The (un)sustainability of  hotel breakfast buffets : Food and its potential to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in the context of tourism

Abstract: Tourism and food are two sectors that have major impact on the environment, including the amount of global greenhouse gases (GHGs) they emit. The potential of the tourism sector to mitigate greenhouse gases through adaptation strategies of food supply and consumption at breakfast buffets in hotels is the major field of investigation in the current study.   This thesis contributes an empirical analysis that uses knowledge from fieldwork in a touristic area in Sweden. The empirical work of this study consists of two steps. First, measuring the (un)sustainability of breakfast buffets in hotels, using the FOODSCALE method, determining potential pathways toward a less greenhouse gas emission intensive food supply and second, to distinguish tourist interest to adopt toward a more climate friendly diet away from home. As food consumption patterns of tourists are considered as critical contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, changes toward a more environmental friendly diet are urgently needed helping substantially in mitigating emissions of GHGs. However, this field has been sparsely explored which made it an interesting and important area for current research in tourism studies.  The results and analysis showed that sustainable food consumption patterns of tourists can be encouraged through breakfast buffets. However, this is depending on a couple of determinants which have to be applied and fulfilled by breakfast buffets in hotels. Tourists interest to adapt toward a more climate friendly diet while being on holidays is depending on their eating habits and their interest in environmental sustainability issues. With the help of the 3 identified guest groups it can be determined that the majority of tourists' is willing to give up carbon-intensive eating habits and change their behavior when being on holidays. Hotels can act as role models, promoting more sustainable behaviour through sustainable food offers at breakfast buffets. The idea of hotels acting as role models focuses on encouraging beneficial decision-making, such as adopting food consumption patterns toward a carbon-neutral diet.