The perception of Turkish tourists for sustainable hotels and its impact on their hotel selection

Abstract

The United Nations defined sustainability in 1987 as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Due to reasons such as climate changes, drought, depletion of the ozone layer, and reduction of natural resources, the concept of sustainability has started to invade in our lives incrementally since late 1980s. The three main dimensions of sustainability are defined as environment, economy and society. Goals for sustainable development have been determined and countries have been making plans on how they can develop in line with these goals. In addition, tourism sector has also been discussed in terms of sustainability and concepts such as sustainable destination, sustainable city, sustainable tourism have emerged. Among these, one concept that should be handled carefully is the concept of sustainable hotel. Hotels aim to provide the highest level of customer satisfaction with 24-hour customer service. However, issues such as high energy and water consumption and waste generation are among the functions that need to be meticulously managed for hotels, as in other service businesses. The concept of sustainability in Turkish tourism attracts increasing attention. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has been pioneering and guiding in this field. Hotel businesses, on the other hand, are taking steps to obtain the necessary certificates in terms of sustainability, to develop measures and to become green and sustainable hotels. This research examines the perceptions of Turkish visitors on the concept of sustainable hotel; its impact on their hotel selection and questions whether the demographic differences may impact their perception. For this purpose, a scale is developed. In the first part of the developed scale, perception for the sustainable hotel concept is questioned; in the second part, their hotel selection preferences are asked. The data obtained are evaluated according to demographics like age, occupation, income level, education etc. to find out the impact of demographic differences on their perception and preferences. The results of this research may contribute to understand the perception level of Turkish visitors for sustainable hotels and how this perception may be further developed. Further studies may be performed to compare the perceptions of different countries with different variables. Sustainability has become an important driver for our future. However, its future depends on the level of peoples’ understanding and consciousness. Therefore, the findings of this research may contribute to the sustainability progress and development by providing important information for the society’s understanding for sustainable hotel concept. The findings will help tourism stakeholders to develop further strategies to implement better sustainability applications for hotels and tourism.