expectation of experiencing quality tourism that manages to
maintain the environmental integrity of the destination that they are visiting.
To remain competitive, major world-class destinations are diversifying to
attract environmentally oriented tourist segments. According to the World
Tourism Organization (WTO) environmentally oriented segments are growing
at a very high rate. For example, interest in ecotourism experiences is
growing by 25% to 30% per year and cultural tourism at 10% to 15% per
year, compared to an overall average of 4% to 5% for the tourism industry in
general (Hassan S. S., 2000). Travel agencies also behave in a re-active manner.
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Although some firms offer trips to sustainable tourism destinations the
majority of tourists still seek for regular tours.
The governments of both developed and developing countries have different
legislations on tourism. However, there are no global rules and regulations
regarding sustainable tourism. For instance, the United Nations only has
voluntary regulatory initiatives, such as environmental codes of conduct and
guidelines (Salom & Roberto, 2001). Governments can choose whether to follow
those codes but there are no repercussions if they decide not to. On a global
scale, sustainable tourism development has become an increasingly
important strategic goal for world-class destinations (Hassan S. S., 2000). Global
tourism industry leaders, e.g. TUI’s CEO Peter Long, are realizing that
sustainable tourism development is critical to the conservation of nature,
and the preservation of indigenous culture (Hassan S. S., 2000). Consequently,
major destinations are seeking preservation for future generations and
exploring sustainable development strategies and techniques in order to
preserve their competitive advantage.
Today, sustainable tourism is on the verge of entering the development
stage. There are more travel agencies offering tours to sustainable tourism
destinations trying to benefit from the current trend. Yet, research on
sustainable tourism concentrated merely on natural environments and
protected areas, although the majority of tourist activities occur in urban
areas (Timur & Getz, 2008). The market of urban tourism is rapidly expanding
and it has attracted city planners to turn tourism industry development into
an important part of urban policy. However, the growth of the industry in
urban destinations presents a number of challenges such as protection of
the environment, conservation of heritage, preservation of social fabric and
cultural values, and maintenance of a desired quality of life for residents
(Timur & Getz, 2008).
Even though the development of tourism that is sustainable in economic,
environmental, social, and cultural terms has been recommended,
researchers have found that the management and implementation of
sustainable tourism requires the involvement of many parties. Also, the
collaboration among these stakeholders is both complicated and difficult to
achieve (Timur & Getz, 2008). This creates a bottleneck between the growth
stage and the development stage. It is difficult to assign one party that is
responsible for the sustainability. Travel agencies and other companies have
to co-operate with different governments. Every country has its own policy
on tourism, implying that there is no global rule or legislation regarding
sustainable tourism.
Responsibilities
Ineffective sustainable tourism is an institutional issue. According to Tulder
and Zwart an institutional issue arises
“when actors from various backgrounds are considered part of a problem in follows
that they should also become part of the solution. While no individual actor bears
primary responsibility, some may have a greater part in the problem or may be in
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more powerful position than others. These actors can thus be considered more
responsible for initiating solutions” (Tulder & Zwart, 2006).
In this case all three actors of the triangle are partly responsible. First, the
state is partly responsible because it has legislative power, i.e. the power to
impose laws that citizens and companies have to obey. The government is
supposed to recognize its power and it should be willing to use it.
Furthermore, the state is responsible for the wellbeing of the nation, its
environment, and its citizens. The importance of ST should not be neglected;
the state should engage in collaborative planning in order to tackle the issue
(Jamal & Stronza, 2009).
Second, firms are also to blame for ineffective sustainable tourism. By
determining the available tourism products travel agencies, airliners, and
hoteliers possess considerable power through strategic hold up. The market
can influence the consumers with marketing and by that prioritize
sustainable tourism. They are able to create and offer cheaper sustainable
tourism destinations.
Last, civil society also contributes to the ineffectiveness. According to Jamal
and Stronza (Jamal & Stronza, 2009) collaboration in protected area destinations
should integrate the relationship between public and private sector
organizations, the natural area destination, and those who inhabit it.
Environmental NGOs are often viewed as key stakeholders in biodiversity
conservation, and scientists, too, are viewed as crucial knowledge holders.
They are to blame when they fail to impose enough pressure on firms or on
the government to provide effective sustainable tourism.
Overall a sufficiently equal distribution of power is necessary to insure that
all stakeholders can influence direction setting, but joint, i.e. consensus
based, decision-making is critical (Jamal & Stronza, 2009).
Tensions & Challenges
Tensions amongst stakeholders can be summarized using a tension
diagram. By choosing the two major opposing parties a tension can be
characterized either as a puzzle, a dilemma, a trade-off or a paradox.
Obviously, the reason for ineffective sustainable tourism lies in a trade-off
where one party has the larger bargaining power and thus moves away from
the effective allocation. The current point yields higher profits for the market
but less for the society (see figure 3). The effective point marks the optimal
balance between both interests. However, to arrive at this point, equal
bargaining power or third party leadership (e.g. government) is necessary.
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Ineffective Sustainable Tourism
Figure 3: Interests Trade-Off
Source: Adapted from (Tulder, 2009).
‘Triangular Management’ is an approach developed by Tulder and Zwart
(Tulder & Zwart, 2006) that helps to analyze issue tensions and stakeholder
involvement. This method consists of two elements, the societal interface
management and the stakeholder triangle. The first identifies the bottleneck,
which arises due to tensions between efficiency and equity, and introduces a
new paradigm with effectiveness. The latter puts market, state, and civil
society each on one edge of the triangle allowing to graphically show where
the issue is located and where tensions arise.
Efficiency can be attributed to profit maximization, competition, and high
productivity amongst others. Mass tourism, which has been the old
paradigm, is an expression of the tourism industry trying to yield high
profits. Equity, or ethics, on the other hand, contains terms such as
sustainability, cooperation, and integrity amongst others. Sustainable
development, which requires stakeholders to collaborate and probably forgo
high profits, can be allocated to that side. Finally, a new paradigm,
sustainable tourism, has been introduced (Jamal & Stronza, 2009). This
supposedly effective approach should combine both sides and eliminate the
bottleneck caused by different interests between the two (see figure 4).
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Ineffective Sustainable Tourism
Figure 4: Societal Interface Management
Source: Adapted from (Tulder & Zwart, 2006).
As Jamal and Tazim (Jamal & Stronza, 2009) note conflicting interests between
public and private organizations affect the wellbeing of each individual (see
also (Tulder & Zwart, 2006)). Private organizations often benefit from the tourist
site in monetary ways while public organizations have more responsibility to
preserve the location. Moreover, the public-private interface (Tulder & Zwart,
2006) also shows possible conflicts between stakeholders for which tourism is
either a public or a private good. As noted earlier, for societies as a whole
locations are public goods. Individuals and companies can ‘free-ride’ on the
public good because they have only finite stakes in it. Individuals, for
example, need only little worry about their pollution of the environment
during their holidays since they will eventually return to their (hopefully
cleaner) home.
Tensions too arise between the profit and non-profit sectors. Firms are
generally interesting in earning high profits whereas the non-profit sector
cares more about welfare increases. The market therefore offers products
that yield the highest returns. Sustainable tourism products, for example,
might be more beneficial to the society but are not available because they
are less profitable than conventional ones.
Figure 5 depicts the stakeholder triangle and its main parties. Tensions are
marked with the red arrows while relationships between stakeholders are
displayed with colored arrows (see legend). The network of relationships is by
far not complete; yet, the graphic’s purpose is to give an impression of the
complexity of the issue.
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Ineffective Sustainable Tourism
Figure 5: Stakeholder Triangle
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Sustainable
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Source: Adapted from (Tulder & Zwart, 2006).
Additionally, because different stakeholders are not directly involved where
their action has effects, gaps arise (Jamal & Stronza, 2009). Travel agencies, for
instance, who market the trip, do not have a direct stake in the destination
where the trip will have its major impact. The existence of these gaps
complicates the tackling of the issue.
Gaps are also a result of an increasingly globalized world (Jamal & Stronza,
2009). First, cultural issues impede stakeholders from different countries to
collaborate efficiently. Second, and probably not less importantly,
‘fragmented planning domains’ (Jamal & Stronza, 2009) contribute to a
nontransparent marketplace. States may encounter difficulties in optimally
allocating pieces of land to the tourism sector, probably especially when
there is no or an insufficient central planning. In poor countries, which often
face sustainable tourism issues, have a higher probability in lacking an
effective central planning authority than richer nations.
Yet, Timur and Getz believe that the “interconnectedness of diverse
stakeholders representing governmental bodies, business firms, persons or
other entities on sustainability dimensions can improve the process of
sustainable destination development” (Timur & Getz, 2008). True, if the
multiple stakeholders are able to surmount these challenges, the result
might feature a more holistic character since all parties where involved in
designing the solution.
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Markwick also highlights the issue of unequal power sharing among
stakeholders (Markwick, 2000). The ability to persuade others is, especially in
a bargaining society, largely dependent on the stakeholder’s power (Tulder &
Zwart, 2006). Moreover, ethical issues are becoming increasingly important,
especially regarding management of tourism resources (Markwick, 2000). Even
though companies are not major victims of environmental degradation due
to excessive tourism (locals are probably hurt the most), they have the power
to shift towards a more ethical approach of tourism. Especially NGOs are
trying to pressure companies to move towards sustainable tourism instead
of exploiting locations. Governments too have the ability to change behavior
through rules and regulations. In April 2009, Mrs. Clinton called for tighter
regulations regarding tourism in the Antarctic (Zeller, 2009). Hopefully, her
calls will be heard.
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Leadership Solution
Assessment Framework
Due to the diverging interests of state, market, and society the institutional
model tends to be of a liberal nature (Tulder & Zwart, 2006). Each sphere is
trying to maximize its own welfare whereas intensive cooperation is
necessary to ensure an effective implementation of ST. To fully understand
the power allocation between state, market, and civil society, the bargaining
position of each institutional sphere needs to be assessed. The assessment
framework that is used in this section consists of an investigation into each
sphere’s interests and roles within the issue. Furthermore, the sphere’s
instruments to shift the institutional model from a liberal to a corporatist
model are discussed. Leadership expressions are taken into account in order
to create a synthesis between interests and the sphere’s instruments to
implement change.
Market
Firms in the tourism sector are driven by the concept of competitiveness
because most markets are saturated (Hassan S. S., 2000). Companies lose
market share if they fail to integrate and offer new destinations that lead to a
competitive advantage. The success of travel operators depends on the profit
they generate by selling their products. Thus, firms in the tourism sector are
dependent on the consumer’s buying power and act on behalf of it. However,
information asymmetry exists between market and society whereas the
advantage lies on the side of the market since it is more efficient in choosing
new products that are maximizing the return on investment than the
government or the society would be. Due to this information asymmetry the
society does not draw on its buying power in order to customize products to
fit their interests. It even neglects to a certain extent the government’s
legislative power to regulate the use of specific public goods.
In an earlier phase of this research paper, firms have been identified as
being partly responsible for the negative effects caused by mass tourism.
Here, due to their bargaining position to act as an intermediary between
consumers and producers, tour operators are able to exert notable power
(Budeanu, 2003).
“Some small islands and developing countries are highly or almost totally
dependent upon tour operators (e.g. Cyprus, Gambia), for attracting tourists”
(Budeanu, 2003).
To further assess the firm’s potential to lead both governments and civil
society to shift the paradigm from mass tourism to ST an explorative
analysis is deducted. The question underlying this assessment is what
leading tourism companies contribute and promote to solve the issue. Data
from seven leading global travel agencies and six leading ST agencies was
collected using a content analysis scheme with regard to ecotourism,
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volunteering, information about the issue, development programs, and
certification efforts.
The first variable assessed was whether the agency promotes ecotourism
products. The term ecotourism is defined as travel packages or tours that
decrease emissions, help to preserve biodiversity, or sustain the environment
globally as well locally at the destination site in any form. Volunteering
products consist of an active involvement of tourists in either an
environmental or cultural project at the destination itself. The term
information is kept very broad and contains any information the agency
provides on the internet platform about sustainability in regard to tourism.
Development programs, e.g. eco travel, are defined as efforts of the agency to
actively shape the competitive context, namely the destination, in a way that
improves the portfolio’s competitiveness. The last variable, certification
systems, determines whether the agency or one of its partners employs or
even establishes sustainable certification policies.
These five variables are analyzed by creating an overall portfolio (see table 1)
of six sustainable travel agencies and seven leading global travel firms.
Therefore, each variable represent an answer to the issue and together they
form a portfolio that can be seen as an integral, state-of-the-art solution to
the issue that the market is currently promoting.
Table 1: Sustainable Tourism Portfolio of Travel Agencies
Ecotourism
Products
Volunteer
Products
Information
Provider
Development
Programs
Certification
Systems
Sustainable Travel Agencies
Intrepid
Travel
Adventure
Life
Frontier
Marine
Conservation
Society
Family
Nature
Summit
Tribes Travel
✓
✓
✓
✓
✗
✓
✗
✓
✓
✓
✓
✗
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✗
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✗
✓
✗
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✗
✗
✗
✗
✓
✓
✓
✗
✓
✗
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
Global Travel Agencies
STA Travel
American
Express
Thomas
Cook
TUI PLC
Kuoni
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Peter Long, CEO of TUI Travel Plc, reveals TUI’s strategy to implement ST as
an emerging trend in global tourism:
“In terms of sustainability, our vision is to make travel experiences special by
providing holidays that cause minimal environmental impact, respect the culture and
people of destinations, and offer real economic benefit to local communities. We
aspire to lead in sustainable development within the leisure travel industry and
want to develop this in the wider marketplace. In the long term, we believe this goal
will help build shareholder value for TUI Travel and contribute to us operating a
strong business now and in the future” (Long, 2009).
TUI claims to be able to increase its shareholder value by offering trips with
minimized negative externalities. Still, the core strategy of TUI is the
maximization of shareholder value in which sustainability is only a minor
action to deepen the product portfolio.
Another leadership expression from the World Travel & Tourism Council
shows the importance of leadership in public-private partnerships.
“Raising awareness of the importance of Travel & Tourism, promoting synergies
between the public and private sector, generating profit as well as protecting
natural, social and cultural environment, are the fundamental components of
WTTC's mission” (World Travel & Tourism Council, 2007).
Civil Society
In contrast to the market sphere, where firms’ interests are mainly to
maximize shareholder values, goals in civil society are diverging. On the one
hand, maximizing welfare and preserving public goods is a major concern of
civil society. On the other hand, in this context individuals act as consumers
who operate on behalf of their own personal interests. In regard to
leadership abilities, consumers are able to affect the market and its products
since tourism products are highly demand driven.
Yet, difficulties arise due to information asymmetries and the dependence of
consumers on firm’s product supply. Two main instruments have been
identified to overcome these obstacles. First, civil society can get knowledge
from alternative information sources, e.g. the internet, in order to balance
information asymmetries. Even though information alone cannot completely
overcome market barriers it alleviates the dependence on firms.
Furthermore, information can foster the society’s awareness of the negative
effects of tourism and change its consumption pattern. Second, society can
build strong networks by creating non-governmental organizations, which
can help to form a strong voice to express society’s needs. Foremost, NGOs
are much more efficient in collecting and providing information about
tourism externalities. NGOs thus communicate to both government and
firms more easily and they improve the civil society’s bargaining position.
Articulating interests within a society are ambiguous (Tulder & Zwart, 2006).
Since the issue of ineffective ST is global, most NGOs formed on behalf of
this issue act on a global level and in between different governments and
companies. Still, their primary role is to defend the interest of particular
mostly local societal groups.
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“Being a responsible tourist is about more than making sure your trash goes into the
bin. It’s about being mindful of each and every action, and considering the overall
effect one’s visit is having on the country and its people. ‘Will this activity benefit
people, or bring them harm?’” (Voices for Burma, 2000).
This expression of Voices for Burma, a not-for-profit NGO, demonstrates the
effort to raise consumer’s awareness.
Within societies there exist several actors who have the power to influence
behavioral patterns and who can raise awareness of certain issues.
Academics, for instance, are supposed to lead the society in terms of
providing valid knowledge and derive their legitimacy from knowledge to act
as visionary or moral leaders (Tulder & Zwart, 2006).
“Seeing other places and cultures is the best way to understand the common
interests and aspirations that unite us as well as the special challenges that are
unique to different parts of the world” (Sachs, Common Wealth: Economics for a
crowded planet, 2008).
These statements of civil society’s most influential, leading actors explain the
two instruments that improve societies’ bargaining positions.
State
Governments’ interests are varying on a global scale. Each state wants to
protect its resources and maximize nation’s welfare. Governments dealing
with ST can be divided along two lines. The first line distinguishes between
host and destination governments whereas the second line parts developed
from developing countries. Developed nations have established a wide range
of regulations; however, the ultimate responsibility for changing behavior
towards ST lies in the hands of the destination governments via legislation
(Forsyth, 1997). This research therefore focuses on the destination
governments’ enforcement of administrative power and active promotion of
ST.
The primary roles of governments are setting policies and allocating
resources, being their major source of power when dealing with tensions in
ST. However, by showing ‘political will’ (Ritchie & Crouch, 2003) a government
can also influence the opinion of others on societal issues. The involvement
of governments in the economy has increased slightly in OECD countries
over the past twenty years (Tulder & Zwart, 2006). Within the tourism sector
this statement can be illustrated by looking at Australia. Australia’s
government active promoted the tourism industry during the 1980s
contributing considerably to the sector’s competitiveness. This example
shows that active leadership expression of the state can foster effective
implementation of ST.
Setting up the rules of the game for an ideological and dynamic concept as
ST has appeared to be a governmental challenge for numerous reasons.
Firstly, ST is an approach intended to create long-term benefits. However,
administrative authorities are bureaucratic institutions that feature fast
turnover and are neither flexible nor quickly adaptive to market dynamics
(Swarbrooke, 1999). It is therefore difficult to engage in long-term engagements
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such as ST. Secondly, large companies that operate across borders can be
more powerful than governments especially in small countries complicating
government control over all stakeholders and oversight of the
implementation of ST legislations (Swarbrooke, 1999).
Since businesses do not recognize their responsibility to integrate ST into
their strategy, implementation of legislation regularly fails (Berry, 1997).
Therefore, according to Malloy and Fennell (Malloy & Fennell, 1998), the public
sector should express leadership and eliminate ineffective behavior in the
private sector. The authors argue that administrators should reconcile
stakeholders in order to foster collaboration among them and balance their
interests. However, since tourism includes travelling from one to another
destination, it is difficult to oversee legislation compliance (Hassan S. S., 2000).
Figure 6: Global Hierarchy of Legislative Power
Source: (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987).
The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has supranational
legislative power (see figure 6). The organization sets global standards that
other bodies are supposed to take into consideration when constructing
their laws. According to Swarbrooke (Swarbrooke, 1999), these laws should try
to influence the market and civil society in the areas of land-use planning,
funding, and fiscal incentives, which are the powers that states can enforce.
Laws should therefore ensure that:
•
ST projects receive grants, interest-free loans and other fiscal
incentives from the state;
•
Less sustainable activities as the use of private cars in tourist trips
are taxed;
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•
Tourists who use a destination and thus affect it pay a fixed sum of
tourist taxes being ploughed back into making the tourism sector
more sustainable.
The government as an institute not only provides laws and regulations but
also public goods. In fact, an adequate supply of public goods could help to
achieve ST (Rigall-I-Torrent, 2008). These public goods can take the form of
cultural legacy (e.g. museums), preservation of the environment and
landscapes, brand image, and public services and infrastructure. By
definition, public goods are non-rival meaning that they are not scarce and
can theoretically be used by many users without decreasing the availability
of the goods to other users (Rigall-I-Torrent, 2008). Governments could increase
their contribution to ST by entering a virtuous circle (Rigall-I-Torrent, 2008). In
the long run, more input in the form of public goods would create more
output leading to higher tax revenues. If these extra revenues are reinvested
in public goods this might have beneficial effect to ST up to the point where
input and output are optimally balanced.
However, the state will always have to cooperate and form partnerships with
the market in order to ensure effective ST (Williams, 2004) (Singh, Timothy, &
Dowling, 2003) (Swarbrooke, 1999). As Forsyth shows, complying with laws and
regulations that ensure sustainable development can eventually provide
firms with a competitive advantage (Forsyth, 1997). If firms merely respond to
market demand for sustainable products they would only engage in re-active
business and would thus not be able to differentiate their products from the
ones of their competitors leading to a price war. By helping to create demand
for ST products the state ensures that businesses that comply with the laws
and pro-actively engage in ST receive competitive advantages.
Additionally, setting up commercial codes of ethics and foster their
implementation might lead to the build up of more partnerships between
market and state. Research shows that codes of ethics, the expression of the
organization's core values, norms and beliefs, can function as powerful tools
to contribute to cognitive development and increase ethical behavior (Cassell,
Johnson, & Smith, 1997). However, little research has been conducted to identify
the effectiveness and actual content of codes that have been written
voluntarily or under pressure of governmental institutions (Malloy & Fennell,
1998).
ST typically involves multiple states and international actors. Large
companies usually have more power to set the rules of the game than small,
weak governments of developing countries. According to Forsyth, the
ultimate responsibility for changing towards ST is in the hands of
destination governments (Forsyth, 1997). There are several reasons why
effective implementation of ST in some countries is difficult. First, countries
might not possess the financial resources to oversee legislation
implementation. Second, corrupt regimes of many developing countries
hamper the implementation of ST. Third, the tourism sectors in these
countries often contribute a major share to GDP.
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Since conducting ST requires considerable investment, governments might
not prioritize the shift towards ST. Also, a lack of experts complicates
implementation. Business models in the tourism sector of developing
countries are mostly simple and uniform. Stakeholders might understand
the theory behind ST but they perceive effective implementation to be
impossible (Swarbrooke, 1999). Berry believes that implementation would be
more effective if governments or supranational institutions provided funding
by which tourism companies can differentiate their products and switch to
ST (Berry, 1997). Finally, however, complying with universal laws would not
create a competitive advantage to anyone since the tourism industry would
be driven towards a uniformity. Berry therefore suggests that legislative
power should be streamed down to national or local authorities, which can
differentiate the destination to be unique and competitive (Berry, 1997).
Synthesis
A heuristic approach to examine the issue of ineffective ST uses explorative
methods, which complement the descriptive orientation of the problem
definition and the diagnosis with a prescriptive analysis of applied actions
and policies of the stakeholders. The explorative research aims to analyze
the behavioral patterns of the three spheres and the allocation of power
amongst them (Tulder, 2007). The research examines the conditions of the
underlying issue and the role of the stakeholders in providing a solution.
Figure 7: Stakeholder Triangle
Source: Adapted from (Tulder & Zwart, 2006).
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Figure 7 presents the institutional model and the levels of interaction among
the three spheres. There are three main instruments to exercise power
within the triangle: information, influence by voting power or buying power,
and regulation. Cooperation forms can then be used to bargain about the
different interests and possible solutions to the issue of negative
externalities of tourism. By assessing the bargaining position of the spheres,
their interests, their instruments to exercise power, and the context
surrounding them, the following hypothesis can be constructed: Government
leadership in destination countries is sufficient to initiate collaboration amongst
stakeholders leading to effective sustainable tourism.
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The Case of Costa Rica
‘We believe that sustainable tourism is the only option for tourism development, and
we look forward to sharing our experiences, challenges, goals and our best
practices and solidify our commitment to a sustainable mode’ (Carlos Ricardo
Benavides, Minister of Tourism of Costa Rica, 2008).
Costa Rica, ranked top five in the Environmental Scorecard at the World
Economic Forum in 2008, has been engaging in ST and ecotourism for many
years. Its sustainable governmental story is used to test the previously
stated proposition by conducting exploratory research. In 2008, the country
also received the ‘Best Green Destination’ award (World Travel Awards, 2008). By
applying the theory developed in previous chapters to the case of Costa Rica,
the capacity of its government to take the lead in finding equilibrium within
the triangular relationship between all stakeholders of the issue is assessed.
Conceptual Model
The concepts that are used in the research part consist of independent,
dependent and moderating variables that are related to each other in a
positive way (see figure 8). The characteristics and definitions that are used
in this part of the research are:
•
Governmental leadership (independent variable): innovative solutions
of the government to overcome the self-interests based view of all the
stakeholders and shift the institutional model from liberal to
corporatist;
•
Stakeholder relationships (moderating variable): balanced trade-off
between the interests of the stakeholders in the issue of ST;
•
Effective ST (dependent variable): the implementation of sustainable
products and services in the tourism sector without having negative
impacts on the interests of the spheres.
Figure 8: Conceptual Model
Governmental Leadership
The government of Costa Rica is, as every state, represented by three
powers: executive, legislative, and judicial powers. The government of Costa
Rica should occupy the roles of legislator, administrator, manager,
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information provider, and leader. The ultimate goal of this chapter is to
determine whether the Costa Rican government succeeds in balancing
stakeholder interests and thereby improves stakeholder relationships by
effective expressions of governmental leadership. Moreover, this chapter also
addresses the question whether Costa Rica can be used as a benchmark for
best practices in ST.
Due to the growth of tourism industry, negative externalities were
increasingly damaging the environment in Costa Rica. The local government
has managed to successfully control this growth for many years. One of the
major initiatives that the government established is the Certification for
Sustainable Tourism program. Created in 1999 by the Costa Rica Tourist
Board, this program was designed to differentiate tourism firms based on
their compliance to the sustainability parameters that are outlined in the
certificate. The degree to which businesses approach a sustainability model
is assessed by the strategy of the firm in managing and impacting the
natural, cultural, and social resources of the country. A company’s CST
shows the level of involvement in the employment of local people, respect for
local culture, contribution to long-term economic and social welfare, and the
preservation of natural resources. A high rating on the parameterassessment can create a competitive advantage as these firms are highly
manifested at stakeholder meetings and sustainability conferences that also
involve the government.
In 2008, for instance, Costa Rica hosted a meeting of the United Nations
taskforce on sustainable development during which CST owners with high
scores were showcased to an international audience. The CST program is
one of the most globally respected sustainable certificate programs. Being
adopted by the World Tourism Organization and the United Nations as a
model, it serves as a benchmark to other governments that are interested in
establishing their own sustainable certificate program.
After the implementation of the CST program many organizations, such as
travelling agencies, tour operators, hotels, and airliners started to
collaborate and change their tourism products and services in order to
obtain the certificate. The program caused others in the tourism industry to
follow and it has thus given the country an opportunity to attract many
tourists who are interested in ST products.
Costa Rica’s government put a lot of effort into the preservation of its
beaches by not making it available to the mass-tourism industry. Because of
the good condition of the beaches, their geographical location, and the
government’s lobbying efforts, Costa Rica organized the Billabong World
Surfing Games Costa Rica 2009 this summer, a first-time event for this
country. The Costa Rica Surfing Federation together with the International
Surfing Association (ISA) were sponsored by the Costa Rica Tourism Board to
hold this event. The event attracted around 200,000 people who took
advantage of various ST opportunities.
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Ecological Issues
In 1990, Costa Rica had one of the largest percentages of land protected as
national parks and natural reserves in the world; at the same time the rate
of deforestation was also the highest (Quesada-Mateo & Solis-Rivera, 1990).
In the early 2000s, Costa Rica introduced a negative net deforestation
achievement (Pagiola, 2007). Clear-cutting the forests was adding almost 2m
dollars per year to GDP; however, the government realized that the
environmental costs in the long term would be much higher. Costa Rica’s
government therefore took the lead and shifted its perspective to a new
paradigm. In order to stay competitive while adapting to sustainable
legislations, the market had to innovate in order to create a competitive
advantage that fits within the new context of ST (Segura-Bonilla, 2003).
The government must modify two conditions in order to create such a
competitive context where innovative sustainable products can generate
return on investment. First, investment in environmental and cultural
education is necessary in order to build a framework for sustainable
development. In the state-funded education sector, environmental education
has first been introduced in 1977 (Blum, 2008). Generally, there are three
types of education efforts that need to be addressed simultaneously to
ensure success: formal sector education, education within the communities
of conservation areas, and public education initiatives. The latter only have
impact if the government is collaborating with the media to raise awareness
and change unsustainable behavioral pattern. NGOs play an important role
when educating communities, especially in rural areas (Blum, 2008).
When demand patterns are adapting to ST, the market must innovate itself.
Segura-Bonilla suggest that the government has to invest in a learning
economy which is capable of institutionalizing cumulative learning processes
that lead to innovations (Segura-Bonilla, 2003). Costa Rica both invested in the
education of the civil society as well as in the competitiveness of its
economy. Today, protected areas and national parks secure the natural
habitat of tropical forests. The government shows pro-active leadership in
assessing the issue of deforestation from a long-term perspective despite the
poor results in the short term.
Another expression of the pro-active approach of the government of Costa
Rica towards ST is the Ecological Blue Flag (BAE) program. This program was
initiated in response to an increasing danger of destructive pollution to
Costa Rican beaches and coral reefs. It is an inter-institutional effort to
improve stakeholder collaboration. After its settlement the program’s target
has been shifting its focus from purely coastal communities to communities
at large. Today, communities are handed out the BAE distinction if they
safeguard the environment and maintain environmental conditions of the
water and the areas surrounding it.
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Socio-Cultural Issues
Civil society helped to introduce multiple state-backed initiatives, which look
at the socio-cultural aspects of ST, such as Foundation Paniamor. Founded
in 1987, this NGO developed ‘Costa Rica Cares; the Code of Conduct for the
protection of children against CSEC-TT (commercial sexual exploitation of
children in travel and tourism)’. Their codes of conduct are embraced by the
local industry as a concrete and measurable expression of sustainable and
responsible tourism. The result is a multi-stakeholders convergence that
involves the protection of human rights and optimal development of new
generations. CSEC-TT is backed by the ICT and compliance to its codes is
introduced as an evaluation item for companies applying to the Tourism
Sustainability Certification (CST).
Critical Voices
There have been debates amongst environmentalists whether a tourismcentered economy is sustainable and whether the ecotourism industry is
becoming ecologically damaging in the long term. In recent years Costa Rica
has developed one of the world's most successful ecotourism industries and
has been praised for its attention to ecological conservation. However, in the
beginning the ecotourism industry was merely operating on a small scale
and attention to the preservation of the environment was emphasized. After
becoming a large tourism industry, many environmentalists worry that as
profits have increased environmental protection is becoming only a
secondary concern. Therefore, the benefits of the ecotourism industry to the
environment are questionable.
Costa Rica's reputation among environmentalists is crucial to the successful
promotion of their tourism products. Although the immediate costs of
increased environmental regulations on travel services may initially hamper
profits, the long-term benefits of maintaining an environmentally friendly
image have convinced the ecotourism industry of the urgency to support
most of the government's conservation initiatives.
Leadership Model
Effective governmental leadership has led to a balanced trade-off among the
different interests of the stakeholders in the ST industry thereby resulting in
the implementation of sustainable products and services in the tourism
sector without having negative impacts on the interests of the spheres.
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Figure 9: Leadership Model
Source: Adapted from (Tulder, 2009).
Figure 9 depicts the governmental leadership strategy of Costa Rica using a
simple model, which displays the relationships between the leader, the
leadership process, the context, and the followers. Interactions among them
subsequently lead to the output. The government as the leader influences
the context of ST by setting policies and enforcing them. Also, information
provided by the state plays a major role in shaping the context and dealing
with civil society and the market. The reshaped context has a strong impact
on the followers (shown as an interaction between context and followers),
who either adapt to it or refuse to do so. The decision subsequently made by
the followers as well as the leadership process itself are the two factors that
directly influence the output.
Costa Rica demonstrates that government leadership, correct policy choices,
and strict control of the implementation can position a developing country as
a leader in ST practices. Intense collaboration between civil society and the
market is necessary in order to achieve an effective implementation of ST.
However, as Rivera (Rivera, 2002) states, the administrative power of the
government is still necessary to ensure efficient and effective implementation
by providing economic benefits to the stakeholders that comply. This
increases the remuneration of governmental leadership expressions in
establishing codes and promoting their implementation since the state has
the conditional power for successful implementation. Costa Rica has grown
from a pioneer to a leader in ST. This is mostly attributable to its strong
governmental leadership.
In regard to the hypothesis, it can be concluded that it is neither accepted
nor rejected upon the insight gained about the governmental story of Costa
Rica. Yet, the hypothesis can be rephrased as: ‘Costa Rica’s governmental
leadership is sufficient to initiate collaboration amongst stakeholders leading
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to effective sustainable tourism’. Based upon the findings presented, the
narrowed hypothesis can be accepted.
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Evaluation
Based on the definitions of leadership and effective sustainable tourism as
well as their application on an existing context, the hypothesis ‘Costa Rica’s
governmental leadership is sufficient to initiate collaboration amongst
stakeholders leading to effective sustainable tourism’ can be accepted. The
broader defined research question, which led to the general hypothesis in
this paper can neither be supported nor opposed based on findings
presented previously. Yet, there are arguments in favor and against the
hypothesis.
The complex problem of interfering interests within the institutional model
can cause insuperable barriers for necessary change. This change however
is required in order to minimize the possible negative effects of a shift in
consumer pattern in regard to the economy. Consequently, the market is not
bound to the same national laws as consumers who are coming from
abroad. National governments thus have to consider not only their own
economy and society but also the influence of other economies and societies
on mass tourism.
The complexity of the global scale of tourism paradigms is fortified by
ambiguous concepts of sustainable tourism. As long as terms are not
defined consistently, a collective global effort to shift the paradigm from
efficient to effective cannot exist. Moreover, a bottleneck occurs due to shortterm losses when shifting towards the effective outcome (ST). For the shift
necessary short to mid-term investments by the government can cause
losses if the economy does not innovate appropriately. Not only different
interests but also the intertemporal character of the interests block effective
ST. Additionally, governments can fail due to human misbehavior that
causes corruption as well as inefficiencies in the governmental process.
Yet, the government as a legally formed institution has the responsibility to
preserve public goods and maximize social welfare. A shift to a more
corporatist state where the three stakeholder spheres are collaborating is
achievable. The state has an initial influence on the country’s economic
context and can enforce its regulation by law. This determines the nation’s
economic advantage and initiates a change in the leading context of ST.
In contrast to the government’s leadership function, the market’s interest
depends heavily on consumer buying behavior. Investment by firms needed
to alter consumer awareness towards ST is not in line with the shareholder
value paradigm of the market. The market’s power to lead the shift from
mass tourism to sustainable tourism is not sufficient to reshape the context.
The approach by civil society, on the other hand, heavily depends on its
educational level, which in turn influences the awareness of every individual
towards the environment.
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Conclusion
‘Governmental leadership in destination countries is sufficient to initiate
collaboration amongst stakeholders leading to effective sustainable tourism.’
Governmental leadership is a suitable way to achieve effective sustainable
tourism. By setting laws and by providing information, states can initiate
successful change. However, followers must adapt to the new context and
cooperate with each other to create a win-win situation within the
institutional
spheres.
Therefore
effective
governmental
leadership
contributes to a collaborative context and is necessary for the
implementation of sustainable tourism.
The limitations of our study can provide more insight into the potential
pitfalls of the exploratory research as it was conducted in this paper. A more
extensive qualitative study would provide more evidence that either supports
or rejects the hypothesis on governmental leadership. This complementary
research could be conducted as a case study about different destinations
worldwide.
ST is an approach that creates long-term benefits for its stakeholders. This
research focuses on exploratory research that discusses the results of proactive governmental leadership by setting up initiatives that create long-term
benefits. Because Costa Rica has been engaging in ST for almost twenty
years, ST can provide benefits to all stakeholders in a balanced trade-off
situation in the long run. Nevertheless, a broader research approach should
be adopted in order to be able to fortify the conclusion.
An approach missing in literature is quantitative research analyzing ST.
Even though competing definitions hinder the analysis of ST, empirical
quantitative research is necessary in order to achieve clarity on the
performance of ST. Such research could be done on the basis of financial
data of firms engaging in. This could also lead to an implementation of
research findings in a global context, which cannot be done on the basis of
this research.
Sustainable tourism in its form today is ineffective. Yet, leadership can
overcome tensions among stakeholders, which hinder a successful
implementation of this emerging approach. Collaboration eventually leads to
a more sustainable way of tourism. As Obama puts it:
“So let us begin. For if we are flexible and pragmatic; if we can resolve to work
tirelessly in common effort, then we will achieve our common purpose: a world that
is safer, cleaner, and healthier than the one we found; and a future that is worthy of
our children. Thank you” (The New York Times, 2009).
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Ineffective Sustainable Tourism
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Affirmation
We want to affirm that this term paper was done independently and without
external help. We have used only sources and aids that we have cited and
we have identified these sources within the text. This work has not been
submitted in this or a similar form to another examination board nor has it
been published.
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