Sustainable environmental practices in Malawian hotels

Abstract

This paper discusses the governance practices in the Malawi tourism and hospitality sector and their impact on the sustainability of natural resources. The focus of this paper is the National Tourism Policy (NTP) for Malawi and how central and local government structures enforce it to promote environmental sustainability practices in hotels. The paper uses a Case Study approach whereby the Sogecoa Golden Peacock Hotel and the Sunbird Mount Soche Hotel are used to explore how the NTP has ensured sustainable environmental practices are followed. A qualitative research method was used through semi-structured interviews to secure the perceptions of key informants. Through a Grounded Theory analysis, the findings revealed that the NTP does not facilitate the enforcement of sustainable environmental practices. Furthermore, because of this shortfall in the NTP, hotels do not have an environmental management policy to promote sustainable environmental practices. This paper, therefore, recommends an urgent need to revise the NTP and introduce sustainable environmental management guidelines in order for the hotel sector to emulate. It is further recommended that hotel managers should have a thorough understanding of environmental sustainability to ensure that the industry addresses negative environmental impacts.