Sustainable and Responsible Tourism Management

This document discusses the concept of sustainable and responsible tourism, the role of global organizations in promoting sustainable tourism, the purpose and principles of tourism development and planning, and the challenges and problems associated with it. It also provides a specific tourism example.

Sustainable and
Responsible Tourism
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
LO1..................................................................................................................................................3
Explain how the concept of sustainable and responsible tourism has evolved......................3
Determine the role, function and mission of leading global organisations involved in
promotion of sustainable and responsible tourism.................................................................5
LO2..................................................................................................................................................6
Explore the purpose and principles of tourism development and planning to minimise the
adverse effects of tourism.......................................................................................................6
Evaluate the process of tourism development and planning, and the associated challenges and
problems, providing specific tourism example......................................................................8
LO3..................................................................................................................................................9
Investigate the impacts of tourism activity generated by a specific tourism attraction from an
economic, social, cultural and environmental perspective.....................................................9
Examine how principles of sustainability implemented by a specific tourism
business/attraction meet stakeholder requirements and expectations..................................10
LO4................................................................................................................................................11
Evaluate how sustainability is being developed and managed in a range of tourist destinations
worldwide.............................................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Sustainability is a key driver within different industries as the social trend is changing
and bringing sustainability as the main criterion to make purchase decisions around it.
Sustainability factor is basically concerned with making responsible use of resources by which
the present and future needs of generations can be fulfilled. In present times Hospitality and most
specifically Tourism sector is most concerned about sustainability and responsible work
processes in order to keep an ecological balance and also to contribute something to the damage
they have made to environment and ecological balance (George, DeLacy and Jiang, 2020).
Hence, the present report is carried out on Norway a famous and flourishing tourism destinations
since years. Norway is a destination which is filled with natural resources and powered Tourism
industry is evolving and the revolutionary changes are taking place at the highest pace or
speed.by nature. It is known to be the world's happiest country and these characteristics of the
place makes it a great destination and first choice for travellers and tourist to enjoy their time and
have a great vacation. The work below will be covering the evaluation of sustainable and
responsible tourism concept. Moving along, the role, mission and functions of leading
organisations in the world is discussed which are involved in responsible tourism. Moreover,
purpose and principles of sustainable tourism development and planning are evaluated with
references to the whole process as well. Furthermore, impacts of steps taken by tourism
organisations of the respective destination on economic, social, cultural and environmental
aspects is determined. Moving along some principles of sustainability applied by the specific
tourism attraction destination for meeting stakeholders needs are discussed.
LO1
Explain how the concept of sustainable and responsible tourism has evolved.
Tourism is a widespread and most contributing economic activity which is taking place in
and considered the best today. Tourism is the choice of those who needs break from their day to
day life lead a luxury life for few days away from home and place of work (Holmes and et. Al,
2016). Tourism industry is evolving and the revolutionary changes are taking place at the highest
pace or speed. Earlier tourism was a getaway for people from their daily lives but today with
evolution and changes taking place within the whole world the dynamics of tourism industry
have changed and sustainability is introduced.

Tourism and sustainability is a way which is chosen by people to discover and explore
ecosystem and cultures spread around the globe. The concept of sustainability in tourism have
became interestingly latent and competitive in recent years or a decade. The main reason behind
is increasing responsiveness and awareness amongst people and countries to keep up with
environmental and social needs.
The concept of sustainability is unique which promotes innovation, invention and
creativity to making the best and most efficient use of resources in order to sustain in the market
and also to contribute to the world and environment for the damage and harm caused (Cohen and
et. al., 2014). Therefore, the concept of sustainable Tourism is featured as an idea and work
practice which involves addressing and fulfilling the needs of customers and making sure to
render the best today to people without harming the needs and requirements of future
generations. The tourism activities are increasing and diversifying speedily in past years.
Hence, its impacts on social, cultural, economical and environmental factors are rising
too which creates the need and recognition of sustainable tourism practices to make positive
influence on the mentioned areas and also to change working standards and phenomena's. During
1980's the sustainability development ideas was explored and becoming popular within the
hospitality industry and most significantly in tourism sector of the industry. The development
took place for the notion of sustainability in tourism because of the several arguments and
concerns were raised in favour of the responsibility people have today to restore and revive the
resource for future and making sure that requirements of coming generations are not going to be
hindered.
Moving along with the idea and concerns in the year 1997, the notion got heated up and
resulted in development of certain measures by the government and several administrative bodies
to take up practices which can recover the negative impacts made by the tourism industry such as
policies are made to reduce pollution and reducing use of gases which is causing ozone
depletion.
With the changing times and evolution of the industry Norway a beautiful country and highly
filled with natural beauty identify the need to change according to the industry as well as the
world for working in direction of sustainability and sufficiency in regards to use of resources that
are highly non-recurring.

Norway as a country has been now ranked on the top for countries to live in a healthy, beautiful
and happy life. According to the report presented by the UN world happiness 2017 , Norway was
voted and recognised as the world’s happiest country. This leads to birds making the country an
obvious choice to top in becoming a sustainable destination for people to visit and place on the
top of their travel and tourism list with regards and concern to the environment.
Hence, with regards to the concerns and changes needs to be made the Norwegian government
took measures and introduced Sustainable Norway 2015 with the motive of increasing awareness
in public and population in regards to sustainable tourism. With the 2015 plan of sustainability
innovation Norway is another key aspect which played a vital role in sustainability efforts of the
country. According to it the government and different associated parties from the society for
promoting the idea towards companies for thinking and acting in more sustainable manner. In
relation to the guidelines of the initiative taken several tourist visiting Norway and different
destinations of the country which are certified as sustainable made their steps and travel plans
with keeping their focus on sustainability. Hence it is evident and clear that from early 1980 is
till today the tourism and travel industry have been evolving and regards to the country that is
being placed on the top for the destination to visit which is the most sustainable with its practices
and cooperative services.
Determine the role, function and mission of leading global organisations involved in promotion
of sustainable and responsible tourism.
Sustainable tourism and responsible activities within the industry needs to be promoted in
order to keep people informed and also to spread awareness within the public for effective
implementation of plans and the measures adopted. Their are number of organisations who are
working with the motive of increasing awareness in public and spreading words for making
tourism more and more sustainable while fulfilling the requirements and desires while exploring
cultures and different diversities. These organisations are United Nations World Tourism
Organisation (UNWTO),World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) and Association of
British Travel Agents (ABTA). In the next section role, mission and functions of these
organisations are elaborated on context of sustainable tourism and responsiveness to bio diversity
(Folgado-Fernández and et. al., 2019).
United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), is the leading international
organization in the tourism sector around the globe. United Nations World Tourism Organisation

promotes tourism as a key promoter of economic growth, development and environmental
sustainability. The main function of the organisation is to offer leadership and support to the
tourism sector in creating and advancing their knowledge and tourism policies worldwide.
United Nations World Tourism Organisation has 159 members at present, 6 associated members
and 2 observers with around 500 affiliate members. The role played by United Nations World
Tourism Organisation is promotion of sustainable and responsible tourism practices and
phenomena all over the world and specifically in those areas or destinations which are highly
visited and filled with resources like Norway. United Nations World Tourism defines sustainable
tourism as the kind of tourism actions taking place with complete responsibility of all present
and future economic, social and ecological impacts as well as focuses on meeting and caters to
the requirements of stakeholders for example tourism industry, the community as the host and
the environment. The main mission of United Nations World Tourism revolves around some
respective factors which are upliftment of local communities, rendering social benefits,
improving employment qualities and pay, bringing in economic practicality and keeping visitors
happy and satisfied (Mekawy, 2012).
World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), is a brand which have been working in
favour of knowing the economical impacts being implemented by Travel & Tourism countries
around the globe in around 185 countries. World Travel & Tourism Council is a private
organisation which have been working with the mission of reducing and mitigating all the
barriers in growth of Travel & Tourism sector with referring to sustainability criteria and the
notion of making the world and several destinations better serving places with the focus on keep
the practices responsible (Wehrli and et. al., 2017).
Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA), was founded in 1950 which was
established with the motive and functioning for providing guidance and advice to travellers and
public needing to enjoy a smooth vacation in places of their wish and preferred destinations. The
key role of the organisation is to offer and provide wide range of leisure and travel services. The
organisation has associated with 4,300 travel brands, 1200 companies and around 900 tour
operators. All the parties are considered as members of the association and important part of the
organisation to attain the highest standards in their objectives.

LO2
Explore the purpose and principles of tourism development and planning to minimise the adverse
effects of tourism.
Tourism development and planning are the concepts which work hand in hand,
development refers to growth and maintenance of the respective industry and in the project
concern it is related to tourism development. Tourism development and planning is the notion
concern with growth and maintenance of the tourism industry in the specific destination and
tourism planning supports as well as coordinates the development process by covering and
implementing action in the necessary areas of development.
The tourism development and planning process is relevant with developing and bringing
in the best strategies on the table for growth and success and to make the best plans for
increasing, developing and encouraging the tourism of particular destination. There are certain
principles for tourism development and planning which is followed by several destination
management and in this case it is focused on Norway (Saarinen, 2019).
PRINCIPLES OF TOURISM DEVELOPMENT AND PLANNING:
The Tourism development and planning principles are defined and divided into three
parts and segments.
Basic Principles Development of Master Plan- The first basic principle needs consideration is
development of master plan and directed towards development and operations. The
master plan will offer businesses and administrative bodies on Norway a possibility to
integrate all the complementary factors which needs to be kept focused on while
conducting sustainable development practices. Focus on Sustainability- Another basic requirement is the needs for plans to be made
with the sustainability point of view and by keeping the concentration on making most
efficient use of resources available (Agapito and Chung-Shing, 2019).
Principles of Emphasis and Focus Reduction of over-consumption and wastage- The principle will be referring tor
overconsumption and wastage of resources which is used in tourism industry need to be
stopped and collective usage of resources needs to be promoted through the principle and
plans made.

 Biodiversity maintenance- Another focused principle in regards to tourism development
and planning is of Biodiversity maintenance which focuses on conservation of cultural,
social, ethnic and natural diversity.
Principles of Implementation Integration of tourism into strategic planning- Strategic planning and the master plan
for the tourism developed by the administrative of Norway have to be integrated while at
implementation stage. The principle suggest it as a comprehensive approach which is
essential and vital for the promotion of sustainable and responsible tourism for the sake
of growth and success (Safshekan, Ozturen and Ghaedi, 2020).
 Training and Development of service providers- Those who are involved in and requires
to perform the tasks or activities related to sustainability in the tourism sector are
employees. Hence, the major principles which is followed and placed in implementation
stage by Norway is of keeping people informed and most importantly well known to the
plans which are required to be implemented in order to maintain and develop the
expected outcomes.
Evaluate the process of tourism development and planning, and the associated challenges and
problems, providing specific tourism example.
Tourism development and planning process is a systematic approach which takes place
and adopted by businesses and administrations in order to make up a strong and value adding
process to implement plans and ideas developed. The tourism planning and development process
like other processes also have different stages which are divided into five. The process with all
the stages are elaborated below in context with Norway (Whitelaw, King and Tolkach, 2014). Nature- The first basic step of the whole process is of identifying the nature of the
objective to establish the plan for future development. Norway needed to increase
awareness in public and amongst organisations related to sustainability in tourism
industry and development. Hence, in the fist stage of identifying the objective for the plan
and the whole change needs to be made was identified and it introduced a project in 2015
known as Sustainable Norway. Approaches- The next stage is of determining the approach for develop the plan for the
objectives identified in the above segment. There are various approaches to tourism
planning and development like Market led approach and Interactive Planning approach

which are beneficial for Norway to establish their plans and make appropriate changes in
the tourism industry with focus on sustainability aspect. The approach used by Norway
for Sustainable Norway project is market led approach in which they researched the
number of areas to identify the major one for making changes and developing the plan
effectually (Saarinen, Rogerson and Hall, 2017). Implementation- In the third stage of the process which is a critical one is determined the
way in which the whole project that is Sustainable Norway will be implemented and
work for making changes and development of the tourism plan. In this stage of the
process the authorities of Norway made sure to search for respective relationships in
businesses while implementing their plan and the project. Evaluation of Outcomes- The second last stage is of evaluation in which the process
involves is very simple. The outcomes gathered after a period when the project was
introduced and the economy is running accordingly. This evaluation stage will be
recognising the leakages in the processes and further changes will be introduced.
 Measurement of Outcomes-The last stage is of outcome establishment where the
outcomes gathered will be examined to the targets developed and the actual results
gathered. In Norway these outcomes were measures on the basis of targets developed,
past conditions of the destination in regards to nature and the actual outcomes gained.
LO3
Investigate the impacts of tourism activity generated by a specific tourism attraction from an
economic, social, cultural and environmental perspective.
Tourism activities and businesses are beneficial for any type or form of economy of any
destination. This is because the Travel & Tourism industry is known to be the major contributor
of economy from hospitality sectors amongst other three. Hence, the tourism sector do have
several Social, Environmental, Cultural and Economic impacts on Norway and these impacts are
as follows: Increment in Job Opportunities- The social change which will be taking place in
context of Sustainability and tourism together is increasing job opportunities and
development in the sector. Norway took the initiatives to make the tourism industry
more sustainable which resulted in higher goodwill and evolution of destination. Hence,

the social status of people increased, they gain higher purchasing power and their living
standards were increased. Also this is a cultural benefit and impacts as well, because
more people are visiting which is resulting in increasing cultural value of Norway as
now more and more people are known to the culture of the place which is increasing the
presence and awareness of Norwegian Culture in the world (Zhang and Chan, 2020). Better flow of money and economy- The next impact is on the economy of Norway
which is introduced and implemented by the sustainable tourism initiatives taken by the
administrations of the destination. The economic flow of the place increases and
induces, due to increasing traveller visiting the destination with the motive of enjoying
the scenic beauty of Norway filled with natural beauty and resources. Increasing visitor
means increasing business and which directly bring in better money flow in the
economy. Local businesses and business owners earns higher revenue then regular and
their economic impacts brings in better results for the economy.
 Environmental Impacts- Increasing tourism has sever impacts on environment of the
particular region and then leads to the overall impact in the whole environment. This is a
negative aspects which is controlled and reduced with the help of sustainability
approaches and the plans developed in regards to sustainability of tourism practices in
Norwegian region.
Examine how principles of sustainability implemented by a specific tourism business/attraction
meet stakeholder requirements and expectations.
The principles of sustainability and sustainable tourism are concentrated on development
of the society and making efforts to reduce and recover the negative impacts already being
imposed on the environment and nature due to excessive use of resources and increasing
exploitation of available non renewable resources. Hence, in Norway a Sustainability Norway
2015, programme was introduced with the focus on changing the outlook of people, spreading
awareness and incrementing more value adding practices to environment and development of
nature resources (Lund-Durlacher and et. al., 2019).
In order to do so the Norwegian government also made changes in their approaches of
development by taking innovation as a key factors. This gave birth to innovation Norway plays a
key role in the sustainability efforts of the country with the help of prompting companies to think
and act in a manner which is more sustainable. the guidelines of Innovation Norway, several

Norwegian tourist destinations that are Røros, Lærdal, Vega, Geilo, Trysil, Setesdal, Inderøy and
Svalbard have been certified as sustainable as they followed and managed their practices related
to business in more substantive manner.
The principles identified in the section above are used and implemented in the same
manner or the segments. At first basic principles of sustainability planning and development
processes are used for identifying the objectives and making them according to the sustainability
aspects and measurements. Then focus and emphasised principles are used for making changes
and updating the major areas of industry in which the phenomena's of sustainability and the
approaches of making effective use of resources are required. Finally, the principles of
implementation was introduced in which the service providers and employees of the travel and
tourism sector are trained and groomed in accordance to making appropriate implementation of
sustainability plan in Norway that are Sustainability Norway, 2015 and Innovation Norway. The
result of implementing and using certain principles was certification of number of places and
destination in Norway as sustainable (Tan and Law, 2016).
LO4
Evaluate how sustainability is being developed and managed in a range of tourist destinations
worldwide.
Italy, This is one of the most important tourists destination around the world and has
been making growth within tourism industry in recent years that has been challenging authority
for promoting and implementing tourism within an tourism industry through sustainability.
Primary step is taken by the authorities for making promotion of sustainability with efficient
consumption of energy within places of tourists. Also conversation if biodiversity is required.
Hotels and accommodation is required to be renovated by keeping in mind objective of
accommodating more and more people with limited spaces. Spreading awareness and education
about mitigation upon harmful effects within tourism. Then effective step required to be taken
by the tourism department of Italy. Tourists is being encouraged for making encouraged for
making collective experience to be gained. In this facilities like e-bikes and and cycles for
reducing transportation and activities. All such strategies is been used by the government for
making improvement through sustainability with responsible for tourists industry for Italy which
is effective. In this being recommended for engaging of locals and community participation that

is further been impacted by ensuring sustainability upon responsibility in a country. That is how
tourism makes use of sustainable development possible within tourism department of an
organization.
New Zealand, In this list is popular within tourists destination and government in an
organization through making an country which has helped in participating over sustainability
within tourism. Sustainable tourism New Zeeland is been implemented that has been using
certification over programs through service provider within an industry. Qualmark has launched
to make identification of tourism organization that has been performed through business
activities with more ethical in sustainable manner (Mariani and et. al., 2016). Other program by
the name of Green Globe has been launched with the members of team and community actively
engaging through making optimum utilization of resources possible by making sustainability in
tourism management possible. Efficient steps in required to be taken in an organization that is
been recommended by using proper tools by measuring effectiveness, with outcomes. In this
research is conducted in marketing research for understanding needs of stakeholders. In this
essential approach is required to be applied form making sustainable tourism possible . Also
proper tools is been used which makes sure that every thing is conducted in proper manner.
Needs of stakeholders is essential that has been following better and comprehensive approach
which helps in gaining trust of stakeholders within tourists organization. In this approach that
has been should be having able to develop sustainable tourism to be developed. This also makes
management to be done of all activities in tourism in better and smoother way (Khetagurova and
et. al., 2018).
CONCLUSION
Form the report above it is concluded that sustainability ideas or notion and hospitality
sector needs to work hand in hand for reducing the harm and recovering the earlier damages
made. The sustainability concept revolves around the factor where the resources are suggested to
use in the most efficient manner to keep up with the present needs and also to restore and reserve
something for future generations. There are several large international organisations working on
the same agenda to make tourism sustainable and to reduce the harm caused by the tourism
actions today on the people tomorrow.

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