SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT; ARE (ALL) THE RIGHT STAKEHOLDERS CONSIDERED IN THE DEVELOPMENT?

Tourism is an industry that has an extended compromiser network (tourism can exercise power on many stakeholders). In terms of economical prosperity, on global level, tourism is one of the biggest contributors. On the other hand, tourism if not planned could also be the biggest contributor to economical failures and the mega-exploiter of natural and human environment that attracts visitors in the first place. Unfortunately, the tourism network is solitarian (tourism lack influence and power) in terms of solutions against economic decline and over-exploitations. Any tourism destination wishes to benefit the tourism industry by exploiting the resources but without damaging them (sustainable tourism). One important step towards achieving sustainable tourism is a plan and the inclusion of the different stakeholders in the tourism development.

Stakeholders and Sustainable Tourism Development.
Sustainable tourism was defined by the World Commission on the Environment and Development (WCED) as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future generation to meet their own needs”. The general goal of sustainable development is to meet the basic needs of society and extend the opportunity for a higher quality of life.

As mentioned previously, it is clear that the participation of stakeholders is an important issue in (sustainable) tourism development. The participation of stakeholders became more important in 1984 by Freeman (when Freeman wrote Strategic Management; A stakeholder approach). A stakeholder is defined as; any group or individual who “can affect or is affected” by the achievement of the organization objectives.  Goeldner & Ritchie, 2003 consider the participation of these stakeholders – tourists, residents, entrepreneurs and local government officials important for tourism development. The WCED identified two stakeholder groups that match with the definition of sustainable tourism – present users and future users of a resource. The identification of who are the stakeholders and what are their interests differs per tourism situation.

What is important to be aware of is that the inclusion and participation of stakeholders in any activity is very crucial especially in sustainable tourism development. The idea is to include different perspectives and to categorize different groups involved in the tourism development process. For example, taking care of the needs and wants of the tourist in terms of attractions and facilities (physical developments) is what bring them to the destination. The communication with the local community is then important since they will have to host the tourists. Although many professionals (Andereck & Vogt, 2000; Andriotis, 2005; Ap,1992; Byrd & Gustke, 2004; Gunn,1994; Gursoy et al., 2002; Ioannides, 1995; Tosun, 2006; Yuksel et al., 1999) are aware of the importance of the inclusion of stakeholder in the tourism development process, the inclusion  of stakeholders has not yet been complete realize. According to Ioannides, 1995 & Tosun, 2006, stakeholder involvement is difficult or impossible to accomplish.

Conclusion
Different studies have been done and conclusion were made that the inclusion of stakeholders in sustainable tourism development is difficult or even impossible. However, results also show that their inclusion is very important. The article talks about stakeholders including – tourists, residents, entrepreneurs, government officials, in fact, stakeholders differ according to the situation.
There is a clear relationship between definitions of what are stakeholders and identifications of who are the stakeholders. Groups of people with a clear relationship with corporations are considered stakeholders, as it has been illustrated above. However, in a wide definition of stakeholder, any entity affected by corporate actions is also stakeholders (Freeman and Reed, 1983 and Freeman 2004 labeled both narrow and wide definitions). Within this wide definition of stakeholder, there is space for non-human aspects of the Earth- the natural environment (Stakeholders; Theory and practice. Friedman & Miles, 2006. P 13).
One question arises when looking back at the introduction of this article, the natural and human environment is what attract visitor in the first place. The natural environment is also a stakeholder. This categorization could be related to the Freeman’s (1984:46) definition – can affect or is affected by the achievements of the organization’s objectives but it also fit in the Bowie (1988: 112)’s definition – without whose support the organization would cease to exists.
So, are the right stakeholders considered in sustainable tourism development?

Bibliography
Book
Andrew L. Friedman and  Samantha Miles, (2006), Stakeholders, Theory and Practice. Oxford University Press Oxford New York.

Articles
Erick T. Byrd, Holly E. Bosley, Meghan G. Dronberger (2009) Comparisons of Stakeholder perception of tourism impacts in rural eastern North Carolina. Elsevier, Tourism Management 30 (2009) 693 – 703

Erick T. Byrd (2007) Stakeholders in Sustainable Tourism Development and their roles: Applying Stakeholder Theory to Sustainable Tourism Development. Tourism Review. Vol 62 No. 2/2007