Tourism and CSR in the Pacific

For several decades, academics have criticised the negative impacts of tourism on small island states, and large-scale developments have often been signalled as especially problematic. However, governments of Pacific island countries (PICs), as well as donors and multilateral agencies, also continually promote tourism and encourage investment in the sector, believing that more tourists and foreign exchange will result in direct benefits for their economies and peoples. Indeed, when the global financial crisis emerged, some governments relied on tourism to help them through this difficult time, which is why the Fijian government almost doubled its tourism budget from FJ$12 million in 2008 to FJ$23.5 million for 2009 (Sydney Morning Herald, 2009). Meanwhile, there are increasing calls for tourism businesses to be moresocially responsible (Mowforth and Munt, 2009: 198-99). Following pressure from shareholders, tourism watchdog groups, consumers, environmental organisations and host country governments, segments of the industry are changing their practices. Ideally, this could lead to more benefits for the people and environments in which tourism businesses operate. There are concerns, however, that corporate social responsibility (CSR) in tourism is merely a way of businesses avoiding external regulation of their activities, and that the CSR initiatives are no more than window dressing. Hotels, for example, may support a turtle nesting site but deny labour rights to hundreds of employees. To date, little attention has been paid to CSR in tourism in PICs – a gapthis chapter seeks to address. After a general discussion of how CSR fits in with other new approaches to tourism, the motivations of tourism companies engaging in CSR are examined, and the potential benefits and limitations of CSR are discussed. Pacific island examples, particularly from Vanuatu and Fiji, will be utilised. Tourism is important to Pacific island economies, so while acknowledging past criticisms of tourism in the region – several of which have been raised in other chapters of this book – we believe it is vital to find ways to practise tourism in a more sustainable, equitable fashion. In particular, hotel and resort owners, cruise ship operators and tour operatorsin the Pacific currently cater for most tourists visiting the region, and are in a prime position to further local development by adopting new approaches to tourism.