Sustainability issues and hospitality and tourism firms’ strategies: Analytical review and future directions

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to review the main literature on the relationship between the natural environment and management in hospitality and tourism firms and uses strategic lenses to propose a general framework of previous works and a map for future research.

Design/methodology/approach

A detailed collection of the most relevant literature on organizations and the natural environment in general is used, along with a specific compilation of the analysis in hospitality and tourism firms. The analytical comparison between the general studies and tourism literature provides opportunities for the discussion of research gaps.

Findings

The growing volume of research on environmental management in the hospitality and tourism firms suggests increasing interest in the topic in the past decade. However, our analysis uses a strategic framework to identify multiple relevant topics that are due for exploration. The generation of more robust theoretical and empirical contributions should also be prioritized in the future.

Research limitations/implications

The findings provide insight into the growing importance of environmental issues in multiple areas of hospitality and tourism firms, including corporate strategy (new green business and implications of the environmental issues on the attractiveness of traditional tourism activities), competitive business strategy (differentiation and reduction of costs through environmental management), functional strategy (eco-labels, certifications and environmental management systems), green marketing, responsible supply chain and training.

Originality/value

While previous literature has emphasized the macro analysis of environmental challenges in the industry, this paper is one of the first to provide an analytical review of the literature on the natural environment and management of hospitality and tourism firms and will be particularly useful to better understand the organizational challenges.

Citation

Aragon-Correa, J.A., Martin-Tapia, I. and de la Torre-Ruiz, J. (2015), "Sustainability issues and hospitality and tourism firms’ strategies: Analytical review and future directions", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 27 No. 3, pp. 498-522. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-11-2014-0564