The European Ecolabel in the tourist sector: An analysis of the Italian experience of mountain huts

In tourism and hospitality service industry numerous are the voluntary eco-labels that have been developed by individual companies, industry associations, voluntary organizations and government agencies. Their scopes can range from single villages to worldwide or from single activities to entire destinations; and they may include voluntary codes, awards, accreditation and certification schemes. However, the eco-labels are a controversial topic in tourism as the degree to which they affect tourists’ planning processes and corporate environmental performance is largely unknown. This chapter mainly addresses the perception issue about the main difficulties and advantages driven by the adoption of the voluntary scheme based on the EU Ecolabel Regulation for the environmental certification of the product group ‘tourist accommodation service’. In particular, here are presented the first results of a preliminary study carried out in a specific context: the mountain huts.