Challenges of sustainable tourism management in a small Historical town from the perspective of accommodation managers

The tourism industry has made significant efforts to adopt more sustainable practices in order to minimise environmental impacts. Despite the general recognition of these initiatives, there is a lack of studies investigating the perceptions of tourism companies in relation to the application of Sustainable Tourism Development (STD) principles. This study therefore aims to understand the attitudes of accommodation managers towards implementing sustainable tourism development practices, as well as the challenges they face when incorporating these principles into their business models. Adopting a qualitative approach, the research used MAXQDA20 software to analyse the data. The results revealed that the majority of managers recognise that challenges arising from external factors have resulted in significant learning for the management of their accommodation. However, the research concludes that accommodation managers are not yet fully capable of making a positive contribution to STD, and there are difficulties in fully integrating sustainable principles into their business models. The uniqueness of this research lies in its original contribution to filling a gap in the existing literature, offering an unprecedented insight into the perceptions of managers and the challenges they face in implementing the principles of STD.