The role of tour-operators as intermediaries of tourists' preferences for corporate social responsibility

Abstract

This paper investigates the potential gap in Tour Operators (TOs) assessments of tourists' preferences for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in tourism. It utilizes discrete choice experiments to assess both tourists and TOs preferences. Results show that TOs understand tourists' average preferences for CSR policies but fail to predict the heterogeneity of preferences. Three market segments were found, with different preferences, socio-economic backgrounds, spending levels, and source regions. The results can help explain the lag of tourism companies in undertaking some of the CSR policies that might be of interest to tourists, and might assist the development of more sustainable tourism.