Analysis of the Level of Environmental Sustainability of Prague Hotels

Alisa Miroshnychenko

Bachelor's thesis

Abstract:

Hotel industry belongs among the major contributors to global environmental problems. It as a considerable consumer on natural resources, and, on the other hand, produces large amount of wastes. In order to reduce those negative impacts, hotel industry all over the world made efforts to integrate environmentally friendly practices into the day-to-day hotel operations. A number of voluntary tools was introduced in order to help hotels establish an integrative approach in dealing with their environmentally responsible activities. The most popular voluntary instruments include codes of conduct, best environmental practices, environmental performance indicators, ecolabels and environmental management systems, from which the latter were found to be the most successful ones. As long as Prague city is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, it as also the holder of numerous accommodations facilities, which inevitably influence our natural surrounding and contribute to the global environmental problems. It was identified, that limited investigations were undertaken in order to assess the level of environmental sustainability of the hotel sector in Prague. Therefore, to better analyze the current state of implementation of environmentally sound principles among the Prague hotels, the study aimed to achieve the four key research objectives: to determine the level of perceived environmental sustainability and identify the presence of environmental certifications among Prague hotels, to identify certain measures implemented by Prague hotels in order to minimize their negative impact on the environment, to identify the perceived barriers to implementation of the environmental management principles among Prague hotels, and to find out the main source of motivation of the Prague hotels' management for adoption of environmentally sound policies. To reach the listed objectives, a quantitative survey approach was used, through which environmental policies and activities in the accommodation sector of Prague city were examined. The data was collected through questionnaire sent to the participants via email. In total, 25 hotels agreed to participate in the research and show their attitude towards the issue of environmental sustainability as a part of their operations.

Keywords

ecolabelling, environmental management systems, environmental sustainability, environmentally friendly practices, 'green' policies

Jazyk práce: English

Datum vytvoření / odevzdání či podání práce: 25. 4. 2013

Obhajoba závěrečné práce

• Obhajoba proběhla 4. 6. 2013
• Vedúci: PhDr. Marek Merhaut, Ph.D.
• Oponent: Ing. Jan Jiran

Institute of Hospitality Management in Prague

Bachelor programme / odbor:
Gastronomy, Hotel Management and Tourism / Hospitality Management (instruction in English)