A major new development took place during this year’s ITB Berlin Convention at the world’s leading travel show, in the form of the first comprehensive study into corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the tourism sector. ITB Berlin is once again investigating the subject of CSR in the travel industry. As the partner of GATE e.V. in this undertaking ITB Berlin is lending its support to the symposium taking place in November, which…
A major new development took place during this year’s ITB Berlin Convention at the world’s leading travel show, in the form of the first comprehensive study into corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the tourism sector. ITB Berlin is once again investigating the subject of CSR in the travel industry.
As the partner of GATE e.V. in this undertaking ITB Berlin is lending its support to the symposium taking place in November, which is entitled "Sustainability all along the line? CSR in tourism supply chains". Increasingly, the subject of sustainability is becoming a quality factor for the socially aware traveller. This makes it even more important for tourism companies to face up to their responsibilities and not just to use CSR as a marketing instrument," according to Dr. Martin Buck, Director of the Competence Centre Travel and Logistics at Messe Berlin, in explaining his organisation’s commitment to this subject.
The two-day conference will examine the importance of tourism supply chains, the verifiability of CSR criteria, and transparency in the implementation of CSR tourism destinations. The aim is to present the subject of sustainability and CSR in tourism supply chains from a number of different perspectives – for the benefit of representatives of the tourism industry, academics, those employed in development cooperation, and anyone else with an interest in these subjects. The discussions will focus on the ways in which CSR can be implemented in the tourism supply chain, the role played in this context at the particular location by cultural factors in the organisational structure of tourism, and how to ensure transparency for tourism suppliers in Germany as well as for tourists themselves. Participants will also investigate the fundamental questions of the importance and effect of the implementation of CSR criteria on the local population at tourism destinations. The presentations, which will be given by leading figures from the industry, will also be accompanied by discussion groups, using the open space method, allowing anyone to introduce their own topics.
The symposium will take place on 20 and 21 November 2009 at the Euro Business College Hamburg.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
