Environmental Sustainability and Tourism Accommodation in South Africa: The managers’ perspective

A review of the existing literature indicates that academic research into environmental sustainability practices in the tourism accommodation industry is limited, with no literature defining the industry’s context in detail. This paper addresses this gap by asking fundamental questions which establish a baseline and provides an introduction to how environmental sustainability is conceptualised and approached within the tourism accommodation industry. Using thematic analysis of thirty semi-structured interviews, the findings of the paper indicate that stakeholders have a proficient understanding of environmental sustainability and its applicability to their industry. It also demonstrates that participants are aware of their responsibility in successfully implementing sustainability in the industry, but uptake levels are still very low, and at best basic. The paper thus provides the necessary starting point for assessing the challenge of sustainability adoption and developing solutions to integrate sustainability ideas at the much-needed higher level of engagement.