The tourism industry is a major employer, but a new report reveals that workers, especially the most vulnerable, often face poor working conditions and human rights violations. However, addressing these issues is not only the ethical thing to do, but it also makes good business sense. The report offers recommendations to help businesses, governments, investors, and unions create a more sustainable future for the tourism industry. Tourism and human rights are crucial topics that deserve attention.
Tourism & the Ethical Imperative
Tourism is a key employer in the global creative economy- with over 290 million people employed worldwide. Behind this wide global reach, however, lies a troubling truth: When many workers — particularly those most at risk such as women, migrants, and those in undeclared employment, are exploited – paid less than they’re owed or forced to work under dangerous conditions or even subjected to modern slavery.
In an article written by academics from the University of Surrey, new research finds that these systemic sustainability issues in tourism are not only unethical but also financially material. Dr. Anke Winchenbach, lead author from Surrey Business School, said: “The travel and tourism industry remains heavily associated with low pay, poor working conditions and possibly modern slavery in some cases. Where laws protecting workers did exist around the world, enforcement was weak or “virtually absent.”
How to Sustain Sustainability: A Lesson for Business
From a business standpoint, the studies show that tackling social and labor issues in tourism is not just the right thing to do; it is also a smart thing to do. As ESG (species, social, and governance) reporting becomes more compulsory, the businesses and governments that ignore these social risks will not only be in violation of law but also out on a chance to draw talent at speed, business, and investment opportunities for years.
With a more socially conscious customer increasingly making their presence known, the tourism industry cannot continue to turn a blind eye to these systemic problems. “With consumers increasingly socially and environmentally aware, these long-standing problems should be taken head-on by the industry as a matter of both moral imperative and smart business,” Dr. Winchenbach added. The tourism industry can save itself from collapsing by focusing on poor working conditions and the human rights phenomenon in crisis, more than it needs to to adapt.
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With a view to the future, the report provides seven central suggestions for businesses, governments, investors, and unions to take responsibility for a sustainable tourism future:
1. Issues labor laws and enforcement of those laws to protect a worker’s rights and prevent exploitation.
2. The most recent version of the guidelines sets new challenges and represents important guidance to ensure increased transparency regulation (not only in connection with logging) and enhance the accountability of other actors throughout the tourism value chain as well.
3. Help workers, especially those from more vulnerable backgrounds, to stand up for themselves and demand their rights and well-being.
4. Embed social sustainability metrics in ESG reporting and investment decisions.
5. Work across sectors to build industry standards and best practices.
6. Invest in training and re-skilling workers to learn new skills, and partner with industry sectors to create career ladders.
7. Work with local communities to secure equal shares of tourism benefits.
According to those recommendations, the tourism industry not only can meet its ethical responsibilities but also increase competitiveness and growth in the future. Ethical labor practices are important not only because they are simply the right thing to do, but also because it represents good business sense in what is a consumer-driven landscape that is ever more socially and ethically driven.
