The contribution of small accommodations to a sustainable tourism industry

Abstract

Given the central role of small accommodations to the tourism industry in Australia, this study investigated the drivers and challenges of small accommodation providers (SAPs) to engage in sustainability practices. In-depth interviews were undertaken with accommodation providers in the wine region of McLaren Vale in South Australia. The main drivers in implementing sustainability were identified as cost reduction competitiveness, societal legitimisation and lifestyle-values. Key challenges included personal, financial and operational. Moreover, SAPs identified an opportunity to influence guests' sustainable behaviour, but their limited knowledge and a concern for a negative impact on guest experience prevented them from implementing relevant strategies. This research letter contributes to the literature on small accommodation lodgings, and provides practical recommendations to local agencies wanting to support small accommodations in implementing sustainable practices.

A social‐cognitive framework of small accommodation enterprise sustainability practices

“…Previous sustainability studies on home‐stay usually employ a quantitative survey method (Dodds & Holmes, 2011) and qualitative methods such as in‐depth interviews (Hassanli & Ashwell, 2018) without considering a balance between the relevance of the topic and flexibility of responses for the participants. Quantitative techniques such as questionnaires are inflexible, while in‐depth interviews sometimes may over‐represent or under‐represent important issues (Phellas, Bloch, & Seal, 2012).…”

“…A recent study among accommodation owner‐managers suggests that one major personal challenge that incapacitates owner‐managers of small accommodation to engage in sustainability practices is the lack of knowledge of sustainable tourism (Hassanli & Ashwell, 2018). Nonetheless, the literature is unclear the role sustainability knowledge plays in the self‐efficacy beliefs to engage in sustainability behavior.…”

“…Previous studies on home‐stay and sustainability focus on their sustainability practices and barriers of sustainability implementation (Dodds & Holmes, 2011; Hassanli & Ashwell, 2018) but it is not known the explanatory factors of sustainability engagement, given the unique socio‐cultural product of this business. For example, Hassanli and Ashwell (2018) have recently pointed out that most bed and breakfast (B&B) owner‐managers in Australia have less self‐identification with sustainable tourism; nonetheless, they are driven to engage in sustainability by cost reduction competitiveness, societal legitimization, and lifestyle values despite existing personal, financial, and operational impediments. Meanwhile, there is a consensus among scholars of the growing literature on home‐stay enterprises that owner‐managers are motivated by either growth or lifestyle reasons, but most studies support overwhelming evidence of lifestyle reasons (Carlsen, Getz, & Ali‐Knight, 2001; Shaw, 2014).…”

“…Previous studies within SMEs suggest a limited understanding of the concept (Berry & Ladkin, 1997), as well as low environmental awareness (Tilley, 1999). A one‐sided account is given by Hassanli and Ashwell (2018) who point out that some owner‐managers of bed and breakfast (B&B) lack of knowledge affects their capacity to engage in sustainability practices but how such practices differ from those who have a fair knowledge is unknown. Thus, whether knowledge or lack of knowledge of the concept increases self‐efficacy to behave sustainably is unclear in existing studies.…”

“…While home‐stays are locally known as home‐lodges, they are largely mediated by local volunteer NGOs who organize projects and recommend such homes to volunteer tourists (Agyeiwaah & Mensah, 2017). This intricate relationship is very different in other developed countries such as Australia (Hassanli & Ashwell, 2018), and as a result, a qualitative approach is needed to contextualize the findings. Responding to the clarion call to increase sustainability research among small firms (Garay & Font, 2012), SCT is used to justify the underlying factors of sustainability behavior among home‐stay owner‐managers but not to impose existing theories on owner‐managers.…”