The responsible marketing of tourism: the case of Canadian Mountain Holidays

Heli-tourism represents one of the great dilemmas and conflicts between recreational enjoyment of the wilderness and the conservation of the fragile alpine and mountain areas where the activity takes place. The question of responsibility towards the environment is one, which tourism operators generally seem reluctant to accept but one operator that appears to have taken a proactive approach to environmental issues in mountain regions is heli-operator Canadian Mountain Holidays (CMH). This paper expands on the limited amount of research that exists on the complex relationship between tourism and the environment by applying a responsible marketing model to CMH. This model is grounded on previous literature in marketing, and strategic and environmental management. Interviews with key stakeholders, observational research, and content analysis of communication materials, were used to identify how near CMH is to finding a balance between responsible action and the communication of these activities. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.