Sustainability In Tourism: Plan And Develop Ecologically Sustainable Operations In Ruhija, Uganda

Key stakeholders

This paper takes a comprehensive approach to sustainability in tourism in U ganda a developing country and how sustainability can be improved through CSR.  The study is done on an area in Uganda known as Ruhija this paper seeks to analyze how enhancing sustainability of projects can help the local economy.

Question 1

In most developing countries the main contributor to the GDP is agriculture. Uganda falls in this category of developing countries  where agriculture  is viewed by many as the main economic activity. Tourism closely follow by being the second largest contributor to the economy.  In the case of Ruhija, the key issues that face the people is lack of understanding on the importance of tourism as a means to conserve national parks and rain forests.  The shrinking of rain forests in Uganda has caused serious environmental effects including human –wild life conflicts , increase in temperatures among many other effects (Zhao, Zeng & Zhao, 2017).   A healthy environment is crucial to every aspect of life in Uganda.  It provides to the people with the basic needs which are clean water, food and clean air. A sustainable tourism will enhance a long term social and economic well being of communities living in this part of Uganda.

Corporate social responsibility programs are faced with three main challenges.  The challenges include; pragmatism, continuity and assessment of the resulting social impact.  The questions that social partners pose to the government are: what are the areas of social responsibility will be affected.  The other question is what type of programs will highly effective and beneficial to the local community and have a high impact towards conservation.

Key stakeholders

Within the hospitality and tourism industry we have key stakeholders. The  national government is one of the stakeholders in the tourism industry. It gives licenses to the national parks to become tourist attraction sites like the Ruhija national park in Uganda. The other stakeholder is the community, the community plays a major role in tourism conservation. The local people are the sole custodian of this resource and after getting income from the various projects initiated by the tourists , they will support tourism conservation. The other crucial stakeholder is the tourist organization, in this case Maritoba University is a major stakeholder in the tourism industry (Landorf,2019).

Key responsibilities an organization takes when embracing CSR 

As its name implies, it consists of two words, tourism and sustainability, the first of which, as mentioned above, has been debated by several experts about its origins, elements and conformation; however, it has been clearly defined as the set of activities carried out by people in their trips to different countries of the world. Sustainability establishes the bases for currently defining it as the development whose ultimate goal is to pursue the satisfaction of the needs of current generations, without harming or compromising the resources or possibilities of future ones to meet their own needs (Tang, 2015).   In this union of terms sustainability is the one that prevails with its three pillars for alignment: The economic pillar: skill to be able to contribute to economic development through the creation of companies of all sizes and all levels. The social pillar : represents the social impact caused by the organization to all those actors with whom it interacts as they are ores, customers, suppliers, the community and society in general. The environmental pillar: the basis of this pillar is the respect and conservation of ecosystems, flora, fauna and biodiversity( Sharpley,2015). It represents the complementarity between the production and exploitation of resources with respect for the environment.

Key responsibilities an organization takes when embracing CSR

 In other words, sustainable tourism consolidates its bases in finding the balance between the economic activity carried out by companies in the tourism sector and the environment with its biodiversity, in such a way that the latter remain intact in their natural state and are not exposed to the negative effects that tourism can bring but is managed in an appropriate manner.

As mentioned in the CSR, the stakeholders or stakeholders are the main indicators of sustainable development in the s various fields of action in which CSR programs can be carried out, so it is important to highlight that companies generate greater wealth to the extent that they are willing to respect, value and care for their stakeholders ,in this case in the tourism sector, understood by them to governments or public administrations, customers, suppliers, collaborators and the natural and sociocultural environment.

Question 2

How intrepid travel can successfully support the 4Ps

Economic progress is driven by entrepreneurial activities that are competitive and consequently make profits. It is a primary responsibility of corporate governance to promote an economic enterprise like intrepid. When entrepreneurs implement new combinations  it consequently lead to an extension of all aspects of a triple bottom line that is : for the people the quality of life improves, it enhances competitive productivity that increases profit, it also lead to sustainability of the resources in the planet   for flourishing and survival of the ecosystems and species (Chen,2015).  

Intrepid travel provides competitive innovation and entrepreneurial initiatives as foundations of sustainable prosperity. This enterprise progresses the lives of individuals and the community in general. As a travel company, Intrepid is responsible for taking tourists to the destinations and the money they spend has a direct impact to the lives of the people in Ruhija community.

The quadruple bottomline of 4Ps – Profit, Planet , Progress and people provides the basis of a framework that is comprehensive for developing measure of sustainable prosperity. As an intermediary Intrepid travel has been involved in the following.

People-Quality of life

The quality of life for the people of Ruhija has improved- this is in two aspects i.e their vigour, wellbeing because of the increased income and they continue to flourish.

Profit- competitive productivity

For the people in this community, competitive production of goods and services is key to sustainability. The people of Ruhija have started engaging in activities that are likely to increase profits with scarce resources.  

How intrepid travel can successfully support the 4Ps

Planet – Sustainable Ecosystems

 Through sustainability programs initiated , the community and ecosystems survival across generations and lifespans is guaranteed.

Progress – Adaptive Innovation

Change and adaptive learning for example building of housing camps that are more suitable to tourists allows the people to have progress. Consumers want to know what the environmental, social and economic impact of the products they buy is (Coccossis,2016). As a result, those responsible companies that provide information about their actions will have a better reputation in public opinion than those that hide the data. That is, corporate responsibility will be rewarded with the confidence of consumers. This forecast is being fulfilled more and more, but not at the desirable pace by the defenders of the sustainable economy, nor in the same way in all countries.

Profit

 Increase in profit and the market: increase in market share and turnover; increase in the possibility of penetration in new markets; quality improvement; improvement of competitiveness; improvement of relations with customers and the general public.

Better conditions of access to capital: greater attractiveness for investors, access to public subsidies.

Improvement of organizational functions: improvement of the information available for decision making; clarification of organizational and accounting responsibilities; operational processes and business development more stable; establishment of continuous improvement programs.

The general characteristic that defines companies that are committed to sustainability is that they not only seek the economic benefit, but also take care of the way in which they achieve it. These companies take into account their employees and shareholders, but do not neglect the environment in which they carry out their activity.

Conclusion

On the other hand, each of the lines: economic, social and environmental, is independent of the others. They work like three continental plates, in constant movement, sometimes rubbing and sometimes overlapping each other. To analyze them separately, a triple result matrix was created that considers the three fundamental aspects of the triple bottom line (economy, society and environment) in three columns. In the rows are the different factors involved: interest group, shareholders, franchises, employees, customers, suppliers, competition, community, humanity, future generations and natural world or ecosystem (Mowforth & Munt,2015).

The interaction between each column and the different rows provides a result ; in a fourth column the total measure of each row is reflected and, finally, the total benefits are subtracted from the costs. The result is the sustainable benefit. In each of the three areas some specific aspects are taken into account: Economic: capital costs, increase in profit, increasing marginal benefits, productivity, return on investment, risks assumed by management and valuation of the company. Social: social and community impact, equal opportunities, health and safety at work, education, social recognition and retirement pensions. Environmental: energy, water, materials used, emissions and waste, new products and services, impact on the life system and operational designs (Amir, Ghapar, Jamal & Ahmad,2015).. Supporting your s social and environmental obligations: companies have the obligation to improve the net benefit of their actions in social and environmental matters.

References

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