Responsible Tourism Networking and CSR Premieres at ITB

Gopinath Parayil of The Blue Yonder and Sally Broom of Your Safe Planet, organisers of the networking event

This year, for the first time, the ITB Berlin Convention is organising a Corporate Social Responsibility Day for the tourism industry.

The trade show will present the first empirical survey on CSR and travel on 12th March including presentations throughout the ITB. The Planeterra Foundation (of GAP Adventures) is sponsor of the ITB CSR Day

The Blue Yonder Responsible Tourism networking event will be at 6pm on the 13th and will give an opportunity to small responsible tourism operators from around the world to network and pitch their products. The event is organised by The Blue Yonder, sponsored by Discover Oman and Eihab Travels and supported by VISION on Sustainable Tourism.

Full details at:
ResponsibleTourismNetworking
On the 12h, Erika Harms, Executive Director of Sustainable Development at the United Nations Foundation will speak about “Corporate Social Responsibility: From Nice-to-have to Need-to-have”. Afterwards, Fritz Pleitgen, General Manger of Ruhr.2010 GmbH, will deliver a lecture on “Social Inclusion, a competitive advantage for tourism destinations“, giving insights into the plans and goals of the Ruhrgebiet.

Roland Gaßner of GfK will then present the survey “Consumer price awareness concerning Corporate Social Responsibility“ exclusively at ITB Berlin. The GfK survey illustrates CSR from the customer’s point of view, how much customers are willing to pay, and what CSR measures can be taken to improve corporate efficiency in the long term.

Three panel discussions are scheduled for the afternoon. Experts will point out successful examples of corporate social responsibility in other sectors, and the impact they could have on the tourism industry.

The “CSR at Work“ panel will examine examples of best practice in international tourism. Following an introductory paper by David Ruetz, Senior Manager ITB Berlin, a discussion round featuring leading figures will debate what objectives corporate concepts are pursuing and the impact of CSR concepts on the industry overall.

Under the title of “Challenges & Solutions“ the TÜV Rheinland Group and representatives of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), tour operators and hotels will debate issues concerning the practical and systemic aspects of implementing CSR.

A wealth of fascinating lectures on the subject of “CSR in Tourism“ will also be taking place in Halls 4.1 and 5.1 as well as in the ICC. All events on the subject of CSR at ITB Berlin 2009 are presented in a programme which is available on the exhibition grounds.

Valere Tjolle