The rapid SIA process adopted for the test case, however, was not
seen to perform well in terms of creating competitive advantage, increasing
product sales, or in being able to demonstrate cost savings associated
with improving their internal management systems especially
because the relevant monitoring was not in place. Furthermore, their
new responsible walks that are marketed on responsibletravel.com
and positioned using their sustainability credentials had not resulted
in a single sale in the 12 months following the implementation of the
trial. While this is not a good sign, it raises the related and on-going debate
about how to effectively market the sustainability of tourism
products. It is also a reminder that private sector involvement in sustainability
activities can have a varied outcome and is not without commercial
risk (Ahebwa and van der Duim, 2013; Ahebwa et al., 2012).