Assessing the environmental impacts of three different types of accommodations in Portugal and Spain by using an LCA approach

Cristina Campos; Ana Cláudia Dias; Paula Quinteiro; David Gutiérrez; Pedro Villanueva-Rey; Maria Gallego; Sara Oliveira; Jara Laso; Jaume Albertí; Alba Bala; Pere Fullana-I-Palmer; Lela Melón; Margalida Fullana; Ilija Sazdovski; Mercè Roca; Ramon Xifré; María Margallo; Rubén Aldaco

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172230

Assessing the environmental impacts of three different types of accommodations in Portugal and Spain by using an LCA approach

Sci Total Environ. 2024 Jun 1:927:172230. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172230. Epub 2024 Apr 4.

Authors

Cristina Campos¹, Ana Cláudia Dias², Paula Quinteiro³, David Gutiérrez⁴, Pedro Villanueva-Rey⁵, Maria Gallego⁶, Sara Oliveira⁷, Jara Laso⁸, Jaume Albertí⁹, Alba Bala¹⁰, Pere Fullana-I-Palmer¹¹, Lela Melón¹², Margalida Fullana¹³, Ilija Sazdovski¹⁴, Mercè Roca¹⁵, Ramon Xifré¹⁶, María Margallo¹⁷, Rubén Aldaco¹⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Cantabria, Av. de Los Castros s/n, 39005 Santander, Spain; UNESCO Chair in Life Cycle and Climate Change ESCI-UPF, Pg. Pujades 1, 08003 Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: cristina.campos@unican.es.
² Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies (CESAM), Department of Environment and Planning, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal. Electronic address: acdias@ua.pt.
³ Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies (CESAM), Department of Environment and Planning, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal. Electronic address: p.sofia@ua.pt.
⁴ Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Cantabria, Av. de Los Castros s/n, 39005 Santander, Spain. Electronic address: david.gutierrezf@unican.es.
⁵ EnergyLab, Fonte das Abelleiras, s/n, Campus Universidad de Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain; Galician Water Research Center Foundation (Cetaqua Galicia), AquaHub - A Vila da Auga, Rúa José Villar Granjel 33, 15890 Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Electronic address: pedro.villanueva@cetaqua.com.
⁶ EnergyLab, Fonte das Abelleiras, s/n, Campus Universidad de Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain. Electronic address: maria.gallego@energylab.es.
⁷ Laboratório da Paisagem, Rua da Ponte Romana, 4835-095 - Creixomil, Guimarães, Portugal. Electronic address: sara.oliveira@labpaisagem.pt.
⁸ Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Cantabria, Av. de Los Castros s/n, 39005 Santander, Spain. Electronic address: jara.laso@unican.es.
⁹ UNESCO Chair in Life Cycle and Climate Change ESCI-UPF, Pg. Pujades 1, 08003 Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: jaume.alberti@esci.upf.edu.
¹⁰ UNESCO Chair in Life Cycle and Climate Change ESCI-UPF, Pg. Pujades 1, 08003 Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: alba.bala@esci.upf.edu.
¹¹ UNESCO Chair in Life Cycle and Climate Change ESCI-UPF, Pg. Pujades 1, 08003 Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: pere.fullana@esci.upf.edu.
¹² UNESCO Chair in Life Cycle and Climate Change ESCI-UPF, Pg. Pujades 1, 08003 Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: lela.melon@esci.upf.edu.
¹³ UNESCO Chair in Life Cycle and Climate Change ESCI-UPF, Pg. Pujades 1, 08003 Barcelona, Spain.
¹⁴ UNESCO Chair in Life Cycle and Climate Change ESCI-UPF, Pg. Pujades 1, 08003 Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: ilija.sazdovski@esci.upf.edu.
¹⁵ UNESCO Chair in Life Cycle and Climate Change ESCI-UPF, Pg. Pujades 1, 08003 Barcelona, Spain; UPF Barcelona School of Management, Carrer de Balmes, 132-134, 08008 Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: merce.roca@esci.upf.edu.
¹⁶ UNESCO Chair in Life Cycle and Climate Change ESCI-UPF, Pg. Pujades 1, 08003 Barcelona, Spain; UPF Barcelona School of Management, Carrer de Balmes, 132-134, 08008 Barcelona, Spain; PPSRC - IESE Business School, Av. Pearson 21, 08034 Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: ramon.xifre@esci.upf.edu.
¹⁷ Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Cantabria, Av. de Los Castros s/n, 39005 Santander, Spain. Electronic address: maria.margallo@unican.es.
¹⁸ Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Cantabria, Av. de Los Castros s/n, 39005 Santander, Spain. Electronic address: ruben.aldaco@unican.es.

PMID: 38582111
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172230

Abstract

The tourism industry, affected by COVID-19, must reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This study evaluated the environmental impact of three hotels in coastal and mountainous regions of Spain and Portugal using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Data was gathered via surveys in the Greentour tool. Results indicate that the 2-star hotel (focused on cultural-urban tourism) has the highest impacts in most categories, except for CC, FRD, and POF indicators. The 3-star hotel (beach tourism) contributes the most to CC and FRD indicators, while the hostel (nature-religious tourism) has the highest value in the POF indicator. LCA findings reveal that diesel consumption in the hostel and electricity usage in both the 2-star and 3-star hotels are major contributors to environmental impacts across various categories. Overall, evidence suggests that fossil fuel and electricity usage significantly affect tourism activities environmentally. Interestingly, this study highlights that a 2-star hotel can have a higher carbon footprint (CC indicator) compared to a 3-star hotel, challenging the notion that higher star ratings imply lower environmental impact.

Keywords: Accommodation; Beach tourism; Cultural tourism; Environmental impacts; Life Cycle Assessment (LCA); Natural tourism.