Sustainable Development in

The Hospitality Industry

Gigi Hui

Diploma in International Hotels and Tourism Operations

HTMi Switzerland
Introduction

The hospitality industry is one of the biggest industries in the world (Scorțe et al.,

2013). And within this, the Hotel and Tourism industry is the main component of

the hospitality industry (Scorțe et al., 2013). The hospitality industry provides lots

of job opportunities and contributed more than 10% Gross Domestic Product of the

world. (Patricia and Cristiana, 2007). However, the rapid growth of the hospitality

industry increases the pressure on the environment. Several environmental

problems such as the climate change and the pollution problems have drawn the

attention of the world and they are also the biggest problem that our world is now

facing (Cameron, 2012). Therefore, hospitality and tourism development and

management projects mainly focus on the sustainability and environmental aspects

in the past ten years (United Nation Environmental program and World Tourism

Organization, 2004) “Sustainable Development refers to the development that

meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future

generations to meet their own needs’’ (Beder, 1996 p.3). The three components of

Sustainable Development are economic, social and environment.

Sustainable development can help the present and the future generation of all living

things on the Earth to create a better environment (Nayar, 2013). People are trying

to strike a balance between economic development and environmental conservation

(MIER, 2008). The industry is trying to reduce the damages on the environment

when developing.

This research is going to analyse how the hospitality industry is trying to develop

in a sustainable way by implementing environmentally friendly policies.

The sustainable development in hospitality industry included the advantages and

disadvantages brought by the hospitality industry in different aspects. This research

is also going to explain the sustainable development in hospitality industry by using

different models and theories. Last but not least, the research paper will include the

solution of solving some of the problems brought by the hospitality industries.

Concept of Sustainable development

Sustainable Development refers to the development that meets the needs of the

present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own

needs (Beder, 1996). The definition means that the economic development or

activities that are carried out to meet the needs and wants of humans should not

affect or make any damage on the environment to reserve the natural resources for

the future generations (ibid). Sustainable Development aims at improving the

quality of life by balancing our economic, environmental and social needs

(Dresner, 2002).

3-overlapping-circles Model

Figure 2.1.2.1 3-Overlapping-circles model (Willard, 2010)

The three components of the 3-overlapping-circles model are economic,

environmental, and social factors. Also, the 3-overlapping circles are the

intersection of these three components (Willard, 2010). In order to achieve

sustainable development, the three circles must be balanced which are shown in the

model where sustainability lives. Economy refers to economic development that can

protect or enhance the natural resource quantities and qualities by different

practices or policy. Environment refers to the natural ecosystem. Furthermore, the

society refers to all the people in the world (Flint and House, 2010).

The intersection of the three over-lapping circles represents equal consideration of

all areas of life (Flint and Houser, 2010). However, some businesses prefer to show

the economy circle as the largest circle because it is the most important for them to

run the business and earn a living. The reason that some businesses need to run

their business caused the imbalance of these three circles (Willard, 2010).

The hospitality industry has different green practices and policy implanted since the

1990s due to fluctuating economic levels and a strong focus on customer service

such as pollution prevention, energy consumption and recycling (Claver et al.,

2007). Green practices will become a baseline requirement in the hospitality

industry since the cost of non-renewable energy continues to increase the

regulatory pressure, and also since consumers become more demanding (Graci and

Kuehnel, 2010).

There are multiple factors that encourage business owners and managers to adopt

sustainability measures into standard operational procedures (Goldstein and

Primlani, 2012).
It shows that the decisions that made by the hospitality industry are affected by the

three components of the 3-overlapping circles as the decisions that they made have

to follow the government’s policy that is related to sustainable development (ibid).

Economic Sustainability Models

Figure 2.1.2.2 Economic Sustainability Models (O’Connor, 2000)

The model above shows that the economy must not undermine the sustainability of

the societal institution system. Every economy needs suitable institutional

conditions to be economically sustainable (O’Connor, 2000). The economy must not

threaten the sustainability of natural systems. Environmental sinks and sources are

indispensable for an economically sustainable economy. The economy must not

weaken human system sustainability because an economically sustainable economy

needs human resources. Therefore, economic sustainability must also be

environmentally, socially, and institutionally sustainable (ibid).

According to Spangenberg (2005), economic sustainability is simply not possible

unless guided by environmental sustainability principles and geared towards the

achievement of sustainable livelihoods and societies (Spangenberg, 2005).

Ecological economics have to be involved where social and financial aspects are

merged (ibid).

Economic sustainability is the term used to identify various strategies that make it

possible to use available resources to their best advantage (Tatum, 2003). Economic

sustainability encourages the responsible use of resources. It can ensure that the

business is not only concerned about making profit, but that the operation is not

affecting the environment and can strike a balance between the economic

development and environmental conservation (ibid).

As there is no economy outside the society, no human activity can occur without

some connection with the environment. The decisions and actions made by the

hospitality industry are affected by the sustainability of the hospitality industry.

Sustainable Hotel Practices

Sustainable business practice is about maximizing business potential without

degrading the environment and working harmoniously with society (Lockyer,

2007). The rapid growth in hospitality industry brought out several environmental

problems and these problems have successfully drawn the attention of the

hospitality industry around the world (Green Peace, 2014).

Environmental sustainable actions are necessarily made in the hospitality industry

(Tooman et al., 2014).

Different measures are being implemented in several hotels in order to minimize

the impacts of their actions on the environment (Graci and Kuehne, 2010). There are

various practices in hotel that mainly focus on different part of the hotels such as the

using of water and energy, waste management system and green building practice

(ibid). These green practices not only can protect the environment, it can also

reduce the hotel’s operational cost (Global Steward, 2014).

Study of Performance of Hospitality Sector towards Sustainable

Development

In this section, the author is going to study the performance of sustainable

development with regards to the following example. Guernsey is the second largest

of the Channel Island, which have 60,000 resident populations (Stabler and Goodall,

1997). All energy and productive resources used in this Island has to be imported. It

also has an insufficient sewage system and limited capacity of disposing wastage.

Guernsey has committed to make efficient use of resource and minimize pollution

and damaged on the environment (ibid).

‘Keep Guernsey Green Award’ program has launched in Guernsey for different

organizations (State of Guernsey, 2014). The program is for those hospitality

organizations that want to expose their commitment to the environment by

demonstrating best practice in energy conservation and waste management. This

program not only plans the energy conservation and the waste management in

hotel. It also raises the staff awareness of the importance of environmental issues.
Moreover, it seeks the ways to improve the managing of the organization’s

energy and waste. These can help to reduce their energy usage and

waste disposals costs (ibid).

A few hotels in Guernsey also have joined the ‘Green Tourism Business Scheme’

which is a non-profit organization that has be running since 1997 (Sarina Hotels,

2010). Two of the hotels in Guernsey that join the ‘Green Tourism Business Scheme’

make their operation more sustainable while still delivered a high quality service at

the same time (ibid). Therefore, they received Bronze award, which means that they

have made a commitment to continuous improvement their environmental

performance by different aspects such as demonstrating good management, staff

awareness and communication of green policies to customers (ibid).

Karek Harris who is the director of the Sarnia Hotel also has mentioned that the

guests who stay in their hotels could trust that their hotel is committed to the

environment and that the decisions and the development made by the hotel will

minimize the damage on the environment. The hotel will take the needs of the

environment in Guernsey into account when they make their decisions (ibid).

Reasons for hotel to ‘go green’

In the past ten years, hotels have been implementing different green practices in

their operations (Revilla et al., 2001). The reasons that the hotels were willing to

implement these green practices is that there were a few researches showing that

the sustainable hotel practices have a direct impact on guest satisfaction and guest

intention to return to the hotel (Berezan et al., 2013).

Sustainable development and green hotel practices have become a trend in the

hospitality industry (Reuland, 2008). Hotel guests are more aware of the

environmental problems that are occurring in the world. Therefore, the hotel

practices might influence the customer’s choice for their accommodations (Millar

and Baloglu, 2008).

Moreover, the hotels can reduce the hotel operational costs and harmful impacts on

the environment at the same time (Claver-Cortes et al., 2007). Reports that were

done by hundreds of businesses around the world show that the green practices

implemented in hotel can reduce energy and water consumption costs by more than

20 percent, solid waste and wastewater disposal costs by more than 15 percent

(Graci and Kuehne, 2010). It can also improve the quality of the environment and

also motivated the staff (Travel Life, 2008).

Conclusion and Recommendations

In conclusion, the hotels and tourism industry is one of the biggest component in the

hospitality industry. From the research by the author, green hospitality practices

are implemented in the hotels, which can help them to protect the environment and

reduce the operational cost at the same time. There are also direct impacts on the

guest satisfaction and guest intention to return to the hotel. Going green has become

the goal of the whole hospitality industry.

According to the information that was found by the author, the future trend is that

more and more business in the hospitality industry will care more on the

environment and take it in to consideration before making any business decisions.

The hospitality industry can focus more on the environment aspects while making

their business decisions in order to gain customers’ loyalty and satisfaction.

Different green practices in the hospitality industry can create a better world for the

future generations.

Moreover, sustainable development is necessary for the hospitality industry to

make sure that the rapid growth of the hospitality industry does not damage our

environment.

Sustainable development in hospitality industry refers to the services industry all

over the world. However, most of the researches are focused on one particular

industry such as the hotel industry or the tourism industry. There is also large

amount of information in which different countries might have different green

practices. Further information is needed to identify different actions that are carried

out in different hospitality sectors which are aimed at protecting the environment

by reducing the damage such as pollutions.

Even though there are already many existing practices in the hospitality industry to

help protecting the environment, there are still many things that the industry can

improve to ensure that the life of the future generations can live in a sustainable

environment.
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