Ski – resort and regional development: profile of visitors ... - E-Journal

Sustainable tourism in the small and medium tourism businesses in albania
and recycling glass (45 per cent; 33 businesses). Many of these activities would appear to be
established priorities and practices that do not necessarily involve owners in active and
innovative environmental work. Indeed, purchasing from local suppliers does not necessarily
mean that the goods are derived from the local area]. The least popular activities were donating
to environmental groups (3), buying organic produce (8), monitoring waste production (9)
and eliminating the use of disposable packaging (10).
While these results represent the general picture, levels of implementation of sustainable
practices were higher in the “managed” and larger establishments than in the smaller, family
run businesses. Participation levels of larger hotels exceeded those of the privately run hotels
in 11 of the 17 activities assessed presumably stimulated by initiatives from head office rather
than encouragement from the public sector. The largest size group of hotels was more likely
to install water saving devices, encourage the use of public transport and purchase organic
products, whereas the smaller and medium sized businesses were more likely to monitor
energy, water and waste consumption, recycle cans, glass and paper and use environmentally
friendly cleaning products.
Effective action by the public sector to improve levels of sustainability in tourism businesses
is obviously problematic. While operators recognize the environmental benefits of sustainability,
they often do not have the time, resources or information to act on their conscience in a
commercially viable way. The Environmental Monitoring Agency was attempted to overcome
some of these barriers by at least providing accessible and user-friendly guidance and by
demonstrating that cost-savings and market advantage could be achieved. Of the 74 businesses
in the survey, only 39 per cent (29) were aware of the Environmental Monitoring Agency.
Awareness levels were highest amongst the smaller establishments. A total 43 per cent of
small establishments (19/24) and 33 per cent of medium sized establishments (4/12) were
aware of the Green Audit, in comparison with only 25 per cent of the larger businesses (2/8).
This pattern was not totally unexpected as the Kit had been designed for the smaller
establishments and managers from the larger businesses may not have been in the city when
the Kit was promoted.
PERCEIVED DIFFICULTIES OF SUSTAINABLE TOURISM
Operators were also asked to consider potential problems and barriers to the introduction of
sustainable management practices in their business. The most common responses highlighted
the importance of interest, time and cost as barriers to implementation. Two third of respondents
expressed a lack of interest in environmental sustainability as a reason for their inaction (66
per cent). A further 64 per cent of respondents stated that they did not have the time or energy
to spend on the introduction of such practices, with 59 per cent stressing their concerns over
initial financial costs. Staff and customer opposition together with external restrictions were
not significant issues. However, just over half of respondents (53 per cent) recognized a lack
of information as a barrier to their consideration of this issue.
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