Sustainability communication in hospitality in peripheral tourist destinations

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study posited that tourism companies and more especially hotels located in tourist destinations dependent on air transportation, need to commit more strongly to sustainability because of their greater distance from the main outbound markets. The research focused on determining whether hotels’ star rating, location, age and size influence their sustainability communication and on identifying the characteristics of the messages used in hotels’ sustainability communication. Design/methodology/approach To accomplish these objectives, a sequential mixed methods design with three interconnected phases was used, including quantitative data and content analysis. Findings Less than 10% of hotels located in a tourist destination strongly dependent on air transportation and peripheral to the main outbound markets actually communicate about sustainable practices on their websites. Communication practices are dependent on hotels’ star rating, location, size and age. Research limitations/implications The study limitations are that it was conducted in only one destination and that the hotel websites’ layouts are heterogeneous, which means that the analysis and comparison of the relevant information is extremely challenging. In addition, the research only considered hotels or similar lodgings, leaving out other types of accommodation. Practical implications Hotels in tourist destinations dependent on air transportation need to adjust their sustainability communication in response to the trend among tourists toward greater consciousness about the environmental impacts of their individual tourism-related choices. Hotels also need to provide more accurate and detailed information on sustainable practices, with both affective and rational appeals that focus on tourists’ experiences. Originality/value The study was conducted in a destination dependent on air transportation and peripheral to the primary outbound markets.

A reflection of greenwashing practices in the hospitality industry: a scoping review

“…It is believed that to reduce customer perceptions of greenwashing, hotels with low environmental performance exaggerate their green achievements and disclose more positive information about their green activities in comparison with hotels with high environmental performance (Koseoglu et al , 2021; Park et al , 2021). Therefore, some hotels deliberately hesitate to disclose their green initiatives, a phenomenon called “green hushing,” to avoid customer doubts regarding the disclosure of a hotel’s green information (Santos et al , 2019; Shen et al , 2020).…”

“…(Chan, 2013a; Iyer and Jarvis, 2019; Kim et al , 2017; Martinez et al , 2020; Yadav et al , 2016). Hotel green marketing attempts to trigger customers’ positive perceptions and beliefs about the green image of hotels, boost hotel green brand credibility and reduce customer suspicion regarding a hotel’s greenwashing (Chan, 2013a; Chen et al , 2018; Khatter et al , 2021; Kim and Roseman, 2022; Santos et al , 2019).…”

Assessing Online Sustainability Communication of Italian Cultural Destinations – A Web Content Mining Approach

“…In particular, the automated approach is used in this study to analyze contents communicated in official websites in relation to characteristics that the literature suggested may influence their persuasiveness. These include the communication of specific contents on topics relating to all the (environmental, economic, socio-cultural) sustainability dimensions [7,11,20] and the emotional appeal of contents [7,18,20].…”

“…Based on the analysis of Malaysian hotels, Joseph et al [17] found that websites are not fully utilized to create awareness about sustainable development and mostly report economic information, followed by social and environment sustainability information. In the same line, Santos et al [18] show that only a minority of hotels in Portugal explicitly practice sustainability communication, but they do it in a quite superficial way and using a rational appeal. With reference small and medium accommodation firms in the Azores, Tiago et al [19] concluded that digital communication could be substantially improved and is linked to website sophistication.…”

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