The Importance of Corporate Social Responsibility in the Development of Sustainable Tourism

Abstract

For the potential grown of the economy of one country, the tourism has been the leading player because it is one of most important activities of Portuguese economy, being assumed as economic development weapon for its region. Although, in agreement with the territorial paradigm, the fact of an area to be endowed with resources it is not synonymous of growth and development. On the one hand, it remembered the identity of different areas; the resources of a region only become development factors when in that same region there is protagonist capacity that allows them to be operational. On the other hand, a single development strategy do not exists, but several development strategies in accordance with the space contexts, where all the local participants should assume an active role and the local resources should be valued integrating the several aspects of the development. Among the different local stakeholders, entrepreneurs, and residents become important stakeholders in tourism activity, influencing the development process of different tourist destinations. Thus, given the strategic importance of tourism in sustainable regional development and the crucial role that residents play in their development process, the present research presents the main perceptions of residents regarding the role of entrepreneurs in the practice of socially responsible acts of development sustainable tourism.