ABSTRACT
The importance of the accommodation sector in tourism cannot be overemphasised. It usually becomes the psychological base of the tourist during his/her stay at the destination (Cooper et al., 1993) and the pivot around which other tourism activities revolve; and accounts for a substantial share of international tourists’ expenditure, which has been estimated at 31 per cent (WTTC, 2000). The importance of accommodation to tourism is also underscored by the fact that the number and class of hotels at a destination indicate the level of tourism development. In the words of Pearce: “Hotels are the most visible and pure manifestation of tourism in the city” (1995:151). The accommodation sector is also one area where activities such as construction of buildings, landscaping, cooking, laundry, disposal of waste as well as use of water and energy tend to affect the environment adversely if not properly managed. The construction of hotels also leads to the development of other supporting facilities, e.g., parking lots, restaurants, kitchens, swimming pools, and laundries; all of which make great demands on environmental resources such as minerals, timber, water, and energy. Foster et al. (2000) have identifi ed four inherent characteristics of hotels that exacerbate their potential environmental impacts; these are:
Time perishable capacity: a hotel room, if not occupied by midday • today, cannot be stored and resold at this moment tomorrow and therefore represents lost revenue. Heterogeneity: each guest or customer needs to be treated individu-• ally during service provision, so that the amount of resources used cannot be cut down through standardisation. Labour intensity: the large workforce in the sector renders automation • almost impossible and this has implications for resource utilization. Customer involvement: unlike other industries, the customer par-• ticipates in the production process rather than the fi nal good being sent to him/her, and this could also lead to wastage of resources by customers.
