Social responsibility of the tourism businesses in the Western Cape Province of South Africa

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the developmental impacts of Business Social Responsibility (BSR) of the tourism industry in South Africa with a special focus on the Western Cape region. The study was based on the premise that little is known regarding the role and contribution of BSR of the tourism sector to the three critical challenges: poverty, unemployment and inequality that South Africa is facing. The effectiveness of South African tourism policies in guiding the industry and the extend of compliance were assessed. Extensive relevant literature was reviewed, providing a framework for the analysis and interpretation of the research findings. Different types of tourism businesses, 307 in total, were surveyed in the Western Cape Province using stratified sampling. Government tourism departments and community organisations were identified as the key informants. Mixed research methods were applied, allowing for various tools and techniques to be used. Research data was analysed using qualitative and quantitative techniques. The research findings were analysed and interpreted using theoretical realism and neoliberalism frameworks. The findings indicated that the government developed a series of regulations and procedures to guide the tourism sector. Key role players and international investors design and implement BSR activities with complete disregard of intended community stakeholders. There is little or no significant participation in the design stage of intended stakeholders. Targeted communities are not able to raise critical issues largely because of poverty and unemployment. Though there are regulations such as B-BBEE, employment equity, BSR policies governing various tourism businesses have largely ignored these regulations. Attracting investors has been a major concern for the government with little concern of the nature of activities, impacts and their contributions on reducing the triple challenges in the country. This study contends that the current policies and regulatory frameworks are much too market friendly. Hence, the tourism industry has largely been able to implement policies that favours market goals. Some tourism BSR policies are aligned to the province’s institutional framework while others are not, indicating a lack of sustainable development. A model is proposed to improve the implementation of tourism BSR activities and policies