Volume: 15  Number: 2  Page: 144–159  doi:10.2167/jost617.0

Comparing Voluntary Policy Instruments for Sustainable Tourism: The Experience of the Spanish Hotel Sector

Silvia Ayuso Center for Business in Society, IESE Business School, Barcelona, Spain

This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the voluntary policy instruments most commonly applied by the hotel sector: codes of conduct, best environmental practices, ecolabels, environmental management systems (EMSs) and environmental performance indicators. Based on a qualitative study of Spanish hotel companies that have applied one or more of these voluntary tools, each instrument is reviewed and analysed with regard to incentives and obstacles experienced during its practical implementation. In the comparative assessment of all the tools studied, formal certification systems such as ecolabels and EMSs appear to be the most effective instruments. At a conceptual level, ecolabels and EMSs are the tools with the broadest scope and the only ones that guarantee an improvement of the company’s environmental (and sustainable) performance. At the practical level, the present research shows that, although both of these instruments involve higher costs and complexity than the other tools studied, they offer a wider range of tangible and intangible benefits.

Keywords: environmental impact, hotel companies, policy instruments, Spain, sustainable tourism, voluntary initiatives

© 2007 S. Ayuso

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