Sustainable tourism: the role of the small firm

Helen Horobin, Jonathan Long

Leeds Metropolitan University, UK

Reports the preliminary

findings of a study examining
the relationship between
issues of sustainable development and the operations of
small tourism businesses.
Indicates that detailed questionnaires were administered
to owner managers of small
tourism firms in the Yorkshire
Dales National Park. States
that the survey sought to
establish information levels,
attitudes towards sustainability, and action taken to protect the environment. Reveals
that the research then sought
to establish what characteristics of the firms and their
owner managers might lie
behind these. Suggests that
although there is a lot of
sympathy with the general
principles of sustainability,
there is general confusion
around the term sustainability and even environmental
concern. Reports a range of
actions, but a lack of appreciation of how these might
relate to a coherent business
strategy, aggravated by a
surprising lack of information, which is clearly something that needs to be
addressed by the various
public agencies in the field.
Suggests that it may be possible to identify the characteristics of those business owners who are most likely to be
receptive to the principles of
sustainable tourism.

International Journal of
Contemporary Hospitality
Management
8/5 [1996] 1519
MCB University Press
[ISSN 0959-6119]

Introduction
The new era of environmental concern is of
immediate relevance to tourism as the
tourism industry depends on a rich and
diverse, natural and built environment for its
economic wellbeing[1]. As a resource dependent industry, tourism must recognize its
responsibility to the environment. Tourism
development which consistently ignores
environmental concerns is unlikely to
remain viable in the longer term[2].
This article provides some preliminary
feedback from a project which is examining
the role that environmental considerations
play in decision making within small UK
tourism businesses. The intention is to assess
the potential for progress towards sustainable tourism among firms of this nature.

Sustainable development
In the late 1980s concern about climate
change, the depletion of natural resources
and pollution led to the concept of sustainable development. The problem with referring to sustainable development as an ideal
strategy for industrial progression, however,
is that it is still an imprecise term[3] and, as a
result, it is difficult to translate the concept
into meaningful action[4]. Sustainable development means different things to different
people. The Brundtland Commission defined
sustainable development as:
development which meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own
needs[5, p. 43].

However, this definition places the emphasis

of sustainable development on human needs,
and the Commission maps a very political
agenda in pursuit of this[6]. Some, notable
economists such as Pearce[7] and Barbier[8],
and others, for example Bartelmus[9], have
difficulty endorsing this approach.
Sustainable tourism is a concept which has
developed mainly during the last five years,
following on from the popularization of the
concept of sustainable development[10,11]
and the growing recognition of the potential
for tourism to have a negative impact on the

environment. A significant and growing

amount of attention has already been devoted
to describing the principles and practice of
sustainable tourism and some consensus is
now emerging as to the fundamental features
of the concept[11]. Sustainable tourism is also
a term which arouses a lot of scepticism however[12], and which can, and has been, interpreted in many different ways[12].
Sustainable tourism has been adopted by
UK policy makers as the appropriate
response to the problems identified within
tourism and has been the focus of some activity. In 1990 a government task force report on
tourism and the environment[13] outlined the
main issues of concern and provided recommendations for a sustainable tourism industry in the form of a set of guiding principles.
It is the definition offered by these principles
that provided the interpretation of the concept of sustainable tourism adopted for the
purpose of this study.
To some extent subsequent publications[14]
and projects[15] have begun to provide a
clearer agenda for action for those involved in
running tourism businesses. Critically, however, the development of sustainable tourism
remains dependent on the willingness and
ability of individuals in the tourism industry
to act on such guidelines.
One element which remains largely absent
from current debate is an examination of how
to encourage the adoption of the principles of
sustainable tourism among tourism firms; in
particular, given the fragmented nature of the
industry, among small tourism firms. The
clear exception is the project completed
recently by the South Devon Green Tourism
Initiative[15] which tested techniques of
encouraging tourism businesses to adopt
environmentally sound practices. However, it
is still the case that little attention has been
given to understanding the extent to which
certain characteristics of businesses (e.g.
size, age) and their owners (e.g. educational
background) are indicators of a propensity to
adopt environmental strategies. Clearly, such
an understanding would assist in the formulation and targeting of strategies designed to
modify business behaviour.
There is also confusion over what represents the tourism business, so we sought a

[ 15 ]

Helen Horobin and

Jonathan Long
Sustainable tourism: the role
of the small firm
International Journal of
Contemporary Hospitality
Management
8/5 [1996] 1519

pragmatic solution and adopted the definition

used by the English Tourist Board (ETB) and
the Employment Department Group
(EDG)[13] for their own enquiry. They defined
tourism firms as those catering to the needs
of touristssome (of whom) rely entirely on
tourism business, whilst for others it forms a
relatively small part of their overall operation. For the purpose of this study this was
taken specifically to include specialist shops,
restaurants, pubs and cafes, general stores,
attractions and accommodation.

The study
A small scale case study is being conducted,
the aims of the first phase of which include:
an assessment of the level of awareness of
issues associated with sustainability
amongst a sample of small tourism firms,
their desire to follow a path of sustainable
development and any action taken to
achieve this;
the identification of any relationship
between a certain type of business/owner
and the adoption of a sustainable approach
to business operation.
A field area was selected in the nearby Yorkshire Dales National Park, an area of natural
beauty which is experiencing environmental
pressures[16]. It was reasoned that in such an
area the environment is an integral part of
the tourism product, people would be familiar with environmental matters and they
might have given some consideration to how
they and their business fitted in.
The owner/managers of 54 purposively
selected, independently-owned firms agreed
to participate in the project. By definition
respondents represented small firms there
are no large tourism firms operating in the
National Park. Indeed, half employ no one,
and almost all could be labelled micro
firms, the term the European Commission
uses to describe a firm with less than ten
employees[17].
A structured questionnaire, was administered to each respondent in an interview of
approximately 45 minutes duration. This first
sought to identify the respondents perceptions of sustainability, their level of knowledge about the concept and to determine if
they have taken any action to alter their business practices. It was also the intention to
classify the firms to help in exploring
whether different types of firm relate to sustainability in different ways. The social, psychological approach to categorizing small
firms developed by Chell et al.[18] appeared to
offer a robust approach and was adopted for
this study. Thus, the questionnaire also asked

[ 16 ]

for information about the firm and the business owner which would allow for the categorization of the firms.
See Danvers and Thomas[19] for a more
detailed explanation of the application of this
categorization process to this study and
Danvers and Long[20] for a more comprehensive discussion of the findings.

Some findings
Attitudes towards the environment
Respondents were presented with six statements with which they were asked to agree or
disagree on a scale from strongly agree to
strongly disagree. These statements are
based on the principles of sustainability
offered in the various documents available
for people in their position. Even so, it was
felt necessary to modify some of the language
to make it more comprehensible:
1 We are holding the environment and
resources of the country in trust for future
generations and we have a responsibility
to pass these on in good condition[13].
2 The fortunes of tourism and the environment are closely linked. Without a beautiful environment tourism could not flourish and be sustained[13].
3 The greater the attraction of a beautiful
place the greater the danger that large
numbers of visitors will reduce its attractiveness[21].
4 It is relevant for tourism businesses of all
sizes to encourage the development of a
tourism industry which can serve the
needs of both current and future generations (adapted from [14]).
5 We can all respond to the need to protect
the environment, for example by altering
some of our everyday business activities
(composite statement).
6 The chance to go green is a real opportunity as it can be of immense benefit to
your business, your customers and your
staff, as well as making environmental
sense[14].
Overall the response to the statements was
encouraging for those wanting to promote the
idea of sustainability. The vast majority (over
80 per cent) of respondents strongly agree
with the general statements which express
the ideals behind sustainability (statements
1-3). However, these statements also prompted
the observation that these principles are easy
to agree with on the surface. Of course we
have a responsibility to pass the resources of
the world on to future generations in good
condition; the issue is how to do so.
The majority (76 per cent) are also prepared
to accept the link between the environment

Helen Horobin and

Jonathan Long
Sustainable tourism: the role
of the small firm
International Journal of
Contemporary Hospitality
Management
8/5 [1996] 1519

and their business (statement 4). However,

the accompanying comments indicated that,
although they agree that they have a responsibility to take action, some have either not
consciously made this connection before or
they have to date lacked the motivation or
time to act on their beliefs.
Once the statements became more specific
(statements 5 and 6), clearly outlining the
need for business owners such as themselves
to take action, fewer could easily agree and
many proved to be unaware of what action
they might appropriately take to aid sustainability. With particular reference to statement
6, many (65 per cent) do not see the chance to
change their own business practices as an
opportunity and some added that they
would need further clarification of exactly
what going green might mean.

Sources of information
From a policy perspective it is important to
know whether the amount of information
people have affects their propensity to act.
Respondents were asked which sources of
information they had consulted on the practical application of sustainability to their business. They were asked specifically if they had
a copy of five major UK publications on sustainable tourism, on the basis that these
represent the information currently of most
relevance to them on the subject.
The vast majority (81 per cent) had none of
these publications and were not aware that
guidelines exist to help them convert the
principles of sustainability into practice.
Perhaps more importantly, those who have
seen appropriate guidelines do not view them
as useful guides. Indeed, none of the business
owners have any information they would
consider useful to them in identifying the
role they might play in helping to protect the
environment. Those with one or more of the
specific publications discussed should not be
in this position if the publications are fulfilling their intended role [22].
Many (59 per cent) had no information at all
on the subject and most had made no attempt
to search for information. However, this did
not prevent people feeling well informed
about the sort of steps they could take to
ensure their business contributed to the protection of the environment; more than half
feel well informed. The sample tended to look
to the general media as the source of their
information rather than to seek specific
advice in relation to the operation of their
business. Many also explained that their
experience of living in the National Park
area, talking to others and personal

knowledge of changes to the physical environment in which they live, was the source of their
information. In a rural area local networks are
important communication channels.
Two-thirds did express a desire for further
information. They asked specifically for
information to be relevant to the small scale
of their operation and constructive, i.e.
explain clearly which of their business practices may be harmful and how they could
change. However, just over a third of those
questioned did not wish to receive any further information on this subject. Some of
these were owners who said they did not
consider themselves to be well informed
about the connection between environmental
issues and their business. It is this small
percentage who will obviously be the most
difficult to persuade of the need to consider
this connection.

Action taken
Some business owners found it difficult to
identify action they had actually taken in
recent years within the running of their business to help protect the environment.
Although there had been no prior questioning of what was meant by environmental
issues, several respondents hesitated when
asked this question and had to be prompted
before they could list things they had done.
There appears to be a gap between the desire
to act and an appreciation of what constitutes
environment friendly business practices. The
latter seem not to be connected with local
consumer practices.
Despite this three-quarters said they had
taken action. The most common step (twothirds of those acting) was recycling various
types of waste, including bottles, cans and
paper, though this sometimes involved a
round trip of almost 20 miles. The distance,
overflowing banks and lack of publicity were
all criticized. Almost half had also tried buying cleaning products labelled environmentally friendly and recycled products such as
toilet paper and bin liners, although some
had not found these to be adequate substitutes for their previous products (e.g. in
terms of their cleaning power) and had
switched back to their former brand. Other
popular action included reducing energy
consumption and informing guests about the
local area and the ways in which they could
help protect it.
There were also many individual examples
of other kinds of action for example reducing
the use of business vehicles, replacing individual products for guests with products from
refillable containers, e.g. butter portions and

[ 17 ]

Helen Horobin and

Jonathan Long
Sustainable tourism: the role
of the small firm
International Journal of
Contemporary Hospitality
Management
8/5 [1996] 1519

shampoo bottles, and using local building

materials when making alterations to
premises.
On the surface, this number and range of
actions is encouraging. However, it is also a
very ad hoc approach and some of the action
described seems of questionable value.
Respondents tended not to see the need to
adopt a new business policy; they see environmentally concerned activities on the same
level as any householder might. The most
common reasons for taking action were a
combination of a sense of responsibility, a
distaste for the throwaway society and practical common sense. The next phase of the
research will explore these motivations in
more depth in order to try to establish their
origins.
So much for those who reported taking
action, but what of those who reported none
(25 per cent)? For some, it was clear that they
simply had a different view of what constituted action, and had behaved very similarly
to the actors. However, the majority had just
not felt it necessary to act. Others did not see
what they personally could do, and some had
just not got around to doing anything. While
two-thirds of these respondents were among
those who had said they did not have any
information on the subject, the remainder did
have information and yet have still taken no
action.
While the majority had taken action, and
the majority were prepared to take action in
the future, it is clear that there is a lack of
information, confusion over what constitutes
environmental issues and a lack of awareness
about which business practices might help
protect the environment.

Rationing and management

To test their resolve, business owners were
asked if they would support:
the idea of restricting the number of visitors to the National Park if it was identified
that the area was under undue pressure
from visitor numbers; and
a policy of visitor management in the area
to control the impact of visitors on the local
environment.
The first is being considered by the National
Park Authority and the second has been in
operation for some time. Both often require
the support of local business people, either to
make them work in the first place or to keep
them going.
While two-thirds were opposed to the idea
of restricting the number of visitors, almost
all were in favour of some form of management. Clearly they are not keen to limit the

[ 18 ]

number of customers they might attract, but

do appreciate that in an area like the Dales,
some action has to be taken to manage the
impact of visitors. Half were prepared to get
actively involved in helping to manage the
impact of visitors to the area.

Attitudes into action

The sections above have discussed attitudes
and action separately, yet attitudes are supposed to reflect a predisposition to act. Those
in full agreement with the range of environmental statements presented to them were
more likely to act than those who showed
some measure of disagreement, but even
among those who disagreed with some of the
statements, half still claimed to be taking
some action. Respondents may have different
beliefs about what constitutes action, something that will be examined in greater detail
in the next phase of the study, or they may be
acting out of a belief that they should do
even if they do not really agree with the need
to take action.
Is it possible then to identify anything that
characterizes those who voiced some disagreement with the statements? The categorization process developed by Chell et al.[18]
unfortunately proved to be inappropriate
when applied to the sample selected for this
study. This was predominantly because the
process was unable to accommodate micro
firms of this kind. Attempts to categorize the
firms revealed insufficient variation between
the different respondents for the process to be
deployed. Resolving this problem forms part
of the next phase of the research. However, at
this stage it is possible to identify that those
respondents who voiced some disagreement
with the statements were more likely to be
male and to identify profit as their business
motivation.
In circumstances like those described in
this case study, it might be reasonable to
expect respondents to fall into one or other of
the following groups:
1 disinterested and ill-inclined to act;
2 interested, but need to know what they can
do;
3 interested and informed, but not acting;
4 interested, informed and acting (to various degrees).
In practice, very few are in the first of these.
Two-thirds claimed already to be in the last of
these categories.

Concluding comments
The preliminary findings of the research
project suggest that many small tourism

Helen Horobin and

Jonathan Long
Sustainable tourism: the role
of the small firm
International Journal of
Contemporary Hospitality
Management
8/5 [1996] 1519

business owners recognize the importance of

sustainable tourism development but do not
necessarily identify a central role for themselves in its implementation. Clearly, there is
still a critical need to find effective means of
converting good intentions into appropriate
action.
There is a large body of support for the
aims of the National Park (conservation and
quiet enjoyment of the environment), in principle, but the authority is failing to use this
support. Respondents voiced a strong desire
to be involved in decision making in a more
meaningful way so that they felt committed
through their own involvement in helping to
safeguard the National Parks future.
It is widely accepted that to consider small
firms as homogeneous is unhelpful in understanding the dynamics of this sector[23].
However, the attempt to find a suitable
method of categorizing these small firms
foundered when what appeared to offer the
most fruitful approach proved inappropriate.
One of the most discriminating factors
appears to be the extent to which the business
owners are motivated by profit. Given that, it
would seem sensible, as also concluded by
other projects[12], that information provided
should focus on how green strategies can be
profitable. Some publications, like The Green
Light[14] already seek to do this, but not one
of the respondents was aware of having even
seen the document.
The challenge for the next phase of the
study is to explore in depth what lies behind
respondents values and examine the decision-making processes that lead to business
practice. It is also intended to introduce the
respondents to the main publications available to help them identify ways of ensuring
their business operations are more sustainable and to assess their reactions to these.

References
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3 McKercher, B., The unrecognised threat to
tourism: can tourism survive sustainability?,
Tourism Management, April 1993, pp. 131-6.
4 The Economist, Aid and the environment: the
greening of giving, 25 December 1993, pp. 54-6.
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7 Pearce, D., Blueprint for a Green Economy,

Kogan Page, London, 1986.
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4th Annual CHME Research Conference,
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attitudes of small tourism businesses to sustainability, paper presented at the International Association of Hotel Management
Schools Spring Symposium, 28 February-10
March 1996.
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Years On The Small Firm in the 1990s, Paul
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