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| Tour
operators are an integrated part of the international tourism industry,
assuming nowadays a role that goes far beyond their original wholesaling
function. As a result of consistent horizontal integration, the tour operating
sector in many countries is dominated today by few but strong actors, which
are considered to have significant market power to influence tourists purchase
behaviour. Through a second process of vertical integration, relating to
the diversification of tour operators into supplier's activities like air
transport or accommodation, they are also in a strong position to influence
other businesses throughout the entire tourism value chain.
Related to this twofold influencing power upon offer and demand, this study took a closer look at the role of mainstream tour operators (or also referred to as "touristic corporations") in climate change mitigation. It was elaborated how the mainstream tour operating industry currently is responding to the need for climate change mitigation, and how an ideal response could look like. The identification of practically feasible mitigation measures, which can be voluntarily enhanced by mainstream operators through commitment to their "Corporate Social Responsibility", was the main objective. The results show that mainstream operators primarily see the key to mitigation in technological improvement of operating efficiency, where significant progress in recent decades was made. However, research strongly indicates that a mere technology-oriented approach will neither reduce nor stabilize the sector's emissions because of substantial growth forecasts. A holistic mitigation strategy is proposed, embracing alternative approaches like cultural change, modal shift, climate-oriented mobility management as well as compensation mechanisms. Some mainstream operators have recently become active in customer education, greenhouse gas reporting or voluntary carbon offsetting. However, their current action appears insufficient for achieving long-term emission reductions, as called for by the international community. The study concludes that mainstream operators could considerably enhance mitigation through corporate carbon management, personalized customer education, climate-focused product design, ecolabelling schemes, as well as PR & lobbying. Impediments for tour operators to become active in these areas are: strong price pressure, persistent demand for high-carbon products, low consumer preparedness to become involved in mitigation, as well as heterogeneous supplier chains that complicate coherent reporting procedures. Putting the results in a nutshell, it is found that mainstream operators would need to fundamentally reorganise contemporary business models for achieving a net reduction of their product-related carbon footprints. |
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