Economic activity today is still based on a linear model of production and consumption: extract/produce and consume/throw, which exhausts natural resources and generates waste. The current linear economy does not optimize materials nor favour their recycling, reuse or recovery. Hence, the concept of Circular Economy (CE) has received increasing attention between policymakers and stakeholders worldwide. However, the literature on CE was mainly developed for the manufacturing sector, and only a few references are found on the tourism sector even though it is a sector where huge consumption of energy and water, food waste, congestion problems and CO₂ emissions take place. This work aims to evaluate the importance of tourism in the CE literature and to identify current research trends and possible gaps in the literature on CE and tourism. In order to identify papers for this, the authors carried out a literature review of papers in the social science citation index (Web of Science) and Scopus. The keywords used are related to the tourism sector and CE, and the last search was made at the end of January 2020. Only papers published in English have been considered in the sample, which totals to 55 articles. Each contribution is analysed and, according to its content, classified into eight streams; then, the paper identifies two knowledge areas in tourism that this scientific production covers and the areas with lack of knowledge generated. Findings show that more research is needed about tourism’s intersection with CE in order to generate possible solutions towards a more sustainable tourism industry.

Tourism causes important environmental impacts and can generate great pressure on local resources, such as land, water, energy and food, generating large amounts of waste, as well as problems of congestion, noise and air pollution. The circular economy is presented as an alternative model to the linear model, which recognizes the fundamental role of the environment, its functions and the interaction between the environment and the economic system. The hotel sector and the tourism sector in general, have been criticized for not adequately addressing environmental problems and global warming. In order to carry out the transition to a circular economy (CE), it is essential to innovate in business models, designing a circular business model. The objective of this work is to design guidelines on possible actions and opportunities that allow us to carry out a successful transition towards a circular model in hotel companies, as well as to design a model for this transition in a tourism destination, analyzing the roles of the different agents in this transition. Findings identified the main opportunities and benefits of this transition in the hotel sector and describes a three-axis model to carry out this transition in a tourism destination, identifying the roles of public administrations and DMOs, resident population and the tourism sector. Future research implications are also discussed.

This work aims to analyse the attitude towards circular economy (CE) and the environmental behaviour and circular practices among tourists of a well-known mature sun and beach destination. The study was conducted on a sample of tourists who visited Gran Canaria and stayed at a hotel establishment. Findings show that: (a) Older tourists have a higher pro-environmental or circular attitude in hotel establishments than younger ones; (b) most tourists are willing to pay more for environmentally friendly or green hotels and this is related to socio-demographic variables; (c) the majority of tourists believe that it is important for the hotel to have an energy-saving policy; (d) tourists’ attitude towards circular practices varies according to socio-economic profile; (e) the most common sustainable hotel practices carried out by tourists are the use of recycling bins and reusable towel and linen schemes; (f) women report a higher circular behaviour than men; and (g) 86.5% of tourists carry out the same CE practices on holidays as in their place of residence. Study findings could be useful to design the transition from a linear model to a circular model in the hotel industry of a destination as it identifies the areas that the industry must promote to reach this transition.

Tourism generates huge amounts of waste. It has been estimated that about half of the waste generated by hotels is food and garden bio-waste. This bio-waste can be used to make compost and pellets. In turn, pellets can be used as an absorbent material in composters and as an energy source. In this paper, we consider the problem of locating composting and pellet-making facilities so that the bio-waste generated by a chain of hotels can be managed at or close to the generation points. The general objective is twofold: i) to avoid waste transportation from generation to treatment points and product transportation from production to demand points, and ii) to implement a circular model in which the hotels themselves become the suppliers of the products they need (compost and pellets) by transforming the bio-waste that they generate. Any bio-waste not processed by the hotels has to be treated at private or state-run plants. A mathematical optimization model is presented to locate the facilities and allocate the waste and products. The application of the proposed location-allocation model is illustrated with an example.

A economia circular (EC) surge como um tópico mediático, mobilizador e apelativo para múltiplos stakeholders, dado o consenso existente à volta da problemática da sustentabilidade e das alterações climáticas. Contudo, as decisões empresariais nesta área revestem-se ainda de um carácter voluntário, numa série de áreas e medidas. A relevância estratégica do setor turístico n, assente numa dinâmica de colaborações e de sub-contratação de serviços, sugere que o mesmo pode desempenhar o papel de role-model, no sentido da adoção generalizada da EC, desde que salvaguardada uma intervenção por parte dos governos regionais e locais. Com base numa amostra de 90 estabelecimentos hoteleiros da Grã-Canária e da Madeira, são identificados os fatores explicativos da taxa de adoção de medidas em quatro sub-áreas distintas de forma a identificar áreas de relevo para a intervenção por parte da administração pública. Os resultados destacam o papel do grau de comprometimento por parte dos diretores hoteleiros, e das barreiras percecionadas e do acesso a recursos disponibilizados pelas autarquias, o que releva o papel das Camaras Municipais e dos governos regionais. Identicamente importante os fatores estatisticamente insignificantes, nomeadamente a ausência de pressão por parte de clientes e fornecedores.