Sustainable Hospitality Management: Challenges and Opportunities for Small Island Destinations—Lessons from the British Virgin Islands

Abstract

This research determines specific sustainability related challenges for hotels on small island destinations and how obstacles can be overcome or avoided through innovative and integrative management techniques. It should aid hotel practitioners in the establishment of an efficient long-term stable business approach supported by academic and field research. According to a review of pertinent literature, there is no published paper offering a comprehensive approach to sustainable hospitality management (SHM) specific to small island destinations. Therefore, this topic is of major significance to identify practical solutions in key categories. Primary research for this paper was conducted via semi-structured interviews with hoteliers and various field experts in the British Virgin Islands (BVI). Information from which is integrated into core research as well as presented at the end via a case study on the current state of SHM in the BVI. Determined factors that make SHM difficult on small island destinations (SIDs) are: Isolation from economies of scale, natural scarcity of resources, dependence on imports, increasing demand, and fragile ecosystems. Key areas of focus for SHM on small islands have been identified as: Energy, waste, water, food and beverage, and wildlife conservation. Globally, there exist many examples of NGO, governmental, business, and local initiatives in this field. This paper demonstrates that the maintenance of a long-term successful tourism industry on small islands requires hotels to play a large role in the development and implementation of sustainable solutions.