A study carried out by the School of Management, Hospitality and Tourism (ESGHT) of the University of Algarve (UAlg) indicates that 83% of Portuguese companies incorporate, to some extent, sustainability practices. This number makes Portugal one of the Mediterranean countries with the most sustainable practices in the tourism sector.
According to this study, only 17% of tourism companies stated that they do not implement any sustainable practices in their business operations.
Prepared by ESGHT, within the scope of the ShapeTourism project “New shape and drives for the tourism sector: supporting decision, integrating plans and ensuring sustainability”, co-financed by the FEDER through the Interreg VB MED program, countries in which companies incorporate the least sustainability practices they are Cyprus, Croatia, Italy and France.
The study indicated that 45% of companies in Cyprus do not implement sustainability practices in tourism operations, this percentage being 32% in Croatia and around 27% in Italy and France. On the other hand, the study indicates that only 12% of companies in Spain do not implement any sustainable practices in their business operations.
This study, which involved a transnational survey that observed nearly 500 stakeholders tourism-related public and private sectors, in a study population of over 9000 stakeholders from nine countries in the Mediterranean region, and whose results were estimated according to a sample stratified by country, also showed that the three practices incorporated to a large extent by Portuguese tourism companies are recruiting and hiring local people (68%), preserving cultural identity and historic (63%) and promote energy efficiency (59%).
On the other hand, the three practices that are not implemented most frequently are limiting visitor access to highly sensitive cultural and historical resources (41%), donating funds or services and goods to green initiatives (39%), as well as limiting visitor access to highly sensitive natural resources (34%).
This study also showed that one in four companies in the Mediterranean regions of Portugal declared that there are no barriers to the implementation of sustainability practices in their operations.
In fact, it was concluded that Portugal is the country in the Mediterranean region where companies feel the least barriers, followed by Spain and France (one in five companies do not feel barriers in these countries).
Furthermore, tourist companies from Malta, Croatia and Slovenia were those that most frequently indicated they felt more barriers to the implementation of sustainability practices.
With regard to the barriers most frequently identified by Portuguese tourism companies as having an impact on their ability to adopt sustainable tourism practices, the lack of money available to invest and the lack of programs to encourage sustainability stand out (both indicated by 90% of companies).
On the other hand, four out of ten companies felt that the lack of information on how to be more sustainable, the lack of commitment to the need for sustainable tourism practices and the lack of adequate legislation have no impact on their ability to adopt tourism practices. sustainable.
This survey also assessed the dynamics of tourism in the Mediterranean regions. The results of the study indicated that tourism is very dynamic in the Mediterranean regions of Portugal, as it was concluded that more than three quarters of the stakeholders stated that their region is investing more in tourism than three years ago.
already four out of five stakeholders reported that their region is recruiting more workers than three years ago and about two-thirds indicated that their region is diversifying its tourism offer and more than half mentioned that their region is diversifying distribution channels.
This dynamic of the tourism sector observed in Portugal in 2017 was only being followed by Malta and Cyprus, although less intensely.
The results of this transnational survey applied in eight different languages in nine countries of the Mediterranean region (Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Malta, Croatia, Slovenia, Cyprus and Greece), can be consulted in a module of a Decision Support System that was developed under the ShapeTourism project.
This system includes four modules – an Observatory, an Inquiry, Scenario Maps and Region Clusters – and is available for any user to use here
With this decision support system, the aim is to improve knowledge about tourism in the Mediterranean regions, in order to shape and boost its sustainable development and support the decision-making of citizens. stakeholders to promote their sustainable and responsible development in their regions.
Next Friday, April 20th, at 9:30 am, there will be a public presentation of the results of the project, at the ESGHT Auditorium, on UAlg's Penha Campus, where all the conclusions will be made known in more detail. of this study.
Comments