Environmental protection and energy efficiency concept in five star hotels in Macedonia

The paper assesses the application of the concept of environmental protection and energy efficiency in hotel industry, by elaborating the case of Macedonia. It investigates the extent of environmental protection practices in terms of current level of involvement. For that purpose, the research was consisted of an online survey conducted among managers of five star hotels. The results point that large number of hotels lack policies and practices related to environmental protection and energy efficiency. Finally, the paper allows increased understanding of the way hotel industry in Macedonia operates when referring environmental protection issue, and identifies challenges the hotels are faced with in their attempt to decrease operating costs towards energy efficiency. At the same time, the research poses new challenges that urgently need to be brought to hotel management and tourism development planning.