Dr. Onofre Martorell Cunill
Onofre Martorell, full academician of the Royal European Academy of Doctors-Barcelona 1914 (RAED), argues in an article that will publish the Cornell Hospitality Quarterly the importance of corporate social responsibility in the hotel industry. After analyzing the publications on the subject in the period 2006-2015, the author considers that the actions of this sector in its environment have a decisive effect, since the activity itself requires the collaboration and acceptance of the society where it is registered.
“Hotel companies have strong relationships with the local communities in which they operate and in many tourist destinations the hotel industry is often the main economic sector”, says the academician. “The hotel industry has the potential to produce major changes in the communities localities where hotels are located Let us consider, for example, the main environmental impacts and socioeconomic changes that have occurred in some mass tourism destinations due to the development of tourism and the subsequent growth of the hotel industry. Hotels can be a blessing or can cause considerable damage to local communities: positive economic impacts may be overshadowed by negative environmental and sociocultural impacts”.
For Martorell, the success of tourism in any community requires the support of community residents. “Residents are an integral part of the tourism product and hospitality that extends or does not extend to visitors directly affects visitor satisfaction, spending levels and propensities to visit again and recommend the destination to others”. Support for tourism among members of the host communities can’t be assumed or taken for granted, continues the academician. “This underscores the importance of corporate social responsibility for successful hotel business operations, where engagement with community stakeholders (local government and residents) is an essential part of the process. Stakeholders must be properly managed since business hotels have more to lose if they do not build good relationships”, he concludes.
