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.

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Adequate facilities and appropriate customer service in the hotel industry are needed to cater the increasing numbers of people with special needs, including within the senior cohort. This paper purpose is to assess and compare the cases of Cyprus and Portugal -countries that are highly dependent on the tourism industry -and to identify whether their hotels have the necessary facilities and employees are well equipped to support guests with special needs. The results reveal that both Portuguese and Cypriot hotels regard their facilities as adequate for people with physical disabilities but exclude guests with other types of disabilities. Furthermore, employees are not well prepared to provide services to this cohort of the market. This failure to develop the necessary structures has implications for these countries' competitiveness in terms of becoming accessible and disabled-friendly destinations.

Tourism shows a significant transformation. Therefore, knowing the perception of residents regarding its impacts can conduce to more adequate public policies, strategies, decisions and actions, more adapted to residents’ expectations, involving these stakeholders and deepening their engagement in tourism development. This study is a work in progress1. Its main objective is to identify the perceptions of residents of the Lisbon region regarding the impacts of tourism. A quantitative methodology was used to analyse respondents’ perceptions based on descriptive statistical techniques and non-parametric tests. The results of this research indicate that residents have a positive attitude concerning economic, as well as cultural, social and environmental impacts. The study also reveals differences in attitude depending on age, gender and professional activity.

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