Empirical Foundations
The paucity of research into SMEs in tourism, most especially in terms of their environment performance and related actions, became very much apparent from the tourism literature and at many a conference on tourism or involving sessions on tourism in the 1990s. An outcome which was all the more manifest whilst undertaking the requisite secondary research into the greening of tourism enterprises in preparation for a major study into the greening of tourism enterprises in the Lake District National Park (LDNP) in Cumbria (Leslie, 2001b), an area acclaimed for its physical attractiveness, a powerful constant of demand for tourists, and considered in the top 50 of worldwide destinations. The National Park itself is in the county of Cumbria, a rural area in north-west England, home to approximately 10% of Cumbria’s population. Tourism is the major economic activity in the area and is estimated to support approximately 50% of employment (Leslie, 2005). Factor in the commitment of the Cumbria Tourist Board (CTB) to promoting the greening of tourism then the LDNP was a particularly appropriate area to investigate the environmental performance of tourism enterprises especially given that it has been nationally recognized for promoting ‘sustainable tourism’ and its international renown. Thus, the extent to which policies advocating ‘the greening of tourism’ and related initiatives have been realized was encompassed in the aims, i.e. to identify and evaluate the level of awareness, attitudes and perceptions of green issues, and associated practices, of owners/managers of tourism enterprises. In the process, to establish those factors influential to the adoption of such practices. In other words, their overall environmental performance thus EM practices and CSR activities.
Methodology
The extensive methodology formulated was designed primarily to investigate serviced accommodation (Leslie, 2001b). This, the initial and most substantive stage, was then expanded to encompass other categories of tourism enterprise, namely inns, restaurants, caravan and camping sites, attractions and given their increasing presence in tourism supply, self-catering operations were also brought into consideration. The latter have almost totally been ignored in myriad policies and initiatives aimed at promoting the ‘greening’ of tourism. This is perhaps surprising given the substantial growth in supply since the 1980s and today is substantially understated (Leslie, 2007a). Given that enterprises in the LDNP might be subject to factors particular to being in the Park, e.g. National Park Authority’s regulations on planning and development, a sample of similar enterprises (serviced-accommodation, inns and attractions – 47 in total) located outside of the LDNP but within Cumbria was also researched by way of establishing a comparative sample (the Fringe study). A key theme of CSR and thus in the research was the question of support for local produce and products. To further this area of enquiry, a sample of local food producers and cafes, were approached who, with very few exceptions, were very willing to participate and were particularly helpful in responding to the enquiries. A number of ‘arts & crafts’ producers and retail outlets were also investigated given their presence and visitor spending patterns.
The expansive set of indicators established for the study were derived specifically for hotels in the first instance in order to ensure comprehensive and detailed coverage of all aspects of an hotel’s operations pertinent to its environmental performance. As such, it was recognized that the scope enquiry could be adjusted as necessary for any other category of tourism supply (excluding tour operators and travel agents) operating in a destination. These indicators were established through a diverse range of sources and set out in the following categories: business profile of the enterprise; staffing (including where from), training and development, recruitment, involvement in greening; perceptions and attitudes of the owners/managers; resource management and operations; purchasing, suppliers, local produce; guests and communications; factors discouraging progress and in the case of the audits profiles of the owner or manager of the enterprise. This was then translated first to formulate a broad, investigative general questionnaire designed for postal distribution, and then into a far more extensive and detailed format to serve as the basis for extended, personal interviews (akin to household surveys) involving a subset of those surveyed through the initial questionnaire.
The choice of indicators used has since been reflected in other studies (for example, Ceron and Dubois, 2003; Carter et al., 2004; Mensah, 2009; Kucerova, 2012). Thus the appropriateness and quality of these indicators in terms of ‘fit for purpose’ is rather affirmed, which is especially important given that these same indicators were used in later research. This is not to suggest they are perfect but rather well-suited to the task, as Blackstock et al. (2008) noted, indicators tend to address what is desired. It is recognized that this is very much subject to the vested interests of the researcher or commissioning agent, which throughout this study was of no influential significance. Care was also exercised in communications throughout to avoid the terms ‘sustainable development’ and ‘sustainability’ as potentially this would lead to some degree of confusion over how such terms were interpreted by those involved in the study and, for example, create variability within the data itself. This was also why a focus group drawing on representatives of the sector was not initiated to establish the necessary criteria as potentially this would have also led to little more than fairly standard gross tourism data; as McCool et al. (2001) found in their study. The key point is the need to recognize and understand that in any one group of stakeholders there will be a mix of understanding of the agenda and to echo Blackstock et al., what is desired.
To potentially obtain a substantial sample of serviced-accommodation operations, it was decided that first a survey using the general questionnaire would be implemented by mail. By reference to a range of sources such as accommodation guides and promotional literature and business telephone lists a database of 853 serviced accommodation operations was established. The choice of enterprises was not based on any prior criteria other than the availability of accommodation. After the initial pilot stage and refinement of the questionnaire, the survey was then implemented by mail to all the listed enterprises along with a covering letter and to enhance the return rate, the offer of being entered into a free prize draw. On the basis that the study was about greening, thus in keeping with this theme, suitable paper and envelopes were reused as and when appropriate, throughout the research. This questionnaire was then tailored to meet the different and specific aspects of each of the other categories of tourism enterprise (349 in total) and implemented using the same process as for serviced accommodation. The survey into the self-catering operations (120) required the development of a different questionnaire. This process was then repeated for serviced accommodation, inns and attractions in the ‘fringe area’ (total 320), overall gaining a response of 336 from the LDNP and 47 for the fringe area. As previously noted, food producers and arts and/or craft producers were also surveyed, again using a similar method, though with a specifically designed questionnaire for the locally based food producers and also for the craft person’s elements of the study. Additional research into arts and crafts involving direct personal interviews of the managers/owners of retail outlets (42 outlets) to investigate the range of arts and craft products sold and their views on stocking local products was undertaken.
The initial survey into the environmental performance of serviced accommodation included an invitation to take part in more detailed investigations to explore in depth the approach and practices of owners/managers of these tourism enterprises, which gained 52 positive responses. These took the form of personal interviews, in effect extended environmental audits (the forms for these interviews consisting of 24 pages). Further enquiries involving additional research were also undertaken during the extensive field work to investigate matters arising from the surveys and the interviews. Following on from this study, research into the environmental performance of enterprises in rural Scotland