PROFIT, RESPONSIBILITY, AND THE MORAL ECONOMY OF TOURISM

•We examine the synthesis of profit and responsibility in tourism.•Culture is integrated into indigenous entrepreneurs’ tourism business.•More economic clout enables them to take more responsibility.•The practice of social responsibility is influenced by external economic factors.•We cannot romanticize locals’ social entrepreneurism in the tourism market.

This paper furthers an understanding of the moral economy of tourism by analyzing how economic activities in the tourism industry are influenced by moral norms, and how these norms are compromised by the logic of capital accumulation. Through a case study of indigenous entrepreneurs in Lijiang, China, we argue that responsibility is a localized practice to defend social ties and cultural tradition, while profit making can be regarded as a universal logic in a commercial society. By analyzing how entrepreneurs become entangled in the dynamic balance between profit making and social responsibility, this paper demonstrates that local people actively choose their best strategies to participate in the global tourism industry.