The eco-inn and its evaluation indicators in Taiwan

Rural tourism is often considered an economic alternative for rural areas facing decreasing profits and requiring a second or third economic footing. However, like other tourism activities, rural tourism results in a full range of environmental impacts. In particular, accommodation, one important element of the tourism system, generates various environmental loadings. Some obvious impacts are the following: architectural pollution owing to the effect of inappropriate hotel development on the traditional landscape, and the resort infrastructure becoming overloaded and breaking down in periods of peak usage. An Eco-inn, the environmentally friendly accommodation, is proposed to reduce the negative impacts from tourism. However, no evaluation indicators and related assessment criteria for the Eco-inn are investigated up to now. Hence, the purpose of this study is to explore the indicators that can be used for evaluating the Eco-inn in Taiwan. This evaluation indicator system is based on the findings from literature review, and then the Delphi Method is employed to collect experts' opinions. Finally, 50 of the 109 candidate indicators were selected after three rounds of the Delphi method. These indicators can be categorized into the following sectors: green building, sustainable landscape construction, organic agriculture, environmental education, local benefit and others. Hence, the five core principles of eco-inns are: (1) green building, (2) sustainable landscape construction, (3) organic agriculture, (4) environmental education, and (5) local benefit. Furthermore, the eco-inn can be linked with ecotourism development and may be the low-impact accommodation choices for ecotourists.