A Long-haul Destination:: Sustainability Reporting Among Tour Operators

Tour operators are the main players in the tourism industry and can use their market power to improve sustainability in the tourism sector. This study analyses the sustainability reporting of 42 internationally operating tour operators. It is concluded that in comparison to other industry sectors, tour operators perform weak at best. Considerable differences in reporting behaviour were detected within the sector. Large tour operators far better than medium-sized and small firms, and traditional tour operators better than their online competitors. Little difference was detected in reporting between UK, German and Dutch tour operators. © 2006 Published by Elsevier Ltd.