Trends In The Hospitality Industry

Mankind has been accused of being the cause of global warming, proven by most climate scientists, the main cause of the global warming trends is due to the dramatic increase of greenhouse gases by human activities. Because of the increase in population, demand and consumption of resources eventually exceeded earth’s ecological capacity. As in the hospitality industry, one of the tertiary industry that grew rapidly in the past decade, it could closely related to sustainability as well as social psychology. Thanks to modern technology, travelling abroad is no longer consider a costly or time consuming activity. According to UNWTO Tourism Highlight 2015, international tourism rose from 25 million in 1950 to 1133 million by the year of 2014, and

To start off by guests booking flights and accommodation and take public or private transportation to reach the destination, which emits uncountable greenhouse gases. Guest were interested in a hotel only if it met their needs, for example, the location and price of the room, service and amenities provided? They were not overly interested whether or not the hotel is environmental friendly. (Carmody, n.d.) During their stay, towels and linens that change daily by housekeeping, it usage of water is uncontrollable. In dryer regions, tourists' water consumption can be double the average amount of local residents in Spain (UNEP, 2008). To add on, the air conditioner that runs from day to night even in empty rooms, not to mention television and lights that remain turned on when guests are out, it seems that every act and move consumes energy and resources that deteriorate the environment bit by

Materialism is one of the root causes of environmental decline (Porritt 1984). With higher spending power of people, they tend to seek for more luxury and higher class of service from service industries. This trend then create a demand of top services and well equipped hotels that could accommodate the market needs. Hotels start to include more and more amenities in rooms, building more complex facilities and offers different kinds of service, in order to distinguish themselves from the competitors. In Kilbourne and Pickett’s (2008) study, they proved that individuals’ cognitive dissonance could occur when their desired consumption behavior is considered as negative to the environment. Money could not buy real happiness and every individual should be responsible for taking care of the environment, but guests are still using money to buy this comfort as being served, to enjoy the five star service provided from staff that help tidy the room daily and the ability to use the gym 24 hours a day. And this attitude shaped their behavior, the “routine” that mentioned previously, and once the guests realize the consumption could result in negative environment protection, cognitive dissonance in materialists is more likely to increase. (Cheng et al,