Circular Economy Perspectives in the Italian Hotel Industry

Abstract

The spread of tourism has generated benefits, both economic and employment related. However, the tourism phenomenon also generates negative impacts, mainly due to the configuration of the tourist offer that follows the linear economic model of production and consumption. For this reason, tourism needs to be well planned and monitored. The circular economy (CE) is considered a possible solution for reducing environmental, social, and economic costs and aims at an increase in benefits with a view to more sustainable tourism. This topic has recently become the object of study in the scientific literature, with contributions to evaluating the implementation of CE principles in the tourism sector. Through semi-structured interviews with sector operators, the aim of this exploratory study is to identify and evaluate the circular practices along the business processes of the hotel industry. The main results show that to meet sustainability requirements, CE practices need to be assessed through quantitative measurement tools since closing the loop does not necessarily lead to mitigation of the impacts.