SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN THE ACCOMMODATION ESTABLISHMENTS

Abstract

Relevance. The first forms of tourism appeared already in Egypt, became popular in Ancient Greece and Rome. However, it went through a long period of formation until the end of the 19th century took its present form, and after the Second World War, it degenerated into a mass phenomenon. In the 21st century, tourism became an integral part of our leisure time (Baležentis and Žuromskaite, 2012). The tourism sector is identified as one of the largest and fastest-growing sectors in the world. Although tourism is currently one of the worst affected areas due to the pandemic, it has been observed that CSR activities gained momentum when company managers realised that they had to ensure that their immediate operating environment facilitated smooth business to achieve their profit-oriented goals (Idahosa, 2019). Tourism has great potential to affect the lives of local people and can have a positive and negative impact on the destination community (Su, Huang & Huang, 2018). We know that there are different views on corporate social responsibility. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has gradually become a concern for many businesses in the tourism industry, with more than 70% of articles on the topic published in the last five years. (Font & Lynes, 2018). are currently facing a major challenge in adopting responsible treatment of the community and the environment (Ţigu, Popescu & Hornoiu, 2016). Responsible tourism and corporate social responsibility (CSR) can play a significant role in the sustainable development of tourism. The international community and therefore institutions such as the European Union (EU) invite the tourism industry to implement CSRs as part of its business strategy and to offer responsible tourism products (Manente, Minghetti & Mingotto, 2012). Problem of research the question is what is the level of social responsibility in the tourism organization from the point of view of managers and employees and how to increase it. The aim – of the research is to propose a plan of measures to increase corporate social responsibility after establishing social responsibility in a tourism organization. Research tasks: define social responsibility and benefits in tourism organizations; to single out the criteria set for social responsibility in a tourism organization; identify social responsibility in the tourism organization and submit a plan of measures to increase social responsibility. Research methods- analysis of scientific literature, questionnaire survey and analysis of the description of statistical data. Results. According to the criteria of social responsibility, the quality of services, consumer information, health and safety, and a high level of social responsibility in the environment have been established. The value of the study was the expression of social responsibility according to the criterion – the degree of coverage of social responsibility, which includes environmental, social and economic elements and the implementation of responsible business practices. The application of social responsibility practices in the activities of tourism organizations includes tangible indicators and enables the implementation of environmental, human safety standards or other standards or a green key program. The majority of respondents confirm that CSR covers all the above elements of coverage, and that organizations develop and maintain contact with the public / the client by publishing publicity on CSR indicators.