Eureka! Institutional Repository

In recent years there has been a significant increase in environmental interest from the global market. More and more consumers are turning to greener products / services. Ecology, which began several years ago, has been transferred to our country in recent years. Today, more and more people worldwide are trying to adopt a more environmentally friendly way of life, investing time and money in this direction. The ecological environment is an important element of tourism, since it is inextricably linked to the formulation of its quality standards. The aim is to increase competitiveness through the qualitative upgrading of the services provided, as well as the creation of "green hotel units". At the same time, "green practices", apart from the environmental benefits, allow hotel units to create and promote their brand name to global markets. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to record the current situation regarding the implementation of Green Marketing Strategies in hotel units, as well as to identify the principles and key elements of sustainable tourism. In addition, the purpose of the empirical part of the study is to investigate tourists' views on green practices from hotels in Greece and more specifically in the Crete area, as well as the extent to which hotels influence consumer behavior by promoting green their practices. Methodology: In order to achieve the purpose of the project, an effort is being made to decipher the goals and general philosophy of sustainable tourism and green marketing through hotel unit customers. However, the research focuses on specific categories of hotel units, with the aim of identifying the views of tourists on the application of green practices used by hotel units in Crete, as well as on the way hotels influence consumer behavior by promoting green practices. The research questions of the study can be summarized in the following categories: (K1) In the opinion of customers, the tourism sector is burdened with the natural environment. (K2) Do hotel unit customers follow environmental practices in their daily lives or are they only affected by the length of time they are staying in it. (K3) If they know and can identify the environmental practices followed by the hotels of their choice. (K4) If customers believe that they are sufficiently informed about green products / services and what media they consider better informed by hotel units about the environmental practices they follow. This study carried out primary research, new data was collected through research designed and conducted solely to answer the research questions mentioned above. This is a quantitative research with qualitative variables. The tool used for data collection is the questionnaire, which consists of 32 questions. For the purpose of carrying out the research methodology, the data were collected in two 4 and 5 star hotels respectively per prefecture in Crete. A total of 120 questionnaires were answered in electronic format and responses were collected through the Google Forms application. Findings (results): The results of our research show that the presence of environmental certifications or individual environmental practices by hotels plays an important role in choosing a accommodation from a notable percentage of tourists. The obvious interest of tourists in the environment, their consumption habits while staying in hotels, and their high involvement in environmental practices that apply to accommodation, indicate that these factors are important factors in tourism demand and therefore hotel businesses should to take them into account, as analyzing the results can bring significant benefits to promoting their image. Suggestions: One of the most important contributions of this study is the ecological approach of the sample hotels, namely the identification of good practices for the sustainability and sustainability of the hospitality business. Based on the research findings, hotel managers can have a clearer picture of what marketing strategies they should follow in order to promote to the world their environmental practices. Research findings show that consumer behavior is influenced by where they live and follow the same practices and themselves in their daily lives. They choose to stay in an environmentally friendly hotel.