Evidence of the water-energy nexus in tourist accommodation

The water-energy nexus is critical to solving multiple resource challenges simultaneously, but has rarely been considered in tourism, despite evidence that tourism can be both energy and water intensive. A database of 876 environmentally certified hotels globally was used to explore the resource use, savings achievements and existence of different nexuses.. Differentiated by accommodation type (vacation, business, and villas), the research established robust benchmarks for energy (175-420 MJ per guest night), water (358-1338 L per guest-night) and waste (2.1-2.9 L per guest-night), and found that annual improvements in resource intensity are in the order of several percent, with the first years of being in a certification program yielding the largest reductions. Absolute decreases in resource use over time could not be observed, raising concerns that efficiency gains are outweighed by growth. The relationship between all three resource indicators was significant, but particularly pronounced for the water-energy nexus, indicating the intrinsically close relationship between 'water for energy' and 'energy for water'. The main contribution of this research is to provide an important knowledge basis for harnessing this nexus. Taking a nexus approach to resource savings in tourism is an important step towards achieving not only relative but also absolute reductions. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.