A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. School of Environment, Resources and Development

Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1999

The increasing number of tourists received at many destinations have encouraged a number of accommodation facilities to be built in and around the destinations. This activity has drawn attention from the world over with a special reference to its environmental sustainability. Environmental management programs for hotels are immerging as a response to political and social pressure for sustainability. Some examples are Green Globe, Green Leaf Program, the Blue Flag and individual efforts by hotel chains like ECOT AJ. The prime environmental issues in hotels are solid waste, water and energy management, which are also pivotal urban issues. Thus developing environmental management programs and ensuring participatiop of hotels in these programs becomes important from the point of view of urban environmental sustainability. This research has examined successful experiments in environmental management of hotels and has drawn lessons for their replication in Panjim, Goa. It further assessed the awareness, willingness and perception of hoteliers to adopt environmental management programs. A stakeholder analysis was made to study the existing and expected roles of stakeholders in the program. The strategy addresses a range of issues at two levels, at the hotel level, traning and awareness, floating staff issues, target audience and hardware solutions of making physical changes in hotels. At the stakeholder level, their expected roles and co-ordination is discussed. The solutions to encourage hotels to participate in the program are sought through a regulatory, incentive or disincentive approach.