The aim of this study was to investigate guest profiles at a hotel that has created a best-practices water management model to determine how different types of guests contribute to saving water during their stay. To do this, we analyzed levels of environmental awareness and pro-environmental behavior among the guests. Information was gathered through 648 structured surveys with guests at Hotel Samba in the Spanish seaside resort of Lloret de Mar between September 2015 and August 2016. Cluster analysis revealed four profiles of guests with different sociodemographic characteristics and different levels of awareness and proactivity in relation to water conservation. We combined our findings to develop a framework that illustrates how the two dimensions of environmental awareness and pro-environmental behavior are related in this setting. This article provides new insights into how hotel guests’ environmental awareness and engagement can influence a hotel’s water-saving efforts. These insights should help hotel operators to devise new, guest-centered strategies for saving water.

Managing water consumption is of vital importance in the sustainable development of the tourism industry. In the hotel sector, guests’ good water consumption habits result in greater conservation, leading to more efficient sustainable management of the resource. Sociodemographic profile has been identified as a key factor in explaining the frequency of guests’ displaying good water consumption habits in hotels. However, variables related to guest stay could also be fundamental in predicting guests’ environmental behaviour. Data were collected from 648 surveys administered to guests at a hotel that excels with its good practices in water consumption and management. A generalized linear model with common sociodemographic variables and two stay characteristics variables (length of stay and loyalty) were applied to predict guests’ water conservation habits. Unlike loyalty, the results show that length of stay significantly and positively influenced water conservation habits. In this sense, guests who stay longer at the hotel tend to display greater water conservation habits. In accordance with this, hotel sector strategies aimed at promoting longer stays may prove useful in achieving maximum efficiency in water conservation management.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the tourism potential of natural and cultural heritage in historical irrigation canals by promoting social learning and providing digital tools to local and visitors.Design/methodology/approach: This research is based on the EUWATHER project (JPI – Cultural Heritage, HERITAGE PLUS Joint Call 2015), through which new opportunities for eco-tourism and outdoor recreation as a driver for sustainable development of historical irrigation canals are provided. A case study from North-Eastern Spain, the Lower Ter area (in the Costa Brava), is analyzed. Heritage inventories and digital itineraries including the tangible and intangible cultural history of waterscape heritage have been co-designed with local communities and key stakeholders. Online data sets and Spatial Data Infrastructure (webpage and mobile app) are provided.Findings: The project provides a manual for developing digital waterways heritage tours. For the case study, up to 118 heritage objects have been selected from 8 natural and cultural heritage categories according to their tourism potential. Three itineraries have been proposed to promote the tourism potential existing in the hinterland of the Costa Brava region.Practical implications: The methods section and the main results obtained for the case study will be useful for professionals working in heritage institutions, rural development and sustainable tourism agencies.Originality/value: The project provides two geo-based technologies: a digital platform (www.waterwaysexplorer.com) and a mobile app (Izi.travel) in which external users are able to collect relevant data and construct tourism itineraries from minor waterways with consolidated natural and cultural heritage. A Tool Box is provided for practitioners in order to help local communities and tourist organizations to create their own itineraries along minor waterways.

La solución a la crisis económica actual pasa sin lugar a dudas por el establecimiento de un nuevo paradigma de gestión sostenible de los recursos. El turismo depende de la disponibilidad de agua, de la misma manera que el agua condiciona los usos que el turista hace del territorio. Las restricciones de agua o la falta de la misma pueden afectar la imagen de los destinos turísticos, perjudicando su desarrollo socioeconómico. Sin embargo, los distintos episodios de sequías acaecidos en los últimos años en el litoral mediterráneo peninsular y las predicciones climáticas que señalan que estos fenómenos serán cada vez más recurrentes, muestran claramente la necesidad de introducir cambios sustanciales en las estrategias de gestión de los recursos hídricos. La sostenibilidad económica, social y ambiental del turismo debe acompañarse, ineludiblemente, de una gestión eficiente de los recursos hídricos. El objetivo del presente artículo es determinar cuáles son los factores relacionados con la oferta turística que determinan el consumo de agua en la Costa Brava (Girona). La hipótesis inicial de esta comunicación es que el consumo de agua no solo viene determinado por el número de usuarios conectados a la red de suministro sino que es necesario tener en cuenta otros aspectos sociales y territoriales para comprender y mejorar la gestión del agua en los municipios turísticos del litoral mediterráneo. Los resultados obtenidos indican que las diversas tipologías urbanas de alojamiento turístico juegan un papel determinante sobre el volumen total de agua consumida, siendo en el caso de la Costa Brava las segundas residencias la tipología de alojamiento turístico más decisiva.