Author(s)

W. Legrand, C. Kirsche, P. Sloan & C. Simons-Kaufmann

Abstract

In 2006, the European Union (EU) set itself the 20 2020 goal which translates into reducing greenhouse gases by 20% by the year 2020 compared to 1990 levels. According to the Commission of the European Communities, the 20 2020 goal can be achieved through measures in energy efficiencies (EE) and an increased use of renewable energy (RE) in the EU’s final energy mix to 20% by 2020. The tourism industry at large is estimated to be responsible for 5% of the world’s carbon dioxide (CO2) gas emissions. The hotel sector represents 1% of all CO2 gas emissions. Some hospitality industry leaders have understood that it makes business sense to modify operations and achieve the economic benefits of sound environmental practice. With multiple incentive programmes in place supporting the ‘greening’ of operations as well as the plethora of online environmental management self help tools, hotel executives ask themselves what are the barriers and motivators to undertaking investments necessary for mitigating environmental impacts? This study is based on cross-sectional research among German general managers of both privately managed and chainoperated hotels assessing their opinions in regard to barriers and motivators towards investments in green technologies as well as their perceptions of online

Keywords

mitigating hospitality environmental impacts, barriers, motivators, investment, sustainability, online tools