THE PILLAR OF ACI’S DEVELOPMENTAL STRATEGY
Text Author: PhD Ivan Herak, member of ACI Management Board for Finances, Corporate Law and Human Resorces
In the ever-increasing competition in the global tourism market – with potential users of tourist services becoming ever more demanding, discerning and sophisticated in their expectations – ensuring long-term market success for any company, ACI included, requires thoughtful and responsible management of its own growth and development. At ACI, this process is guided by the principles of long-term spatial and environmental sustainability, economic sustainability and social sustainability. The systematic application of spatial and environmental principles, economic principles and social principles of sustainable development requires a modern approach to company management, i.e. the implementation of predefined standard operating procedures.
We expect ACI’s long-term spatial and environmental sustainability, economic sustainability and social sustainability to ensure steady growth in sales revenue and business profitability, while continuously enhancing satisfaction levels among increasingly discerning guests and employees – all without compromising the interests, needs or expectations of the wider community in any way.
In this context, the determinants of environmental sustainability serve as a foundation for evaluating and defining development projects in both the public and private sectors – particularly when determining their appropriate (micro)location and acceptable capacity size, as well as in relation to spatial quality, biodiversity, waste management, energy supply, wastewater treatment, noise protection and similar concerns. The core principles guiding the consideration of ACI’s growth and development, in line with environmental sustainability, can be broadly summarised using the principles of responsibility in the use of space, a green orientation and the protection of ecosystems and biodiversity.
In line with the growing awareness of the importance of preserving non-renewable natural resources on a global scale, ACI is strongly committed to the principle of the responsible use of space. This principle entails respecting the carrying capacity, i.e. the limitations of existing infrastructure systems in each of the destinations within local government units where ACI operates or plans to operate. This principle not only implies the need to control the scale, i.e. the extent of tourism development and ensure alignment with the maximum carrying capacity of a given site or destination, but also calls for defining the optimal use of space at all existing and/or future business locations, all with the aim of determining an acceptable level of impact of various ACI activities on the environment – both in physical and socio-cultural terms.
