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The purpose of this paper is to identify the key motivators triggering tour operators to practise responsible tourism in Kinabalu Park.

Inductive and phenomenological research data were collected via in-depth interviews with 25 tour operators guiding tours in Kinabalu Park, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

The paper uses push and pull motivation theory to explain motivation in practising responsible tourism. The findings show that push factors are more significant to tour operators as compared to pull factors. The key motivation of tour operators to practise responsible tourism is organisational benefits and own initiative (intrinsic) and response demand and market trends (extrinsic). However, the findings show that although tour operators have a positive attitude towards responsible tourism, it does not show in their tour operations of Kinabalu Park. This is because the challenges like lack stakeholders participation and low responsible tourism awareness were negatively affecting to what tour operators would like to do and what actually gets done.

Identified motives, practices, issues and challenges are valuable information and to enhance the practices of responsible tourism in Kinabalu Park, Sabah.

The paper provides in-depth insight of the motivation to practise responsible tourism from tour operators’ perspectives in Kinabalu Park. The finding is benefiting the implementation of responsible tourism in Kinabalu Park.

This paper aims to provide an overview of the approaches that industry stakeholders follow towards responsible tourism in Cyprus and to address the challenges that responsible tourism management faces in a mass tourism destination.

In doing so, the paper discusses the concept of responsible tourism and its application in the hospitality and tourism industry. A qualitative research approach was followed whereby roundtable discussions between industry leaders and hospitality educators were initiated in order to identify key challenges. In addition, secondary research was performed with relevant data presented in the paper being previously collected by the CSTI (Cyprus Sustainable Tourism Initiative).

Findings reveal that responsible tourism adoption in Cyprus is minimal. Several challenges have been identified as barriers to adoption and successful implementation including poor understanding of the concept, lack of awareness, limited budget, lack of coordination of activities and the absence of an integrated system to ensure cooperation and of a monitoring mechanism.

The paper will be of immense value to industry practitioners as it represents a holistic understanding of the challenges facing hospitality and tourism industry stakeholders in terms of the implementation of responsible tourism practice. Propositions are made regarding the maximisation of the benefits of responsible tourism.

The paper draws on sustainability issues in an attempt to shed light on the role of responsible tourism in the hospitality and tourism industry in Cyprus and consequently advances knowledge on responsible tourism management offering value to academics practitioners and students alike.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that in times of economic constraints particularly in countries such as Greece that have long been stereotyped as corrupt, business practices amongst small- and medium-sized organisations that make up the majority of these nations’ tourism operators may become less than ethical or legal. The purpose of this paper is to explore these issues empirically in order to understand the impact of both cultural values and economic constraints on tourism businesses’ practices.

An exploratory case study using mixed methods has been adopted. Quantitative data were gathered from tourism business owners, managers and employees via questionnaires to establish the nature and scope of various unethical, illegal or immoral practices. Qualitative data were gathered to explore the ways these issues are considered and enacted.

Results show that there are many unethical and illegal practices that have been witnessed first-hand. Businesses’ attempts at acting in an ethical and socially responsible manner tend to be affected by not only cultural issues, but also economic constraints, yet there remains a desire to act in a way that does not impact negatively on tourists or on the local society and environment.

This research fills a gap in the literature relating to the ethical stance and practices of tourism entrepreneurs. It also presents an original conceptualisation of these issues in light of their location within the extant literature on ethics, corporate social responsibility and both sustainable and responsible tourism.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an exploratory case study of mass mainstream tour operators in the Canadian market and evaluate their awareness level of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. The research aims to address the structure and ownership of mass Canadian tour operators, how it may influence the adoption of CSR practices, key issues and concerns and awareness level and participation of CSR practices. Although the Canadian outbound leisure mass market is relatively small compared with that of the UK, Canadian travelers are a significant source of tourism to Mexico and the Caribbean islands such as Cuba and the Dominican Republic.

Canadian mass tour operators were contacted through interviews and questionnaires to assess the structure and ownership of mass Canadian tour operators, how it may influence the adoption of CSR practices, key issues and concerns and awareness level and participation of CSR practices. Existing responsible tourism practices in the destinations they operate were also gauged.

CSR is gaining momentum worldwide as companies begin to realize that their stakeholders are demanding accountability that goes beyond shareholders' interests. Subsequently, reporting levels are increasingly being regulated and corporate strategic initiatives focusing on improving their social and environmental responsibility are on the rise. In the case of tour operators, however, initiatives of this nature are preliminary and there is little implementation of CSR practices.

The study examines Canadian mass tourism package tour operators and further research is needed to assess all tour operators (inbound and outbound) to determine whether the level of participation in responsible travel is higher or whether size is an implicating factor. As issues such as climate change and responsible tourism have only started to influence consumer demand in the past few years, the study's findings may be changing. Therefore a further follow‐up study would be beneficial in order to determine any barriers to action.

To date, little research has been done on the tourism industry, and that mainly on hotels. There is a need to understand the structure and contribution of tour operators to the industry and their level of CSR practices and movement towards more responsible tourism.

The main aim of this paper is to introduce the articles of this issue.

A critical content analysis of the papers selected for the issue was undertaken.

The final articles for this issue examine a range of responsible business practices within hospitality and tourism businesses in diverse country settings. In addition, each article is followed by a commentary from an industry representative who reflects on the key message and/or value of the article for industry practice.

Although only one article examined the role of education specifically, collectively the articles in this special theme edition point to the critical role of education in implementing responsible business practices in the near future, as well as for ensuring the sustainability of these practices in the years to come. Additionally, these articles highlight the need for greater cooperation between different hospitality and tourism stakeholders in the development and implementation of responsible business practices.

The current theme issue explores emerging issues in the implementation of responsible business practice in the context of hospitality and tourism industries in different country contexts.

Green tourism and ecotourism have close meanings focusing on environmental factors and are sometimes related to rural tourism in general or a type of ecotourism itself. These forms emerged due to the concerns to protect the environment, and greater consideration has been given to tourism development and the notion that it should be approached carefully in light of recognizing its impacts.

The thematic concepts of green and responsible tourism raised questions about the definitions of both notions and their nexus of sustainability. Thus, the current chapter looks for an overview to understand green and responsible tourism, their emerging, definitions, practices and their role in the current scenario in the post-pandemic era.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of a destination positioning itself as a responsible tourist destination to improve its image.

A review of the literature pertaining to responsible tourism management, crime risk and destination image.

This paper observes that responsible tourism policy can help improve the image of destination South Africa.

This paper provides recommendations for destinations impacted by a negative global perception or being seen as a risky area to travel to, in the context of crime.

This paper examines the role of responsible tourism management in countering the negative image of crime risk in South Africa. In general, there is a dearth of research on this association.

The purpose of this study is to identify the core responsible leadership (RL) practices that are most relevant to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) restaurants. Furthermore, the authors adapt scales to measure these practices and conduct a pilot study to evaluate their impact on business performance in such establishments.

Exploratory sequential mixed methods are used to fulfill the research aims. In the first phase, a set of definitions and practices associated with RL are derived from a systematic literature review. Second, a projective method of data collection is applied, involving a panel of 16 experts. Third, a fuzzy cognitive map is developed, which captures the responses of 40 owners or general managers of SME restaurants.

Twenty-five practices are identified from the systematic literature review. The results show the five leadership practices that match the order of importance assigned by the experts: societal orientation, ethics, stakeholder involvement, power-sharing and environmental orientation. The relevance of those five practices is validated to explain SME restaurants’ financial performance and innovation performance.

Innovation is the key to advancing business sustainability and resilience, and the results identify the specific RL practices that enable improvements to be made in innovation performance among SME restaurants.

This paper identifies the RL practices that are particularly relevant to the tourism field (specifically, the restaurant industry), offers measurement scales for those practices and provides empirical evidence of the relationship between these RL practices and business performance in SME restaurants.

This study investigates the consequences of anthropogenic disturbance caused by dolphin-watching boats on the local spinner dolphin population in Lovina, Bali. It proposes recommendations for developing sustainable destination practices that influence boatmen and tourists to minimise the negative impacts of tourism activities on the dolphins.

Data was collected on boat-dolphin distances, boatmen's behaviour, dolphin behaviour, and underwater noise levels using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and a hydrophone. The triple-bottom-line framework was applied to analyse the findings and propose recommendations for developing sustainable destination practices.

The study reveals a consistent breach of national and international guidelines, with boats approaching dolphins at distances well below the recommended minimum. Undesirable boatmen’s behaviours and signs of distress and avoidance in dolphins were frequently observed. The findings highlight the need for stakeholders to develop and implement sustainable practices that influence boatmen and tourists to minimise their impact on the dolphins.

This study provides novel insights into the anthropogenic disturbance caused by dolphin-watching boats in Lovina, Bali. It proposes actionable recommendations for developing sustainable destination practices that influence boatmen and tourists. It contributes to the growing body of knowledge on sustainable wildlife tourism management.

Responsible tourism has four responsibility areas of economic, social, cultural and environmental responsibilities. In this setting, the current study empirically analyses the roles of these four responsibility areas of responsible tourism to develop the life satisfaction of the community in the selected destinations. The study also analyses the intervening mechanisms of community well-being that transform the perceived responsibilities of responsible tourism into life satisfaction.

For testing the study propositions, a questionnaire-based survey was conducted among 493 community-based individuals selected from different destinations in Kerala, India.

The study results supported that the responsibility areas, such as social, economic, cultural and environmental, carry significant influence on the life satisfaction of the community. Further, the mediation analysis reported responsibilities of responsible tourism influence the outcome of life satisfaction; economic responsibility through material well-being, social responsibility through community well-being, cultural responsibility through emotional well-being and environmental responsibility through health and safety well-being.

These study findings provide very compelling insights that can help to improve the community well-being and welfare of tourism destinations. Effective management of the community involved with the tourism destinations enhances destination attractiveness and facilitates responsible tourism actions of the tourists.

The major attraction of the study is that it is from a tourist destination practicing responsible tourism. Results emanating from field evidence clubbed with strong theoretical support concepts of sustainable development and responsible tourism.