(IAQ) should also be an
important attribute for hotels. This is especially true as hotel guests
typically comprise a high proportion ofinternationaltravelers and a
good mix of dignitaries and officials who demand high IAQ. Equally,
inadequate IAQ invariably brings complaints (Bohdanowicz and
Martinac, 2002).
More recently, research findings have indicated that air pollutioninEast
andSouthAsiahas beendeterioratingdue to accelerated
economic expansion and population growth. Brauer et al. (2012)
found that there is a high concentration of fine particles (PM2.5)
in South and East Asia (annual averages >50 g/m3). PM2.5 is generally considered to be the most robust indicator of adverse
(mortality) impacts in epidemiologic cohort studies of long-term
exposure. They are so small that they can get deep into the lungs
and cause serious health problems. An extensive epidemiological
literature relates PM2.5 to adversehealthimpacts (Pope et al., 2002;
Pope and Dockery, 2006; Dockery, 2009). Latterly,theWorld Health
Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)
officially classified air pollution mixing with suspended particles
in the air as a level 1 carcinogen. It stated that there is “sufficient
evidence” that exposure to outdoor air pollution causes lung cancer
and also linked it with an increased risk of bladder cancer. Such
exposure has increased significantly in China (IARC, 2013). Since
the ventilation systems need to regularly draw outdoor air into
buildings, hotel guests who staying indoor still have to breathe the
polluted outdoor air if there is no air filtration equipment in hotels.
Therefore,travelers whoplanto come toChina are increasingly concerned
about air quality. According to the China National Tourism
Administration, from January to June in 2013, the total number of
foreign arrivals dropped by 5% to just under 13 million compared
with the same period in 2012