The Role of Accommodation Enterprises in the Development of Sustainable Tourism

Abstract

One of the obstacles to the success of sustainable tourism development is that the roles and responsibilities of the stakeholders in the destination are not clearly defined. This research aims to determine sustainable business practices, corporate social responsibility activities, the obstacles encountered while performing these activities, and the provided benefits within the roles and responsibilities of accommodation enterprises. The study used a phenomenology research design, a qualitative study method. A semi-structured interview form was implemented to 19 senior managers of 22 accommodation enterprises in Alanya that have environmentally friendly certificates. The results showed that the managers of the accommodation enterprises considered themselves responsible for the protection and development of the environment and that the sustainable business practices they performed were mostly ecological. It was also revealed that managers of accommodation enterprises should pay more attention to planning, which is one of the basic principles of sustainable tourism. The study’s main contribution is that it discusses sustainable business practices and corporate social responsibility activities together to determine the roles of accommodation enterprises in sustainable tourism development. Besides that, it also examines the factors that prevent sustainable business practices and their benefits. Considering that few empirical studies holistically discuss the role of accommodation enterprises in the sustainable development of tourism, this study is expected to provide a significant contribution to the literature. Deficiency of planning, mainly performing ecologically sustainable business practices, and the necessity of an effective governance system are among the implications of the research.