A Website-Based Analysis Regarding CSR Practices of the Top Romanian Travel Agencies

The paper investigates the extent to which the largest Romanian travel agencies, in terms of net turnover and profitability, adopt and communicate CSR practices, as reflected by the contents of their websites. The analyzed data regards a number of twenty Romanian travel agencies, which during the last five years have been present at least once in an annual top 10 of the highest net turnover and/or most profitable such specialized businesses. The website of each company was analyzed considering several variables related to the adoption and communication of CSR practices: the existence of a website section dedicated to CSR, the presence of CSR aspects within the section dedicated to the company’s mission, vision, values etc., mentions of relevant stakeholder groups, CSR domains, actual CSR activities etc. Although the literature regarding the impact of perceived CSR in the tourism industry suggests a significant level of influence on corporate reputation and, indirectly, on consumers’ behavior, trust, loyalty and other important commercial aspects, the results of the current research show a relatively low engagement of the top Romanian travel agencies in CSR activities, at least considering the extent to which they communicate these aspects through their websites.