ABSTRACT
Corporate social and environmental responsibilities (CSR) are a significant concern throughout the tourism industry, but only sometimes under that name. Some mainstream hotel chains do refer specifically to CSR. Some tourism companies operate social benefit programmes and foundations, but without calling them CSR. There are community tourism enterprises where social benefit is the main aim of the business. In highly impoverished areas, tourism is promoted as a poverty alleviation mechanism, with associated broad-scale social benefits. A variety of organisations run social and environmental awards and certification programmes for tourism enterprises, which may fall within the scope of industry self-regulation as a form of CSR, and in many countries, commercial tourism development interests continually press for access to public conservation reserves and protected areas, using CSR rhetoric as a lobbying tool.
