Resources: Eco-efficiency, Sustainability and Innovation in Tourism

Tourism activities are, by their nature, traditionally resource intensive, particularly in energy, water, soil and raw materials. The efficiency of resource allocation becomes extremely important if sustainable development of these activities is to be pursued. On the other hand, the environmental impact through the generation of waste and pollution of air and water become even more worrying since the environment is itself an input into tourism activities. In this way, this chapter presents the concept of eco-efficiency applied to tourism, that is, the production of goods and services while incurring less impact on the environment and less consumption of natural resources. This chapter has a particular focus on energy, exploring the energy efficiency of tourism activities and the possibility to shift inputs towards renewables. Associated mainly with fossil energy consumption, is the emission of greenhouse gases by tourism activities as transport, accommodation, restaurants and attractions, contribute in this way to air pollution and climate change. This chapter also focuses on ‘eco-innovation in tourism’, as a path to sustainable technologies ensuring eco-efficiency and clean production processes in areas such as construction, integrated water cycles, energy conservation and waste management relating to tourism. The chapter will cover both theoretical perspectives and data analysis, suggesting a number of ways in which public policies, and specifically tourism policy and governance, could be effective in minimizing environmental tourism impacts.