Environmental Sustainability Strategies for Smaller Companies in the Hotel Industry: Doing the Right Thing or Doing Things Right?

Maria de Lurdes Calisto, Jorge Umbelino, Ana Gonçalves and Cláudia Viegas
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Maria de Lurdes Calisto: CiTUR—Centre for Tourism Research, Development and Innovation, Estoril Higher Institute for Tourism and Hotel Studies, 2769 Estoril, Portugal
Jorge Umbelino: CiTUR—Centre for Tourism Research, Development and Innovation, Estoril Higher Institute for Tourism and Hotel Studies, 2769 Estoril, Portugal
Ana Gonçalves: Centre for Geographical Studies (IGOT-ULisboa), Estoril Higher Institute for Tourism and Hotel Studies, 2769 Estoril, Portugal
Cláudia Viegas: CiTUR—Centre for Tourism Research, Development and Innovation, ESTeSL—Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Saúde, Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa, 1990 Lisbon, Portugal

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 18, 1-19

Abstract: The connection between tourism and nature justifies the environmental concerns from tourism agents, namely global hotel chains. This paper explores the differences between smaller hotel chains and their larger global counterparts regarding environmentally sustainable practices. The research approach is qualitative, based on the analysis of 40 company websites and in-depth interviews with 18 entrepreneurs and executives. Results suggest that environmental issues are, for most companies, not a response to societal challenges (‘doing the right thing’), but a response to owners’ concerns (‘doing things right’). Hotel chains develop environmental sustainability practices, mainly for cost-reduction purposes, accommodating the owners’ demands for efficiency. Notwithstanding, there are differences according to the chain’s size. Smaller companies are less prone to adopt environmental practices and to invest in communicating them than global chains. Concerning sustainability in the hotel industry, most studies focus on specific topics and discussions. A more holistic approach to sustainability to establish a deeper understanding of sustainable business decisions in the hotel sector is scarce in the literature. This paper addresses this gap by exploring the strategic reasons behind the sustainable practices of hotel companies, namely smaller ones. Managerial implications of the results are also derived in this paper.

Keywords: tourism; hospitality; hotel; SMEs; entrepreneurship; sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:18:p:10380-:d:637485

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