Adoption of renewable energy innovations in the Portuguese rural tourist accommodation sector

Abstract

The imperative of decarbonisation represents a great challenge for the tourist accommodation sector. This article examines the adoption of renewable energy innovations in the tourist accommodation sector of Portugal. The analysis focuses on one of the most known tourist accommodation products in the Portuguese countryside: Tourism in Rural Areas (TER). Drawing from two complementary e-mail-based surveys conducted with TER owners/managers, the results of the study show that there is a substantial gap between their positive perceptions of renewables and levels of renewable energy innovations adoption. The reasons pinpointed relate to unfavourable market factors and to institutional, legal, regulatory, or administrative hurdles. In addition, except for geographical location, the characteristics of the units and respondents had no significant influence on adoption.

Adoption of renewable energy innovations among hoteliers in Portugal

“…This study finding is in line with previous research on the adoption of renewable energy technologies in hotels elsewhere worldwide (Coles, Dinan & Warren, 2015;Dalton, Lockington & Baldock, 2007;Karagiorgas et al, 2006;Knowles, Macmillan, Palmer, Grabowski & Hashimoto, 1999). It is also consistent with the findings of the author's study on the uptake of renewable energy innovations in the Portuguese rural tourist accommodation sector (Silva, 2022).…”

“…Likewise, the statistical data analysis confirmed that market factors may either drive or obstruct the adoption of renewable energy innovations in hotels, thus validating Hypothesis 2. The latter results are in accordance not only with those of other scholars working on the drivers and barriers to the adoption of renewable energy and/or other environmental technologies in hotels in other countries (Chan et al, 2018;Dhirasasnaa & Sahin, 2021;Dhirasasnaa et al, 2020;González & León, 2001;Sardianou & Kostakis, 2020;Mahachi et al, 2015) but also with those of the previous study carried out by the author on renewable energy innovations adoption in Portugal (Silva, 2022).…”

“…Additionally, statistical tests proved that the sociodemographic characteristics of the hoteliers do not influence the adoption of renewable energy innovations. This finding validates our Hypothesis 1 and is in line with the results of Silva's (2022) investigation on adopting such innovations in tourist accommodations in rural Portugal. Furthermore, most survey participants included economic benefits in the reasons given for adoption and unfavourable market factors in the reasons given for non-adoption.…”

“…Furthermore, Coles, Dinan and Warren (2015) showed that the age of construction does not influence the adoption of renewable energy technologies in small-and medium-sized tourist lodgings in England. In turn, Silva (2022) showed that the characteristics of the units and respondents had no significant influence on the adoption of renewable energy innovations in rural tourist accommodations in Portugal, except for geographical location.…”

“…However, the Portuguese government recently implemented various measures to stimulate the uptake of renewable energy (innovations) by smaller actors. These included: legislation that permits the existence of collective and community selfconsumption of renewables; incentives for self-consumption of solar-generated energy; and a credit line that supports projects of tourism and industrial companies aiming to produce renewables for self-consumption, to cut energy consumption and to switch to a circular economy (Silva, 2022). In July 2022, the VAT rate applied to solar panels has also been reduced from 23% to 6% in mainland Portugal.…”