title: Inventory analysis and carbon footprint of coastland-hotel services: A Spanish case study.
abstract: Tourism is a key industry in the Spanish economy. Spain was in the World top three ranking by international tourist arrivals and by income in 2015. The development of the tourism industry is essential to maintain the established economic system. However, if the environmental requirements were not taken into account, the country would face a negative effect on depletion of local environmental resources from which tourism depends. This case study evaluates, through a life cycle perspective, the average carbon footprint of an overnight stay in a Spanish coastland hotel by analyzing 14 two-to-five-stars hotels. Inventory and impact data are analyzed and presented both for resource use and greenhouse gases emissions, with the intention of helping in the environmental decision-making process. The main identified potential hotspots are electricity and fuels consumption (6 to 30kWh/overnight stay and 24 to 127MJ/overnight stay respectively), which are proportional to the number of stars and unoccupancy rate and they produce more than 75% of the impact. It is also revealed that voluntary implementation of environmental monitoring systems (like EMAS regulation) promotes collection of more detailed and accurate data, which helps in a more efficient use of resources. A literature review on LCA and tourism is also discussed. Spanish hotels inventory data presented here for the first time will be useful for tourism related managers (destination managers, policy makers and hotel managers among others) to calculate sustainability key indicators, which can lead to achieve real sustainable-tourism goals. Further data collection will be needed in future projects to gather representative data from more hotels, other accommodation facilities and also other products/services offered by tourist sector in Spain (like transport of tourists, food and beverage, culture-sports & recreation and others).
authors.affiliation: GIR, Escola d'Enginyeria d'Igualada (EEI), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC, Barcelona tech), Pla de la Massa, 8, 08700 Igualada, Spain; Cyclus Vitae Solutions, S.L., Avinguda Caresmar 33, 1, 08700 Igualada, Spain. Electronic address: rita.puig@eei.upc.edu.
authors.forename: Rita
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Puig
authors.affiliation: Usak University, 1 Eylul Campus, 64200 Usak, Turkey.
authors.forename: Eylem
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kiliç
authors.affiliation: GIR, Escola d'Enginyeria d'Igualada (EEI), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC, Barcelona tech), Pla de la Massa, 8, 08700 Igualada, Spain; Cyclus Vitae Solutions, S.L., Avinguda Caresmar 33, 1, 08700 Igualada, Spain.
authors.forename: Alejandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Navarro
authors.affiliation: UNESCO Chair in Life Cycle and Climate Change (ESCI-UPF), Pg. Pujades 1, 08003 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Jaume
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Albertí
authors.affiliation: Instituto Andaluz de Tecnología, C/Leonardo Da Vinci 2, 41092 Sevilla, Spain.
authors.forename: Lorenzo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chacón
authors.affiliation: Cyclus Vitae Solutions, S.L., Avinguda Caresmar 33, 1, 08700 Igualada, Spain; UNESCO Chair in Life Cycle and Climate Change (ESCI-UPF), Pg. Pujades 1, 08003 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Pere
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fullana-I-Palmer
keywords: Accommodation environmental impact; Coastal tourism; Greenhouse gases emissions; Inventory data; Life cycle perspective; Tourism sustainability