The tourism industry is one of the fundamental—if not the most important—industries in the world today. However, in order to succeed in tourism, individuals, corporate groups or organizations must ensure that they clearly follow the stipulated guidelines and rules that govern the industry. It is at this point that ethical tourism practices come into play (Wall, 1997, pp.483-490).
Nonetheless, aspiring to be ethical without indulging in practical aspects would be of no help since it is the practical endeavors that help translate the ethical aspirations into reality and efficacy in the tourism industry (Fennell & Malloy, 2007, pp.25-40).
It is based on this emphatic role of practical application of ethics when compared to the aspirational dimensions that this paper seeks to majorly discuss the intricacies of practical application of ethics in tourism. However, a concurrent delineation of the aspirational aspects will also be done.
Regardless of whether one is operating in tourism at a small-scale level like in the community or in large arenas like in the international arena, ethics must be keenly observed and implemented on a practical level if efficacy is to ensue.
However, Swarbrooke (1999, pp.33-40) importantly notes that obedience and application of these ethics is a rarity in the current world where “the end justifies the means” and “every man for himself” is the order of the day.
As a result, ethically upright people are more often than not the casualties in this perilous competition where wealth and profits are the only variables that are, seemingly, considered sacred (Sharpley & Telfer, 2002, pp.30-40). It is with that in mind, and many other reasons that this paper seeks to discuss the aspirational and practical aspects of ethics in tourism
. In doing so, this paper will begin by giving a brief background of the tourism industry and the ethical issues (both practical and aspirational) that concern it. Once that is done, we will delve into the intricacies of these ethical issues in regard to tourism policies and management practices.
A succinct analysis of the key challenges to ethical uprightness, the aspirations and practical aspects of ethics in the tourism will then come thereafter followed by viable recommendations towards the same. Finally, a recapitulative conclusion will be given to summaries the paper. It is worth noting that various theories and authoritative arguments from various scholars will be used to further the discussions presented in this paper.
Over time, tourism has increasingly become a fundamental part of our lives with the tourism industry being said to be among the fastest growing global industries. In essence, several factors contribute variably to the progress or advancement of tourism.
These factors include (but are not limited to): good management policies by the concerned tourism bodies and people, the availability of rich ecosystems which encourage visits, relative efficacy of financial institutions and viable cooperation among stakeholders (Selby, 2004, pp.52-55; Richie, 2004, pp.670-675; Toh et al., 2001, pp.426-430).
Needless to state, tourism, just like many other financially-oriented industries, has had its share of challenges and limitations including: terrorist attacks in countries, limited or total lack of cooperation amongst its stakeholders and shareholders, negative human activity on ecosystems (for example; over cultivation, poaching or even deforestation), internal and external wars in countries, and the growth of technologies and facets like globalization (Rodriguez & Cruz, 2007, pp.830-839).
Most of these factors and challenges have in one way or another contributed to aspirational and practical application of ethics in tourism. As a result, a good number of regions, countries or cities have not been able to maximize their potentialities and achieve full efficacy in their tourism endeavors (Paraskevas & Arendell, 2007, p.1565).
Furthermore, Trevino (1990, pp.205-210) asserts that, based on the rapid growth of the size and scale of the tourism industry, the effects of unethical practices tend to be more pronounced and far-reaching.
For this, and many other reasons, a keen assessment of the aspirational and practical dimensions of tourism and the resulting impact on various policies and management endeavors is vey elemental (Park & Boo, 2010, pp.109). But before discussing such issues, the connection between ethics and tourism and how these two elements come into their mutually reinforcing partnership is given below.
Preliminarily, it is inherent to state that the study of ethics mainly originated from studies done in fields such as religion and philosophy by classical thinkers.
In these studies, the philosophers found that most business endeavors tend guided by a given set of rules and regulations that separate right from wrong. In this regard, ethical codes were basically considered as moral principles that were primarily instituted with the aim of guiding people in day-to-day decision making (Dean, 1992, p.285).
According to Holden (2005), the application of ethics in tourism is a mandatory concern not only for employees and organizations but also for tourists who get to visit various places.
This is based on the argument that, even though tourism is essentially a business, its impacts (both good and bad) spread beyond an exchange market (Ouchi, 1980, pp.130-135). In participating in tourism, Scheyvens (1999) in Sharma (2004, pp. 4-5) says that classification is normally done under the aspects summarized in the table below.
Therefore, in analyzing the aspiration and practical application of ethics in tourism in regard to the policy and management of tourism endeavours, emphasis will be on the above aspects.
Principally, the practical application of ethics influences the tourism industry in a myriad of ways (Ingold, 2000, pp.10-30). However, most macroeconomists divide these influences into four broad areas namely: political structures, theories, values, and power (Holden, 2005). Hall (1994, p.50) simplifies the above four dimensions as follows:
More information on these four dimensions is given in the section below.
In any given country or region, ethical rules and regulations are bound to be practically applied in political structures that guide, govern or regulate the tourism industry rather than just be aspired. According to Holden (2005), most of the practically applied ethical guidelines in the political structures that govern the tourism industry emerge from religious set-ups and rules set down by the governing bodies or leadership in the country.
To this regard, Molotch (1976, pp.310-313) opines that despite the elemental purpose of practically applying ethics to serve tourism from the grassroots right up to the topmost levels of political structures; most of these laws end up serving the powerful elites.
Remarkably, most local governments have been reportedly said to play a crucial role in the development, promotion, enforcement and regulation of ethical policies which serve the tourism industry (Koeman, 1995).
In essence, the theories majorly concerned with practical application of ethical issues in tourism are divided into two areas. These are moral absolutism and moral relativism.
The main difference between these two factions is that proponents of moral absolutism emphasize on the presence of stringent and absolute ethics to be practically applied in the tourism industry regardless of culture, creed or race. On the other hand, moral relativism stipulates that the practical application of ethical beliefs vary from one culture to another (Holden, 2005, p.187).
Renowned philosophers and theorists like Socrates, Aristotle, Plato, Thomas Hobbes, Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill and Immanuel Kant argued differently and presented various theoretical standpoints regarding the aspirational and practical application of moral relativism and moral absolutism.
However, all of them agreed that, in one way or another, ethical issues played an important role in the shaping of values in people which, in turn, affected the socioeconomic endeavours of the tourism industry even though practical application was deemed more vital than the aspirational aspect (Knowles & Curtis, 1999, pp.87-90).
According to Smith and Duffy (2003, p.10), values in the society can be summarised into three broad areas: religious/ethical values, aesthetic values and economic values commonly known as spheres of values.
In the pre-modern society, Smith and Duffy state that the religious/ethical values, aesthetic values and economic values interdependently affected each other in equal measure (p.17). However, in today’s society, emphasis is made on the economic values with the religious/ethical values and the aesthetic values receiving very little attention.
In the context of tourism, power refers to some form of control vested on particular individuals or organizations through election or appointment to some positions of influence. Whereas very little can be done to control the aspirations of people in regard to ethics to be followed in a region; the people in power have the mandate to decide the type of ethics to be practically applied in a given tourist region.
In fact, according to Leslie (2007, pp.46-49), today’s tourism endeavours tend to take place under the influence and manipulation of powerful people—especially through wealth and money. These powerful organizations or individuals easily dictate the ethics followed in the regions in question (Reed, 1997, pp.572-575).
Leslie and Sigala (2005, pp.32-34) and Lindsay (2003) add that this power is not only limited on the leadership and managerial levels but it is also witnessed by tourists such that those who have money and connections to powerful individuals gain access to best facilities while the rest get to scramble for the leftovers thus limiting the objective of the ethics of fairness.
It is worth noting that the manipulation and power in the tourism industry is mostly propagated through practical enforcement of codes of conduct which are created by NGO’s, special Individuals, certain private and public associations and the government (Cheong & Miller, 2000, p.375-380).
The rules in the code of conduct are normally written to guide the general behaviour, visits to certain sites and activities to be engaged in by participants in a given tourism industry, the hosts and the tourists/visitors. Failure to follow or practically apply these codes of ethics or conduct is usually punishable by law in most countries or regions (McElroy, 2006, pp.61-70; and Mehmetoglu, 2004, pp.85-90).
Remarkably, most challenges faced in regard to aspiring and practically applying ethical concerns of the tourism industry have been mentioned in the discussions above. These challenges, together with many others, are succinctly summarised in the pointers below:
Often, ethical dilemmas such as exploitation of the developing world, the environment or even people (mostly women) are eminent in a good number of tourist places (Holden, 2005, pp.19-24; and Middleton & Lickerish, 2007, pp.13-17).
Most powerful individuals/ corporations often use tourism as tool for enforcing cultural imperialism (imposing of values or cultural mannerisms by tourists). A good example here is through the use of language (Holden, 2000, pp.25-32).
Tourism is a multifaceted and highly dynamic industry thus making it difficult to control, especially based on the difference in ethics and values in different places (Keefe, & Wheat, 1998, pp.56-60, Butcher, 2003, p.15, and Haroon, 2002, p.110).
The involvement of tourist companies into CSR activities is not only subject to high manipulation by powerful individuals but is also sometimes misused or wrongly applied by the concerned individuals or corporations (Hall & Brown, 2006, p.56-65).
A good number of modern tourism endeavours and stringent laws, rules and code of conducts practically applied currently have overridden and replaced the role of middlemen by computers which are unable to aptly represent the human element that is crucial in the facilitation of ethical tourism practices (Cheong & Miller, 2000, p.385-390).
Finally, there has been increased globalization which has reduced the relevance of certain national or regional barriers thus unfamiliar cultural practices rise and in effect limiting ethical uprightness (Hritz & Cecil, 2008, pp.168-172).
Also, the advent of globalization has come with occurrences like the 2008 global economic crisis which leads to uneven developments (Faulker, 2001, p.137; Hall, 2008, pp.36-38; and Gibson & Bentley, 2006, pp.63-67). A summary of these challenges is represented below:
Some of the solutions that can be of help here include:
Increased educative programs on the relevance of ethical tourism principles and practices being followed (Fennell & Dowling, 2003, pp.45; and Darowski et al., 2006).
Increased interagency and stakeholder cooperation by governments, local communities and tourists (Grimble & Chan, 1995, pp.113-120; and Butler, 2006, p.45).
Formulating governing bodies which, specifically, oversee the aspirations and practical applications of ethical tourism principles and endeavors across the world (Dabour, 2003, pp.25-30; and Chavez, 1999). Also, putting in place stringent laws and policies to punish people who violate ethical laws, rules and code of conduct in the tourism industry can be monumentally helpful (Byrd & Cardenas, 2009).
Designing appropriate mix of community features, products, services and laws to cater for the many ethical tourist needs in different regions (Mowforth & Munt, 2003, pp.23-30; and Fennell & Malloy, 2007, pp.36-41).
Properly planning, designing and organizing an efficient way in which all tourism shareholders are able to operate effectively without overstepping their boundaries while they play their roles in accordance to the preset ethical guidelines (Holden, 2005, pp.60-65; Barnett, 2000, pp.21-23 and Chavez, 1999).
Joining with the local community in aspiring and applying ethical uprightness in tourism while also using part of the proceeds from the tourism resources to further the goals and dreams of the immediate community in question so as to buy favor and goodwill from that community (Hickman, 2007, pp.17-20).
Conducting periodic audits and assessment of ethical tourism activities so as to be aware whether or not the set rules are being followed or not while establishing reward systems such that companies or individuals that follow ethical principles in a given area are rewarded (Fennell, 2006, pp.33-40).
Incorporation of good ethical practices in accordance to theories like Marslow’s hierarchy of needs theory where individuals/organizations are encouraged toward self actualization or Cohen’s 1979 phenomenology of tourist experiences. Increasing the use of middlemen, travel agents and guides to better the human element vital for ethical uprightness in tourism can also be of great help (Cheong & Miller, 2000, pp.375-385).
From these above, it is clear that practical applications play a more important role than the aspirations, despite the close relationship between them. Nonetheless, apt provisions have to be made to overcome the limitations faced by both aspects.
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