Importance of Sustainability Agenda for Tourism and Hospitality Industries

Fundamentals of
Tourism, Leisure
and Hospitality
(Assessment Title 2: Environmental concerns are a key trend throughout the world.
Critically discussion on importance of sustainability agenda for tourism and hospitality industries
and ways in which sustainability can be embraced in the tourism and hospitality environment)

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
The tourism and hospitality industry is one of the largest industries covering wide variety
of economic activities which have direct or indirect connection or are interdependent relationship
with travelling and tourism activities, Restaurant and catering, accommodation and resorts, night
clubs and bars, cruise lines and bus tours are some examples of businesses included in the
tourism industries (Han, 2021). The rise of climate change awareness have affected the tourism
and hospitality industry and there is an increased focus on sustainability in recent years. This
essay looks at the importance of sustainability in the travel and tourism industry and the ways
which support betterment of inscrutability in the tourism, and hospitality industry.
MAIN BODY
Sustainable tourism is defined as the tourism which understand the current and future
environment, economic and social impact to increase positive influence in these areas.
Sustainable hospitality experience refers to the action of adopting socially responsible practices
along with sound environmental policies to have positive environmental and social impact.
Sustainability and environmental protection is a global agenda in the tourism and hospitality
industry. Businesses engaged in the tourism and hospitality industry are taking steps to increase
sustainability on an individual level and international organizations such as the UNWTO have
also emphasized the need for increasing sustainability at an industry level.
The sustainability agenda is important for the tourism industry is crucial because
consumers are demanding more responsible products and services from every industry. The
concept of responsible shopping and ensuring that the products and services purchased by a
consumers are produced ethically and have minimum negative impact on the environment is
being gaining rapid popularity on a global scale. Consumers are demanding more responsible
tourism and hospitality services which has promoted the sustainability agenda in the global
tourism and hospitality industry (McGrath and et. al., 2020).
The significance of sustainability can be evidenced by consumer demand as the main
focus of enterprises is to offer consumers desired products and services. Increasing focus and
efforts on sustainability and environment friendly aspects, establishment in the tourism and
hospitality industry deliver consumers value and seek to gain competitive positioning in the cut
throat industry.
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As of 2018 estimation of carbon footprint released by the global tourism industry
accounts for 8% of total carbon emission. In addition to this, the annual carbon emission of
tourism industry are 4.3 billion metric tons (Estimation of tourism carbon footprint and carbon
capacity, 2021). This alarming statistical data showcases that global tourism industry need to
become more sustainable in order to stop large contribution to climate change and global
warming. The sustainability agenda is important in the tourism and hospitality industry because
it helps reduce negative environmental impact significantly and plays a crucial role in lowering
climate change.
Hospitality and tourism industry also contribute to high waste production and filling the
world with garbage which is usually not recycled and treated in ways which damages the
environment. In UK alone, the hospitality industry 2 million tonne waste is generated by the
hospitality sector. Hotel and accommodation account for 95 of the total waste in the tourism and
hospitality industry while bas and pubs lead to 19% of the overall waste (The hospitality
industry’s relationship with waste, 2018). It can be understood that the current management
practices in the tourism and travel industry lead to ineffective treatment of waste which causes
pollution.
Large scale waste generation by the tourism and hospitality industry not only affects the
environment but lowers optimal utilization of resources and creates unnecessary expenditure. It
is essential for the tourism and hospitality industry to invest in sustainability as it will provide the
company the capabilities to ensure optimum utilization of resources, reduce time wastage and
save costs (Cotterell and et. al., 2019). The sustainability agenda helps tourism and hospitality
establishments increase profitability in two ways, first by increasing optimal usage of resources
which leads to costs reduction. Second by improving the brand image of hospitality and tourism
businesses in favour of responsible shopping trend and delivering better value to the consumer.
Sustainable tourism is essential for growth of tourism and hospitality industry because
these industries are largely dependent on natural and heritage resources of the world for daily
business. Nature, wildlife, historical sites and wildlife is one of the primary reasons which
propels the tourism and hospitality industry as consumers use the services of this industry to
enjoy travelling in such places of importance. Consumers and travellers use hospitality and travel
services to view world heritage sites such as cape floral region protected areas in South Africa
which is a unique centre of terrestrial biodiversity or Machu Picchu in Peru (Jimura, 2018).
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