Sustainability practices, sustainable development goals and the hospitality sector: perspectives from Sri Lankan chain hotels

Abstract

Despite being an industry at the forefront of adopting sustainable practices, there has been a continued paucity of hospitality research focusing on the extent of adoption of sustainability practices and their contribution towards achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) from developing countries’ viewpoints. Hence, this research explores the current context of sustainability practice adoption, its implications and its alignment with SDGs through a case study research based in Kandy, Sri Lanka. This research builds on the work of Mihalič and colleagues’ hotel sustainability business model to thematically explore the current context of sustainability practice adoption. This study employs a qualitative research method, combining semi-structured interviews and participant observations from 11 chain hotels selected through a purposive sampling approach. The research findings suggest that local hotels have already adopted various sustainability practices across all triple bottom-line considerations. However, most hoteliers did not understand how economic progression relates to their sustainability commitments. Moreover, several hoteliers interpreted sustainability efforts purely with pro-environmental efforts. The study further indicates that larger chain hotels tend to implement sustainable practices and align their operations with SDGs, whereas smaller chain hotels face significant challenges in adopting sustainability practices and SDG alignment due to a lack of resources and knowledge.