Impact of Sustainable Tourism on Travel Industry: A Case Study of Intrepid Travel

TPURISM AND BUSINESS 13 TPURISM AND BUSINESS Impact of Sustainable tourism on Travel Industry: A case study of Intrepid Travel Author’s Note: 1. In Australia, tourism business has been growing rapidly and Sydney is considered as the most attractive tourist place in Australia (Ruhanen et al. The major challenges are high consumption of energy in the hotels and carbon emission due to increased air traffic. Their current sustainability approaches include measurement of emission from the gas, business travel, and electricity and reduction

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Impact of Sustainable tourism on Travel Industry: A case study of Intrepid Travel
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Table of Contents
1. Background of the study .............................................................................................................3
2. Significance of the Study.............................................................................................................4
3. Scope of the Study.......................................................................................................................4
4. Problem Statement and objectives...............................................................................................5
5. Literature Review........................................................................................................................6
References......................................................................................................................................11
Appendix 1.....................................................................................................................................13

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1. Background of the study
The term sustainable is a buzzword in the tourism industry. In the recent years for
tourism industry development of environmentally friendly business becomes crucial.
Sustainability refers to the environmental, social and economic sustainability (Bunakov et al.
2015). In Australia, tourism business has been growing rapidly and Sydney is considered as the
most attractive tourist place in Australia (Ruhanen et al. 2015). Therefore, Tourism contributes
5.2% share in Australian economy. This highlights the economic sustainability in Australia
through tourism business. On the other hand, environmental sustainability is also an important
aspect for the tourism industry. Existence of the tourism industry depends on the preservation of
natural and built environment. Hence, sustainable tourism development has a great significance
in the tourism industry.
Intrepid Travel is considered as the world's largest small adventure travel organization.
This company is situated in Melbourne. Apart from Australia, this organization operates in Asia,
Antarctica, America, Africa, and Middle East. Development of sustainable tourism business is
their main objective in the recent years (Intrepidtravel.com 2018). In the recent years, tourism
industry has been facing challenges, which affect their sustainable business. The major
challenges are high consumption of energy in the hotels and carbon emission due to increased air
traffic. However, Intrepid Travel has recognized that tourism has a great impact on the local
community and the environment of a country. Thus, they have decided to develop the welfare of
the individuals and to ensure the conservation of the environment. Their current sustainability
approaches include measurement of emission from the gas, business travel, and electricity and

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reduction of emission by measuring the energy efficiency. They have also decreased the number
of travel trips to reduce the energy consumption.
2. Significance of the Study
This research study is significant for the tourism industry as well as for Intrepid Travel as
it will reveal the importance of the sustainability in the tourism industry. However, in the recent
years, people focus on environmental sustainability. In order to gain the customer attention
tourism sector needs to develop eco-friendly business. Modern people are more conscious about
the environmental protection (Amir et al. 2015). Thus, the tourism sectors need to identify the
current market trend to expand their business in global market. However, this present study will
highlight the necessity of the development of sustainable tourism business.
This study will reveal that sustainability especially the environmental sustainability is the
big part of tourism sectors as without the environmental protection it will be difficult for the
tourism sectors to keep their existence. Therefore, this present study will focus on the current
issues regarding the sustainability of the tourism industry. Hence, this analysis will help the
tourism industry and Intrepid Travel to deal with these issues and to develop sustainable
principle to make their business global. From the current research proposal benefits of
sustainable tourism will be addressed. This will create awareness among the tourism industry,
which leads them to adopt sustainable practices in their organization.
3. Scope of the Study
Scope of the research study includes geographical, temporal and demographic scope of
the study. Geographical scope of the study focuses on the areas where the research plan will be

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implemented. This current research proposal is based on the impact of sustainable tourism on the
travel industry. Hence, this study will help to understand the different geographic locations and
the climate changes in these areas. Hence, the participants will be selected from Melbourne who
is associated with Intrepid Travel. Temporal scope of this study highlights that this study will be
conducted on July 2018 in Melbourne. This study will be carried out during Australian winter
period. Therefore, the demographic scope of the research includes the population of a particular
area. This research study will highlight the quantitative and qualitative aspects of population in
different areas of Australia. Therefore, the age of the participants is another part of the
demographic scope of this researcher. The tourists who belong to age group of 25 to 45 years
will be selected as the participants. These tourists are associated with Intrepid Travel.
4. Problem Statement and objectives
Tourism industry in Australia has been increasing rapidly. Such growth of tourism
sectors causes high energy consumption and emission of greenhouse gases (Mowforth et al.
2015). In the hospitality sectors and travel agencies energy consumption is too high due to huge
use of electricity and travel. Tourism sector is one of the major contributors of greenhouse gases.
Rapid enhancement of the international travel and air traffic are the main reasons of carbon-di-
oxide gas emission (Coccossis 2016). Tourism sectors are responsible for huge waste of water. In
the hotels, huge amount of water and energy is used to provide luxury service. Hence, Intrepid
Travel has been facing challenges due to high energy consumption and emission for their travel.
This has increased their operating cost and created a big threat to this business.
Objectives
 To understand the importance of sustainable tourism

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 To identify the factors influencing sustainable tourism development
 To critically evaluate the effect of sustainable tourism on Intrepid Travel?
Questions
 What is the significance of sustainable tourism development in Intrepid Travel?
 What are the potential factors of sustainable development in a tourism industry?
 How does the tourism industry develop sustainability in their business?
5. Literature Review
Concept of sustainable business
A business can be sustainable by achieving social, economic and environmental
sustainability (Chen 2015). For every business organization, it is crucial to make their business
more sustainable in the global market. However, for the tourism industry sustainability is a big
factor in terms of environmental sustainability. Sustainable business can reduce their impact on
the environment and it leads the business organization to achieve more profit in the global
market. Social sustainability is through bringing cultural diversity and giving value to the local
people. Social sustainability allows a business to reduce the negative impact on the society and
bring people together. Tourism industry has a great contribution in bringing social, economic and
environmental sustainability.
Importance of sustainability in tourism industry
In the current years, industries have a great impact on the environment, which reveals a
big threat to the business owners. Hence, tourism industry is one of the vital industries that have
a negative impact on the environment. Hotels consume high energy and the travel organizations

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are responsible for the greenhouse gas emission. Thus, there is an urge in the global market to
develop sustainable tourism to reduce their impact on the environment. At present, the
consumers are more sensitive about the environmental protection. Hence, they prefer the tourism
service, which has an eco-friendly business (Amir et al. 2015). Thus, to attract the customers and
to gain the trust every travel and tourism organization needs to develop a sustainable business.
Factors influencing sustainable tourism business
Various factors are associated with the development of the sustainable tourism. One of
the major factors is the global development. In the recent year's inequality has been increasing
rapidly and for every business industry, it is crucial to reduce the poverty from the country. For
this reason, tourism industry focuses on the economic sustainability. In order to deal with the
poverty challenges sustainability is embedded in the tourism industry. Protection of the natural
resources is another big factor of sustainable tourism development (Joshi and Rahman 2015).
However, existence of tourism industry depends on the natural and man-made environment.
Natural beauties are the major attractions of the tourists. Thus, protection of natural resources is
a big factor that the tourism industry to make an eco-friendly business. Needs of the consumer is
another factor of sustainable tourism development. However, modern consumers are more
concern about the environmental and social sustainability. Thus, the tourism industry needs to
develop a customer-oriented business, which is done by developing a sustainable tourism. In
order to make the global business tourism industry wants to adopt sustainable practices in their
business.
Cultural diversity is a vital factor that leads the tourism industry to achieve social
sustainability (Rodríguez Díaz and Espino Rodríguez 2016). Tourism sectors aim to bring

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cultural integrity that can be done by establishing cultural diversity. As a result, the tourism
sectors are following to incorporate sustainability approaches in their business. Competition also
influences sustainable tourism development. However, tourism industry has been growing
rapidly worldwide. Many countries depend on the revenue that comes from tourism sectors. In
order to deal with the high competition many tourism organizations have adopted sustainable
practices. This enables them to get a good position in the global market.
Overlapping circles model of sustainability
Overlapping circles model includes there factors such as social, economic and
environmental factors. This model focuses on the intersection between these three factors
(Feinstein and Kirchgasler 2015). However, the business owners follow this model to understand
which factor has a major impact on the business. However, for the small business economic
factor is more important to achieve sustainability on the other hand, for large business
environmental factor needs to be considered to achieve the sustainability. On the other hand,
application of this model ensures that society is the second largest circle as the customers and the
important stakeholders interact within the society. For tourism industry, this model is beneficial
to understand the relationship between these three circles. This will help them to achieve
sustainability in their business.

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Figure 1: Overlapping Circles model
(Source: Feinstein and Kirchgasler 2015)
Effect of sustainable tourism development on travel industry
Sustainable practices boost the growth of any business industry. In order to deal with the
external agencies and the internal factors, sustainable development is crucial for every business
organization (Bagur-Femenías et al. 2015). At present tourism industry has combined the
environmental practices with their corporate social responsibilities. As commented by Selin
(2017), the global tourism industry has been facing an unprecedented level of demand. Hence,
the tourism is considered as one of the fastest growing industries in the global market.
As argued by Pulido-Fernández et al. (2015) less sustainable consequences hamper the
dramatic growth of the tourism industry. In order to bring dynamic growth in tourism industry
sustainable development is crucial. However, tourism industry is responsible to contribute
greenhouse gas in the environment. Thus, it is mandatory for this industry to reduce their
business impact on the environment. By taking various sustainable approaches tourism industry
is able to improve their brand image in the global consumer domain. Therefore, sustainable
tourism enables the travel industry to attract the consumers towards their business by
establishing and environmentally friendly business. Sustainable tourism business enables the
travel organization to achieve competitive advantages in the international market. From the
above analysis, it can be said that establishment of the sustainability practices is crucial for every
travel industry to sustain their business and to enhance their revenue. Sustainability is the major
concern of the business industry in the recent years. In order to meet this travel industry needs to
adopt sustainable practices, which leads them to achieve their business goal.

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Gap of the literature
From the study of Pulido-Fernández et al. (2015) it has been found that sustainable
tourism is mandatory for the travel industry. On the other hand, from the study of Bagur-
Femenías et al. (2015) it has been received that environmental sustainability is more crucial than
economic and social factor in the context of tourism industry. However, there is very little
account about the importance of the sustainable development in the travel industry. All evidences
focus on the entire tourism industry and there is very little information about the sustainable
development in travel sector. Hence, a gap is generated based on which the current literature is
developed, which highlights the effect of sustainable tourism development on travel sectors.

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References
Amir, A.F., Ghapar, A.A., Jamal, S.A. and Ahmad, K.N., 2015. Sustainable tourism
development: A study on community resilience for rural tourism in Malaysia. Procedia-Social
and Behavioral Sciences, 168, pp.116-122.
Bagur-Femenías, L., Martí, J. and Rocafort, A., 2015. Impact of sustainable management
policies on tourism companies' performance: the case of the metropolitan region of
Madrid. Current Issues in Tourism, 18(4), pp.376-390.
Bunakov, O.A., Zaitseva, N.A., Larionova, A.A., Chudnovskiy, A.D., Zhukova, M.A. and
Zhukov, V.A., 2015. Research on the evolution of management concepts of sustainable tourism
and hospitality development in the regions. Journal of Sustainable Development, 8(6), p.39.
Chen, J.S., 2015. Tourism stakeholders attitudes toward sustainable development: A case in the
Arctic. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 22, pp.225-230.
Coccossis, H., 2016. Sustainable development and tourism: Opportunities and threats to cultural
heritage from tourism. In Cultural tourism and sustainable local development (pp. 65-74).
Routledge.
Feinstein, N.W. and Kirchgasler, K.L., 2015. Sustainability in science education? How the Next
Generation Science Standards approach sustainability, and why it matters. Science
Education, 99(1), pp.121-144.
Intrepidtravel.com. 2018. Intrepid Travel. [online] Available at:
https://www.intrepidtravel.com/en [Accessed 25 Apr. 2018].

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Joshi, Y. and Rahman, Z., 2015. Factors affecting green purchase behaviour and future research
directions. International Strategic Management Review, 3(1-2), pp.128-143.
Mowforth, Martin, and Ian Munt. Tourism and sustainability: Development, globalisation and
new tourism in the third world. Routledge, 2015.
Pulido-Fernández, J.I., Andrades-Caldito, L. and Sánchez-Rivero, M., 2015. Is sustainable
tourism an obstacle to the economic performance of the tourism industry? Evidence from an
international empirical study. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 23(1), pp.47-64.
Rodríguez Díaz, M. and Espino Rodríguez, T.F., 2016. Determining the sustainability factors
and performance of a tourism destination from the stakeholders’ perspective. Sustainability, 8(9),
p.951.
Ruhanen, L., Whitford, M. and McLennan, C.L., 2015. Indigenous tourism in Australia: Time
for a reality check. Tourism Management, 48, pp.73-83.
Selin, S., 2017. Elaborating the Role of Backbone Leadership Organizations in Sustainable
Tourism Development: The Monongahela River Valley Coalition. Sustainability, 9(8), p.1367.

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Appendix 1
Survey Questions
Q1. What is the significance of sustainable tourism development in travel industry?
Q2. What are the major causes that lead Intrepid Travel to develop sustainable tourism?
Q3. How far do you agree that environmental sustainability is more important for the tourism
industry?
Q4. What are the major impacts of sustainable business development in the tourism industry?
Q5. What are the major challenges that the tourism industry is facing due to lack of sustainability
in their business?
Q6. What are the methods through which tourism industry can integrate the sustainable practices
into their CSR activities?