05 P A R T PUTTING PRINCIPLES INTO PRACTICE IN THE TOURISM INDUSTRY Making a practical start to the process of identifying and addressing human rights risks Taking a people-centred approach requires your business to ask: who will be impacted by our decisions, operations, relationships and strategies, and what do we need to do to address these risks and impacts? and impacts can be challenging. The following section provides some tips for businesses that are looking to get started in embedding responsible business practices or strengthening existing approaches and strategies. 1. Focus on risks to people People are at the heart of the tourism industry – whether it is workers keeping businesses running, local communities providing tourism attractions or tourists themselves. Understanding the human rights risks involved in this industry is therefore essential for its long-term viability and sustainability. Integrating human rights due diligence means looking at risk through the lens of ‘risk to people’. For many businesses, this will require embracing a different mindset and understanding of risk, which traditionally focuses on ‘risk to businesses’. 2. Place human rights at the heart of business operations, strategy and culture Human rights should not be seen as an ‘addon’ but rather as central to business strategy, operations and culture. A rights-respecting culture seeks to embed respect and responsibility for the realisation of human rights through all levels of an organisation and across society more broadly. Increasing awareness and knowledge of human rights across your business, including the Taking a people-centred, human rights-based potential impacts of risks across the sector more approach is critically important for businesses broadly, is a critical first step to building a rights- during the COVID-19 recovery and rebuild respecting culture. period. As your business navigates these challenging times and is placed under increased financial pressure, it may be tempting to cut corners. To avoid exacerbating adverse human rights impacts, it is important to view business decisions and actions through the lens of those who might be negatively impacted, particularly the most vulnerable.143 In addition to human rights awareness, it is important to build human rights actions into your business’ policies, reporting processes and strategy, including ensuring appropriate responsibility and accountability. This process will also require looking at systems and processes which disincentivise respect for human rights, for example purchasing practices or other business key performance indicators, and exploring how to incentivise staff to embed the business responsibility to respect human rights into workplace and business decisions. Responsible business conduct and the tourism industry in Vietnam • Guidance for companies • 2022 | 55