Environmental accounting as perspective for hotel sustainability: literature review

Abstract

Purpose – Competitive environment and numerous stakeholders’ pressures are forcing hotels to comply their operations with the principles of sustainable development, especially in the field of environmental responsibility. Therefore, more and more of them incorporate environmental objectives in their business policies and strategies. The fulfilment of the environmental objectives requires the hotel to develop and implement environmentally sustainable business practices, as well as to implement reliable tools to assess environmental impact, of which environmental accounting and reporting are particularly emphasized. The purpose of this paper is to determine the development of hotel environmental accounting practices, based on previous research and literature review. Approach – This paper provides an overview of current research in the field of hotel environmental accounting and reporting, based on established knowledge about hotel environmental responsibility. The research has been done according to the review of articles in academic journals. Conclusions about the requirements for achieving hotel long-term sustainability have been drawn. Findings – Previous studies have shown that environmental accounting and reporting practice in hotel business is weaker when compared to other activities, and that most hotels still insufficiently use the abovementioned instruments of environmental management to reduce their environmental footprint and to improve their relationship with stakeholders. The paper draws conclusions about possible perspectives that environmental accounting has in ensuring hotel sustainability. Originality – The study provides insights into the problem of environmental responsibility of hotels, from the standpoint of environmental accounting and reporting, as tools for assessing hotel impact on the environment and for improving its environmentally sustainable business practice. The ideas for improving hotel environmental efficiency are shaped based on previous findings.

Keywords

• environmental responsibility
• environmental accounting
• environmental reporting
• hotel sustainability