Tourism Enterprise. David Leslie

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СКАЧАТЬ of information requested from suppliers, by type, on their:• Environmental practices and performance. Include: materials, water, energy, purchasing, solid waste, hazardous waste, effluents, emissions, transport, land-use and biodiversity.• Social practices and performance. Include: community and staff development, indigenous and tribal people’s rights, formal employment contracts, social security, working conditions according to ILO Convention 172, equal treatment, non-discrimination, recognition of independent trade unions and application of collective bargaining agreements, health and safety committees, policy excluding child labour as defined by ILO, programmes to combat commercial sexual exploitation of children, and to combat and mitigate the social impacts of HIV/AIDS.10Indicate percentage of suppliers, by type, subject to supply chain management policy that provided requested information.11Indicate percentage of suppliers, by type, subject to supply chain management policy whose environmental, social and economic performance has been reported.Through for example:• suppliers declaration;• spots checks by reporting organization;• environmental and social audits;• certification schemes (including eco labels); and• third party verification (state if verifier is accredited, and by whom).12State actions taken by the reporting organization in response to suppliers reported performance (as per 11), by type of suppliers. (Include incentives and rewards.)13State actions to inform suppliers of customers’ requirements.14State contracting policy and how it is communicated to suppliers. (Include negotiating terms and conditions for payment, cancelation and compensation of contracts with suppliers.)15Describe joint initiatives with suppliers to improve environmental, social and economic conditions in destinations.16State benefits for the reporting organization from implementing the sustainable chain policy.

      Their report also noted on the basis of their survey that holidaymakers would prefer a TO with an environmental policy and promoted responsible tourism guidelines, a finding that suggests a change in attitude to that of 2 years earlier when, as noted by Welford et al. (1999, p. 175), there was ‘no great demand from the tourists themselves for the greening of the supply function.’ Further to these initiatives, comprehensive and well-illustrated guidelines to aid TOs engage with and develop SSCM were introduced in 2004 (TOI and CELB, 2004). Here our primary concern is SSCM, which involves most aspects of the business and, as shown in Table 3.2, many aspects of a supplier’s business practices and related areas such as destination development and the involvement of local communities.

      It is no coincidence that the attention of the TOI to SSCM closely follows the establishment, with the support of the UNEP, of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) in 2002 as an independent non-profit organization. Their guidelines, first developed in 1999,

      set out the principles and indicators that organizations can use to measure and report (including structure and contents thereof) their economic, environmental and social performance (Visser, 2009, p. 172).

      In effect, these reports are recognized as CSR/sustainability reports. Amongst the sector-specific supplements are guidelines for TOs, including performance indicators, which were established in partnership with the TOI, UNEP and the World Tourism Organization (WTO); reputedly based on the life cycle of the holiday product. Early leaders to adopt these guidelines and who have been formally reporting on their sustainability practices since 2003 are TUI, which includes First Choice Holidays, and Kuoni Travel. These guidelines are certainly extensive as shown in Table 3.1, which draws attention to many of the elements involved in an EMS (see Chapter 5), and quite detailed as the sub-section detail on ‘Internal Operations Management’ in the main category Internal Management further illustrates. Further detail on SSCM is subsequently presented in Table 3.2.

      The IH&RA also contributed to the development of these guidelines and whilst supporting they noted that it ‘maintains the importance of establishing limits to which hospitality operators can be asked to report to tour operators.’ (Anon., 2003, p. 48). It is not just ‘how much to report’ but also, as Charlton and Howell (1992) identified, there is the problem of establishing the boundary lines along the supply chain. If, for example, a coach tour is supplied, what is the starting point? Is this where the customer joins the coach or should it include the selection of the coach vehicle itself? If it is a package tour sold by a travel agent, does the supply chain include the possibility of the customer being transferred from home to the airport? Does it also mean that the contractor also considered the environmental credentials of any organization acting as a sub-agent within any element of their supply chain? To a degree this appears to be the case in that TOs are being encouraged, for example, by the WTO and ETOA, to adopt an EMS and also to encourage their suppliers to adopt such practices. Equally, the opposite is also true in that companies seeking to negotiate rates for their business and, to a lesser extent, individual customers may start asking about an enterprise’s environmental policy.

      As with most business systems there is not only a need for effective liaison with staff and suppliers but also the community who should be part and parcel of the procurement process; a key point to achieving success in SSCM as noted by the British Airport Authority (BAA), a relatively early leader in this field. BAA ‘see SSCM as very much part of their aim to reduce the consumption and emissions which result from our business practices’ (Howell, 2000, p. 10). They see it very much as a continuous process that includes a major element of trust and integrity on the part of suppliers and, as such, there are advantages to working with fewer rather than more suppliers.

      Further recognition that SSCM is applicable to all tourism enterprises are the guidelines produced specifically for hotels that to varying degrees are applicable to all tourism and hospitality enterprise. These guidelines include the following advice and benefits:

      Advice:

      • ‘sourcing more products and services locally to encourage local business, provide “authenticity” and cut down on transport costs;

      • sourcing products with less environmental impact in their manufacture, use and disposal;

      • buying products in bulk and reusing packaging;

      • importing only “fair trade” products; and

      • ensuring that suppliers adhere to safe and ethical working practices.’ (Anon., 2006, p. 1).

      This advice certainly appears appropriate on first consideration and all the more so for national and international hotel companies who will have procurement policies and quite probably departments with a specific remit for sourcing supplies. But this does include potential contradictions that become all the more apparent when considered in terms of application to small and micro tourism enterprises; for example between sourcing locally and bulk buying. Advice supported by Gossling et al. (2011) who argue in environmental impact terms that bulk production and distribution may be a better option than production, for example, of bread within a hospitality kitchen or, though to a lesser extent, a local bakery. There is also the matter of purchasing fair trade goods but what of availability and cost? These are issues that all relate to support for local suppliers and so forth, which are discussed in more detail in Chapter 6.

      Benefits:

      • ‘a destination with more local colour and more to do – creating a market advantage for new and repeat business;

      • the potential for lower operating costs through more efficient use of energy and water resources and reduced waste;

      • risk reduction СКАЧАТЬ