Journal of Cleaner Production 16 (2008) 1589–1599

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Cleaner Production

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro

A supply chain management approach for investigating the role

of tour operators on sustainable tourism: the case of TUI
Marianna Sigala*
Department of Business Administration, University of the Aegean, Michalon 8, Chios, GR-82100, Greece

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Increasing awareness and demands in sustainable tourism require firms to implement sustainable
Available online 13 June 2008 Supply Chain Management policies (SCM). Tour operators can significantly influence and promote
sustainable tourism development due to their central distribution role and capability to direct tourists to
destinations and suppliers. Despite the emerging role of SCM and sustainability, the applicability of SCM
Keywords: practices in tourism is not studied yet. This paper adapts and illustrates the value of using SCM concepts
Supply chain management
within tour operators’ business for integrating sustainability into tourism supply chains. After reviewing
Sustainability
the literature in SC management and collaboration, a model for implementing sustainable SCM is pro-
Tourism
Tour operators
posed and its applicability is shown by analysing the case of TUI. The implications of the model and the
case study are discussed.
Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction contributes to employment and economic development [3,4,12], it

Intense competition forces companies to cluster and cooperate
in supply chains (SC) for enhancing agility, flexibility and perfor-
mance [1,2]. Increasing tourists’ concerns on environmental issues
also force companies to adopt sustainable supply chain manage-
ment (SCM) strategies [3,4]. Sustainability includes the achieve-
ment of community wide good socio-economic, cultural and
environmental long-term impacts, while SCM covers all aspects of
a product’s life such as raw materials, processing, manufacturing,
distribution, retailing, customer use and final product disposal.
Being part of a SC, firms realize that long-term sustainability is not
a firm, but rather a SC issue involving all downstream and upstream
players. Research in green SCM is also booming in the academic
circles [5,6]. The DIY retailer, B&Q, is a good example of sustainable
SCM [7] addressing the environmental and social impacts of all its
40,000 products, as products’ sustainability includes evaluation of
all suppliers’ tiers right back to source and internal operations
product’s ethics (e.g. employment and working conditions).
Tourism is not an exception, as firms increasingly realise that:
(a) the multidimensionality and variety of tourism packages (e.g.
transportation, accommodation, events) necessitates inter-firm
collaboration [8]; and (b) collaborating with competitors, suppliers,
customers, and/or firms in the SC is an imperative for surviving and
developing sustainable destinations [9,10,11]. Although, tourism
* Tel.: þ30 2310 801615; fax: þ30 2310 801625.
E-mail address: m.sigala@aegean.gr
also leads to negative environmental and social impacts such as:
resource consumption, pollution and wastes generation [12,13],
disruption or destruction of local cultures, use of drugs and pros-
titution [12,13]. Sustainable tourism becomes a critical aspect,
while their implementation is heavily influenced by tour operators,
because they can: (a) greatly influence the volume and direction of
tourism flows; (b) integrate and affect attitudes and practices of
numerous tourism suppliers and stakeholders; and (c) lead to
widespread benefits due to their large size. Tour operators also
need to understand their role and responsibility for tourism sus-
tainability, because of the severe impacts assigned to their core
business (mass tourism), i.e. the assembly of standardised low-cost
tourism packages appealing to tourists’ masses travelling to specific
well-known geographical areas. Research shows e.g. Refs. [14–16]
that mass tourism should be adjusted to integrate and support
sustainability, since it is better to address its impacts rather than
simply transfer them elsewhere. Although tour operators’ impor-
tant role for promoting sustainability is recognised e.g. Refs.
[3,14,17], none effort exists so far investigating how tour operators
can apply SCM for integrating and implementing socio-economic,
cultural and environmental sustainable policies in SC.
By adopting a case study methodology, this study addresses this
gap by proposing and analysing the applicability of a sustainable
tourism SCM framework from tour operators’ perspective. The
paper initially critically reviewed the literature for developing
a theoretical framework and using it for collecting and analysing
findings. The theoretical underpinnings of the study are debated in
the first sections, whereby, the importance and the tools for

0959-6526/$ – see front matter Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2008.04.021
1590 M. Sigala / Journal of Cleaner Production 16 (2008) 1589–1599
building of collaborative SCM are analysed and synthesised into
a SCM framework. The validity and reliability of data collection are
justified in the methodology section, while the framework’s
applicability is shown by analysing the SC sustainable practices of
TUI (a mega tour operator). Its theoretical and research implications
are also discussed.
2. Sustainable SCM in tourism: a tour operators’ perspective
2.1. (Sustainable) SCM: concept and aims
SCM refers either to a process-oriented management approach
to sourcing, producing and delivering goods/services to end-
consumers or in a broader meaning to the coordination of the
various actors of the same SC [1]. SC members participate in
coordinating activities spanning firms’ boundaries for fulfilling
end-customer needs and developing agile SC [19]. By promoting
intra- and inter-firm integration, SCM requires firms to cooperate
for increasing overall SC performance, total business-process
excellence and end-consumer satisfaction, rather than competing
for a bigger profit share. SCM represents a new way of managing
the business and building networks of long-lasting relationships
with SC stakeholders [1,2].
For greening the SC, SCM concepts are applied. Hervani et al. [6]
found that several authors have applied sustainable issues in
different SC activities such as product design, process design, and
procurement. Seuring and Müller [20] showed that sustainable
SCM research emphasises the need to incorporate the sustainability
of all SC stages and of final products through their lifecycle and
development processes. In this study, sustainable SCM is defined
similarly, while considering the following tourism services issues
(rather than only manufacturing); sustainable SCM: (a) refers to all
SCM stages, but when applying SCM to tourism, one has to recog-
nise that tourism production and consumption take place simul-
taneously at the destination; (b) refers to the natural environment,
socio-cultural and economic environment of tourism; and (c)
encompasses a reversed logistics process creating feedback, con-
tinuous learning and improvement processes. Sustainable SCM
depends on the co-development of SC activities coordinated and
shared amongst all SC entities. Table 1 summarises literature e.g.
Refs. [3,11,13] for illustrating the above conceptualisation and
practice of sustainable SCM in tourism.
2.2. Sustainable SCM in tourism: tour operators’ role
Despite the importance of collaboration for achieving tourism
sustainability [3,8,9,10,21] and the demonstrated applicability of
SCM in tourism [2], research fails to recognise SCM’s role for further
analysing sustainability issues. The tourism SC (Fig. 1) comprises
the suppliers of all the goods and services creating and delivering
tourism products as well as tourists, since they actively participate
in tourism services’ production and consumption (co-producers).
The major SC activity of tour operators is the bulk purchase of
products (e.g. accommodation, transportation, excursions), their
bundling in tour packages and the later’s distribution–sale in
a single package price that is lower than the prices’ sum of the
package’s products. By linking demand and supply, tour operators
play a crucial role in promoting, distributing products and facili-
tating information sharing in tourism SC. These tour operators’
activities vitally retain the survival of small and medium tourism
suppliers (SMTS), since, due to their limited resources and com-
petencies, SMTS cannot promote and distribute their products. At
destinations, tour operators can also promote the use of different
local products and companies and so, support economic de-
velopment, for example, by influencing their distribution channels
(e.g. travel agents and reps) to fairly distribute tourists to several
regions and local suppliers [17]. Tour operators can influence the
dissemination (both flow and balance of direction) of tourists’ visits
and activities amongst both local tourism enterprises and in-
ternational destination geographies and spaces [3]. They can also
promote and trigger suppliers’ actions towards the implementation
and co-development of sustainable tourism SCM practices, e.g. by
contracting and including in tour packages, only suppliers com-
plying with sustainable standards [14,23]. As travellers are also SC
players, tour operators’ local guides and representatives should also
educate and make travellers aware about the environmental and
socio-cultural sensitivities of the destination, the potential impacts
of their consumption, and the preventive measures and behaviour
they should adopt for avoiding negative impacts. Customers’
training, establishment and enforcement of tourists’ behaviour
code of conducts are also a tour operators’ sustainable practice [3].
Generally, tour operators can influence the choice of travellers, the
strategies of SC members and the development plans of
destinations.
Overall, sustainability in tourism is a multi-sectoral (hotels,
restaurant, transport companies, etc.) and a multi-disciplinary
(economic, social and environmental) concept. In other words, tour
operators’ package sustainability depends on the performance of all
the products, suppliers and links within the tourism SC. Recent data
[22] also show that travellers’ satisfaction substantially depend on
their service quality perceptions of all aspects of their holiday (e.g.
quality of see water, destination infrastructure and environmental
resources). To increase travellers’ satisfaction, tour operators have
a strong incentive to influence, monitor, control and support the
sustainable quality development of the totality of their tour pack-
ages’ components.
Tour operators play a focal role for tourism sustainable SCM, as
according to Seuring and Müller [20] focal companies are the
companies governing, ruling a SC and/or coming in contact with
customers. In playing a focal role, tour operators should organise
multi-stakeholder dialogues for bringing together the different
views and interests of local authorities, the private sector, civil
society and NGOs. Hence, tour operators’ role can be exercised
through relationships’ building aiming to collaboratively create
a common voice and sustainable targets [17,23].
3. Theoretical framework
3.1. Implementing sustainable SCM and critical success
factors for SC collaboration
The SCM model of Cigolini et al. [24] was adopted for developing
the theoretical framework and identifying the critical success fac-
tors for implementing sustainable SCM in tourism. This is because
Cigolini et al. [24] have recently developed and tested a SCM model
that not only defines SCM, but it also identifies the constructs of
successful SCM implementation. Since, sustainable SCM builds on
SCM, and then the former also needs to be based on the same
building blocks as the later. Cigolini et al. [24] identified two cate-
gories of SCM-related actions: SC techniques and SC tools. SC
techniques are the main building blocks defining the SC’s main hard
framework and control system, and shaping its configuration,
management rules and performance. SC techniques are related
either to the configuration of a SC (e.g. warehouses, retailing system
and redesigning techniques) or to its management (e.g. JIT) and
their main aim is the achievement of cross-functional activities and
process alignment amongst SC members. SC tools are relation-
specific assets or investments (e.g. an information system) enabling
the implementation and support of one or more SC technique(s). In
this vein, sustainable SCM is considered as a SCM technique and
aim based on which the tourism SC players need to integrate,
coordinate and direct their SCM practices, and the next section
 M. Sigala / Journal of Cleaner Production 16 (2008) 1589–1599 1591

Table 1
Definition and examples of TUI’s sustainable SCM

Stage of SC Activity Definition Example of TUI

Sustainable Sustainable Design and creation of a Selection and use of certified companies
SCM in tourism product tour package, e.g. Step-wise continuous certification of TUI firms. Until 2003, 28%
design B Inclusion and of all TUI Group turnover was generated by certified companies
selection of supplier (in 2002, it was 2%), while the Group’s aim for 2006 is to increase
this percentage to 35%. TUI companies are free to chose whether
B Design of the aims
they are certified in accordance with ISO standards or in
and nature of accordance with EMAS – the environmental audit of the EU
tourists’ activities at
destinations
Sustainable Selection, contracting TUI Group’s wide sustainability activities reflect social dialogue
procurement with and management of and cooperation with multiple tourism stakeholders and entities
suppliers and stakeholders of tour Priority selection and contracting with suppliers abiding to TUI’s
package environmental schemes and achieve annual sustainable targets
Sustainable As service production Development of environmental product declaration schemes
production takes place in the consumption place, it (EPDS) for the development of tourism products. For example,
involves producers, TUI’s criteria for the design of destination excursions include:
suppliers, consumers and B conceptional development in coordination with local
servicescape and so, sustainable experts and authorities;
sustainable management
B support for local cooperation practices
refers to:
B use of sustainable means of transport
B tourism
B increasing awareness of natural and cultural assets
destinations
B active involvement of tourists
B all suppliers’
Staff training and education (through seminars, videos, and in-house
and internal business making management schemes); training guide for tour guides and
up the tour assignment of a ‘‘TUI environmental ambassador’’ responsible for
package destination sustainability issues.
B tourists Exemplary consumer information on environmental aspects
Sustainable Sustainable management Environmental management reflected in areas ranging from
delivery– of tourist distribution brochure production, travel agencies incentive schemes and
distribution chain, e.g. travel agents priorities, programme planning, outward and return travel
Sustainable Feedback performance B Executive board responsibility for environmental performance
reverse measurement management, transparency and stakeholder dialogue
logistics mechanisms
B Worldwide environmental reporting of hotels, airlines,
destinations, shareholdings and at every step of the value
chain with a continuous improvement process

critically reviews the literature for identifying the SCM tools and
critical success factors for implementing the former.
Cigolini et al. [24] identified three SC tools namely information
tools, coordination and control tools, and organisation tools.
Information tools (e.g. online connections, automated identification
systems such as barcodes and shared databases) are utilized to
gather, analyze, transmit and share data, regarding customer data,
end-to-end inventory status and locations, order status, costs
related data and performance status. Data sharing ensures that
participating members will be able to make use of shared in-
formation to help design and deliver products that fulfil customer
requirements more quickly and effectively. Visibility of perfor-
mance metrics enables members to address production and quality
issues more quickly permitting more agile demand planning. The
importance of information is also highlighted in sustainable SCM
literature; Seuring and Müller [20] reported that insufficient or
missing SC communication is a major barrier to sustainable SCM
implementation.
Coordination and control tools are utilized to monitor and in-
fluence the decision-making process, by measuring performances
and setting rewards based on the achievement of certain results. A
SC performance metric system, including a set of parameters that
fully describe the performance metrics of both the whole SC (as
perceived by end customers, and of each actor of the chain), is
a necessity for ensuring trustworthiness and accountability [25].
Hence, instead of functional-cost-oriented metrics that are often
achieved at the expense of another member, integrated metrics are
required. However, research in SCM performance measurement has

Tourism
Demand

Providers of tourism infrastructure Tour operators Leisure

Hotels, resorts, golf courts, restaurants, travelers
museums and other tourism related Travel Agents
Conference
suppliers
travelers
Other tourism intermediaries
such as water and power supply, road etc
such as internet websites,
infrastructure airports etc
destination organizations etc

Direction of money, documents, and

information flows

Fig. 1. Tourism supply chain.

1592 M. Sigala / Journal of Cleaner Production 16 (2008) 1589–1599
been limited, while reported performance metrics are focused in-
ternally and do not span across multiple SC members [6,26]. Her-
vani et al. [6] summarised the problems of performance
measurement in a SC inter-organisational environment as follows:
non-standardised data, poor technological integration, geo-
graphical and cultural differences, differences in organisational
policy, lack of agreed metrics, or poor understanding of the need for
inter-organisational performance measurement, and complexity
due to numerous tiers and partners. Members’ commitment to
continuous improvement and learning is dependent on shared
performance metrics [27–29]. Thus, performance metrics should be
continually shared to identify SC bottlenecks in time and enable
continuous and accelerating SC performance improvements.
The importance of communicating performance metrics is also
highlighted in the sustainable SCM literature. Many authors
[20,30,31] emphasised the need to monitor and communicate
evaluation metrics through reports, and enforce their achievement
through sanctions. Hervani et al. [6] added that performance
measurement in green SCM is also needed for regulatory, market-
ing and competitiveness issues, and its basic purposes include:
external reporting (economic rent) – which may also be legally
mandatory, internal control (managing the business better), and
internal analysis (understanding the business better and continu-
ous improvement). The literature [32,33] also advocates the use of
environmental management systems by SC players for enforcing
the SC adoption of minimum required sustainable performance
standards. Authors [3,20,34,35] highlighted the need to enhance
performance metrics by incorporating socio-cultural and environ-
mental criteria in suppliers’ evaluation schemes and selection.
Gunasekaran et al. [36] and Brewer and Speh [37] summarised
the main issues for developing a SC performance management as
follows. First, information sharing, acquisition and monitoring are
important for overcoming mistrust. Financial and non-financial SC
wide metrics need to be used and aligned with internal perfor-
mance systems. This is crucial as lack of alignment between SC and
internal performance metrics can lead to misunderstandings,
conflicts and failures of targets, since managers prefer internal
performance measures they can control. Thirdly, as different SC
entities may have different goals and thus, prefer different metrics,
SC wide organisation and coordination is required to develop
commonly agreed goals and standardised performance metrics
based on which the performance of each SC entity would be
measured and improved. In determining SC wide performance
metrics, SC players also need to co-agree on who is the SC
stakeholder and customer whose value needs to be linked with
sustainable performance. The links between sustainable socio-
environmental metrics and economic performance metrics need to
be made explicit and shown [6,20]. Finally, an information system is
required for gathering and disseminating performance information
amongst all SC players.
Information sharing is the starting point for any SC collabora-
tion, as it aims to capture and disseminate timely and relevant in-
formation to enable decision-makers to plan and control SC
operations, while by including performance metrics, information
sharing also enables SC continuous improvement.
Organisation tools are needed to support cross-firm communi-
cation and coordination. Cigolini et al. [24] considered ‘‘interface
managers’’ as a key organisational tool facilitating data trans-
mission, supporting established processes, new project initiation
and tight coordination. Interface units should be cross-functional
and at all managerial levels (i.e. senior, middle and operational
level). Hervani et al. [6] highlighted the importance of three
organisational capabilities for implementing a green SC perfor-
mance measurement system: organisational resources and capac-
ities (e.g. financial and knowledge resources, organisational
structure, staff training and long-term orientation in sustainable
issues, firm relations with external stakeholders, status of sus-
tainable issues in company’s strategy and culture); organisational
innovativeness (i.e. firm’s previous commitment and track record in
implementing advanced organisational practices, e.g. TQM); and
organisational monitoring (methods for measuring, analysing and
monitoring performance in key dimensions). Seuring and Müller
[20] found inter-firm communication, training and performance
evaluation (on economic and social and environmental targets) of
purchasing and supplier’s staff as important factors for achieving SC
sustainability. For achieving SC environmental innovation, Greffen
and Rothenberg [38] highlighted the importance of building,
exploiting and using organisational networks going beyond com-
pany’s boundaries and involving external stakeholders, as the latter
bring competencies and knowledge not existing in a single
company.
Several other authors [39] have identified similar tools for
implementing SCM. Simatupang and Sridharan [40] also identified
three SC enablers: information sharing, decision synchronisation,
and incentive alignment. Information sharing refers to the ability to
see private data in partners’ systems and monitor the progress of
products as they pass through SC stages. Information exchange has
been widely accepted as an indispensable SC tool e.g. Refs. [41–43].
Shore and Venkatachalam [44] revealed that information sharing
capabilities require both hard (i.e. technology systems) and soft (i.e.
trust, openness, and mutual benefits) factors all contributing to the
long-term network stability [45,46]. Decision synchronisation is
the ability to orchestrate decisions at different managerial levels
and time horizons for pursuing SC common goals [47]. It covers
aligning strategic objectives, policies and metrics amongst SC
members (operational decisions), synchronizing mutual improve-
ments (tactical decisions) and synchronizing SC planning and
execution (strategic decisions). Incentive alignment refers to the
process of sharing costs, risks and benefits amongst SC members
[40], and it is considered as a vital factor, as it motivates members to
act in a manner consistent with the mutual SC strategic objectives.
Compensation fairness also ensures that aligned incentives moti-
vate members to share equitable loads and benefits resulting from
collaborative efforts.
3.2. Case study’s theoretical framework
In summarising the previous literature, it is argued that col-
laboration in SCM requires three major factors [40]: (a) information
sharing; (b) decision synchronisation; and (c) incentive alignment.
These factors were used for developing a SC collaboration index,
whose reliability and validity were recently proved in Ref. [48] and
it is useful here because: (a) its items can be tailored to any
relationship to gauge the levels of collaboration for any common SC
practice; (b) it can be used for identifying gaps that need to be
eliminated; (c) it can be used for continuous SC performance
improvement, as findings showed a relationship between its con-
structs and operational performance; and (d) it includes factors and
issues that have also been reported as critical support factors for
implementing sustainable SCM. Because of these, Simatupang and
Sridharan [40,48] collaborative SC model and index were adapted
in this study for identifying and analysing the processes, roles and
practices that tour operators can develop for achieving sustain-
ability tourism SC. The conceptualisation and analysis of the three
collaborative SC constructs is presented in the previous section,
while Fig. 2 illustrates their interconnections.
4. Research methodology
This paper aimed to illustrate the usefulness and applicability of
SCM concepts for implementing sustainable SCM through the focal
SC role of tour operators. A case study methodology was adopted
 M. Sigala / Journal of Cleaner Production 16 (2008) 1589–1599 1593

Motivates to reveal the human and natural resources that will be needed in the future’
Specifies Information sharing truthful information [16]. The sustainability policy of TUI is based on the long-term
information needs
planning projections for a fair, open, partnership-based and
Facilitates visibility Facilitates fair responsible configuration and harmonisation process for tourism
Justifies compensation development in the sense of economic yield, environmental com-
aligned incentives patibility and social cohesion. The organisation’s policy, culture and
Decision synchronization Incentive alignment
commitment to sustainable SCM are demonstrated in the groups’
Motivates to make
joint decision numerous sustainable practices spanning all SC stages (Table 1). TUI
adopts two strategies for achieving sustainable SCM [20]: (1)
Fig. 2. Enablers of SCM (adopted from Simatupang and Sridharan, 2004). avoiding risks from global SC by ensuring and influencing the
sustainable performance of all tourism suppliers and stakeholders
that TUI incorporates into each product and are involved in its SC;
for demonstrating through industry experience how a large tour
and (2) practicing SCM for sustainable products by monitoring the
operator, TUI, applies SCM for implementing sustainable SCM,
lifecycle development and sustainable requirements of its products.
aiming for theory testing and potential enhancement. TUI is
These strategies are regarded as complementary and supporting
selected because TUI is widely recognised as a leading tour operator
[20] and findings reinforce this.
having a strong commitment in sustainability (e.g. the German
According to Refs. [32,33] to enforce use and monitoring of
Manager Magazin’s Good Company Ranking 2006 listed TUI as
performance sustainability standards, TUI gives preference to the
having the best environmental management in a European com-
ISO 14001, because this is the globally valid, recognised and
parison survey) and so, the case study also reveals best practices
established standard. Being a global service company, ISO is
from an industry leader that others can learn. Case study research is
beneficial not only for TUI’s suppliers and subsidiaries (which are
also deemed as a good methodology for conducting research into
globally dispersed), but also for its global customers as, ISO
(sustainable) SCM field [18], because it enables data collection from
guarantees direct international comparability and benchmarking.
different and several SC stages, which is also achieved here.
In addition, numerous TUI subsidiaries have also established their
Case studies in sustainable SCM have been accused [18] for
own environmental codes of practice, policies or corporate
lacking theoretical underpinning, methodological rigor and so,
guidelines focusing on the following three areas: being a re-
data reliability and validity. To address these, the paper first crit-
sponsible business (internal sustainable management); being
ically reviewed and synthesised the relevant literature in the field
a good neighbour (external network sustainable management and
of SCM and sustainable SCM with the aim to develop a theoretical
collaboration, e.g. local communities, staff, tourists, authorities);
framework, which in turn was used for gathering and analysing
and protect holiday destinations (destination sustainable man-
findings. Content validity was enhanced by discussing theoretical
agement). This wide range of initiatives is incorporated within
models and findings with field experts at conferences. Findings’
a Group-wide framework by TUI’s voluntary commitment, while
reliability and validity were ensured by gathering and validating
there is also great cooperation amongst TUI’s subsidiaries for
data from multiple sources located at different countries and SC
jointly developing environmental programmes and schemes. For
stages.
example, the in-house ‘‘EcoResort’’ quality label was cocreated
The following data collection methods were used: semi-struc-
between TUI Hotels & Resorts and TUI’s Group Corporate Envi-
tured interviews with TUI staff (a person working for a TUI travel
ronmental Management.
agent in Greece and another working at the Environmental Man-
TUI’s commitment to enable foster and support environmental
agement department of TUI in Germany); interviews were struc-
information sharing and dialogue within its corporation and SC is
tured based on the three factors of the theoretical framework;
illustrated via the establishment of TUI Environmental Network
identification of company’s documentation including website
(TEN!) that promotes in-depth stakeholder dialogue (Fig. 3). TEN!
information, annual corporate environmental reports, information
was formed because effective environmental protection is only
and training material about sustainability included in the TUI staff
possible when everyone is pulling in the same direction. TEN!
Intranet portal; and open interviews with one Grecotel manage-
extends beyond the organisation’s borders and integrates staff and
ment staff (a Greek hotel chain partially owned by TUI), with the
company departments of all hierarchy levels with international
managers of two independent hotels in Greece contracting with
affiliates, contractual and external partners, authorities, policy
TUI and with one TUI rep working on a Greek island; open
makers and associations with the aim to promote networking,
interviews aimed to cross-check the reality of the found TUI sus-
dialogue and cooperation. The value chain networking configura-
tainability activities. Validated data were analysed using a content
tion of TEN! (Fig. 4) also illustrates TUI’s aim to integrate and apply
methodology by grouping findings based on the three factors of the
sustainable management along the whole tourism SC by linking up
framework.
actively involved TUI staff from different departments and at all
levels of the tourism SC.
5. Sustainable SCM in tourism: the TUI case study
5.2. Information gathering and sharing-reporting
Sustainability integration into a tour operator’s SC requires the
establishment of a coherent company policy and a performance Effective information gathering, sharing and dissemination
management system that set clear targets and actions for eco- require an initial establishment and commitment to a sustainabil-
nomic, environmental and social performance [3,12,17]. By using ity policy and action plan. All SC members need to commit re-
the above framework, this section demonstrates how TUI uses its sources and time for achieving sustainability policy and integrating
focal role for achieving sustainable SCM in tourism SC. it in their existing management systems [20,38,43]. Literature
[36,37] also shows that all tourism suppliers need to co-agree and
5.1. TUI’s sustainable SCM practices break down the sustainable policy and metrics in certain action-
able sustainable goals, whose current and future performance
Sustainable development for business means ‘adopting business levels-metrics achieved by all tourism suppliers need to be traced
strategies and activities that meet the needs of the enterprise and and monitored. An information sharing and gathering process
its stakeholders today while protecting, sustaining, and enhancing should include [23]: (1) a baseline assessment of tourism service
1594 M. Sigala / Journal of Cleaner Production 16 (2008) 1589–1599
Fig. 3. TUI Environmental Network (TEN!).
suppliers; (2) a system for monitoring and reporting on progress (as
measured against the initial baseline); and (3) information gath-
ering and dissemination systems and procedures.
5.2.1. Information communication and coordination
In the case of TUI, environmental monitoring, analysis and
dissemination for the development of common actions are at the
core of its sustainable corporate policy. Controlling the standards
involves a multi-phase environmental monitoring system, which is
optimised by a Continuous Improvement Process (CIP). To achieve
reporting and information sharing, IT solutions, organisational
structure (including creation of departments’ functions and as-
signment of roles to responsible staff), and systems to standardise
the gathering of environmental indices are developed and prepared
for Group-wide application. Environmental reporting is an integral
part of in-Group reporting, Group financial information, public
relations work and the continuous development of TUI’s environ-
mental strategy.
Concerning the organisational structure enabling environmen-
tal performance monitoring and continuous improvement, TUI
Group’s Corporate Environmental Management is assigned as
a core coordination platform of environmental activities re-
sponsible for co-operating with the environmental officers that are
established in each company of the Group. The Corporate Envi-
ronment Management is also responsible for promoting in-depth
stakeholder dialogues through the TUI Environmental Network
(TEN!). Corporate Environment Management not only benefits by
acquiring and sharing expertise and knowledge outside TUI’s
networks [38], but also by aligning its economic and environmental
goals with the enhancement of TUI shareholders’ and stakeholders’
value [27,28,30,31]. Overall, it plays a major strategic and opera-
tional role by assisting strategically TUI’s Corporate centres and by
advising environmental coordinators of the Group’s companies on
the operating side of the business. Hence, this department’s role is
regarded as the ‘interface manager’ [24] enabling coordination and
communication within TUI companies, its subsidiaries and TUI’s
external network of tourism stakeholders.
To support achievement of sustainable targets at local–opera-
tional level (i.e. at each SC stage), environmental coordinators
and environmental officers are established at each TUI subsidiary
and/or contracted company. These are empowered to act in-
dependently within their source markets guided by the economic,
social and environmental policy frameworks. TUI’s Environmental
Management supports local officers by providing advice and
coordination.
5.2.2. Performance metrics: development and use
The central Environmental Management department annually
surveys and analyses the environmental performance of TUI af-
filiated companies (e.g. hotels, airlines, travel agents, travel
guides, etc.) on the basis of standard Group-wide criteria (Table 2)
that consider various references and socio-cultural criteria in-
cluding the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and OECD guidelines,
the requirements of financial markets (non-financial aspects), of
sustainability experts within the scientific community and of
consulting companies. Thus, TUI’s performance criteria and met-
rics include indicators in all three areas (social, economic and
environmental), while they are cooperatively established by
achieving agreement and understanding of several stakeholders
[6,20,36,37].
The monitoring questionnaire covers aspects ranging from en-
vironmental policy, environmental risks and preventative measures,
to certification and practical environmental protection measures
(Table 3). The environmental checklists help control the imple-
mentation of sustainable measures by individual hoteliers, hotel
chains, airlines, travel agents as well as the whole tourism sector in
holiday regions. Therefore, in addition to compiling all environ-
mentally relevant information at a Group level, systematic envi-
ronmental monitoring also gives an important boost to improve the
environmental performance of all TUI affiliated companies within
the context of the Continuous Improvement Process (CIP).
TUI affiliated companies also accept their social responsibility
for sustainable social development, nature and environmental
protection. Their endeavours to carry out their business in an
 M. Sigala / Journal of Cleaner Production 16 (2008) 1589–1599 1595

Fig. 4. TUI Environmental Network (TEN!) integrating TUI Group’s business along the supply chain.

environmentally and socially compatible way range from dialogue
with various interest groups to active involvement in several
associations and initiatives, staff training on sustainability and
provision of educational scholarship to staff and their dependent
family members. Fig. 5 illustrates the complexity, multi-
stakeholder and multi-dimensional (economic, socio-cultural,
environmental) perspectives of sustainability reporting of TUI
Group, as it involves internal and external environmental net-
working within TUI’s Corporate Centre and the Group’s companies
found in all SC stages.
Standardised Group-wide reporting is currently planned for
2006, however, standard metrics used in future activities need to
1596 M. Sigala / Journal of Cleaner Production 16 (2008) 1589–1599
Table 2
Environmental criteria reporting (2005) of TUI Group companies
1. Organisation
Environmental policy
B quality in the holiday regions, nominated staff from TUI Service and
Statutory compliance/legal compliance
B incoming agencies question local authorities, environmental
B Environmental risk factors
B Environmental organisation
B Certified environmental management systems
2. Activities in 2005
B Environmental impacts of business operations
B Environmentally-friendly business practices/operations
B Innovation, conserving resources, reducing emissions and climate
protection:
B Conservation of species and biodiversity
B Memberships, cooperation projects
B Environmental communication
B Expenditure in 2005
B Savings and other benefits in 2005
3. Environmental objectives for business year 2006 and beyond
4. Any other relevant information
Source: http://tip.tui.com.
address the following inhibitor factors: different business models of
TUI companies (e.g. hotels and airlines) which inhibit metrics’
comparability; many tourism companies (particularly small with
limited financial and knowledge resources) are not owned by TUI
Group and so, collection and reporting of metrics are difficult; the
same holds for several external contractors; the existence of
different monitoring systems, regulations and metrics in different
destination countries; and the economic and workforce constraints
that make it difficult to convince partners, suppliers and contrac-
tors of the need to engage in time-consuming recording of envi-
ronmental performance indicators. Findings confirm theoretical
claims arguing the difficulty in defining appropriate metrics SC
wide performance and in reaching SC agreement and application.
To overcome some of these barriers, it is argued that governments
should cutback in bureaucracy and reduce unnecessary over-
regulation to avoid location disadvantages in an international
competitive marketplace [3].
Table 3
Media and channels for external reporting
B the Environmental Chapter in the TUI AG Annual Report
B the TUI Intranet Portal (TIP) featuring a ‘‘document centre’’ and
‘‘Experts corner’’ for peer learning and knowledge exchange
B the Environmental Coordinators’ Conference
B The ‘‘TUI Times’’ staff newspaper
B Company wide e-mail based Environment Newsletter three times a year
B the internet: www.tui-environment.com
B the Group Environmental Reporting
B TUI AG has been registered at the independent internet platform
www.sustainable-investment.org since December 2003. This website
was developed under the auspices of UNEP to improve transparency for
sustainable investment in Europe.
B Seminars and conferences
B Dissemination in financial markets, e.g. TUI AG was selected for the
Ethibel Pioneer Index, and since 18th September 2006, TUI AG is
selected as an index component of the Dow Jones Sustainability World
Index
B information concerning hotels and destinations is published in TUI
brochures
5.2.3. Performance monitoring process: data collection, reporting
and use
The TUI Service or agency managers in each holiday region are
responsible for up-to-date reporting. To check environmental
groups, etc., and report back to TUI’s Environmental Management
on the current state of the environment. The reports reflect TUI
environmental criteria for holiday regions and must look at all of
the criteria in detail where possible. The environmental reports are
supplemented by numerous appendices reflecting TUI environ-
mental criteria for destinations and including reports by public and
private sector organisations, local press releases, environmental
education brochures produced in the regions covering nature and
environmental protection, samples of guest information material
provided by TUI hotels, feedback from TUI airlines’ passengers as
well as photographs and maps. This information is analysed by TUI
Environmental Management and made available to TUI headquar-
ters’ departments that posses strategic functions and the environ-
mental coordinators in the affiliated companies. TUI Environmental
Management has undertaken continuous monitoring of the envi-
ronmental situation in tourism destinations since 1990, and
coordinated the environmental monitoring of contracted hotels
(since 1992).
All the surveyed Group companies and the TUI’s executive
committee receive detailed feedback on environmental reporting
quality and all the implemented measures. Results are published in
various internal and external company places. TUI has enhanced its
public dissemination activities for responding to the demands of
sustainability ratings and providing the information required by
independent index providers, research organisations and speci-
alised investment funds. Table 3 summarises the major dissemi-
nation media and channels used for external dissemination of TUI’s
sustainable SCM practices whereby Internet-based channels are
dominant media. This is not surprising since TUI believes that
Internet-based environmental communication is miles ahead of the
print media in terms of up-to-dateness, accessibility, transparency,
dialogue capability and reduction in distribution losses. ‘‘For us, the
internet is the ‘‘motor’’ of environmental communications’’ Dr. Wolf
Michael Iwand, Director of TUI AG Group Corporate, Environmental
Management (TUI Environmental Report, 2006, www.tui-
group.com).
As concerns internal reporting, it is currently a major aim of TUI
Group to incorporate and use the special environmental know-how
of Environmental Management into the Corporate Centre Legal
Affairs & Human Resources and other departments (Finance, Con-
tracting, and Procurement).
The results of TUI’s global environmental monitoring are also
passed on to tourism managers in local, regional and national
seminars, workshops and conferences, etc. The results are also
passed on to regional and national governments in the form of
recommendations. All of this activity is part of TUI’s endeavours to
jointly find sustainable solutions with all of its network partners.
TUI’s environmental monitoring and report information dissemi-
nation are also enabled through www.tui-umwelt.com providing
in-depth reports on TUI’s cooperation partners and pending
projects. This website also aims to get tourists more aware, involved
and gain their cooperation in sustainability.
Environmental reports are used for various purposes, e.g. TUI
Deutschland, TUI Suisse and TUI Austria use them to prepare the
consumer information included in their TUI brochures. In addition
to providing the group with information, systematic monitoring
also raises the awareness of local residents and decision-makers of
environmental and sustainability issues. Overall, through in-
formation collection and dissemination TUI Group aims to achieve
the following: early identification of environmental risks within the
 M. Sigala / Journal of Cleaner Production 16 (2008) 1589–1599
Fig. 5. TUI Group sustainability reporting.
value chain; editing and further development of the Company’s
Environmental Reporting; analysis and benchmarking of environ-
mental achievements of the Group companies; communication
with stakeholders and shareholders; customers protection, in-
formation and awareness; continuous improvement process.
Hence, TUI aims to exploit and perceive the dissemination of
sustainability performance metrics as a learning experience and
continuous improvement exercise [27–29].
5.3. Decision synchronisation, technical and organisational support
amongst the different tourism suppliers and stakeholders
TUI recognises that sustainability is a multi-stakeholder issue
requiring internal monitoring and control but also an intensive
external dialogue, close cooperation, a great deal of government
lobbying, and persuasion of contractual partners such as hoteliers,
agencies and environmental protection organisations. Thus, TUI’s
sustainability commitment and activities’ development are shown
through dialogue as well as collaborative networks creation with
other interested groups such as nature conservationists, politicians
and media to raise awareness, create opportunities for developing
dialogues amongst different tourism stakeholders, enhance a com-
mon tourism voice and lobbying power and provide technical and
educational support and opportunities. Many of these external
partners are also part of TUI’s TEN network. Examples whereby TUI
seeks to achieve synchronisation in developing collaborative sus-
tainable activities by exploiting the resources of multiple stake-
holders are shown in Fig. 6.
Based on interview data with TUI staff, the following issues are
regarded as important factors for enabling TUI to achieve and foster
decision synchronisation amongst its SC members:
B its continuous monitoring system through out the whole value
chain;
B the information management system integrating internal and
external stakeholders and enabling informed decisions.
Transparency and open dialogue are part of the company’s
1597
comprehension of sustainable development. It is because of
this that TUI is both nationally and internationally present as
qualified and engage contact persons for politics, the sciences,
lobbies and the economy;
B organisational structure and key organisational positions with
specific responsibilities and roles that reflect the company’s
commitment to sustainability policy and issues;
B the alignment of the Group’s environmental goals with its
stakeholders’ value;
B the provision of feedback, raising awareness of suppliers, des-
tinations and other stakeholders;
B social dialogue and collaborative activities negotiated and
agreed through the TEN! network.
5.4. Incentive alignment
The effective implementation of good decision synchronisation is
not guaranteed without the provision of some incentives to SC
stakeholders that can motivate their actions towards the attainment
of sustainable goals e.g. Refs. [20,40]. Thus, the third sustainable SC
critical factor is the provision of incentives to sustainable suppliers
by recognising and rewarding improvements on key environmental,
social and economic issues. For example, TUI has established and
awards its International Environment Award every year to people,
non-governmental organisations or regional initiatives which have
made vital and model contributions to the protection and conser-
vation of nature and the environment in TUI destinations.
However, full integration of sustainability issues into a tour
operator’s business and incentive practices requires more than the
annual sponsor of an award such as altering the way purchasing
choices are made, suppliers’ contracts are written, public relations
practices are conducted and internal operations are organised.
Ways in which TUI rewards and motivates tourism suppliers to
achieve sustainable goals include the following.
TUI gives emphasis in suppliers’ evaluation schemes for selecting
and contracting with tourism suppliers [34,35]. TUI integrates
1598 M. Sigala / Journal of Cleaner Production 16 (2008) 1589–1599

As a member of the Environment and Culture Committee of the German Travel Agency and Tour Operator Association (DRV), TUI is actively
involved in the environmental performance monitoring of the world's major airlines. TUI is a founding member of www.econsense.de - Forum for
Sustainable Development of German Industry, whose members include leading national and global companies. Joint discussions are held to air the
duties a nd opportunities for sustainable development internally within the industry, and externally on the basis of d ialogue with politicians,
stakeholders from non-governmental organisations (NGOs), science and the general public. The forum is interested in stimulating ideas and
supporting sustainable development with specific activities by debating the strategies and responsibilities of i ndustry and politics. TUI is also a
founder member of the Tour Operators´ Initiative (TOI), which works in partnership with UNEP, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organisation) the UNWTO (United Nations World Tourism O rganisation) (March, 2000), and aims to support and engage in
collaborative activities making a positive contribution to the natural, social and cultural environment. TUI has been actively involved in several
committees promoting national and international dialogue on sustainability issues.
TUI AG Airlines
Aldabra Marine Programme with the University of Cambridge Thomsonfly
Environmental Policy Committe of the BDI (Federation of German Industries) Born Free Foundation
Archelon/Sea Turtle Protection Society Greece Business in the Community
German Transport Forum (air transport and sustainability) Environmental Group der British Air Transport Association
Econsense – Forum for Sustainable Developmentof German Industry (BATA)
Green Business Network
Shipping IACA International Air Charter Association
Hapag Lloyd Cruises Sustainable Aviation Group
AECO Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators
IAATO International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators Hotels & Resorts
WWF Artic Programme Oslo Grecotel
WWF England - 2003 Green Shipping Group Archelon/Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece
Promoting species protection and local culture in the Doron
Tour Operat ors Society
TUI Deutschland Greenpeace Hellas
“Environment and Culture” Committee, German Travel Agency and Tour Operator Hellenic Society for the Protection of the Environment and
Association (DRV) Cultural Inheritance
ECPAT (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Hellenic Society for the Protection of Nature
Sexual Purposes) MedSOS MEDITERRANEAN SOS Network

Fig. 6. Examples of TUI Group’s collaborative activities for tourism sustainability.

sustainability criteria and monitoring into suppliers’ contracts, e.g.
the filling out of annual checklists providing TUI with information
on the measures and activities implemented by the hoteliers to
protect the environment at their hotels is a contractual obligation.
TUI applies preferential contracting with those suppliers achieving
sustainable goals (use sustainability contracting standards). Training
and rising suppliers’ awareness on sustainability issues [20] is also
deemed important; e.g. TUI’s suppliers are convinced and trained on
importance of Sustainable Development for tourism during the En-
vironmental Coordinators’ Conference annually organised by TUI. TUI
suppliers’ are also motivated for their efforts by providing continuous
positive feedback on their environmental activities and reporting.
TUI uses tourism demand forces and pressures [20] for moti-
vating suppliers to adopt sustainable practices. This is achieved by
publishing good sustainable performance internally and externally
e.g. in travel agents’ catalogues, brochures, websites, publications of
list with rankings of suppliers, in intranets. For example, hotels with
outstanding environmental measures are highlighted in the TUI
brochures produced by TUI Deutschland, TUI Suisse and TUI Austria
by the designation ‘‘Environmentally-compatible hotel manage-
ment’’. Hotels managed in an environmentally proper way are also
marked (with a green triangle) in the index of holiday brochures
making it easier for travel agent staff to advice customers. TUI has
also launched the provision of several sustainable awards that are
presented to qualified suppliers in widely promoted conferences
and events. For example, 10 of the TUI’s hotels with the highest
customers’ evaluation scores receive the ‘‘TUI Environment Cham-
pion’’ award based on the results of the questionnaires filled in by
hotel guests. These 10 hotels are highlighted on the Internet,
brochures and travel agents. An award ceremony also takes part for
giving the hotels a trophy and certificates to all their staff.
6. Conclusions and implications for future research
Achieving product and service sustainability nowadays has
become an indispensable requirement of demand and tourism is
not an exception [3,4]. This study aimed to show the applicability
and usefulness of SCM as a critical management tool for ensuring
sustainability during all stages of tourism SC by analysing the case
study of TUI. Although the case study cannot be considered as
a representative case of average practices in tourism, it provided
several good practices that policy makers and tourism suppliers can
adapt for enhancing tourism sustainability. The study’s implica-
tions are important, since they are based on theoretically sound and
robust arguments. Efforts were also undertaken for ensuring both
the content as well as external reliability and validity of case
study findings such as literature reviews, discussion of preliminary
findings with experts at conferences, collection and cross-check
of findings from multiple sources located at different SC stages
and countries.
However, future research should further investigate the global
adoption of sustainable SCM not only from the tour operators’ but
also from other tourism suppliers’ perspectives. Particularly, future
studies should investigate the circumstances under which tourism
suppliers will be willing and are capable to adopt such SCM sus-
tainable practices. The need to undertake dyadic and multiple
stakeholders view is also highlighted in the literature [20]. The case
of TUI has shown that the group is facing problems and difficulties
in persuading external contractor and small tourism suppliers that
are not owned by the group to gather and report the necessary
information. Given the great number of SMTS as well as their
importance for the socio-economic viability of several destinations,
studies investigating on how to overcome these problems, engage
and support SMTS in sustainable SCM in tourism are critically
important. In examining such issues, one hypothesis could be that
to commit resources and time for achieving sustainable goals,
tourism suppliers should be guaranteed long-term partnerships
and sustainable volume of tourists from tour operators. Otherwise,
tourism suppliers may see none benefits in working together and
complying with tour operators’ sustainable plans.
By taking a tourism suppliers’ perspective, future studies can
also examine additional circumstances that are considered as
critical for the implementation of sustainable SCM practices in
tourism, such as the negotiation and development of commonly
agreed standardised sustainable metrics, factors inhibiting and/or
facilitating knowledge exchange within sustainable networks. In
 M. Sigala / Journal of Cleaner Production 16 (2008) 1589–1599
other words, future research should not only focus on the leader-
ship roles that tour operators should adopt in sustainable SCM, but
it should also investigate the changing roles and responsibilities
that tourism entities should also adopt. Finally, the case study has
also shown that future studies should also consider the cultural and
political dimensions that may affect the implementation of sus-
tainable SCM, since tourism SC entities are based in different
countries and represent several cultures.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to sincerely thank: Ms. Kerstin Sobania,
Corporate Environmental Management, TUI AG, Hannover, Ger-
many, and Ms. Aggeliki Fotopoulou, TUI Hellas, Athens, Greece, for
their valuable help and guidance in getting information about TUI;
the three hotel managers in Greece and a TUI rep who helped with
data validation.
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Marianna Sigala is a Lecturer of Operations and Production Management at the
University of the Aegean, Greece. Her interests include productivity and service quality
management, supply chain management and Information and Communication Tech-
nologies (ICT) applications in tourism and hospitality. Before joining the University of
the Aegean, she had been lecturing at the Universities of Strathclyde and Westminster,
UK. She has professional experience from the hospitality industry in Greece, while she
has also contributed to several international research and consultancy projects. Her
work has been published in several academic journals and international conferences.
She has served at the Executive Board of EuroCHRIE as President (European Council of
Hospitality, Restaurant and Institutions Educators, www.eurochrie.org) and she cur-
rently serves at the IFITT Board as Membership Director (International Federation of IT
in Travel and Tourism, www.ifitt.org).