Search results

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the evolution of the tourism ecosystem within a circular economy, considering relevant factors that influence the transition towards the circular economy model.

This reflection is carried out from an organisational perspective and employs a strategic management approach combined with a neo-institutional theoretical lens.

Four scenarios are identified after selecting several pertinent internal and external dimensions, which will help to understand the form and pace of the expected transition towards a tourism circular economy.

Other variables could have been used for the scenario creation aim, which can be deemed a limitation.

Tourism operators can position themselves within this framework to analyse their conditions in order to address this unavoidable strategic change.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first academic work written in this line of research.

The whole economy is in a transition process from the linear to the circular paradigm. The tourism industry is no stranger to this paradigm shift, so the purpose of this paper is to stimulate a reflection on the major challenges and opportunities derived from this transformation.

To inspire discussion, desk research was carried out based on scientific databases (Web of Science and Scopus mainly). This scholarly approach was complemented with another, using internet search engines to find additional documents of a professional nature that could provide extra pieces of evidence about the application of circular economy (CE) in tourism.

The state-of-the-art in this field is presented, characterized by the scarcity of the scientific literature available and the lack of a common understanding of this concept, with a limited scope in its use. Further, there are very few well-documented initiatives on the CE in the tourism industry. Therefore, this is still an under-researched area that inevitably will deserve much more attention in the years to come. Nonetheless, as a certain degree of terminological confusion was identified, this work is an attempt to help in the conceptual clarification of the CE, with its particularities when is applied to the tourism industry.

The CE concept is a relatively new, but inescapable, paradigm whose application will contribute to a more sustainable tourism industry. The tourism industry has a significant role to play in economic transformation which is ongoing, because of its multiplier effect on the whole economy and its capacity to encourage circular flows among its suppliers and customers. Additionally, it is important to boost this transformation awareness among businesses and consumers, together with some stimuli, particularly for SMEs, with more limited resources for innovation. Effective coordination within the complex and fragmented policy environment is also needed among the various interacting levels (European, national, regional […]) that influence the tourism sector.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first work carried out to systematize what the literature says about the intersection of the CE and tourism.

This conceptual paper explores the possibility to envision circular regenerative processes embracing agrowth and placemaking within tourism; an industry remarkably connected to the Anthropocene and its detrimental impacts on the planet. Drawing on theorisations of circular economy, on the concept of agrowth, and on theories of placemaking, this viewpoint offers a novel conceptual framework to imagine a regenerative future for tourism.

The authors connect the ancient archetype of “circularity”, largely used to make sense of life on Earth, with the Greek concept of oikonomia. The resulting notion of a circular oikonomia is then intersected with theories of placemaking. In doing so, the authors are driven by the idea of de-growth, as an “a-growthism” urging the abandonment of the faith towards growth for an enduring stable regenerative agrowth.

The authors offer a novel conceptual framework to counteract the negative impacts of Anthropocene and envision future scenarios in which tourism can make a difference by enacting enduring regenerative processes for places and human and non-human entities.

The originality of this study lies in the conceptual framework proposed to imagine the future of tourism, hospitality and mobilities in circular regenerative terms. This study envisions stable and enduring regenerative processes of natural assets, materials, products, services and resources as well as a tourism space made up of lively, multiple, transformative relationships and interactions among people and the environments people live in and travel to.

This paper aims to critically analyse the circular economy (CE) models adopted in hospitality and tourism to tackle societal challenges in the current Anthropocene era, exploring the driving values and sustainability approaches.

A systematic literature review was carried out with an increasing level of analysis to delve more in-depth into the ability of the CE models to respond to current societal challenges. The review involved a stepwise analysis, starting with a thematic analysis of 151 papers to create a conceptual structure map of circular hospitality and tourism literature. Based on originality and representativeness, 22 papers were selected and analysed according to Hoffman and Jennings’ (2018; 2021) institutional approach to sustainability, which entails specific archetypes to address the Anthropocene society: market rules, technology fix and cultural re-enlightening.

The hospitality and tourism industry has made progress towards implementing CE models. However, CE models in market role and technology fix archetypes may fail to address the current challenges of the Anthropocene era. New culture-led approaches within the cultural re-enlightening archetype, such as the regenerative land practices, a-growth and place-making, and circular society, can foster a more radical shift towards strong sustainability.

The paper highlights the urgent need for a cultural shift towards radical and strong sustainability, identifying future research directions. Policymakers have a crucial role in shaping sustainability practices consistent with an ecological culture centred on acknowledging planetary boundaries.

Despite the increasing interest in CE models, it is still debated how the hospitality and tourism industry can continue to thrive while avoiding harmful impacts on the environment and local communities. The study critically reflects on the current contribution of CE models towards strong sustainability in hospitality and tourism.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a new service framework for managing nature and physical resources that balances the needs of people and planet.

The process used in this paper was a rapid literature review and content analysis of 202 articles in service journals and learned that there are limited papers on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) #6 (clean water and sanitation) or SDG #7 (affordable and clean energy) and very few articles on SDG #12 (responsible production and consumption) that focused on environmental components of services. This highlighted the need to conceptualise a service framework for managing these resources sustainably.

The proposed regenerative service economy framework for managing natural and physical resources for all humans (without harming the planet) reflects insights from analysing the available service articles. The framework draws on the circular economy, an Indigenous wholistic framework and service thinking to conceptualise how service research can manage natural and physical resources in ways that serve both people and the planet.

This paper introduces the regenerative service economy framework to the service literature as an approach for guiding service researchers and managers in sustainably managing natural and physical resources in a sustainable way.

The hotel industry is one of the leading producers of waste worldwide, and more than one-third of that waste is food. The purpose of this study is to investigate hotel managers' awareness of sustainable and circular practices, with a focus on their attitude toward and perception of food waste in Apulia, Southern Italy. The region has a tourist vocation, accounts for 3.3 million tourists per year and plays a key role in the Italian tourism.

The study was conducted using a questionnaire administered to ten hotel managers located in Apulia. In light of the Checkup Tool Speditivo, a sustainability score indicates managers' awareness of and attitude toward sustainability and circularity, distinguishing between “beginner” (0–25 points), “concerned” (26–50 points), “proactivist” (51–75 points) and “sustainable” (76–100 points). The results have been analyzed using descriptive statistic tools.

The average sustainability score indicating the level of awareness of sustainable and circular practices among hotel managers in Apulia was 84, whereas the average score associated with their attitude toward food waste management strategies was 65. The greater the number of stars, the higher the sustainability scores. However, the greater the number of rooms, the lower the attitude toward food waste management strategies.

The study sheds light on the main opportunities, barriers and trends in the field of food waste management, highlighting the food commodities which are wasted the most and proposing further strategies to improve circularity and sustainability in hotels. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first on such topics in Southern Italy and could represent the basis for future research on the topic.

Microentrepreneurship is emerging as a key area of tourism research due to its increasing visibility and economic significance. Microentrepreneurs have complex pecuniary and non-pecuniary motivations, they combine multiple forms of knowledge to achieve success, and they can generate circularity and competitiveness when integrated into formal destination systems. Continued research on this topic is needed, but careful consideration of the ethics and methods used is recommended. This chapter assembles findings in this volume and in the tourism literature to propose a roadmap for principled engagement with microentrepreneurs.

Service managers increasingly strive to achieve sustainability through strategies centered on circularity. With a focus on saving, extending and (re)generating resources and their enclosing service systems, circularity can contribute to environmental, social and financial gains. Yet, the notion of circularity is surprisingly understudied in service research. This article seeks to provide an initial conceptual understanding of circular service management, introducing illustrative strategies and research priorities for circular service management. This paper provides a roadmap for scholars, practitioners and policymakers to develop a deeper understanding of the opportunities from adopting circular services.

The authors explore the concept of circular service management by drawing upon existing literature on sustainability, circularity and service research. Strategies of circular service management and research priorities emerge on the basis of industry best practice examples and research on sustainability challenges and opportunities.

Service researchers have largely ignored the concept and role of circularity for service businesses. Extant research on the topic nearly exclusively features in non-service journals and/or does not seek to advance service theory through circularity. This article argues that circular service management enables the implementation of service thinking in the pursuit of sustainability and outlines four types of circular service management strategies.

The authors introduce the concept of circular service management and highlight the role of service research for designing and managing circular systems and operations. This article also offers a research agenda connecting managerial challenges and opportunities with key service research priorities for circular service management. This provides a roadmap for scholars, practitioners and policymakers to develop a deeper understanding of pursuing circular services, thereby contributing to a more sustainable future.

This study aims to offer the intellectual structure and dynamics of the sustainability branding field, involving the identification of influential authors and journals, current and emerging themes, theories, methods, contexts and future research directions.

The study conducted a bibliometric approach of 1,509 articles retrieved from Scopus to analyze the evolution of the knowledge of sustainability branding and suggest future research. The analysis used various methods such as performance analysis, keyword analysis, cluster analysis and bibliographic coupling.

The topics of corporate image, philanthropy and stakeholder pressures were core in the foundation phase. Then rose the topics of sustainable development goals and global supply chains. Green marketing and the new paradigms of circularity, ethical consumerism and hyperconnected societies emerged more recently. Six thematic clusters represent the field’s knowledge structure: (1) corporate branding and reputation, (2) sustainable business development, (3) sustainable branding and ethical consumption, (4) corporate social responsibility, (5) brand equity and green marketing and (6) sustainability branding in hospitality and tourism.

This paper provides readers with an overview of sustainability branding core themes, key contributions and challenges, which can be used as a toolkit for brand management studies and practice.

The study’s uniqueness lies in bibliometric analysis (combined with network analysis and science mapping techniques) of the sustainability branding field from the identification and evolution of the thematic clusters to propose future research directions.