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MEQ 21,4

Good environmental practices for hospitality and tourism

The role of information and communication technologies
Maria-Eugenia Ruiz-Molina, Irene Gil-Saura and zquez Beatriz Moliner-Vela
University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain
Abstract
Purpose There is a consensus about the negative effects of transportation and some activities related to hospitality on the environment. In this sense, several proposals have been pointed out to pursue environmental sustainability of tourism activities and minimize their impact on climate change. In particular, some applications of information and communication technologies (ICT) have a direct contribution to the reduction of the demand of supplies and energy by the hospitality industry. The present paper has a double aim: rst, to focus on evaluating the potential of several ICT applications to reduce the environmental impact of hospitality and tourism activities. Second, considering the Spanish tourism industry, the paper aims to analyze the level of development of the environmentally sustainable technologies and the difculties experienced in their implementation as well as the future challenges. Design/methodology/approach A content analysis was conducted based on the literature in hospitality. Findings The use of online promotion and booking, information analysis and report management systems, ERP systems, ICT systems connected to providers, GPS and ambient intelligence, among others, may help hospitality companies to minimize the environmental impact of their activities. Originality/value Taking into consideration the evidence obtained from Spain, the second tourism destination in the world, the paper provides a set of implications for practitioners and policy makers that may orientate their decisions on ICT for the tourism and hospitality industry. Keywords Tourism, Economic sustainability, Communication technologies, Hospitality services, Customer relations Paper type Research paper

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Received 20 September 2009 Revised 12 February 2010 Accepted 2 March 2010

Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal Vol. 21 No. 4, 2010 pp. 464-476 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1477-7835 DOI 10.1108/14777831011049106

Introduction Tourism is one of the industries with the highest potential to contribute towards job creation and economic development, especially in rural areas (e.g. Briedenhann and Wickens, 2004). Notwithstanding, there has been a tendency for businesses to develop with little or no strategy addressing the issue of environmental sustainability (Hall et al., 2005). In this sense, it has been pointed out the need to pursue environmental sustainability of tourism activities and minimize their impact on climate change (e.g. Swarbrooke, 1999). Several articles have discussed the industrys applications of
This research has been nanced by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (Project ref: SEJ2007-66054/ECON).

sustainable tourism, particularly with respect to environmental guidelines, accreditation programmes, best practices and policy creation and implementation (Knowles et al., 1999; Hobson and Essex, 2001; Font, 2002; Bendell and Font, 2004; Tzschentke et al., 2004; Bohdanowicz, 2006; Andereck, 2009). Regarding the consumer point of view, the literature reports wide evidence about the positive inuence of environmental practices on customer perceptions of tourism businesses. In this sense, customers appreciate environmentally friendly efforts at tourism businesses, for example composting toilet systems, energy efcient systems, recycling programs, renewable energy systems, gray-water systems, items made of recycled materials, items made from natural/organic materials, water use reduction programs (Andereck, 2009). Additionally, a research of airline passengers found that 93 per cent had moderate to high levels of concern about the environment, and somewhat more than half of the passengers would choose an airline or tour operator that is environmentally conscious when purchasing travel services (Pembroke, 1996). Furthermore, 70 per cent of a sample of US travelers reported likelihood of staying in hotels with environmentally responsible practices (Watkins, 1994). Some studies identify segments of customers willing to pay more for products and services from travel companies that engage in environmental protection innovations (Travel Industry Association, 2003) and, in particular, for environmentally friendly accommodations (Fairweather et al., 2005). The Davos Declaration following the UNWTOs 2nd International Conference on Tourism and Climate Change held in 2007 highlighted the urgency for tourism to improve the use of technology (Becken, 2008). Notwithstanding, little attention has been paid to the role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in environmentally sustainable practices in the tourism industry. In order to ll this gap, the present paper has a double aim. First, we identify the main ICT solutions implemented by accommodation establishment and evaluate their potential to reduce the environmental impact of hospitality and tourism activities. Second, considering the Spanish tourism industry, we aim at analyzing the level of development of the environmentally sustainable technologies and the difculties experienced in their implementation as well as the future challenges. Since Spain, is the second tourism destination in the world (UNWTO, 2009), we expect to provide a set of implications for practitioners and policy makers that may orientate their decisions on ICT for the tourism and hospitality industry. ICT in accommodation establishments Information and communication technologies (ICT) include all forms of technology used to create, capture, manipulate, communicate, exchange, present and use information in its various forms business data, voice conversations, still images, motion pictures, multimedia presentations, etc. (Ryssel et al., 2004: 198). The rapid evolution of ICT has involved offering new instruments for management and adding value to customer experience in the hotel (Buhalis and Law, 2008). In fact, recent studies have evidenced the wide range of technological solutions implemented by this type of organization (Law and Jogaratnam, 2005; eBusiness W@tch, 2006; Observatorio, 2007a, b). Table I lists the main ICT solutions applied in hotels, including: hotel hardware and software, network connectivity technologies, business

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In-house ICT Hotel hardware PC Laptop PDA 3G Mobile GPS Telesecurity system LCD screens Touch-screens In-room TV: Digital satellite TV Cable TV Digital terrestrial TV Interactive TV In-room DVD Piped music Phone: Analogical/digital telephony Analogical/digital Switchboard Ambient intelligence Hotel software Ofce software Specic departmental software Information analysis and report management Project management Simulators Expert systems Web security Network connectivity Internet connection through RTC/RDSI/ADSL/cable/ MTU/PLC/LMDS Local area network (LAN) through cable Wi-Fi local area network (W-LAN) Bluetooth Worldwide interoperability (WiMAX) Business integrated processes Intranet ERP systems Online monitoring of production time Electronic invoicing

ICT for external use Electronic marketing and sales Advertising/promotional supports: Promotional CD/DVD Informative web Informative e-leaet E-magazine Multimedia (3D, virtual tour) Online order reception: Hotel booking system Computer Reservations System (CRS) Global distribution systems (GDS) Booking system of tourist destinations Dynamic packages Electronic distribution to corporate customers M-commerce Self-service technologies: Check-in/check-out solutions Call center Voice recognition applications Customer relationship management (CRM) Customer information system (CIS) E-mail marketing/direct marketing Viral marketing Loyalty program

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ICT solutions related to customers Searchers and metasearchers Price comparison/predictor Virtual web communities 2.0 Auction webs Electronic supply management Online order remittance/reception Use of ICT for supply management CT systems connected to providers Online warehouse management

Table I. Main ICT implemented in hotels

Source: Adapted from Buhalis (1998), eBusiness W@tch (2006), Observatorio de las n Entidad Pu blica Empresarial Red.es (2007a), Telecomunicaciones y la Sociedad de la Informacio Buhalis and Law (2008)

integrated processes, electronic marketing and sales solutions, and information systems for providers and customer relationship management. The strategic use of these ICT constitutes one of the main opportunities for the hotel industry at present. In particular, hotels can make use of ICT to develop a deep knowledge of customer needs, behaviors and preferences, and thus stimulating

customer loyalty (Minghetti, 2003). In this regard, ICT are not only used for replacing already existing systems but also for improving operative efciency (Law and Jogaratnam, 2005). Notwithstanding, technologies can be also useful for accommodation establishments in order to grow in a sustainable manner, i.e. mitigating their Greenhouse Gas emissions, adapting the business to changing climate conditions and improving energy efciency (UNWTO, 2008). In this sense, it has been pointed out that sustainable technologies may contribute to cost savings as well as to guest satisfaction (UNWTO, 2002). In particular, it has been estimated that 75 per cent of hotel environmental impacts can be attributed to the excessive consumption of non-durable goods, energy and water, followed by emissions released to air, water and soil (APAT, 2002). In order to minimize these environmental impacts, it has been suggested a set of hotel environmental management practices for energy, water use and waste management (International Tourism Partnership, 2009, p. 3): . measuring and monitoring the hotel progress regarding energy, water use and waste management on a regular basis; . setting measurable short and long term targets for improvement allowing corrective actions when they are not met; . working with other hotels and local businesses to improve environmental standards in the local area or destination; and . informing guests, vendors, and local stakeholders about the hotel environmental policy, programs and successes. For following all these practices, information and communication technologies are useful and relevant. In this way, the most part of the environmental impact created by the hotel industry may be reduced. First, since hotels are large users of consumer goods, waste generation is probably the most visible effect the sector has on the environment, being a large proportion of this waste potentially recycled or reused (Bohdanowicz, 2006). Second, regarding energy conservation, it has been estimated that 30-50 per cent savings could be achieved with the use of the most efcient components, control systems, integration of day lighting, and other technologies (APAT (Italian National Agency for the Protection of the Environment and for Technical Services), 2002). In this sense, occupancy sensors for lighting control, master power cards, and computerized Building Management Systems are some of the Ambient Intelligence applications that may help hotel managers to reduce energy consumption. Ambient Intelligence consists of electronic sensitive environments able to respond to the presence of people, providing customized added-value services and energy savings at the same time. This type of technological development is consistent with the need to guarantee sustainable tourism activity postulated by the EU (Notarstefano, 2008). Finally, by the adoption of specic measures to reduce environmental impacts, hotels may achieve important reductions in operating costs that compensate the investment effected in energy saving technologies. It has been also suggested the importance of encouraging networking with providers and customers for exchanging ideas and information. These ows may be facilitated through the creation of a central

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database, information and advice system that enables participants to access updated information on new techniques and technologies (Wallis and Woodward, 1997). Undoubtedly, this database benets from ICT developments allowing real-time information ows. In particular, the internet provides hotels with new instruments for participation and interaction with their stakeholders (Murphy et al., 2003; Observatorio de las n Entidad Pu blica Empresarial Telecomunicaciones y la Sociedad de la Informacio Red.es, 2007b). Apart from e-mail, Intranets and Extranets, potential customers and other stakeholders can access tourism web sites and/or blogs that provide them with ratings and information based on the experience of other users about the characteristics of the hotel services or tourist destination to guide them in their n decisions (Observatorio de las Telecomunicaciones y la Sociedad de la Informacio blica Empresarial Red.es, 2007b). While Travel 2.0 wikis and blogs, i.e. Entidad Pu web sites created by users that are nourished by collective intelligence and experience is oriented towards the traveler and constitutes a new version of word-of-mouth, Web 2.0 is a social network addressed to hospitality professionals. With this increase in active consumer participation, tourism companies should evolve and take into consideration users opinions in order to improve their knowledge about customers even at individual level to cover the needs of new segments and to have a more effective presence on the internet (Fundetec, 2008). In this sense, since there is an increasingly number of tourists concerned about environmental issues, these internet utilities should be taken into consideration by hotels in order to communicate their achievements in this eld. In addition to this, some other applications of ICT have a direct contribution to the reduction of the demand of supplies and energy by the hospitality industry. In this sense, the use of online promotion and booking, information analysis and report management systems, ERP systems, ICT systems connected to providers, etc. reduce signicantly paper waste, while the use of GPS may contribute to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from tourism transportation activities. In this sense, ICT may help hospitality companies to minimize the environmental impact of their activities. Environmental sustainable ICT in Spanish hotels There is wide evidence of the implementation of environmental management practices based on ICT by US hotel chains (Mensah, 2004). High level of development of these management practices is also resulting from a survey in Sweden and Poland, where more than 75 per cent of the hotel managers interviewed in both regions reported their involvement in activities relevant to energy and water conservation, as well as responsible waste management (Bohdanowicz, 2006). Notwithstanding, more than 80 per cent of Spanish hotels are small companies with less than ten employees, independently owned and managed (Observatorio de las n Entidad Pu blica Empresarial Telecomunicaciones y la Sociedad de la Informacio Red.es, 2007a), which implies that managers have considerable freedom in operating their facilities, as compared to afliated establishments such as hotel chains. In the case of independent accommodation establishments, environmental concern and willingness to act are strongly dependent on the hotel managers attitude, knowledge and nancial situation (Bohdanowicz, 2006).

In spite of the advantages of ICT for hotels, several studies report an underutilisation of the potential provided by these applications (Hensdill, 1998; nez et al., 2006). In fact, hotel managers still barely appreciate the importance of Mart ICT for business development strategies (Law and Jogaratnam, 2005). In this sense, Olsen and Connolly (2000) predict that successful hospitality companies will be those that use the technology in an effective way to immediately satisfy constantly changeable customer desires and needs, as well as to cope with environmental changes. Literature has traditionally warned about the scarce implementation of ICT in the hospitality industry, especially in small and medium-sized and independent companies (Main, 2001; Paraskevas and Buhalis, 2002). Nevertheless, tourism companies have undergone a signicant technological development recently in Spain. Both hotel chains and small accommodation establishment have widely implemented ICT solutions. In particular, the intensive use of the internet by the tourism industry as a means of information and marketing has made a signicant contribution to this development. In fact, tourism is one of the sectors with the most intensive implementation and use of the internet, since 100 per cent of hotels with more than 10 employees have a computer with internet connection, while 77.5 per cent of micro-companies companies have a PC and 70 per cent have access to the worldwide web (Observatorio de las n Entidad Pu blica Empresarial Telecomunicaciones y la Sociedad de la Informacio Red.es, 2007a). Even in the countryside, internet is present in 85.1 per cent of rural hotels 52.3 per cent of rural hotels have internet access through broadband technologies (cable or ADSL)-, which represents a much higher percentage than the national business average, in spite of difculties for rural areas in having broadband access (Galloway, 2007). Additionally, most of them have their own web site, being this percentage signicantly higher than the national average percentage of companies with a web site (48.6 per cent), according to information from the Spanish survey of ICT use and electronic commerce (INE, 2008). Spanish hotels mainly use the internet for information search (93.4 per cent), customer relations (92.2 per cent), banking transactions (65.2 per cent), electronic marketing (42.9 per cent), provider relations (41.1 per cent), in compliance with public authorities (32.6 per cent) and e-learning (32.0 per cent). E-mail is used by rural hotel managers, to send information, or answer customer queries (92.4 per cent), to conrm reservations (73.7 per cent), and to send promotional mailings (36.6 per cent). All these uses allow important savings in paper waste that contribute to reduce the environmental impact of the hotel activities (Observatorio de las Telecomunicaciones y la Sociedad de la n Entidad Pu blica Empresarial Red.es, 2007a). Regarding the main Informacio software applications used by Spanish hotels, they are, in order of importance, ofce software, online security, accounting and invoicing. The use of these solutions may also contribute to reduce paper waste, since many documents may be saved in computer les instead of in printed documents. Ofce software can be useful to monitor waste management as well as energy and water consumption regularly, in the line of the recommendations of several international organizations (APAT (Italian National Agency for the Protection of the Environment and for Technical Services), 2002; UNWTO, 2008; International Tourism Partnership, 2009).

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Consistently with the high level of implementation of the internet by Spanish hotels, intranets and extranets are also more common in the hospitality industry in comparison to the rest of economic sectors. In particular, intranets and extranets are present in 40 and 16 per cent of Spanish hotels, respectively (Observatorio de las n Entidad Pu blica Empresarial Telecomunicaciones y la Sociedad de la Informacio Red.es, 2007a). While intranets allow a more efcient management of hotel internal processes (booking and service management, interdepartmental communications, etc.), extranets enable relationships management with providers and customers. These virtual environments may facilitate ows of information between the hotel and its stakeholders in the line of the recommendation of international institutions (UNWTO, 2008; International Tourism Partnership, 2009). Notwithstanding, there is still room for improvement, in ICT implementation, in Spanish hotels. In this sense, there are some ICT solutions, for hotels that have not been widely implemented yet. One of most interesting features of tourism company web sites is georeferencing, which is only used by 15.2 per cent of rural hotels. Another technological solution for hotels expected to become more widespread is ambient intelligence (Buhalis and Law, 2008), which is only implemented by 5.1 per cent of Spanish rural hotels. Moreover, even if there is a high percentage of hotels, with internet connection, many hotels are still not using all of its potential, as an instrument, for electronic marketing (Connolly et al., 1998; Observatorio de las Telecomunicaciones n Entidad Pu blica Empresarial Red.es, 2007a). In fact, y la Sociedad de la Informacio 18.7 per cent of Spanish rural hotel managers consider that their companies do not need electronic commerce whereas 21.1 per cent has not even thought about using n e-commerce (Observatorio de las Telecomunicaciones y la Sociedad de la Informacio blica Empresarial Red.es, 2007a). Nevertheless, customers are becoming Entidad Pu more and more accustomed to buying through the internet, specially tourism services. In particular, travel agencies and tour operators represent 12.6 per cent of electronic n del Mercado de las Telecomunicaciones, 2008). commerce turnover in Spain (Comisio Thus, the use of the internet as a marketing channel is an opportunity for rural tourism companies to reduce paper waste and promotion costs targeting a larger audience that has not been fully exploited up to date. Challenges of ICT in Spanish hotels Although the wide range of ICT solutions for hotels makes it possible to generate valuable knowledge and reduce inefciency and extend the available marketing channels, the implementation and use of ICT solutions depend on the hotel category, structure and organization, and moreover, on its management and technological culture (Minghetti, 2003). Big hotel chains lead the process of ICT implementation for customer management (Cline, 2000). Although data is collected, customer records are not often centralized and remain led in the databases of a hotel, hindering the availability of this information for other hotels in the same chain (Minghetti, 2003). Indeed, in the case of countryside hotels, the implementation and use of technology solutions are conditioned by the peculiarities of the rural environment, e.g. distance from urban areas, geography, restrictive legislation for nature preservation, etc. In this sense, many rural hotel managers are still reluctant to use ICT (Irvine and Anderson,

2008). This attitude might be explained by ignorance about the advantages of ICT or lack of experience of use, or by the desire to keep intact the unique characteristics related to rural businesses, e.g. nature, tradition, fear that the use of ICT may have a negative effect on customer perceptions (Anderson, 2000). Notwithstanding, ICT solutions are often compatible and even oriented towards the development of environmentally sustainable practices, such as ambient intelligence, especially bearing in mind that the main attraction of rural hotels is the natural environment of the area in which the establishment is located. In this sense, a more intensive effort should be done by the company to make customers aware of their investments in environmental friendly technologies, that have also a positive impact on customer satisfaction (Manes, 2003). Moreover, although the inherent distance of rural environments from urban areas involves costs and difculties (Malecki, 2003), information technologies can help to reduce the impact of distance for countryside hotels (Buhalis and Main, 1998). Notwithstanding, one of the most important pitfalls of ICT implementation is nancial cost, since most of hotels in Spain are small individual-owned establishments. In this sense, there are both public and private initiatives to educate and entice hospitality providers to aid the adoption of ICT. Payment facilities for hardware investment are provided by the Spanish governments Avanza plan and the European Union programs, Leader and Proder; state and Fundetec nancial aid is provided through the Prointur program for rural companies investing in e-commerce software; workshops on technological applications for rural tourism are organized by the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade and by regional governments. Additionally, a high number of hotels group in associations and clusters Green Hotels Association, Ruralgest, the Rural Tourism Reservations Agencies of Girona and Huesca, ASETUR, AUTURAL-UPTA, among others to obtain mutual benets in ICT implementation and training. These alliances, which often operate as reservation agencies, provide their associates with training and technical support. In particular, rural hotel reservations agencies try to provide hotel managers with customized solutions adapted to their demands, which explains the complexity and the length of time it takes to develop these projects (Fundetec, 2008). Conclusions Information and communication technologies are important in all business processes to gain competitiveness in an increasingly globalised market. In this context, environmental sustainability of business activities is often neglected. Notwithstanding, ICT solutions can also be useful in order to manage waste as well as energy and water consumption. In this sense, tourism companies have at their disposal a wide range of technological solutions that can be used to improve the efciency of their internal processes as well as to increase customer satisfaction. Additionally, ICT solutions such as intranets and extranets allow hotels to monitor internal waste management and energy consumption, to improve communications with their stakeholders as well as to create communities to share information about successful environmental practices. In general, the effort made by Spanish tourism companies in general, and accommodations in particular, to invest in technology is remarkable. In fact, these

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companies are in the rst positions in ICT adoption in comparison to other economic sectors (eBusiness W@tch, 2006; Observatorio, 2007a, b). But, it is not just important to the ICT investment, but also the use or purpose of these technological solutions. In this sense, personnel trained in the use of these technologies, and able to add value to the customer experience, is required (Olsen and Connolly, 2000). Buhalis (1998) suggests that tourism companies need to carry out a continuous process of organizational redesign in order to guarantee the necessary fulllment of requirements in terms of vision, rational organization and qualication to capitalize on the opportunities that ICT offer to companies in this industry. Thus, tourism hospitality companies have been able to glimpse the opportunities that Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and the internet in particular offer them. Nevertheless, for tourism companies the process of introducing ICT is not exempt from difculties. From all this, we propose a set of recommendations for hospitality managers: (1) Monitoring information about public and private initiatives to encourage the implementation of environmentally friendly ICT by hotels: public aid from national, regional, and local governments is available under different instruments (payment facilities for hardware investment, training, conferences). Additionally, a growing number of hotels are grouping in associations and clusters to obtain mutual benets in ICT implementation and training. Hotel managers should consider the possibility of taking advantage of these opportunities. (2) Targeting foreign markets highly concerned about environmental issues: owing to the existence of cultural differences across countries concerning environmental knowledge and responsibility feelings as predictors of ecological behaviour (Tang et al., 2004), environmentally concerned tourists of foreign countries eventually with higher purchasing power and willingness to pay more for a green hotel in comparison to conventional services represent an opportunity to increase the number of visitors, occupancy rates and protability to pay back investments in environmentally friendly ICT solutions as well as to reduce demand seasonality. Eco-label or Green Hotels Association membership are examples of practices that may help the company to go ecological as well as to inform customers about its environmentally friendly objectives. (3) Networking: in the line of Wallis and Woodward (1997), hotel managers should keep in touch with providers and customers in order to be aware of the latest ICT advancements as well as to solve the specic problems of environmental management ICT. All in all, due to the inherent complexity of some ICT solutions, there is a low level of understanding of the possibilities of these tools, the way they work and the value that they can provide to hotel managers (Magnini et al., 2003), specially concerning environmentally friendly practices. In this regard, according to Tippins and Sohi (2003), it is important to take into account not only which ICT technologies are implemented by the company, but also the level of knowledge and use of these technologies by managers.

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About the authors a-Eugenia Ruiz-Molina is assistant professor in the Marketing Department of University of Mar Valencia, where she earned her PhD in Business Administration and Management. Her current a-Eugenia research interests are consumer behavior, retailing, and ICT business solutions. Mar Ruiz-Molina is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: M.Eugenia.Ruiz@uv.es Irene Gil-Saura has been a member of the Marketing Department of the University of Valencia since 1988 and has been a visiting scholar at several European universities. Her studies have been published in several international journals, e.g. International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, International Journal of Service Industry Management, Industrial Marketing Management, Annals of Tourism Research, Tourism Management, etc. She is currently interested in service marketing, consumer behavior and retailing. zquez is assistant professor in the Marketing Department of University Beatriz Moliner-Vela of Valencia, where she earned her PhD in Business Administration and Management. Her current research interests are consumer behavior and services marketing. Her studies are published in several international journals, e.g. International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, International Journal of Service Industry Management and Innovar, among others.

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