MARKETING SUSTAINABILITY IN THE HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM
5.2 SUSTAINABLE HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MARKETING Hilary Clinton’s speech reaffirms the relevance of Sustainability and Envi-
ronmental Value, in the global context. “Sustainable tourism marketing aims to create awareness about pro-sustainability products, and to increase their purchasing” (Wherli et al., 2013). As a concept, it emerged in 1980 s when lit- erature started drawing the world’s attention towards sustainable development and when it was realized that tourism as an industry, contributes potentially towards the “negative impact on environment and social fabric of destina- tion.” In 1987, the World Commission declared sustainable development on Environment and Development (WCED, 1987) as a mission that has impli- cations for “environmental health, economic viability and social equity.” In 1955 World Trade Organization defined sustainable tourism as the activity, which equips marketers in meeting the needs of the tourists as well as the host regions in the present time, such that enhancement and protection of oppor- tunities could be done for the future (World Trade Organization, 1995). WTO suggests that Sustainable Tourism leads to the “management of all resources in such a way that economic, social and esthetic needs can be fulfilled while maintaining cultural integrity, essential ecological processes, biological di- versity and life support systems.”
Ogilvy PR and Totem Tourism (2011) highlight the comprehensive nature of sustainable tourism by defining it as a “global approach to tourism that covers planning, development and the operations of tourism; that recognizes the wider negative impacts generated and attempts to increase positive impact along each of the four pillars of sustainable development (environment, so- cial, cultural and economic).”
Sustainable tourism, hence, is not just a concept, it is a complex process, that considers the impacts of tourism on the present as well as the future, and simultaneously works on making places better for people to visit as well as to live.
Peter Drucker, in 1955 emphasized that sustainability should get a place in the discipline of marketing by noting that the management of an organization
must judge the value of their actions based on the capability of the action to promote public good and simultaneously on its capacity to make contributions to the society’s stability and strength (Druker, 1955).
Almost two decades ago researchers like Pettie (1992); Coddington (1993) and Shrivastava (1994) also emphasized on the marketing of sustainable es- tablishments by suggesting that organizations eventually lead to the system- atic destruction of environmental value and no longer could they be treated merely as a “system of production.” McDonagh (1998) took this perspective forward and suggested the importance of “developing a communicative pro- cess to facilitate ecological change.”
From the perspective of the Tourism Industry, Hetzer (1965) proposed the term “Ecological tourism” and identified four strengths of “Eco Tourism,”
namely, reducing environmental impact, respecting local culture and mini- mizing harm to the same, maximizing benefits of economic nature for local communities and increasing tourist satisfaction. In 1983 Ceballos-Lascurain offered solution for the conservation of Northern Yucantan Wetland and used the ideas of “ecotourism” for the same. Research in coming years also focused on heritage tourism and issues of conservation and capacity management (vis- à-vis visitor numbers) (Cossons, 1989) were discussed. In the 1990 s research- ers understood the implications of sustainable tourism and literature evolved in this area. May (1991) noted that hospitality and tourism developers need to become aware about the concerns around protection of environment and ‘sus- tainability.’ Ruschmann (1992) considered conservation and sustainability as a resultant of “ecological tourism infrastructures” and Klemm (1992) noted that sustainable development needed collaborative efforts. Carter (1993) cited in Eccles (1995) wrote, “If third world countries are to continue using tourism as a money-earner then a sustainable approach is needed.”
Contemporary literature has made these views more pointed by enumerat- ing the harmful effect, on the planet, of some specific industries. Gossiling, 2009 cited in Pomering et al. (2011) suggests that especially the tourism in- dustry must take serious action towards Green Concerns as it is responsible for 5% of the emissions that accentuate changes in the climate. Polonsky et al. (2003) conceived this as the “Harm Chain” meaning that if tourism indus- try does not take cognizance of the harm implicated by each partner in the tourism chain, including the organizations, suppliers as well as the tourists, it would lead to a compounded effect converting the value chain to harm chain., Pomering et al. (2011), note that the solution to the envisioned environmental
“Harm Chain” lies in the adoption of Sustainability Tourism Marketing Mix (STMM).
To evade this negative impact, it is important that all tourism-related activ- ity partners coordinate their activities such that “Sustainable tourism market- ing management” enables “social, economic and environmental well-being”
(Gilmore and Simmons, 2007). This requires an organization’s focus on mak- ing not just the micro environment sustainable but essentially addressing the
“macro environment factors in marketing” which are designed to propel sus- tainable consumption (Kotler et al., 2006). Kaul and Gupta (2009), second this proposition and suggest that efficient planning and management are the cornerstones in controlling and monitoring the development of the growing tourism industry. Such controls constitute the elements of Sustainable Tour- ism and are critical “to conserve the biodiversity of tourist destinations.”
Belz and Peattie (2009), Mitchell et al. (2010) and Choi and Ng (2011) have elaborated that sustainable marketing is beyond the much discussed “Green Marketing” because of its broader orientation, which looks at not just the en- vironmental dimension but synergies the same with the economic and social concerns as well.
Globally as well strategic planning for sustainable tourism is promoted at the level of Trade Blocs. Hospitality Marketers are encouraged to develop an all-encompassing approach to ensure that sustainability is viewed from a turn- key perspective. An example can be found from the ASEAN-Association of South East Asian Nations (The Regional Trade Bloc). For the Trade Bloc the ASEAN Green Hotel Award is granted half yearly, to tourism organizations, which exhibit the following:
Environment Friendly policies
Green product usage
“Air quality management”
“Solid waste management”
Water and Energy efficiency
Local community collaborations
In the year 2012, 71 hotels in the ASEAN countries received the award and were encouraged to continue sustainability practices.
5.2.1 SUSTAINABLE TOURISM MARKETING: ITS RELEVANCE Tourism as an industry contributes around 10% to the world income and it offers employment to about “one tenth of the world’s workforce.” In the third world countries, tourism is used as an economic development tool due to its capacity of employment generation and its influence on improvement of lo- cal infrastructure (Eccles, 1995). Alongside the numerous benefits of tourism,
including its capacity to generate profits for the region and create memories for consumers, it also impacts the environment and has the capacity to disrupt the ecosystem. Sometimes, when the development in tandem with tourism is rushed, product life cycles as well as the environment are ignored (Eccles, 1995). Hence, it is imperative to weave sustainability in tourism to offer it the capability of conserving landscapes and protecting regions, which might otherwise be spoilt by industrial development (Ogilvy and Totem, 2011). The sustainability initiative has to be evolved because it offers a balance between local circumstances and local expectations and advances in environment and technology management (UNEP, 2005). Zinkeviciute (2009) suggest that sus- tainable tourism marketing is essential as it aims at minimizing further dam- age to the macro environment by addressing travel and tourism industry’s impact on rising pollution levels, climate change, biodiversity decline, con- sumption of natural resources and waste accumulation.
Marketing of tourism traditionally has focused on creating smooth and efficient flows and exchanges between the tourists and the tourism industry players. It has in the process, avoided the negative impact that the industry implicates on “externalities” such as environment, society and culture. There- fore sustainable tourism marketing is considered an advanced approach which integrates these externalities into a “living system analysis” (Jamrozy, 2007);
“a whole of destination approach” (Russel and Faulkner, 2004) and creates
“sustainable economic development” (Van Dam and Apeldoorn,1996) and
“sustainable communities and living systems.” Mackenzie (2012) and Sheth et al. (2011), have even addressed sustainability as a “marketing paradox”
but have highlighted that it is the only sensible way towards organizational growth. Jamrozy (2007) offers an elaboration to this and notes,
“Although redefined and addressing multiple stakeholders, the standard marketing definition still focuses on micromarketing activities, while a more sustainable approach to marketing first explores the role of marketing in the larger (macro) living system, where a simple exchange process between the company and customer is replaced with interdependent interactions and func- tions of a larger tourism system. Then role of marketing is connecting stake- holders in a complex system rather than merely creating advertising strate- gies.”
Sustainability as an agenda in tourism marketing has to be viewed at a 360-degree initiative since it aims at organizational growth through an ethical path. It entails undertaking not just good practices but making appropriate investments “and challenging the premise that growth at any cost is a viable model” (Mackenzie, 2012). Usurped.