Direct or indirect energy savings in food and beverage services? Visitors' preferences in hotel restaurants

Food processing in hotels is one of most energy-intensive activities in the tourism industry. There is an urgent need to reduce energy consumption in hotels to limit their environmental impact. This research aims to assess tourists' preferences for the provision of food that require low energy preparation and to compare them with tourists' preferences for other indirect energy saving options. A quantitative survey with 944 tourists visiting six tourist sites across the Czech Republic was used for primary data collection. Data were analyzed using linear regression models. Our findings signal that direct energy savings tend to be perceived differentially and surprisingly as the least preferred option among tourists. Those who support direct energy savings in food processing are rather older respondents and also respondents who declare stronger proenvironmental everyday behaviour and subjective norms. We claim that as tourists show highly diverse preferences for various ways of energy savings, we need to ensure that multiple energy saving options are offered so that tourists contribute to reducing the ecological footprint of hotels. At the same time, it has to be highlighted that only few surveyed tourists voluntarily accepted reduction of comfort in the food and beverage provision. There is room for many technological and social innovations and raising environmental awareness among tourists to overcome this contradiction.

Automated summary

Food processing in hotels is a highly energy-intensive activity in the tourism industry. The preferences of tourists for low-energy food provision and other indirect energy-saving options were examined. The findings suggest that direct energy savings are not the preferred choice among tourists, and there is a need to offer multiple energy-saving options to cater to diverse preferences. However, there is a contradiction between tourists' desire for comfort in food provision and the need for environmental awareness and innovation.