Water consumption patterns of hotels and their response to droughts and public concerns regarding water conservation: The case of the Barcelona hotel industry during the 2007-2008 episode
Abstract
Water supply is a constraining factor in many mass tourist destinations, such as those of the Mediterranean region. Intensifying and increasingly frequent droughts in the context of climate change raise concerns about the sustainability of the tourist sector. Does the hotel sector respond to such concerns, and if yes, how? How do drought episodes affect the adoption of conservation practices and how may adaptive responses differ according to the characteristics of hotel establishments? We survey hotel managers in the Mediterranean city of Barcelona and analyze the annual water consumption of the hotels in the city over a period of 10 years, including four drought events. We find that droughts act as drivers of technological and behavioral change, with the effects being more pronounced in higher star hotels. Drought regulations issued by the government appear to send important signals to the hotel industry, and trigger the adoption of conservation measures. Hotel heterogeneity should be taken into account in future analysis and policy design.Keywords
drought, water consumption, water-conservation measures, hotel industry, BarcelonaReferences
AGÈNCIA CATALANA DE L’AIGUA (ACA) (2008a). Water in Catalonia: diagnosis and proposed actions. Significant water management issues raised within the compilation of the River Basin District Management Plan for Catalonia. Agència Catalana de l’Aigua i Departament de Medi Ambient i Habitatge de la Generalitat de Catalunya. Recursos hidràulics–Explotació–Catalunya. Barcelona: Catalan Water Agency. http://aca-web.gencat.cat/aca/documents/ca/publicacions/aigua_a_catalunya/aigua_a_catalunya_en.pdf [accessed online: February 2009].
— (2008b). Evolució de l’Episodi de Sequera 2007/2008. Memòria de Gestió. Taula Nacional de la sequera, 3 de setembre de 2008. Agència Catalana de l’Aigua i Departament de Medi Ambient de la Generalitat de Catalunya. Barcelona: Agència Catalana de l’Aigua. http://aca-web.gencat.cat [accessed online: February 2009].
— (2008c). Agència Catalana de l’Aigua. Planificació, Sequera, gestió de la sequera, premsa. http://aca-web.gencat.cat/aca/appmanager/aca/aca?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=P1202254461208200370244 [accessed online: April 2009].
AUGUST, Dorothea and GEIGER, Martin (2008). Drought in the Mediterranean. Recent developments. Germany, Frankfurt am Main: World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF).
BOHDANOWICZ, Paulina (2005). “European Hoteliers’s Environmental Attitudes: Greening the Business”. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 46(2), 188-204. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1177/0010880404273891
BOHDANOWICZ, Paulina and MARTINAC, Ivo (2007). “Determinants and benchmarking of resource consumption in hotels – Case study of Hilton International and Scandic in Europe”. Energy and Buildings, 39(1), 82-95. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1016/j.enbuild.2006.05.005
CAPITAL MADRID (24/7/2009). www.capitalmadrid.info [accessed online: January 2010].
CARMONA-MORENO, Eva; CÉSPEDES-LORENTE, José and DE BURGOS-JIMÉNEZ, Jerónimo (2004). “Environmental strategies in Spanish hotels: contextual factors and performance”. The Service Industries Journal, 24(3), 101-130. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1080/0264206042000247786
CÉSPEDES-LORENTE, José; DE BURGOS-JIMÉNEZ, Jerónimo and ÁLVAREZ-GIL, María José (2003). “Stakeholders’ environmental influence. An empirical analysis in the Spanish hotel industry”. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 19(3), 333-358. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1016/S0956-5221(02)00034-9
CHAN, Eric S.W. and WONG, Simon C.K. (2006). “Motivations for ISO 14001 in the hotel industry”. Tourism Management, 27(3), 481-492. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1016/j.tourman.2004.10.007
DE BURGOS-JIMÉNEZ, Jerónimo; CANO-GUILLÉN, Carlos Jesús and CÉSPEDES-LORENTE, José Joaquín (2002). “Planning and control of environmental performance in hotels”. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 10(3), 207-221. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1080/09669580208667163
DE STEFANO, Lucia (2004). Freshwater and Tourism in the Mediterranean. Rome: World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) Mediterranean Programme.
DENG, Shi-Ming (2003). “Energy and water uses and their performance explanatory indicators in hotels in Hong Kong”. Energy and Buildings, 35(8), 775-784. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0378-7788(02)00238-4
DENG, Shi-Ming and BURNETT, John (2002). “Water use in hotels in Hong Kong”. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 21(1), 57-66. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0278-4319(01)00015-9
EUROPEAN ENVIRONMENT AGENCY (EEA) (2003). Environmental Assessment Report 2003. Copenhaguen: European Environment Agency. www.eea.europa.eu/publications/environmental_assessment_report_2003_10/kiev_chapt_02_7.pdf [accessed online: February 2009].
EL PAÍS (12/5/2008). “El primer barco con agua llega hoy a Barcelona”. www.elpais.com/articulo/espana/primer/barco/agua/llega/hoy/Barcelona/elpepuesp/20080512elpepunac_16/Tes [accessed online: January 22, 2010].
ERDOGAN, Nazmiye and BARIS, Emin (2007). “Environmental protection programs and conservation practices of hotels in Ankara, Turkey”. Tourism Management, 28(2), 604-614. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2006.07.003
INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE (IPCC) (2014). FIELD, Christopher B.; BARROS, Vicente R.; DOKKEN, David Jon; MACH, Katharine J.; MASTRANDREA, Michael D.; BILIR, T.Eren; CHATTERJEE, Monalisa; EBI, Kristie L.; ESTRADA, Yuka Otsuki; GENOVA, Robert C.; GIRMA, Betelhem; KISSEL, Eric S.; LEVY, Andrew N.; MACCRACKEN, Sandy; MASTRANDREA, Patricia R. and WHITE, Leslie L. (eds.). Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press.
GARAY, Luís Alfonso and CÀNOVES, Gemma (2012). “Turismo de cruceros en Barcelona. De la marginalidad al liderazgo internacional”. Boletín de la Asociación de Geógrafos Españoles, 60, 253-271.
GIL-OLCINA, Antonio (2010). “Optimización de recursos hídricos y armonización de sus usos: el Consorcio de Aguas de la Marina Baja”. Investig Geográficas, 51, 165-183.
GONZÁLEZ, Matías and LEÓN, Carmelo J. (2001). “The adoption of environmental innovations in the hotel industry of Gran Canaria”. Tourism Economics, 7(2), 177-190. http://dx.doi.org/10.5367/000000001101297801
GÖSSLING, Stefan (2002). “Global environmental consequences of tourism”. Global Environmental Change, 12(4), 283-302. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0959-3780(02)00044-4
— (2006). “Tourism and water”. In: GÖSSLING, Stefan and HALL, C. Michael. (eds.). Tourism & Global Environmental Change. London: Routledge, 180-194.
— (2015). “New performance indicators for water management in tourism”. Tourism Management, 46, 233-244. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2014.06.018
GÖSSLING, Stefan; PEETERS, Paul; HALL, C. Michael; DUBOIS, Ghislain; CERON, Jean-Paul; LEHMANN, La Vergne and SCOTT, Daniel. (2012a). “Tourism and water use: supply, demand, and security. An international review”. Tourism Management, 33(1), 1-15. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1016/j.tourman.2011.03.015
GÖSSLING, Stefan; SCOTT, Daniel; HALL, C.Michael; CERON, Jean-Paul and DUBOIS, Ghislain (2012b). “Consumer behaviour and demand response of tourists to climate change”. Annals of Tourism Research, 39(1), 36-58. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2011.11.002
KENT, Martin; NEWNHAM, Rewi and ESSEX, Stephen (2002). “Tourism and sustainable water supply in Mallorca: a geographical analysis”. Applied Geography, 22, 351-374. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0143-6228(02)00050-4
KIRK, David (1995). “Environmental management in hotels”. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 7(6), 3-8. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09596119510095325
MARCH, Joan G.; GUAL, M. and OROZCO, F. (2004). “Experiences on greywater reuse for toilet flushing in a hotel (Mallorca Island, Spain)”. Desalination, 164(3), 241-247. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0011-9164(04)00192-4
MENSAH, Ishmael (2006). “Environmental management practices among hotels in the greater Accra region”. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 25(3), 414-431. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2005.02.003
MOLINA-AZORÍN, José F.; CLAVER-CORTÉS, Enrique; PEREIRA-MOLINER, Jorge and TARÍ, Juan José (2009). “Environmental practices and firm performance: an empirical analysis in the Spanish hotel industry”. Journal of Cleaner Production, 17(5), 516-524. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2008.09.001
RICO-AMOROS, Antonio Manuel; OLCINA-CANTOS, Jorge and SAURÍ, David (2009). “Tourist land use patterns and water demand: Evidence from the Western Mediterranean”. Land Use Policy, 26(2), 493-501. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2008.07.002
SAURÍ, David and LLURDÉS, Joan Carles (2010). “El Turisme”. In: LLEBOT, J.E. (ed.). Segon Informe sobre el Canvi Climàtic a Catalunya. Barcelona: Generalitat de Catalunya, CADS, 836-871.
SAURÍ, David; OLCINA, Jorge; VERA, José Fernando; MARTÍN-VIDE, Javier; MARCH, Hug; SERRA-LLOBET, Anna and PADILLA, Emilio (2013). “Tourism, climate change, and water resources. Coastal Mediterranean Spain as an Example”. In: SCHMIDT-THOMÉ, P. and GRIEVING, S. (eds.). European Climate Vulnerabilities and Adaptation. Chichester, UK: Wiley, 199-208.
SCOTT, Daniel; GÖSSLING, Stefan and HALL, C. Michael (2012). Climate Change and Tourism: Impacts, Adaptation and Mitigation. London: Routledge.
TRUNG, Do Nam and KUMAR, S. (2005). “Resource use and waste management in Vietnam hotel industry”. Journal of Cleaner Production, 13(2), 109-116. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2003.12.014
TURISME DE BARCELONA, Statistics. (2008). ww.barcelonaturisme.cat/estadistiques [accessed online: March 2009]
VERA, Fernando J. (2006). “Agua y modelo de desarrollo turístico: la necesidad de nuevos criterios para la gestión de los recursos”. Boletín de la Asociación de Geógrafos Españoles, 42, 155-178.
THE WORLD BUSINESS COUNCIL FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (WBCSD) (2006). Business in the world of water: WBCSD water scenarios to 2025. www.wbcsd.org [accessed online: March 2009].
Published
How to Cite
Downloads
Copyright (c) 2015 Marta Dinarès, David Saurí
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
