Sustainability in Travel Agencies: A Study on Travel Agencies Operating in the Black Sea Region

Abstract

The main purpose of the research is to determine the attitudes and behaviors of travel agencies towards sustainability activities. The data of the research was collected from the agencies operating in the Black Sea Region of Turkey. In this context, 250 valid survey data were collected and descriptive analysis, explanatory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and mean value analyzes were performed. The results show that sustainability in travel agencies are realized in eight dimensions. These dimensions are named as follows: (i) improving service outcomes of agencies, (ii) cooperation with local stakeholders, and stakeholder selection (iii) ecological sensitivity in the production process of tour experience ecological sensitivity in the production of tour experience, (iv) relations with suppliers, (v) supplier preference, (vi) local cooperation and impact monitoring (vii) relationships with customers, (viii) supporting sustainability. However, it has been concluded that the most common dimension of agencies' practices within the scope of sustainability is relations with customers. Research is important in terms of determining attitudes and behaviours towards sustainability at the managerial level in the travel agencies, and its important in the context of pursuing the research in order to determine future planning and management strategies.