Business Ethics In Hospitality: Cultural Tourism

Ethical Issues of Marketing in Maldives

Ethical issues in the marketing of the tourism of a place are a common aspect in many parts of the world. The report will focus on the ethical issues faced by Maldives in terms of promoting cultural tourism in the country. The sustainable development of tourism is an important aspect that is measured by the guidelines of Global Reporting Initiative which is a problem for the region in terms of promotion of marketing. It is seen that the there is an importance of socially responsible and conscious travel in the tourism of the Maldives. researches in this topic has found that Maldives is facing ethical issues in many forms of tourism such as slum tourism, tanatotourism, religious tourism, cultural heritage tourism, events tourism, ethnic tourism, etc (Kasemsap, 2017). All these forms of tourism can be categorised under cultural forms of tourism. The articles regarding the ethical dilemmas in cultural tourism has pointed out the fact that the behaviour of the non-cultural tourists towards the elements of the cultural tourism are not bearable by the cultural tourists who have come to visit Maldives. It is a notion that is following from the very past is the unethical doings of the non-cultural tourists are not tolerable to the cultural tourists. It is the result of the violence of the moral, responsible and sustainable tourism in the countries. The authentic human relationships are hampered due to the unethical approaches of the different types of visitors who are visiting Maldives (de-Miguel-Molina et al., 2014).

Comparison with Other Destinations

It can be said that the government of different countries of the world faces the ethical dilemmas in terms of the marketing of places. It is seen that the most of the countries are facing issues in the promotion of the cultural places. Mostly the religious areas and the cultural places that are known for their cultural heritage are not portraying the actual culture due to the unhealthy and unethical activities of the non-cultural tourists of the places. In many countries like Spain, Greece, Italy, etc. many places are famous for their cultural heritage and religious aspects. The young tourists are responsible for breaking the culture of the area by doing night parties, abusing people, doing unethical things, etc. that are not tolerable for the local residents of the place (Zubair, Bowen & Altinay, 2015). Apart from that, it can be seen that development of Tourism of Spain is becoming controversial to the cultural tourists and the local hoteliers and restaurant owners of the place. The local hotels are losing business due to the presence of the international hotels in the places. Apart from that, it can be said that the people are losing their business in the local markets that are not finding any profit in terms of the local products that are responsible for maintaining the Spanish culture of the region. Same kinds of issues are happening in the sustainable and responsible tourism of the places (Ponting, 2014).

Problems of Marketing in Terms of GRI

It can be pointed out the fact that the government of Maldives is facing issues in promoting the various places of Maldives especially in promoting the cultural tourism. As per the Global Reporting Initiative, the sustainable tourism in Maldives, the local people of Maldives are boycotting the tourists who come to visit different places of the country. The marketing of the cultural tourism of Maldives is an important issue that government will face in terms of the promotion. Tourism in Maldives is developed and it is responsible for contributing a significant amount of economy to the country. Maldives tourism is responsible for contributing one third of the total economy of Maldives (Windsor, 2015). Hence, the issues of promotion of the various places are essential in terms of increasing the awareness and ideas of many new places that are developed in the recent times. The local residents as well as many tourism organizations are boycotting the tourists who are not responsible enough to maintain the heritage and culture of the place. It is seen that many non-cultural tourists are doing things to the tourists’ areas of Maldives especially religious areas and other cultural areas of Maldives, which are unethical and hamper the heritage of the places. The differences of the places are the main reason of the cultural problems faced by the local residents as well as the cultural tourists of foreign countries to the various religious and cultural areas of the area. It directly affects the ethical aspects of the marketing and it hurts the sentiments of the different local people of Maldives. GRI of Maldives is not meeting the aspects of the different terms and conditions of the moral, responsible and sustainable tourism, of Maldives. The GRI initiatives of the tourism of Maldives has proven a failure in the maintaining the authentic relationship between the local residents, cultural tourists from other countries along with the non-cultural tourists of the region (Scheyvens & Hughes, 2015).

Marketing Methods in Terms of GRI

The marketing methods of the Maldives will follow the responsible and sustainable tourism by the government of Maldives. It can be said that the GRI must focus on formulating strategies that are responsible of the different types of marketing methods of the areas. The GRI initiatives of the Maldives Tourism must include the different types of activities that will initiate the moral, responsible and sustainable tourism of the place (Moorhouse, D'Cruze & Macdonald, 2017). It can be said that the sustainability of the tourism must be maintained in order to attract more customers from different parts of the world. The policies are to be framed in order to satisfy the needs of the local people and the cultural tourists of the area. The marketing of the region is people oriented i.e. cultural tourists of the region should be focused. The local needs of the market of Maldives should be focused in the minds of the consumers of the Maldives (Weaver & Jin, 2016).

References

de-Miguel-Molina, B., de-Miguel-Molina, M., & Rumiche-Sosa, M. E. (2014). Luxury sustainable tourism in Small Island Developing States surrounded by coral reefs. Ocean & Coastal Management, 98, 86-94.

Kasemsap, K. (2017). Mastering Sustainable Tourism and Rural Tourism in the Global Economy. In Tourism and Opportunities for Economic Development in Asia (pp. 94-117). IGI Global.

Moorhouse, T., D'Cruze, N. C., & Macdonald, D. W. (2017). Unethical use of wildlife in tourism: what's the problem, who is responsible, and what can be done?. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 25(4), 505-516.

Ponting, J. (2014). Comparing modes of surf tourism delivery in the Maldives. Annals of Tourism Research, 46, 163-165.

Scheyvens, R., & Hughes, E. (2015). Tourism and CSR in the Pacific. Tourism in Pacific Islands: Current Issues and Future Challenges, 48, 134.

Weaver, D. B., & Jin, X. (2016). Compassion as a neglected motivator for sustainable tourism. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 24(5), 657-672.

Windsor, D. (2015). Exotic tourism in very fragile locations. Sustainability in Hospitality: How Innovative Hotels are Transforming the Industry, 61.

Zubair, S., Bowen, D., & Altinay, L. (2015). Enclave resort tourism in Maldives: Destination development and resistance to change. CAUTHE 2015: Rising Tides and Sea Changes: Adaptation and Innovation in Tourism and Hospitality, 793.