RAISING ATTRACTIVENESS OF THE EU ECOLABEL FOR ROMANIAN HOTELS

ABSTRACT

It is already a fact that at present a major source of obtaining competitive advantage is related to the green development of enterprises. Sustainability is an important element in the core values of the consumers belonging to the Millennial Generation, which is the most numerous living generation nowadays. In this context, all projects related to the implementation of sustainability respect the profile of this new consumer. In 1992, the European Union Ecolabel has been established for several types of products and services. At present, the criteria for obtaining the EU Ecolabel for European hotels are established in the Commission Decision no.175 of 25 January 2017. In the new generational context, this eco-label started to be more and more attractive in the last ten years. At present, 34% of the total licences for the EU Ecolabel, which represents the majority, are from tourist and accommodation services with almost 800 licences obtained by European hotels and campsites. According to the data included in the EU Ecolabel Tourist Accommodation Catalogue, more than 400 European hotels implemented the EU Ecolabel at present. In Romania, only two hotels are using the EU Ecolabel. In such context, the main aim of this paper is to demonstrate the economic advantages of the implementation of the EU Ecolabel for Romanian hotels. To that end, two qualitative research methods have been used: the literature review and the case study. The analysis starts with the presentation of the generational theory, shaping the profile of the Millennial consumer. A short SWOT analysis of the Romanian hotel industry is presented. After introducing the EU Ecolabel, several advantages for Romanian hotels are presented related to the implementation of the EU Ecolabel in order to raise the attractiveness of this label for the Romanian hotels industry.

Keywords: EU Ecolabel, Millennial Generation, Romanian hotels