Abstract

FREITAS, André Luís Policani  and  ALMEIDA, Georgia Maria Mangueira de. Evaluation of environmental awareness level in hotel industry: an exploratory approach. Soc. nat. (Online) [online]. 2010, vol.22, n.2, pp. 405-417. ISSN 1982-4513.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1982-45132010000200013.

In the last years a growing number of hotels are adopting practices for resources reduction as a justification for environment preservation. However, one of the great challenges is to detect if such practices really represent environmental awareness or they just aim at cost reduction. In this context, this article proposes an exploratory approach for evaluating the environmental awareness level in the hotel industry, according to the businessmen and guests points of view. A study case was conducted in order to obtain: (i) the hotels' and the guests' profile, (ii) the businessmen' and the guests' environmental awareness level, (iii) the environmental practices and, (iv) the guests' attitudes concerning environmental subjects and accommodations.

Keywords : Environmental Management System; Environmental awareness; Environmental Quality; Hotel industry.