engleski

Social responsibility in Tourism

The concept of sustainable development, which encompasses economic performance and social responsibility with simultaneous protection of natural and human resources, has also been present in international frameworks for just over 20 or so years. The awareness of the need for the creation of a cult of sustainable development spread only following the global world conference in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. Sustainable development includes excellence, i.e. high quality results in the business area, pronounced social responsibility and constant care of the environmental preservation. Those who support sustainable development also favour and have been implementing the development which contributes to the balancing out of the economic growth, with responsibility towards a wider social community and the environment. The idea itself about sustainable development, which is present in Croatia, however, is not sufficient. In order for that idea to be realised in a transparent manner, it also has to be turned into actual practice. Where is Croatia in it all, as well as its most developed tourist destinations? Great efforts by Croatia to enter the EU membership enhance the need for advancement in the area of sustainable development. For the needs of this paper, in 2010, the year of the economic crisis and recession, research was conducted among tourists who stayed in Istria, showing how important the preservation of nature was, as a motive for tourist destination choice. However, the question can be asked in what measure companies from the hospitality and tourism sector, agencies and other services in the tourist industry take care of the preservation of nature, of attitudes towards consumers, tourists and local population and how significant their social responsibility, reflected in their behaviour, is.

tourism; sustainable development; social responsibility; crisis; tourist satisfaction

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