Non-government organizations as a successful business model in the field of sustainable tourism: The case of the 365 Association.

Abstract

The non-government sector has been growing in popularity in the recent years and has been a subject of many investigations by many researchers. With the rapid development of tourism, it is no surprise that the leisure field is also being affected by the third sector, therefore this paper is trying to investigate the non-government organizations in the field of tourism and more specifically from the perspective of sustainable tourism as one of the most recent trends. Sustainable tourism is pursuing a balanced sustenance for tourism taking in consideration the economic, social and environmental aspects. It is trying to diminish all the negative impacts tourism is usually bringing and to boost the positive ones assuring long-term livelihood for economies, society and the environment. The NGO sector has similar motives of serving the society, thus the crossing point of these two lines presents an interesting topic for investigation in terms of the success of the NGOs in general, their success from the perspective of tourism and especially sustainable tourism.