Environmental supply chain management in tourism: The case of large tour operators

Extensive tourism developments and signals of the negative effects on destinations have put sustainability at the core of the business agenda. However, the fragmented structure of the tourism sector remains a key challenge for achieving consensus and developing coherent sustainable tourism strategies. Although supply chain strategies seem logically suitable for the interconnected nature of the tourism industry, there is limited discussion in tourism research about their adoption. In order to advance the knowledge of how sustainable tourism can become more of common practice, this article explores the adoption of environmental supply chain management (ESCM) by eight large tour operators. The results of the investigations show that in the absence of regulatory pressures and cost saving benefits, the adoption of ESCM is triggered by public pressures and its implementation is limited by organizational factors and strategic myopia.