An exploratory research of the application of natural capitalism to sustainable tourism management in Taiwan

Natural Capitalism (NC) is a groundbreaking blueprint for a new economy and may catalyze the next industrial revolution. Some successful examples such as car design and green architecture have shown that the concepts of NC can be implemented in various economic activities. However, few applications of this new paradigm have been investigated in tourism even through tourism has become one of the important economic activities. The purpose of this study was to determine if the concepts of NC can be utilized in the diverse tourism sectors in Taiwan. In addition, the major obstacles of using NC within each tourism sector were also studied. Thirty-seven senior tourism facility mangers were invited to provide their opinions via a structured questionnaire. Several findings, important to stakeholders of different tourism sectors in Taiwan, such as, were found: (1) lodging is the most likely tourism sector to implement NC, (2) travel agents and tour operators have difficulty promoting the concept, and (3) there are major obstacles for employees to understand and implement the ideas of NC in their work. The curriculum in tourism education should be redesigned to strongly emphasize the relationship between tourism and NC.