Certification- possibilities and challenges for obtaining sustainable tourism

Abstract: The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the possibilities and challenges of certification for obtaining sustainable tourism. On the basis of the purpose, I have designed two research questions. 1.Which are the possibilities of certification? 2.Which are the challenges of certification? My problem approach is descriptive and my aim with the thesis is to explain “how things are” at a certain time and situation. I have chosen do to a case-study on the Costa Rican certification for sustainable tourism. I have been doing interviews with managers of the hotels and guests staying at certified hotels in Costa Rica. I choose an intensive design to investigate a phenomenon deeply, which is to do interviews with few people from different hotels. My questionnaire is made up by mostly open questions, as in a qualitative approach. But I mixed it with some standardized questions as well. I use context knowledge from existing literature and research, and use it for my case- study. The thesis highlights the importance of future sustainable tourism achievements in order to minimal negative tourism impacts worldwide. Some businesses are being social and environmental responsible, others falsely claim to be it and some just doesn’t care. Certification has possibilities and challenges for obtaining sustainable tourism. Certification could be a future important strategy, when it comes to helping businesses to improve themselves. Going through a certification process is by the certified businesses educational and it enables manager to make decisions with confidence, even though they self don’t maintain enough knowledge. The study shows that most costumers don’t choose a certified hotel due to the certification. Instead motives for business to improve its operation by becoming certified should be promoted as an educational program and to improve the business functional dimension. According to Grönroos (2007) developing the functional dimension would add increasing value for customers and create an important competitive advantage. It is very important as many companies today provide customers with similar technical products. This thesis highlights that the customer’s awareness of certification are low but instead the total perceived quality at certified hotels are high. It can be assumed that certification can increase the value for costumers and therefore create competitive advantages for certified businesses.