Towards a "model of sustainable tourism" for small hotels

This study explores the shift from normal tourism to sustainable tourism, devoting particular attention to hotels. The reason for this attention is connected to the high levels of pollution created by hotels that may be reduced by adopting a strong sustainable orientation. In reality, even though hotels are very crucial in the pursuit for sustainability, the attention to identify how they should intervene is not sufficient. It is true that there are some contributions (Brown, 1996; Butler,2008)that have been studied and have presented interesting sets of indicators (environmental, economic, socio-cultural),but they are targeted mainly to buildings in general and have been adapted, sometimes, to big hotels. This study focuses on small hotels in an attempt to verify if there are examples of excellence in adopting sustainable behaviors. Additionally, the study takes into account the literature contribution and existing examples in order to build a model that may help small hotels to be sustainable.