An importance–performance analysis of sustainability factors for long-term strategy planning in Slovenian hotels

This paper explores the potential role of economic, environmental and social reporting in long-term strategy planning in the hospitality industry. The context of study is Slovenia. Following the development of a set of “sustainability” indicators, hospitality managers were asked to rate the importance of each indicator to sustainable operations and the performance of their firms in implementing management actions. Seven hotel performance factors were established across the triple bottom line. Using importance–performance analysis (IPA), key issues are identified as requiring the attention of stakeholders to support the sustainable development of Slovenia's hospitality industry. For managers, the 10 most important indicators include those related to economic performance, customer relationship and cost saving environmental activities: performance here, and in marketing, was perceived as poor. In contrast, actions taken to increase environmental awareness, and improve relationships with employees are seen by managers as less important, and even as possible overkills. Community relationships are seen as of low importance and where the industry performs relatively poorly. A major recommendation is that Slovenian hotel managers should focus on improving their economic performance: neglecting this could threaten hotels’ long-term survival. IPA analysis is shown as applicable to strategy making for sustainable development in hospitality industry contexts worldwide.