Abstract:

Nowadays, the importance attached by companies to the environment has been growing, due to increasing pressure from the population. In the tourism sector, too, there has been an increased concern for environmental issues, and in the hotel sector companies are increasingly working to improve their environmental responsibility through the requirements that environmental certification entails. However, it is not known whether the impact of this decision contributes to an improvement in the performance of these companies. The aim of this study is therefore to find out whether hotel companies with environmental certification are better positioned in the financial performance ranking. Based on a TOBIT estimation of the performance ranking of Portuguese hotel companies, calculated using the TOPSIS methodology, it was possible to conclude that the characteristics of the hotel sector influence financial performance. In particular, it was possible to conclude that environmental certification positively affects the performance ranking of companies, so that companies with more environmental certifications are better positioned in the financial performance ranking. The result seems to be that the market values companies with environmentally friendly hotels, which may be related to the fact that consumers are willing to prefer these hotels over others.