November 2nd, 2023, Lesley Simeon
Sustainability is no longer a mere buzzword. The hospitality sector, among others, has taken note. Brands in this space are increasingly finding ways to go green by looking to achieve energy efficiency, reduce waste and even neutralize carbon emissions. But do consumers think hotels are doing enough to reduce their impact on the environment?
A recent YouGov survey asked consumers across 17 international markets about which industries they believe are doing enough or not to minimize their environmental impact. Hospital/health services top the list with nearly a third of all consumers saying this industry is doing enough. Hotels are at a distant second (24%) followed by online retailers and food/grocery manufacturers (23% each).
At the other end of the list, fewer than two in ten (17%) consumers feel airlines are doing enough to minimize their impact - nearly three in five (59%) consumers feel this industry isn’t doing enough.
Asians more likely than Europeans to say hotels are doing enough to minimize impact on the environment
More than two in five consumers in the UAE (44%) feel hotels are doing enough to minimize their environmental impact. Indonesia (33%), India (32%), Hong Kong (30%) and Mexico (29%) wrap up the top five markets whose consumers are of the same opinion.
Great Britain is right at the bottom of our list - just 16% of consumers here feel hotels are doing enough. Notably, YouGov data shows that over a third of Britons would consider choosing eco-friendly hotels to reduce the impact of their travel plans on the environment.
Italy accounts for a similar proportion (17%) of consumers who feel hotels are doing enough to minimize their environmental impact. With the exception of Spain (23%), the other European markets we survey find spots in the bottom half of our list of markets whose consumers feel hotels are doing enough.
Equal proportions of consumers in the US and Sweden (22%) feel hotels are doing enough to minimize their impact.
As for consumers who say hotels are falling short in their efforts, Mexico leads (58%) followed by Spain (55%), Hong Kong (55%) and India (54%). Americans are least likely (36%) to feel hotels aren’t doing enough.
Nearly four in ten consumers in the Nordics (38% in Denmark, 39% in Sweden) feel hotels are not doing enough to minimize their impact on the environment. More than two in ten Danes (43%) say they’re actually not sure whether hotels are doing enough or not - the most likely across all our markets to say so. Similarly, 42% of consumers surveyed in the US are not sure either.
Europeans are considerably more likely than Asians to say they don’t know whether hotels are doing enough or not. For instance, with the exception of Singapore (26%), less than two in ten consumers across our markets in Asia are of this stance. In Europe, with the exception of consumers in Spain (23%), at least three in ten consumers across all our markets in Europe say they aren’t sure. Perhaps this sector could do more to settle consumers’ views in these markets.
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Methodology: YouGov Surveys: Serviced provide quick survey results from nationally representative or targeted audiences in multiple markets. The data is based on surveys of adults aged 18+ years in 18 markets with sample sizes varying between 509 and 2003 for each market. All surveys were conducted online in July 2023. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from Mexico and India, which use urban representative samples, and Indonesia and Hong Kong, which use online representative samples. Learn more about YouGov Surveys: Serviced.
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