Study of Private Social Investment and Tourism

By definition of the Benchmarking of Corporate Social Investment (BCSC), “Private Social Investment (PSI) is any voluntary and private financial transfers made by companies, institutes, foundations, and individuals of the business origin or instituted by families, communities, or individuals in a systematic, planned and monitored way to support projects of public interest aimed at changing society in various ways”.

The PSI is of fundamental importance to the viability of various projects which, without it, would find it difficult to maintain a foothold in society.

Most Private Social Investment is in the areas of education, culture, health, and sport. There are also investments in the environment, income generation, climate, and water, among others. But as the world’s needs change, so do the priorities.

For some years now, the climate emergency has been gaining a lot of importance within Private Social Investment. There are various possibilities for action, which can focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, low-carbon development, forest restoration, and conservation, among others.

Nowadays there is no specific area for tourism when we talk about Private Social Investment and, because of this, Raízes Desenvolvimento Sustentável, together with Turismo 360 Consultoria, decided to investigate where tourism; which is such a wide-ranging and dynamic activity in our country, fits into the investment universe.

For the methodological development, the University of Brasilia (UNB) was invited, which quickly joined in with the purpose through LETS – the Laboratory for Tourism and Sustainability Studies. They were also joined by Turismo Spot (a platform for disseminating tourism research and articles), the Grupo Boticário Foundation (currently one of the most active in actions involving tourism), and PonteAponte (a company specializing in ISP support), with the support of the Group of Institutes, Foundations and Companies (GIFE) and sponsorship for participation in events by the Bancorbras Institute.

The initiative aims to generate and share reflections on how companies positively impact (and can impact even more) society with actions in the tourism sector and its entire chain. The results of the survey were published at the end of 2023 as an e-book.