Publication
From Desalination to Governance: A Comparative Study of Water Reuse Strategies in Southern European Hospitality
| datacite.subject.fos | Ciências Sociais | |
| datacite.subject.fos | Ciências Sociais::Economia e Gestão | |
| datacite.subject.sdg | 08:Trabalho Digno e Crescimento Económico | |
| datacite.subject.sdg | 10:Reduzir as Desigualdades | |
| datacite.subject.sdg | 12:Produção e Consumo Sustentáveis | |
| dc.contributor.author | Santos, Eleonora | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-09-18T15:25:47Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2025-09-18T15:25:47Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2025-07-24 | |
| dc.description | Article number - 6725 | |
| dc.description.abstract | As climate change intensified water scarcity in Southern Europe, tourism-dependent regions such as Portugal’s Algarve faced growing pressure to adapt their water management systems. This study investigated how hotel groups in the Algarve have adopted and communicated water reuse technologies—specifically desalination and greywater recycling—under environmental, institutional, and reputational constraints. A comparative qualitative case study was conducted involving three hotel groups—Vila Vita Parc, Pestana Group, and Vila Galé—selected through purposive sampling based on organizational capacity and technology adoption stage. The analysis was supported by a supplementary mini-case from Mallorca, Spain. Publicly accessible documents, including sustainability reports, media coverage, and policy frameworks, were thematically coded using organizational environmental behavior theory and the OECD Principles on Water Governance. The results demonstrated that (1) higher organizational capacity was associated with greater maturity in water reuse implementation; (2) communication transparency increased alongside technological advancement; and (3) early-stage adopters encountered stronger financial, regulatory, and operational barriers. These findings culminated in the development of the Maturity–Communication–Governance (MCG) Framework, which elucidates how internal resources, stakeholder signaling, and institutional alignment influence sustainable infrastructure uptake. This research offered policy recommendations to scale water reuse in tourism through financial incentives, regulatory simplification, and public–private partnerships. The study contributed to the literature on sustainable tourism and decentralized climate adaptation, aligning with UN Sustainable Development Goals 6.4, 12.6, and 13. | eng |
| dc.description.sponsorship | This paper was financed by National Funds of the FCT—Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology within the project «UIDB/04928/2020» and under the Scientific Employment Stimulus—Institutional Call CEECINST/00051/2018. | |
| dc.identifier.citation | Santos, E. From Desalination to Governance: A Comparative Study ofWater Reuse Strategies in Southern European Hospitality. Sustainability 2025, 17, 6725. https://doi.org/10.3390/ su17156725 | |
| dc.identifier.doi | 10.3390/su17156725 | |
| dc.identifier.issn | 2071-1050 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10400.8/14094 | |
| dc.language.iso | eng | |
| dc.peerreviewed | yes | |
| dc.publisher | MDPI | |
| dc.relation | Centre of Applied Research in Management and Economics | |
| dc.relation.hasversion | https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/15/6725 | |
| dc.relation.ispartof | Sustainability | |
| dc.rights.uri | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ | |
| dc.subject | Pro-environmental behaviour | |
| dc.subject | Hospitality sector | |
| dc.subject | Water reuse | |
| dc.subject | Desalination | |
| dc.subject | Sustainable tourism | |
| dc.subject | Organizational behaviour | |
| dc.subject | Water governance | |
| dc.subject | Algarve | |
| dc.title | From Desalination to Governance: A Comparative Study of Water Reuse Strategies in Southern European Hospitality | eng |
| dc.type | journal article | |
| dspace.entity.type | Publication | |
| oaire.awardTitle | Centre of Applied Research in Management and Economics | |
| oaire.awardURI | info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/6817 - DCRRNI ID/UIDB%2F04928%2F2020/PT | |
| oaire.citation.issue | 15 | |
| oaire.citation.title | Sustainability | |
| oaire.citation.volume | 17 | |
| oaire.fundingStream | 6817 - DCRRNI ID | |
| oaire.version | http://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85 | |
| person.familyName | Santos | |
| person.givenName | Eleonora | |
| person.identifier.ciencia-id | 321B-D068-1CB4 | |
| person.identifier.orcid | 0000-0003-4693-0804 | |
| person.identifier.scopus-author-id | 56903606100 | |
| project.funder.identifier | http://doi.org/10.13039/501100001871 | |
| project.funder.name | Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia | |
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