The influence of travel agencies’ corporate social responsibility actions on the purchase decision of lima vacationers

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) involves a set of actions that companies apply to give back to society and the environment for carrying out an economic activity. In general, CSR actions are attractive to consumers and investors due to the growing demand for sustainable services; however, there is still a need to investigate this trend in the field of tourism, more specifically, in travel agencies. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to determine whether CSR actions influence the purchasing decisions of Lima vacationers in Peru through a mixed methodological approach that included in-depth interviews with travel agents and surveys of Lima vacationers. The study identified the CSR actions undertaken by travel agencies, determined the benefits of implementing CSR and established the importance of CSR actions for Lima vacationers. The main finding was that CSR practices influence the decision of Lima vacationers to buy tourism services and the amount of money they are willing to pay for them, which contradicts the opinion of travel agents, who underestimated its importance. It is suggested that travel agencies offer more participative CSR activities and improve their communication of their sustainable practices to gain their clients’ trust and loyalty.