Responsabilidade de hóspedes em relação à variável ambiental: estudo de caso de dois meios de hospedagem

Abstract

This research wants to study the relation between the guests´ behaviour and the environment, regarding the next question: Is the environmental variable regarded in the choice of the hotel and the touristic destinations? To this, two hotels were selected, the first located in the Canela city, and the second in the Caxias do Sul city. In this research the specifics purposes are: a) the guests profile in the both hotels; b) how the guest gets information about the cities and the hotels; c) the guests´ knowledge about the hometown´s and touristic destination´s health measures; d) the occurrence of waste separation by the guest at their houses and at the hotel; e) if the health measures is factor of choice of the hotel by the guests; f) if environmental practices is factor of choice of the hotel by the guests; g) if the guests have a commitment with the environment and h) if the hotels should have a commitment with the environment. To attend the purposes of this study, questionnaires were applied with the guests of the two hotels during two different periods, high and low season, respecting the hotels touristic calendar. The questionnaire have two parts: the first with questions about the personal information, where are contemplated data like: a) age; b) gender; c) instruction; d) the motivation to travel; e) the hometown; f) information about environmental responsibility and g) how the tourist gets information about the city and the hotel visited. In the second part entitled Motivations in the choice of the Touristic Destination and the Hotels questions intent to identify guests´ motivations and perceptions in relation to environmental variable. This part regarded situations like: a) information about the knowledge of the guests hometown health measures situation (supply water, waste and sewerage treatment); b) information about the knowledge of the touristic destination health measures situation; c) information about the waste separation at home and at the hotel; d) information if the health measures and environmental practices are important factors to the choice of the touristic destination and e) information about guests and hotels engagement with environmental preservation. The results allow to conclude that the guests show interest about the relations between the tourism, the hotels and the environment. However, there is a lacuna in the information about the environmental situation of the touristic destinations and the hotels. It is noted that the guest role is important in the make decision of managers, interfering in the adoption of environmental practices in the hotels scope.