Responsible Consumption – Source of Competitive Advantages and Solution for Tourist Protection
Author:Gheorghe Epuran, Bianca Tescașiu, Raluca Dania Todor, Karin-Andreea Sasu and Nicoleta Cristache
JEL:M14, M31, M38
DOI:
Keywords:touristic guesthouses; tourist protection; competitive advantage; competition;
responsible consumption; perceived risk; the matrix of importance.
Abstract:
The recent preoccupations of national institutions and organizations and, especially of
European and global institutions, regarding the responsible consumption of raw materials,
resources and materials became more and more intense in the last years. In the same time,
they contribute to the creation of a mentality of equilibrium in consumption and among
consumers. With no connection with the area of activity, the XXIst century companies make
real efforts to obtain competitive advantages by a consequent implementation of social
responsibility, by assuring a responsible consumption in all the processes, and by protecting
the consumer interests and rights.
It became more and more frequent for the companies from tourism industry to apply the
principles of sustainable development and to follow a strategy of responsible consumption.
Their efforts are focused on providing different and unique experiences to contemporary
consumer. In this way, the responsible consumption becomes not only a competitive
advantage, but, also, an efficient way of informing the tourists and protecting their interests
and rights. Without having a well-determined “ideological motivation”, tourists become
more careful in responsible selection of services, depending on their degree of
sustainability. They choose those touristic services that have a big contribution at the
environment protection and preservation, respectively that integrate in a harmonious and
synergic way cultural, psycho-social and emotional considerations. The institutions that
regulate the touristic services supply contribute, also, at the careful monitoring of messages
submitted to tourists and the messages content.
To measure the way that the rural tourist guesthouses from Romania base their actions on
the responsible consumption of raw materials and resources in their strategies of
approaching the market and attracting tourists, in order to get sustainable competitive
advantages and to offer efficient solutions to protect the tourists interests, the authors did a
qualitative empirical research among the managers of these kind of accommodation units. Based on some matrix of importance considered dimensions of the responsible
consumption in the analyzed guesthouses, the authors attempt is fulfilled by the
development and emphasis of some strategies, which can increase the tourist safety and can
contribute to a proper strategy defining, if they are implemented in an adequate way.