Contemporary issues in hospitality industry


The main purpose of this report is to provide a brief description of the hospitality industry in context to contemporary issues. In the hospitality industry, there are different sectors such as hotels, restaurant, catering services and clubs, etc.

In today’s emerging market, there are large numbers of factors like environment and food safety, etc are creating difficulties for hotels and restaurants to sustain in the competitive environment (Epstein & Buhovac, 2014).

These factors or issues are challenge and pressure for hospitality industry because of which industry has to invest more in building an eco-friendly environment.

In regards to this, this study will help to overview the contemporary hospitality issues which are related to sustainability and environmental issues. At the same time, both positive and negative impact of these issues will also be determined on the business practices.

Moreover, the role of technology will also be discussed over the sustainability and environment issues. At last, this study also helps in developing understanding and analyzing the current issues and trends which industry is facing.


Contemporary Hospitality Issue

In today’s competitive world, the hospitality industry is facing various contemporary issues related to environment and sustainability issues. In the research study of Waligo et al., (2013), contemporary issue is an issue which is related to any subject matter which creates a positive and negative impact on the business practices and performance.

Currently, sustainability is an issue which is faced by every industry in the world that is creating an impact on environment due to natural consumption.  In like manner, hospitality industry is also facing issue due to consumption of water, food and energy that is affecting environment and sustainable development of the industry.

In hospitality industry, sustainability means to ensure about organization ability as well as to sustain in competitive situation by maintaining eco-friendly environment.

The reason behind the increase in sustainability and environment issue is over-exploitation of natural resources and change in demographic structure due to demand of more & more innovation that ultimately results into the increase in usage of resources.

In the hospitality industry, it is important to maintain customer satisfaction level without compromising in any services or comfort level so that more customers can be attracted towards this industry (Mishra et al., 2014).

According to customer point of view, a comfortable and sustainable environment is a most considerable point while receiving any hospitality services. In this industry, hygiene and durability are two key factors that help in determining the environment sustainability of hotel & restaurant services.

The one major contemporary issue which hospitality industry faces is food wastage which affects the environment to some extent. The environment and sustainability issues include food wastage, energy usage, pollution, wastage, etc that is creating an adverse impact on maintaining sustainability and eco-friendly environment (Font et al., 2012).

In the hospitality industry, the energy usage is very high due to which environment of an organization is getting affected. The energy consumption in hospitality industry includes oil, gas, and fuel for providing the best services to the customers.

The use of fuel, gas and oil consumption is creating a negative impact on the environment but the efficient use of natural consumption is important in the hospitality industry.

The maximum use of energy leads to more cost of energy production for which industry requires high investment. In this industry, the use of energy requirement is high for making the lighting and equipment work efficiently. The energy efficiency n hospitality industry needs to be efficient for maintaining a sustainability as well as optimum working orders.

But at the same time Kasim et al., (2014) illustrated that there are some equipment which require less energy usage like a coffee machine which requires less energy for the process this creates less pollution too.

The other issue is a large amount of food waste in the hospitality industry. Mostly, food waste is found in hotel and restaurant is because of change in demand for the products and services. However, food left is not easily reusable and left for thrown away which creates difficulty for the environment in a different manner.

In addition, Bonilla Priego et al., (2011) stated that food waste is something which creates difficulty for the hotels and restaurants in terms of increase in cost and expenses incurred for producing it.

In the hospitality industry, there are different types of dishes which are cooked on daily basis but at some time, there are some dishes which are demanded least and this leads to wastage of ingredients which are produced and demanded for environment regularly.

For example, there are two types of customers, one who prefers to have the same choice of dishes but o the other side, there is a customer who likes to try new dishes. This change in demand for similar product and services affects the environment and lead to increase in the food wastage.

The food waste is not effective and beneficial for hospitality industry because it only increases the cost and energy waste (Epstein & Buhovac, 2014). Similarly, pollution is other challenge or issue which hospitality industry faces and this issue is raised due to high consumption of oil, gas and fuel.

This consumption of oil, gas and fuel is used for managing energy efficiency and transportation of hospitality industry. However, this leads to the increase in the amount of pollution in the environment and at the work place due to consumption of oil and gas.

Elliot (2011) explained that for an organization, especially hospitality industry, it is very difficult to manage and maintain the customer satisfaction level. Mostly, resorts and hotels have lots of water wastage such as water wastage in swimming pool and water waste by a guest during long time shower.

Similarly, in restaurants, water is wasted when they wash large numbers of dishes for which they use high water supply. This use of water is somewhere creating damage to the environment in terms of shortage of water in coming future years. In achieving sustainability, hospitality industry needs to concern more towards environment protection and providing best customer satisfaction services.

On the other hand, Hsieh (2012) also depicted that in the hospitality industry, there are a large number of items which are recyclable, reusable and this affects the environment negatively.

Nowadays, for meeting the customer demand on time as well as for maintaining a sustainable environment, hospitality industry using an eco-friendly environment technology. This technology is very effective and responding positively towards the environment in terms of less damage to land, human, animals, etc.

Moreover, the role of the eco-friendly environment is creating a positive impact on the customer; business practices and environment as a customer are also demanding products and services which are affecting less on their health and safety and environment also.

In the hospitality industry, it is most important to satisfy the customers with the service which are offered by hotels, restaurants, travel tourist, etc. In this situation, hospitality industry focuses on using the best technology and strategy which help in maintaining the sustainability and protection of the environment (Bohdanowicz et al., 2011).

This environment and sustainable issues in the hospitality industry are raised due to change in demand and requirements of customers on regular basis. Thus, sustainable and environmental issues must be considered by each sector of the hospitality industry.

Impact of contemporary issue on hospitality industry

In the hospitality industry, it is important to use and maintain the eco-friendly and sustainable environment in order to meet the customer satisfaction level. For maintaining environment sustainability, organization needs to focus more on the consumption of natural resources i.e., food, water, and energy usage.

According to Logar (2010), it is very necessary for the hospitality industry to manage their sustainable work practices because the products and services which this industry offers somewhere create a negative impact on the environment and business practices.

Watson et al., (2010) also described that environmental impact is studied on the basis of primary and secondary effects which leads to change in the needs of sustainability.

In addition, this sustainable and environment issues creates both positive and negative impact on hospitality industry. This denotes that environment issues like water, food and energy usage is effective for meeting the customer demands on time, but at the same time, the use of these services creates negative effect on the environment.

In hospitality industry, dramatic impact of environment is observed due to energy, water and food consumption and also due to solid or hazardous waste released (Kang et al., 2010). In hotels, there is high consumption of energy efficiency for making an optimal and efficient working of equipments and operation activities, like lighting, fuel, gas, etc.

In concern to it, it is also determined that use of large amount of energy leads to negative impact on the environment as the fuel, gas which is used by hotels, restaurants for different purpose like gas for cooking food and making use of heavy machines work.

The other environment issues are water usage which is used by hospitality industry in large amount for different purpose like for bathrooms, laundry, dish cleaning, and for pool purpose. The water waste is a major key reason behind the change in the environment situation i.e., increase in health issues, shortage of water and so on.

Globally, water saving campaign is promoted as an awareness program at a large scale and this creates a positive impact on the environment (Sigala, 2014). Nowadays, hotels, restaurants, resorts and other hospitality sector are focusing towards creating an eco-friendly environment where there is less wastage of energy, water.

The impact of general wastage on sustainability and environment is high as waste is generated from the use of batteries, bulbs, unused furniture, plastic and paper disposal & so on. This increase in disposal and release of hazardous gases and wastage leads to negative impact on the environment and customer satisfaction level.

For every industry, a customer is a boss and need to be a target to a large extent in order to achieve a large market share. On the other side, Kim & Han (2010) stated hotels are facing wastage issues in terms of biological wastage i.e., human waste, water waste, etc for which they are technology which helps in recycling that waste in electricity and fertilizers.

The issue related to maintaining of a sustainable environment is vital in nature because the emission of harmful gases or wastage creates high pollution and damage to the environment which ultimately result into a negative effect on the health and safety issues.

The positive impact observed while using an environment technology is high as it encourages the organization to use the products and equipment which releases less harmful gases or waste.

In context to this, Kang et al., (2012) recommended to hospitality industry that industry need to offer the services which provide sustainable development and growth in the competitive market. Further, hotels and restaurants need to use those resources which get easily reuse or recyclable so that environment and water waste can be reduced to some extent.


The above study concludes that hospitality industry is facing various challenges and issues that are creating an impact on their business practices as well as on their performance.

This study has identified contemporary issues which affect the business practices and operation activities of the hospitality industry. All issues such as energy and water usage, pollution, food wastage, etc are creating a huge impact on the hospitality industry.

The impact of sustainable and environmental issues is positive and negative on the business practices and performance.

At the same time, the use of high energy leads to the emission of harmful gases in different forms which creates high pollution and damage to the environment. The role of eco-friendly environment technology is high in the hospitality industry as it promotes and aware the customers and business practices to a large extent.

The use of technology leads to a reduction in the issues and minimization of wastage and leads to sustainable development. At last, it is recommended to hospitality industry that they need to focus on adopting a technology which provides an eco-friendly environment and sustainable growth in today’s competitive market.


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