Evaluation of Sustainable Tourism Development of the Hotel Industry in Hainan, China by Earth Check

The tourism industry has a higher dependence on natural and cultural resources and is more vulnerable to environmental impacts than any other industry. It faces a plethora of issues, risks, and opportunities related to sustainability and environmental change. The hotel industry is one of the most important parts of tourism. Three China Green certified hotels (the Guesthouse International Hotel Sanya, the Leaguen Resort Sanya Bay and the Boao Golden Coast Hot Spring Hotel) are being chosen as samples for our case studies. This paper introduces these three hotels, and then gives the results from the field investigation and the interviews conducted with hotel staff. Based on the data collected, this paper uses Earth Checkas, a sustainable development evaluation tool, to assess these three hotels. Through evaluating our results, we verify whether the China Green Hotel standard meets the international standard requirements of Earth Check. Meanwhile, with this inspection we determine whether Earth Check is suitable for application in the China hotel industry and the whole tourism industry. Through our research of these three hotels, we found that the Earth Check standard can be implemented in the hotel industry in China to help these hotels develop a sustainable hotel.