Mustafa Murat KIZANLIKLI | Narıngül MARGAZİYEVA | Kımbat ASANOVA | İbrahim GÜNDOĞDU

Article | 2023 | Journal of Cleaner Production420

The growing relevance of green marketing, sustainability and eco-labels is indisputable fact in the hospitality industry. These concepts are based on the philosophy of caring for the Earth and not only save the environment, but also enhance the image and market value of enterprises. Despite the fact that since the 1970s eco-labels in the hospitality industry began to gain momentum in the different countries, but Kyrgyzstan lagged behind in this matter. In this study, a national eco-certificate model proposal was developed that would take into account the geographical and cultural characteristics of the hospitality industry in Kyrgyz . . .stan. The first step of the development eco-labeling model was to define the green hotel management practices (GHP) and the green marketing perceptions (GMP) of hotel managers. So, a mixed-method research design was used in the study and data was collected between October 2021 and February 2022 from the hotel managers in Kyrgyzstan. 178 survey forms were quantitatively analysed; additionally, 13 hotel managers were interviewed to gain qualitative data for eco-labelling model proposal. In order to test the study hypotheses, Anova and Pearson correlation analysis were used; also multiple linear regressions were applied. Qualitative data was analysed with the conventional content analysis and to draw a word cloud of the most mentioned words in the interviews was performed using NVivo. According to the findings, the GMP of the participants differs depending on their educational level and position. However, there is no significant difference in terms of managerial experience and number of years working in the tourism sector. Significant relationships were found between the sub dimensions of green marketing perception and green hotel practices at different levels. Based on the findings, some suggestions have been developed for the literature and the tourism industry. In addition, an eco-labelling model was proposed for environmentally friendly hotels in Kyrgyzstan. Keyword: Bishkek; eco hotels; eco-label; green marketing; Kyrgyzstan; sustainable touris More less