GREEN TOURISM INITIATIVES IN NUWARA ELIYA: RESPONSE FROM HOTEL INDUSTRY

Abstract

This study intends to find out factors, their levels and the association they have with green tourism initiatives of N’Eliya hotel industry. Three hotels were selected to tackle the research problem, why hotels are not finding out ways and means to save water, energy and manage waste in line with SDG goals, via the adoption of green tourism initiatives. The interrelationship between factors and green tourism initiatives is analyzed through employee perceptions and direct observation by applying descriptive statistics, ANOVA test, Chi-square test, Spearman’s Correlation. The findings highlight that environmental factors and social factors significantly positively (p<.05) associated with green initiatives in N’Eliya hotel industry, but each hotel has different level of adoption in green initiatives towards environmental sustainable development goals. The findings of this study suggest the need for new green techniques to enhance green initiative in hotel industry and thereby to reach the SDGs, which can also promote social entrepreneurship.