Responsibilities, recession and the tourism sector: perspectives on CSR among low-fares airlines during the economic downturn in the United Kingdom

Abstract

Responsibility has featured prominently in recent discussions about tourism governance. Nevertheless, research into corporate social responsibility (CSR) among travel and tourism businesses is at a relatively early stage. This paper reports on external stakeholders’ perceptions of CSR among low-fares airlines (LFAs) in peripheral regions of the United Kingdom in late 2008; that is, during the current global economic downturn. LFAs, their business plans and their ability to contribute towards sustainable development has been the source of much public discourse and media scrutiny in the last decade. This paper does not set out to reopen that debate per se. Rather it contributes to a deeper understanding of CSR in the tourism sector by arguing for a more nuanced approach to external stakeholders, one which is also informed by primary empirical research from qualitative sources, and which is conceptually informed by the latest thinking from other sectors of economic activity. Important inter-regional variations exist in external stakeholders’ perceptions and valorisations of CSR, they are context-specific, and they are not static as their responses to the recent downturn reveal.