Sustainable Development and Green Management: Implications for Tourism Industry

Abstract

Green management, which covers many issues from energy saving and usage strategies of enterprises to waste management practices, is accepted as the main strategy of sustainable development. It offers a holistic approach to balancing environmental awareness with the pressures created by global competition. This holistic approach for green management transformation means renewing the perception of management, business processes, employee behavior and culture. Green businesses, a new concept emerging in this context, perform activities that create added value for the economy, environment and society by reducing unnecessary consumption rates, applying recycling, refusing to use inputs that harm the ecological balance, and reducing the amount of waste. This research explores the performance of tourism businesses on green management for the policies to be implemented. An exploratory qualitative approach is adopted for this study. Case study pattern and multiple case study pattern are preferred as the method of inquiry. Criterion sampling method will be performed to collect data with participants through in-depth, semi-structured individual interviews. Data were analyzed using a thematic approach. The undesirable consequences of industrial transformations and social developments and the increasing environmental awareness of consumers are also considered as driving forces for enterprises to adopt a green management approach. Based on this assumption, the relationship between business managers' perceptions of the role of green management in sustainability and business practices are determined at the end of the study. Also, obstacles to green management practices in enterprises and implications for overcoming these obstacles are presented.