Take action

After identifying its human rights risks, a company should take appropriate measures. As a tour operator, your potential human rights impacts occur either directly in your own operations or indirectly through services provided by your business partners (see Analyse risks). Even though there are risks over which you have limited influence, you are expected to act.

This section of the «get started» tool provides concrete guidance and recommendations on measures to take.
Don’t be discouraged by the number of potential measures. Start with small steps. Implementing responsible business conduct is about continuous improvement and not about perfection.

First, read the suggested measures on the selected risk cards and work on the «quick wins» by asking yourself the following questions:

  • Which of the measures can I immediately implement?
  • Which measures can I integrate into existing policies, processes, training, communication materials or reporting?

Second, develop a public commitment outlining the human rights issues your company will focus on as a priority (salient issues) and develop a strategy accordingly (see measure cards policy & process). This includes developing an action plan with next steps.

Use the measure cards below to gain an overview of potential measures tour operators can take. Each measure card provides general guidance and examples, tools and practical tips from practitioners’ perspectives, as well as links to further information.

Instruction

Click on «select» to store the measure cards which are particularly relevant for your company for further use or printing. The selected measure cards will be stored under «selected issues».

Click on «learn more» to access more information about this specific measure category.

Communication and reporting

Transparency is an important aspect of responsible business conduct. Public communication on identified risks and measures taken increases a company’s credibility and accountability.

Grievance mechanisms

People whose human rights are affected by the tourism industry often do not have the possibility to effectively raise grievances. Here is how you can change that.

Impact assessment

For areas where salient human rights risks have been identified, tour operators should conduct more in-depth human rights impact assessments (HRIAs).

Policy and process

For maximum impact and awareness of a company’s human rights engagement, human rights must systematically be integrated into the corporate policies and processes and the overall business culture of a company.  

Responsible product development

When developing new products, make sure human rights are considered from the outset. As a first step, the salient human rights risks for the company’s operations and its value chain should be kept in mind.

Sector collaboration

Individual tour operators often have limited direct influence on human rights impacts or violations. Sector collaboration is an effective way to increase operators’ power to work against human rights violations.

Supplier assessment

Assessing suppliers’ and business’ partners business conduct is especially recommended when salient human rights risks linked to their operations are identified.

Training and capacity building

Human rights issues in tourism are broad and take many forms. Regular training and capacity building activities are key for ensuring that human rights are respected.