Perception of Green Hotels in the 21st Century
Introduction
Over the years, the focus on environmentally responsible behavior has grown
dramatically from hardly being talked about to being a major concern for the travel and tourism
industry (Gustin and Weaver, 1996). According to Vora (2007), 43 million U.S. travelers have
indicated their worries for the environment. Practices such as saving water, saving energy, and
reducing solid waste were three of the most common things green hotels were doing to help the
environment. But, even more important than water usage and reducing paper waste were changes
like eco-cuisine, energy efficient lighting, installing hinge activated lighting, and using
electronics such as email and electronic check-in versus using paper (Wolff, 2008). These efforts
had been continuously growing over the past few decades. Since ‘green hotel’ is a relatively new
concept, it is interesting to explore the perception and attitude of consumers toward green
hotel/resort concepts in the twenty-first century.