Safeguarding natural environment in tourism—And the phenomenon of greenwashing

Viktória Kundi; Ildikó Ernszt

doi:10.24294/jipd.v8i8.5000

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Safeguarding natural environment in tourism—And the phenomenon of greenwashing

Viktória Kundi

Ildikó Ernszt

Journal of Infrastructure Policy and Development 2024, 8(8), 5000; https://doi.org/10.24294/jipd.v8i8.5000

Submitted：05 Mar 2024

Accepted：12 Apr 2024

Published：13 Aug 2024

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Abstract

One of the important elements of corporate communication nowadays is to draw attention to the environmentally friendly and sustainable aspects of products and services. However, companies are profit-oriented, their goal is to win consumers and they are not afraid to get more passengers and more income by using green, often completely empty phrases. Despite the topicality of the subject, the need to examine the legal environment is indisputable. From a methodological point of view, this document presents a non-exhaustive list of the most relevant legislation and recommendations. This is also a novelty of the study, as the topic has not been examined from the legislative framework before. The purpose of our article is to present the phenomenon in the field of tourism, to shed light on the difficulties of the regulatory background of greenwashing. Many legal rules have been adopted to protect and safeguard the natural environment. In this article, we will look at some of the legal solutions and documents that attempt to serve this noble cause. All the international, EU and national standards that protect the environment are also relevant in the field of tourism. However, we will not go into these in this article. We will highlight a few standards which we believe may be of particular relevance in the context of tourism. Our selection is rather subjective, as there is no need for it to be exhaustive given the volume and complexity of the legislation, especially as all environmental elements are essential for tourism. As a result of the research, it can be concluded that despite the increasingly sophisticated regulation of the legal environment, there is evidence that companies are taking advantage of the opportunities offered by communication and consumer confidence, often through ignorance, to commit greenwashing.

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References

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