Motivation, Costs and Benefits of the Adoption of the European Ecolabel in the Tourism Sector : An Exploratory Study of Italian Accommodation Establishments

In the last 20 years, the tourism industry has witnessed the proliferation of many ecolabels with different scopes and criteria and sometimes with a limited area of recognition, which has caused confusion among guests. In order to offer a tool useful for consumers and recognised all over Europe, in 2001 the European Union decided to extend its official ecolabel to the hospitality sector. Fifteen years since its introduction, Italy represents the first country in Europe in terms of adhesion to the European Ecolabel while in other countries like Austria, Spain and France, only a limited number of properties are certified. This paper aims at presenting a study of 36 Italian accommodation establishments with the European Ecolabel (out of 194, the 18.6% of the total) and analyses their motivations, difficulties, costs, and benefits deriving from its implementations