Perceptions of tourism related responsibility of the stakeholders in a tourist destination: Empirical evidences

Abstract

There are multiple stakeholders who have varied interests in relation to tourism industry namely the host community, business organizations, tourists and the government. Responsible tourism endeavors not only to minimize the negative impacts but to maximize the positive impacts of tourism on these stake holders. While doing so, responsible tourism, as opposed to sustainable tourism, tries to fix responsibility for the achievement of defined objectives through specific measures on these stakeholders. It is quite possible that specific stakeholders view responsible tourism measures as more or less the responsibility of particular stakeholders. These perceptions are of importance in fixing the responsibility. This paper is an attempt to identify responsible tourism measures and their relation with specific stakeholder groups as perceived by the stakeholders themselves and subgroups within each category of stakeholders. The study has been carried out by analyzing primary data collected using a questionnaire from various stakeholders in Goa, a tourist destination. The findings show that highest responsibility is placed on government followed by business, host community and tourists in that order. The order in which responsibility is placed on different stakeholders is unanimous by all the stakeholder groups. There are no significant differences in responsibility placed on a particular stake holder either by stakeholder groups themselves or demographic subgroups. The findings are of theoretical, managerial and policy implications.