Social and Environmental Responsibility among Inbound Tour Operations in Hong Kong

Hong Kong is famous as a destination for shopping, culinary, and entertainment seeking tourists. In response to this, the focus of academia, industry, and government was drawn away from the salient and fundamental discussions of sustainability. Central to the sustainability discussion within this region, however, is the role of tour operators as agents of change. This study is a noble attempt to investigate the critical role of tour operations in promoting social and environmental sustainability within a cosmopolitan Hong Kong. In-depth and semi-structured interviews were conducted with inbound tour operators in Hong Kong. The result revealed that while sustainability is important to tour operators, at least policy-wise, it is difficult to implement amidst the conundrum of challenges faced both internally and institutionally. Partnership is of utmost importance for sustainability success. Managerial and research implications are discussed.