Title: Responsible tourism management as an integrated approach for enhancing the standards of living of local people in Egypt

Authors: Mohammed I. Eraqi

Addresses: Tourism Studies Department, Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, Fayoum University, University Quarter, 63514, Egypt

Abstract: Responsible tourism management (RSTM) strategy should be aligned to the tourism business sector strategy to be effective in improving the quality of life for locals. This research aims to investigate how responsible tourism management as an integrated approach can improve the level of sustainability in the Egyptian tourism to enhance the standards of living of local people in Egypt. The viewpoints of experts in tourism from different tourism companies, the Ministry of Tourism in Egypt, Tourism Development Authority (TDA) and Tourism Authority (TA) were surveyed. Statistical tests such as statistical means, SD, Qi² test, T. test and regression analysis have been used to examine the research findings. The research outcomes reveal that the tourism development policy needs to be more oriented by the principles of responsible tourism management to optimise the overall economic benefits at reasonable social cost for improving the quality of standards of living of Egyptian local people.

Keywords: responsible tourism management; RSTM; living standards; sustainability; local people; Egypt; sustainable development; quality of life; tourism policy; tourism development; economic benefits; social cost; local communities.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSOM.2014.057993

International Journal of Services and Operations Management, 2014 Vol.17 No.1, pp.17 - 37

Published online: 17 Jun 2014 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article