Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/52058
Title: Green key hotels : towards sustainability on the Maltese islands
Authors: Zahra, Amanda
Keywords: Sustainable tourism -- Malta
Hotels -- Malta
Eco-labeling -- Malta
Issue Date: 2015
Citation: Zahra, A. (2015). Green key hotels: towards sustainability on the Maltese islands (Master's dissertation).
Abstract: It is widely recognised that the tourism industry, that accounts for 5% of global carbon emissions together with being the 5th largest polluter worldwide (UNEP, 2010), leaves a negative impact on the environment. Thus, the sustainability of the tourism and hospitality industry continues to receive attention from the industry members and academics alike. In the 21st Century, where tourism is on the increase, it is imperative that its contributions should bring benefits towards the host destinations and provide incentives to safeguard and maintain the cultural and environmental heritage while also providing an income opportunity for the host community. Green Key is a voluntary eco-label for tourism facilities that promotes sustainable tourism. Eco-labels are an important management tool in sustainable tourism, yet locally, little is known of the tourists’ and employees’ perception of such schemes, which is what elicited this dissertation research. This dissertation presents the results of a research conducted in two local Green Key hotels on their sustainability practices and how these hotels are helping the resident tourists and the staff become more aware of sustainability issues and also how they are impacting the local community in general. A case study design comprising of a variety of research tools was used. Data was gathered using questionnaires to resident tourists, semi-structured interviews to hotel employees and personal observations in each hotel. The main findings reveal that sustainability ranks high on the agenda of these two hotels. However, whilst there are a number of sustainable practices present in each of these hotels, there appears to be a need for more training for the hotel employees to become more aware and conversant with these practices. Furthermore, there is a significant lack of information given to the resident tourists where it comes to the sustainable practices adopted in both of these hotels. Moreover, although these hotels are helping towards sustainability in the local community and more widely across the Maltese Islands, the tourists do not choose these hotels for their sustainability practices but rather for their location and services offered. This being said, the resident tourists still value highly the fact that these hotels promote the implementation of sustainable practices and during their stay in these hotels still expect a certain level of environmental management and awareness. Recommendations to both hotels are also presented in this dissertation in the hope that these will help them improve on their sustainability practices and also assist with the renewal of the Green Key accreditation scheme in the coming years. Suggestions for further studies, which would give more insight into sustainable tourism, are also made.
Description: M.ED.SUS.DEVELOPMENT
URI: https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/52058
Appears in Collections:Dissertations - CenEER - 2015

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