Circular Economy in the Tourism Sector: An Overview of Tourism Enterprises and Tourist Behavior

Raffaella Cassano – University of Brescia, Department of Economics and Management, Contrada Santa Chiara, 50, 25121, Brescia, Italy

Francesca Gennari – University of Brescia, Department of Economics and Management, Contrada Santa Chiara, 50, 25121, Brescia, Italy

Francesca Rinaldi – University of Brescia, Department of Economics and Management, Contrada Santa Chiara, 50, 25121, Brescia, Italy

Abstract: The tourist industry, after a slow recovery following the pandem­ic events, is regaining positions in the ranking of the most profitable sectors worldwide. Indeed, considering its high environmental and social impact, the tourism sector cannot escape the challenge of sustainability, by embrac­ing the circular economy approach.

Currently, this challenge, although debated in the academic literature, is not yet sufficiently studied at the managerial level, so tourism enterprises do not have adequate tools to evaluate their circularity. This paper aims to provide an overview of existing circular economy frameworks in the tourism sector, both at academic literature and managerial level.

The research is approached according to qualitative methodology, con­sisting of the literature review on the circular economy in the tourism sec­tor, and the identification of best practices at international and Italian lev­el. This study has a theoretical impact, providing a literature overview on the debated topic and the potential gaps to be filled, and a managerial im­pact, providing a set of guidelines deriving from the analysis of existing best practices.

LIMEN Conference

9th International Scientific-Business Conference – LIMEN 2023 – Leadership, Innovation, Management and Economics: Integrated Politics of Research – CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS, Hybrid (Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria), December 7, 2023

LIMEN Conference Proceedings published by the Association of Economists and Managers of the Balkans, Belgrade, Serbia

LIMEN Conference 2023 Conference Proceedings: ISBN 978-86-80194-78-3, ISSN 2683-6149, DOI: https://doi.org/10.31410/LIMEN.2023

Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission. 

References

Axhami, M., Ndou, V., Milo, V., & Scorrano, P. (2023). Creating value via the circular econo­my: Practices in the tourism sector. Administrative Sciences, 13(7), 166.

Bux, C., & Amicarelli, V. (2023). Circular economy and sustainable strategies in the hospitali­ty industry: Current trends and empirical implications. Tourism and Hospitality Research, 23(4), 624-636.

Drechsel, P., et al. (2018). Business models for a circular economy: Linking waste management and sanitation with agriculture.

European Parliament. (2017). The Impact of Taxes on the Competitiveness of European Tourism. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/cmsdata/130660/The%20Impact%20of%20Taxes%20on%20the%20Competitiveness%20of%20European%20tourism.pdf 

Falcone, P. M. (2019). Tourism-based circular economy in Salento (South Italy): A SWOT-ANP analysis. Social Sciences, 8(7), 216.

Fennell, D. A., & Bowyer, E. (2019). Tourism and sustainable transformation: A discussion and application to tourism food consumption. Tourism Recreation Research, 45, 119-131.

Ferronato, N., Mertenat, A., Zurbrügg, C., & Torretta, V. (2023). Can tourism support resource circularity in small islands? On-field analysis and intervention proposals in Madagascar. Waste Management & Research.

Gennari, F., & Cassano, R. (2020). Circular economy and strategic risk management. Sympho­nya. Emerging Issues in Management, (1), 136-148.

Ghafourian, M., Nika, C. E., Mousavi, A., Mino, E., Al-Salehi, M., & Katsou, E. (2022). Eco­nomic impact assessment indicators of circular economy in a decentralised circular water system — Case of eco-touristic facility. Science of The Total Environment, 822, 153602.

Giurea, R., Precazzini, I., Ionescu, G., Ragazzi, M., & Schiavon, M. (2022). Circular economy, waste and energy management for a sustainable agro-tourism. AIP Conference Proceed­ings, 2437(1), 020097.

Guerra, R. J. d. C., & Gonçalves, E. C. C. (2024). Co-creation of sustainable tourism and hos­pitality experiences: Education and organizations in search of new business models. Sus­tainability, 16, 321.

Hadzi-Nikolova, M., Dimov, G., Mirakovski, D., Zendelska, A., Doneva, N., Zlatkovski, V., Maragkaki, A., Papadaki, A., Sabathianakis, G., Thrassyvoulos, M., Poda, K., Naskova, L., Misseris, T., Zapounidis, K., & Lazarov, D. (2022). Biowaste Management and Circu­lar Economy: Usage of Pay as you Throw System and Autonomous Composting Units in Municipality of Probishtip. Circular Economy and Sustainability, 2(4), 1283-1300. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43615-021-00122-0  

Lagioia, G., Amicarelli, V., Strippoli, R., Bux, C., & Gallucci, T. (2024). Sustainable and circu­lar practices in the hotel industry in Southern Italy: Opportunities, barriers and trends in food waste management. British Food Journal, 126(1), 2.

Li, K., Cipolletta, G., Andreola, C., Eusebi, A. L., Kulaga, B., Cardinali, S., & Fatone, F. (2023). Circular economy and sustainability in the tourism industry: critical analysis of integrated solutions and good practices in European and Chinese case studies. Environment, Devel­opment and Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-023-03395-7 

Magaudda, S., Muccitelli, S., Pozzi, C., & Palazzini, C. (2023). Collaborative governance for coastal landscape integrated management: The Agro Pontino Coast Contract. Sustainable Mediterranean Construction Association. doi: SI-2021-05-089.

Manniche, J., Topsø Larsen, K., Brandt Broegaard, R., & Holland, E. (2017). Destination: A cir­cular tourism economy. A handbook for transitioning toward a circular economy with­in the tourism and hospitality sectors in the South Baltic Region. Centre for Regional & Tourism Research and the authors. ISBN: 978-87-93583-04-7.

Nocca, F., Bosone, M., De Toro, P., & Fusco Girard, L. (2023). Towards the human circular tour­ism: Recommendations, actions, and multidimensional indicators for the tourist category. Sustainability, 15(3), 1845.

Salvioni, D. M., Gennari, F., & Cassano, R. (2022). Risk management in circular economy strategies. In V. Dell’Atti, A. L. Muserra, S. Marasca, & R. Lombardi (Eds.), Dalla crisi allo sviluppo sostenibile. Principi e soluzioni nella prospettiva economico–aziendale (pp. 1-20). FrancoAngeli.

Styles, D., Schönberger, H., & Galvez Martos, J. L. (2013). Best environmental management practices in the tourism sector. European Commission Joint Research Center. Publications Office of the European Union. ISBN: 978-92-79-30895-6.

Tomassini, L., & Cavagnaro, E. (2022). Circular economy: A paradigm to critically rethink sus­tainability in tourism and hospitality. Tourism, Hospitality & Event Management.

Ushakova, E. (2023). Ecotourism potential within the sustainable territory development: Re­gional aspect. E3S Web of Conferences, 070 ESMGT 2023.

Vardopoulos, I., Papoui-Evangelou, M., Nosova, B., & Salvati, L. (2023). Smart ‘tourist cities’ revisited: Culture-led urban sustainability and the global real estate market. Sustainabili­ty, 15(5), 4313.

Veloso, C. M., Cícero, E. W., Sousa, B., Au-Yong-Oliveira, M., Santos, V., & Valeri, M. (2021). Academic tourism and transport services: Student perceptions from a social responsibili­ty perspective. Sustainability, 13, 8794.

Wang, C. N., & Nguyen, H. P. (2022). Evaluating the sustainability of hotels using multi-cri­teria decision making methods. Engineering Sustainability, ISSN 1478-4629 | E-ISSN 1751-7680.

Zafeirakou, A., Karavi, A., Katsoulea, A., Zorpas, A., & Papamichael, I. (2022). Water resourc­es management in the framework of the circular economy for touristic areas in the Med­iterranean: case study of Sifnos Island in Greece. Euro-Mediterranean Journal for Envi­ronmental Integration, 7(3), 347-360. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41207-022-00319-1