SUSTAINABLE ORIENTED INNOVATION IN THE HOTEL INDUSTRY OF MAZATLÁN, MÉXICO

What is it about?

e tourist industry has been an important factor for the development of communities and countries but its repercussions to the environment and to the cultural and social heritage can be harmful to destinations if there ́s not a clear strategy to counterpart them. Mazatlán as a tourist destination is now embracing sustainability as a long-term strategy to maintain its resources in the future. As part of this strategy, the program “sustainable hotels” has come up involving the private and the official sector along with some NGO ́s; this program has been successful as many hotels are now innovating trying to get recognition as a sustainable business. This multiple case research with a QUAN-QUAL approach unfolds the insights of the innovation process for sustainability and its results in three hotels enrolled in the program, highlighting the most important factors needed to become a sustainable business in the hospitality sector.

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Why is it important?

Sustainability criteria and efforts to adopt its "good practices" have had a major impact on all types of industries, especially on tourism, on the way in which strategies are planned and formulated to achieve the objective of being environmentally responsible companies. Today it has long been known that social responsibility and the attitude towards sustainability are factors of great importance for companies in all branches of industry (Porter and Derry, 2012). This is the result of a general increase in awareness of these issues among the public, which subsequently it is reflected in the demand to companies to comply a new set of standards of business practice and accountability (Porter & Derry, 2012).

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