@article{10902/31321,
year = {2024},
month = {2},
url = {https://hdl.handle.net/10902/31321},
abstract = {The tourism sector after COVID-19 has raised different concerns that have lead to a development towards a more sustainable model of tourism. After the health crisis, the increase in environmental awareness of tourists has become evident. In this context, the great paradigm of "small-scale" tourism has been developed as opposed to traditional tourism. The present work seeks to contribute to sustainable development in the Spanish tourism sector, comparing a hostel in Cantabria (considered as "small scale" /religious tourism) and a hotel in Lloret de Mar (considered as a traditional tourism) one using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology to verify advantages and disadvantages of both types of tourism. The functional unit (FU) used was "per guest night with breakfast included". The results have revealed similar results for both establishments in all impact categories, as can be seen in its contribution to Climate Change (4.41 kg CO2 eq./FU caused by the hotel and 4.78 kg CO2 eq./FU by the hostel). The electricity consumption and the impact of the breakfast in the hostel were identified as main contributors to environmental burdens (with 76.72 % of the hotel's impact to climate change and 77.36 % for the hostel); hence, improvement opportunities envisaged were focused on these critical points. On the one hand, a biomass boiler, a solar water-heating system and a hybrid solar/biomass heating are considered a more sustainable alternatives related to electricity. Natural gas and diesel Consumption, respectively. On the other hand, oatmeal, Greek yoghurt and berries are good options for a breakfast with a reduced environmental impact. It is also important to implement responsible and green practices in order to achieve more environmentally sustainable alternative and traditional accommodations. Therefore, it can be concluded by stating that LCA is a tool capable of identifying and studying the processes with the highest environmental impact in order to find out the most sustainable form of tourism.},
organization = {This research was funded by the INTERREG SUDOE Programme, grant number GREENTOUR: Circular Economy and Sustainable Tourism in Destinations of the SUDOE space (SOE4/P5/E1089).
The authors of CESAM acknowledge Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT)/MCTES for the contracts CEECIND/02174/2017 and CEECIND/00143/2017, and for the financial support to CESAM (UIDB/50017/2020+UIDP/50017/2020+LA/P/0094/2020), through national funds.
The author of Galician Water Research Foundation (Cetaqua Galicia) belong to the Galician Competitive Research Group GRC (IN845A-2), programme co-funded by FEDER.
The authors at the UNESCO Chair want to hereby state that the authors are responsible for the choice and presentation of information contained in this paper, as well as for the opinions expressed therein, which are not necessarily those of UNESCO and do not commit this Organization.},
publisher = {Elsevier},
publisher = {Science of the Total Environment, 2024, 912, 168964},
title = {‘Small-scale’ tourism versus traditional tourism: Which will be the new key to achieve the desired sustainable tourism?},
author = {Campos Herrero, Cristina and Gutiérrez Fernández, David and Dias, Ana Claudia and Quinteiro, Paula and Herrero Crespo, Angel and Gallego, María and Villanueva Rey, Pedro and Laso Cortabitarte, Jara and Albertí Bueno, Jaume and Fullana i Palmer, Pere and Bala Gala, Alba and Mèlon, Lela and Fullana, Margalida and Sazdovski, Ilija and Roca i Puigvert, Mercè and Xifré Oliva, Ramón and Margallo Blanco, María and Aldaco García, Rubén},
}