The Marketing Support and Development Directorate and the Malta Tourism Authority marketing office in London, recently organised a one day seminar which focused on corporate social responsibility (CSR), aiming to bring to the fore current international issues and trends which will invariably affect the local industry. This particular seminar was targeted at the MICE sector in tourism.

Yasmin Razak from Conference and Incentive Travel, gave a presentation citing a perception study conducted by them. Malta, she said, is seen to have the potential to not only offer good quality conference and incentive travel but also a product which honours the values of corporate social responsibility. However this study revealed that there was more to be done to both promote Malta for MICE and CSR.

Corporate social responsibility incorporates a set of values and principles which simply put, aim to promote a tourism industry in which all who have an interest share a sense of responsibility towards the world they operate in. The main core values are twofold. The first set of values is to offer an ecologically viable and environmental friendly product. This can be achieved by introducing measures aimed at cutting energy consumption, reducing carbon emissions and recycling as much as possible.

The second set of values is to contribute in a valuable way towards the improvement of the communities in which stakeholders function. This can be achieved through charitable work and educational programmes, in such a way that the whole community benefits from the long term ripple effects of these programmes. Hugo Kimber, CEO of The Carbon Consultancy gave a presentation highlighting these concerns and what can be done to manage carbon emissions.

The seminar aimed to increase awareness within the local business community about CSR, as the issues taken into consideration have dramatically increased in importance over the last few years.

The industry is being encouraged to leave a minimal ecological footprint on the world and to support and strengthen the communities in which they operate. Four words could be taken as the underlying message of the CRS seminar: educate – reduce – re-use – recycle.