Sustainable business practices of the independently managed accommodation sector in Edinburgh
Abstract
This study aims to investigate perceived barriers to implementing sustainable businesses in
environmental, economic and social dimensions of the independently managed
accommodation sector in Edinburgh.
Small privately owned businesses make up eighty-seven percent of all accommodation
establishments in the UK, which have been criticised for not incorporating sustainable
practices in their everyday businesses activities. As the importance of sustainability is
continually growing, it is crucial to identify the barriers to implementing sustainable
activities. To achieve this primary aim, two hypotheses were identified to provide a wide
discussion on the investigating topic: the perceived barriers to implementing sustainable
business practices differ between businesses that hold and do not hold the membership of the
Green Tourism Scheme; the majority of accommodation businesses mainly focus on
introducing environmentally friendly activities while ignoring other dimensions of
sustainability.
Literature review critically evaluates the issues of sustainability, importance of sustainable
accommodation activities and outlines accommodation sustainable activities in economic,
socio-cultural and environmental dimensions. Additionally, the literature review created the
basis for introducing questionnaires, which were directly send to 212 independent
accommodation businesses in Edinburgh, resulting in a sample size of 32 respondents.
The conclusion from the research study suggests that the hypotheses for the research study do
not meet indicated related issues of sustainability and sustainable business activities.