Foreword. Tourism and responsibility considered in academic framework
Foreword. Tourism and responsibility considered in academic framework

Summary/Abstract: We live in a society that is increasingly more concerned with altruistic concepts, such as general wellbeing, social equity, environment protection and economic justice. Since consumers are influenced by their values in every aspect of life – including the economic behavior, companies are evaluated not only through economic lens or the quality of their offer compared with that of the competition, but also considering how responsible they are. Consumers prefer responsible companies, which ensure a sustainable development for the society, they are willing to pay more for responsible products, recommend them in their circles and sanctions companies that are perceived irresponsible (Nielsen, 2015; Zbuchea, 2013). This attitude of the public is also visible in tourism industry, where companies are expected not only to be fair with their clients, but to be responsible in many ways: social – considering especially the host communities, for instance -, economic – related to employees, business partners, local entrepreneurs, etc. -, as well as considering the environment in many ways (Garay Tamajón & Font 2013). Tourists themselves, increasingly more, try to be responsible not only when choosing the travel agent, but also the type of tourism product. Another relevant aspect is the behavior they have during the travel and the way they interact with the local communities. Tourists, in general, have a varied and loose way of seeing their responsibility and acting accordingly (Caruana et al., 2014). Nevertheless, they are increasingly sensitive to issues related with personal and organizational responsibility in contemporary society. In this context, the responsibility of companies and individuals is a topic increasingly more popular amongst academics, as well as professionals. Tourism is no exception. In the last three decades, more than 8400 scholarly articles have been published ...

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