Sustainable Development Goals and the World’s Leading Hotel Groups

Abstract

A number of trade organisations within the tourism and hospitality industry have argued that the industry can play a major role in contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This paper examines if, and how, the world’s leading ten hotel groups have begun to address the SDG’s and offers some general reflections the industry’s engagement with the SDGs. The paper reveals marked variations in the ways in which the world’s leading hotel groups have begun to address the SDGs. As such, the authors suggest that the world’s leading hotel groups have some way to go if they are to play a leading role in contributing to the SDGs. More generally, the authors suggest that the leading hotel groups are to fulfill that contribution they must focus more explicitly on the SDGs themselves, adopt a more comprehensive approach to drawing up their priorities for the SDGs, and address the issues of measurement, independent external assurance and the tensions between business imperatives and sustainability.