Circular Economy in Tourism. An Opportunity for Hotel and Restoration Companies

Abstract

The Circular Economy (CE) is an economic system focused on maintaining and increasing the economic value of goods through preservation, reduction, reuse and recycling, with the purpose of limiting and reducing environmental damage, impacting the quality of life of the beings that inhabit the planet. CE can provide the tourism sector with economic returns in the short term through the use and optimisation of resources, products and materials used to provide its services, and in the medium and long term because in tourism the conservation of nature is to a large extent what ensures the permanence of businesses. The aim of this conceptualisation work is to analyse the importance of the circular economy for the tourism sector, as well as to refer to research instruments and conclusions from various empirical studies on this topic. A qualitative and documentary type of research was carried out using scientific articles, documents generated by various organisations, among others. It is concluded that the components and benefits of CE are still not widely known by entrepreneurs in the tourism sector, mainly small businesses. Likewise, there is a shortage of research instruments to validate the CE construct for its measurement.