Tourism enterprises in Korca region and their sustainability

Abstract

Tourism is considered as one of the economic sectors with the greatest potential to make a positive contribution in achieving sustainable development (UNCED, 1992) .Sustainable tourism has become an increasingly popular field of research. There are a wide range of albanian  tourism enterprises involved in the tourism industry.The informal nature of tourism enterprises  can make it very difficult to spread awareness on sustainable policies, practices and to measure moves towards more sustainable performance. This paper addresses the  concept of sustainable development in tourism  and  examines the degree to which tourism enterprises in  Korca region  are aware of the broad concept of sustainable tourism.The aim is to  determine attitudes of  tourism  enterprises  toward sustainability and  understanding  the influences on the adoption of sustainability practices, including motivators and barriers .The main  findings stresses “a lack of a general awareness about  sustainability issues within albanian tourism enterprises. Also as dominant barriers identified were lack of available money to invest,  other business priorities,lack of  incentive programs. A better  understanding of tourism enterprise attributes, barriers, and responses is critical if we are to extend the theoretical concepts that underpin sustainable tourism development and to enhance  sustainability in practice.

 Keywords: sustainability ,albanian tourism  enterprises,sustainable tourism practices,motivators,barriers.