Frontiers in Business, Economics and Management ISSN: 2766-824X | Vol. 8, No. 2, 2023 219 Exploring Urban Tourism Hotel Management Strategies from The Perspective of Low‐carbon Tourism Shanshan Zhang1, Heng Xu2, Bing Han1, Ahmad Rasmi Albattat3, * 1Graduate School of Management, Postgraduate Centre, Management & Science University,40100, Selangor, Malaysia. 2School of Management, Henan University of Technology, 450001, Zhengzhou, Henan, China 3Graduate School of Management, Postgraduate Centre, Management & Science University, 40100, Selangor, Malaysia * Corresponding author Abstract: Since the 21st century, global climate problems have continued to deteriorate, and in order to effectively respond to climate and environmental protection problems, countries have put forward the concept of low-carbon tourism. Urban tourism hotels as an important carrier of resource consumption, there is serious environmental damage, under the guidance of global sustainable development goals, urban tourism hotels need to change and innovate management models and methods, low-carbon tourism has become the trend of urban tourism hotel development guidance. Based on this, this paper discusses the current problems in the management of urban tourism hotels in China, and puts forward suggestions for improving management strategies combined with the concept of low-carbon tourism, in order to provide reference for the sustainable development of urban tourism hotels. Keywords: Low Carbon Tourism, Hotel Management, Management Strategy. 1. Introduction As global climate change continues to intensify, environmental protection and sustainable development issues have gradually become hot issues of common concern worldwide. Tourism, as an important economic industry, also faces the problems of resource consumption and environmental damage. In order to minimize the impact of tourism on the environment and resources, while effectively promoting economic and socio-cultural development, low- carbon tourism has come into being. Urban tourism hotels are an important part of the tourism industry and at the same time one of the three pillars to promote the development of tourism. Therefore, under the perspective of low-carbon tourism, urban tourism hotels must implement low-carbon concepts, build low-carbon working mechanisms and improve management strategies to achieve the sustainable development of the hotel industry and tourism. 2. Overview of Low Carbon Tourism 2.1. Definition of Low Carbon Tourism The term low-carbon tourism first originated from a report entitled "Towards a low-carbon travel and tourism industry" published in 2009. After more than a decade of development, a relatively unified definition of low carbon tourism has been formed. Low-carbon tourism is a new type of tourism that aims to reduce carbon emissions, i.e., tourism activities in which tourists use low energy consumption, low emissions, and low pollution as a basis to minimize the negative impact on the environment and carbon dioxide emissions. It includes a series of behaviors and practices that consider how to reduce carbon emissions and environmental damage from various aspects such as travel methods, accommodation methods, scenic tours, food, and shopping. Low-carbon tourism is not only a way of travel, but also a tourism concept that emphasizes the sustainable development of tourism, while focusing on protecting the ecological environment and cultural traditions of the tour destination. 2.2. Characteristics of low carbon tourism Low-carbon tourism focuses on the unity of environmental protection, respect for local culture and economy, and sustainable development. Its main characteristics are: I. environmental protection: the core idea of low-carbon tourism is environmental protection, that is, by choosing environmentally friendly travel methods, accommodation methods, activities and other measures to minimize the impact on the environment and carbon emissions. II. Respect for local culture and economy: Low-carbon tourism promotes respect for local culture and society, observing local lifestyles and behaviors, while supporting local economies and communities. III. Sustainability: Low-carbon tourism emphasizes sustainability, i.e., protecting the natural environment and cultural heritage while promoting the development of the local economy and social progress, and achieving sustainable tourism development. 3. The Significance of Urban Tourism Hotel Management from The Perspective of Low-carbon Tourism For a long time, the urban tourism hotel industry has problems of high energy consumption, high pollution and high emissions, which are contrary to the current economic development requirements. The development of urban tourism hotels under the perspective of low-carbon tourism is of great significance to alleviate environmental pressure and realize the effective unification of economic, ecological and social benefits. 3.1. The inevitable choice for the future development of urban tourism hotels With the intensification of climate change and energy crisis, the Chinese government has introduced a series of policies on 220 energy conservation and emission reduction. 2010 China National Tourism Administration issued 100 articles on energy conservation and emission reduction in hotels; in 2017 China's State Council clarified specific measures to promote energy conservation and emission reduction from eleven aspects; in 2022 the 20th Congress further made deployments to accelerate the green transformation of development mode. Although low-carbon tourism is still at the stage of exploration and development, as a new development model in line with the trend of the times, it has now been generally recognized by the nation. Therefore, under the current situation, the hotel industry, as a representative of high carbon consumption, takes the path of low-carbon development, which is not only in line with the policy guidance, but also the direction of the people. 3.2. Helping urban tourism hotels to improve their management level One of the practical methods of low-carbon tourism is energy conservation and emission reduction. Through the implementation of energy conservation measures, urban tourism hotels can optimize resource allocation, reduce energy consumption and reduce operating costs; moreover, with the popularization of low-carbon tourism, urban tourism hotels can also effectively expand market space, improve management mechanisms, enhance competitive advantages and promote the improvement of urban tourism hotel management level. 3.3. Helps urban tourism hotels to enhance their brand image On the one hand, low-carbon tourism focuses on the improvement of environmental protection awareness, and by improving the environmental protection awareness of employees and customers, urban tourism hotels can better promote the concept of sustainable development and establish a good corporate image. On the other hand, low-carbon tourism practices can reduce the hotel's impact on the environment, reflecting the hotel's concern and commitment to environmental protection, which can establish the hotel's environmental protection image and enhance brand awareness and recognition. Therefore, the development of low-carbon tourism is beneficial for urban tourism hotels to enhance their brand image. 3.4. Helps urban tourism hotels increase economic benefits The implementation of low-carbon tourism practices can help urban tourism hotels increase their economic benefits in the following ways: it can help hotels improve energy use efficiency, reduce energy consumption and cost expenditures, and also effectively increase the number of guests, expand revenue sources, as well as reduce economic losses such as environmental fines and compensation. In summary, the implementation of low-carbon tourism practices in urban tourism hotels is not only in line with policy guidance, but also conducive to management improvement, brand image enhancement, and increased economic benefits, which are necessary for the sustainable development of hotels. 4. Principles of Urban Tourism Hotel Management from The Perspective of Low Carbon Tourism The development of low-carbon tourism cannot be developed without the support of many mature theories, such as Green Management Theory, Sustainable Development Theory, Circular Economy Theory, Low-Carbon Economy Theory And Life Cycle Theory. On the basis of the Substitution Principle of economics and the 3R Principles of circular economy (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle), I propose the "4R+1C" management principles (Retrench, Replacement, Reuse, Recycling, Client), combined with the characteristics of urban tourism hotels. Figure 1. "4R+1C" management principle 4.1. Resource Retrench Principle The principle of resource conservation refers to the hotel's adoption of energy-efficient equipment and technology to save the amount of resources used at the source, thereby reducing costs and carbon emissions. For example, using LED lights, energy-saving air conditioners and intelligent control systems to reduce power consumption; installing water-saving equipment to control the amount of water used in guest rooms; adopting buffet forms and rational planning of food and beverage supply to avoid wasting food. 4.2. Resource Replacement Principle The principle of resource replacement refers to the replacement of other homogeneous goods with lower cost, more energy-saving and environmentally friendly goods in the hotel. Hotel resource replacement is usually for the replacement of equipment, furniture, software, electrical appliances and other durable goods, such as the use of solar energy, wind energy and other renewable energy to reduce reliance on fossil energy; the use of environmentally friendly cleaning agents, recycled paper products, etc., to reduce pollution of the environment. 4.3. Resource Reuse Principle The principle of resource reuse refers to the reuse and recycling of already used items, equipment, energy and other resources in the hotel in the process of operation and 221 management, in order to achieve the purpose of resource recycling. For example, the hotel can adopt the recycled water utilization system to use the wastewater for irrigation, toilet flushing, laundry, etc. after treatment to achieve the purpose of saving water resources. The hotel can also adopt the reuse of leftover ingredients and make juice from leftover vegetables and fruits for breakfast, etc. to reduce waste. 4.4. Resource Recycling Principle Resource recycling refers to the hotel's classification of discarded or used items, equipment, energy and other resources for recycling, reuse, regeneration and other processing, so that they can be re-entered into the hotel's production and service system, thus realizing the recycling of resources. Hotel resource recycling includes not only recycling and reusing waste, waste water, waste gas, etc., but also repairing and remanufacturing of already used equipment, appliances, etc., in order to reduce the demand for new resources, realize the maximum use of resources, reduce waste, reduce the impact on the environment, and achieve the purpose of sustainable development. 4.5. Client Participation Principle The practice of low carbon tourism is not only the responsibility of enterprises, but also requires the joint participation of customers. Hotels should encourage and promote customer participation in low-carbon tourism, such as understanding customer needs and opinions, collecting customer service evaluation and feedback, involving customers in the hotel's decision-making and planning, participating in the hotel's publicity and promotion, and also providing opportunities and venues for customers to participate in low-carbon activities. 5. Problems of Urban Tourism Hotel Management Under the Perspective of Low-carbon Tourism 5.1. Weak low-carbon awareness and non- standardized management In the daily management of urban tourism hotels, many hotel practitioners mistakenly believe that economic benefits and ecological benefits are opposed and incompatible, overemphasizing the economic benefits of hotels and ignoring ecological benefits. The low-carbon awareness of hotels is weak, and the phenomenon of non-standard management is common. There are often problems such as serious waste of resources, excessive energy loss, serious environmental breakdowns, and failure to implement low- carbon policies and systems. Under the perspective of low- carbon tourism, the operation goal of urban tourism hotels is to effectively integrate ecological benefits, economic benefits and social benefits, and to achieve the joint improvement of economic returns and ecological benefits while ensuring the quality of hotel services. However, some urban tourism hotels believe that the implementation of low carbon is costly and the return on investment is long, thus ignoring the long-term development of the hotel, focusing on the short-term visible intuitive benefits and ignoring the low carbon management of the hotel. Therefore, hotel managers need to enhance low- carbon tourism cognition and awareness, strengthen staff learning and training about low-carbon concepts, improve low-carbon tourism management mechanisms, clarify the goals, tasks and responsibilities of low-carbon hotel development, develop standards and processes for low- carbon management, and promote the sustainable development of hotels. 5.2. Lack of attention to corporate culture and imperfect supervision mechanism Corporate culture is a comprehensive embodiment of the core values of an enterprise, which carries the inner spirit of the enterprise and has a restraining and supervising effect on the behavior of the enterprise. At present, China's hotel industry has maintained a good momentum of development, but some hotels do not pay enough attention to the construction of corporate culture, one-sidedly believe that corporate culture is unnecessary, resulting in corporate culture reduced to formalism; there are also some hotels in the process of building corporate culture will focus on their own interests level, ignoring the interests of employees, social interests, to avoid taking corporate social responsibility. At the same time, due to the lack of management of relevant departments, many hotels do not really practice the concept of low-carbon tourism and corporate culture, which seriously hinders the healthy development of low-carbon tourism and hotels. For urban tourism hotels, to achieve long-term development, not only do they need to build a distinctive corporate culture based on their own actual situation from the perspective of low-carbon tourism, they also need to be strictly supervised and guided by the relevant departments to ensure the real realization of low-carbon tourism. 5.3. Low service level and lack of professional staff City tourism hotels as an important place for tourists to rest and stay, is the tourists' home away from home, the level of its service directly affects customer satisfaction and loyalty. The survey found that hotel service level is an important factor for customers to choose a hotel, if the hotel's service level is high, customers will feel valued and cared for, and their satisfaction and loyalty will increase; hotels with high service level can also attract more customers, improve room occupancy rate and room unit price, and increase the hotel's revenue, which will have a positive impact on hotel brand image enhancement and business development. However, in hotel operations, there are often cases of indifferent and impatient employees; lack of professional knowledge and skills to provide customers with professional and meticulous services; and high customer complaint rates. The main reasons for this analysis are: I. the hotel may not pay enough attention to the professional quality and service ability of the staff when recruiting personnel, resulting in a low overall level of personnel. II. the staff does not have systematic training and teaching of professional knowledge, resulting in the staff lacking the necessary professional knowledge and skills to provide high-quality services. III. the hotel business is fast-paced, high-intensity, and under high work pressure, making it difficult for the staff to work in a high-intensity environment to maintain high quality services.IV. In order to reduce operating costs, hotels may lay off staff or reduce salaries, resulting in a decline in hotel service levels and loss of professional staff. 5.4. Inadequate infrastructure, not in line with the low-carbon concept Infrastructure is the basis for the normal operation and service provision of hotels. In order to improve the reputation 222 and market competitiveness of hotels, each hotel usually invests a lot of costs to enhance the infrastructure, improve the image and quality of the hotel, and improve the stay experience and satisfaction of customers. Although many hotels know the importance of infrastructure in the operation process, the infrastructure does not meet the low-carbon concept, such as no installing LED lamps, no using solar water heaters, no installing energy-efficient air conditioners; no setting low-flow taps, no using limescale treatment equipment; no setting natural lighting, no opening ventilation system, which leads to energy waste and environmental pollution. All these problems will affect the sustainable development and image of the hotel, so the hotel needs to focus on energy saving and environmental protection in infrastructure construction, adopt scientific energy utilization methods and environmental protection technologies, improve resource utilization efficiency from energy management, water resources management, waste waste treatment, and architectural design, reduce energy consumption, achieve low-carbon and energy-saving goals, and improve the sustainable development of the hotel. 6. Strategies to Improve the Management Level of Urban Tourism Hotels from The Perspective of Low-carbon Tourism Low-carbon tourism can promote the tourism industry to change from the traditional development mode of high energy consumption, high pollution and high emission to a sustainable development mode and improve the sustainability of tourism. In order to significantly improve the management level of urban tourism hotel industry, fully implement the concept of low-carbon management, and play the driving role of modern technology on low-carbon hotel operation, urban tourism hotels need to implement management strategies with feasibility from multiple levels and perspectives. 6.1. Strengthen low-carbon consciousness and enhance interaction with customers Under the perspective of low-carbon tourism, urban tourism hotels should take improving the environmental awareness of staff as an important task. On the one hand, tourism hotel managers and staff to establish a firm and correct green awareness than to customers to promote the value of green work is more meaningful and more helpful to promote the implementation of the hotel green concept. On the other hand, hotel managers and staff should give full play to their personal initiative, actively promote green awareness to customers, fully respect customers, to ensure that low- carbon environmental protection work can be implemented in the daily management of the hotel. 6.2. Build hotel culture and management system Corporate culture as a kind of ideology, its role should not be ignored. Urban tourism hotels should pay attention to the influence of culture on hotel management, so that it becomes the purpose and concept of urban tourism hotel management. Under the concept of low-carbon tourism, urban tourism hotels should, for the first time, fundamentally change the original concept of light management and economic emphasis; secondly, based on their own situation, optimize the organizational structure, form a low-carbon concept from top to bottom within the hotel, develop a low-carbon development management system, and set up a low-carbon measurement and evaluation department, so that there are standards for management and a basis for supervision; again, create a low-carbon brand, integrate the concept of low- carbon into the hotel culture, and form A good atmosphere of ecological environmental protection, repetitive use of resources, and coordinated development of people and the environment, which fundamentally helps tourism hotels achieve low-carbon environmental protection goals. 6.3. Improve service quality and build a professional talent team As a service industry, hotels need to provide customers with a series of services that meet consumer expectations. Hotel service quality is directly influenced by hotel service level, customer service expectations, and customer service perception. Hotel staff is the provider of services, customers are the recipient of services, service quality from the hotel staff to provide customers with services. Hotel staff is the direct contact for customers to consume and receive services in the hotel, so they need to recognize the importance of improving service quality and creating a team of professional talents. When building a team of professional talents, the hotel needs to establish a scientific recruitment system and select talents from multiple levels and perspectives; in order to attract and retain professional talents, a perfect salary system should be formulated to provide assistance and guarantee for the long-term development of talents; and strengthen the communication and exchange between employees by means of regular training, help employees improve their own professionalism and actively learn from the excellent hotel management experience. Form a sense of collectivization. 6.4. Improve infrastructure and introduce low- carbon emission reduction technology Under the perspective of low-carbon tourism, low-carbon development has become the main direction of urban tourism hotel management. Under this trend, urban tourism hotels should accelerate the improvement of infrastructure and actively introduce low-carbon emission reduction technologies. On the one hand, the existing infrastructure of the hotel should be verified, high pollution and high emission facilities should be eliminated, and facilities and equipment that meet the requirements of low-carbon development should be updated in a timely manner. Select equipment and products with ecological and environmental protection standards, non- renewable and hard-to-degrade resources should be used as little as possible, such as the most common consumables in hotels should be prioritized to purchase green and environmentally friendly items. On the other hand, the active application of clean energy, renewable energy, the application of energy-saving and emission reduction technologies to improve resource utilization and reduce the impact of environmental pollution. 6.5. Research and development of low-carbon environmental protection products, advocate low-carbon consumption Actively join the low-carbon consumption team is not only a noble behavior, but also highly consistent with the requirements of modern civilization. Low-carbon environmental protection products and low-carbon 223 environmental protection services are important carriers for hotels to carry out low-carbon management, and if hotels do not have corresponding low-carbon products and services, there is no way to talk about low-carbon management in hotels. For example, launching low-carbon and environmentally friendly catering, using organic, local and seasonal ingredients, confirming with tourists in advance the demand for dishes and the volume of dishes to avoid waste; providing electric vehicles or bicycle services to reduce the hotel's carbon emissions; adopting digital technology to reduce printing and stationery use to avoid paper waste, etc. 6.6. Expand low-carbon marketing to improve the literacy of all people In the process of practicing low-carbon concept in hotels, tourists also play an important role. If tourists do not cooperate with the low-carbon management of hotels, or if tourists lack the awareness of low-carbon tourism, it will hinder the effective development of low-carbon management in hotels, so hotels should expand low-carbon marketing and publicity through reasonable promotion methods to help tourists realize the unity of low-carbon environmental awareness and behavior. For example, I. with the help of the Internet, radio, newspapers and other channels to promote the benefits of low-carbon tourism to the majority of tourists, encourage and advocate low-carbon tourism; II. in the hotel lobby, public activity venues, guest rooms and other places to set up low-carbon consumption slogans and warning signs, and constantly strengthen the low-carbon awareness of tourists; III. tourists who can actively cooperate with low- carbon consumption and low-carbon tourism can be given certain concessions to strengthen their low-carbon behavior. 7. Conclusion Low-carbon tourism not only meets the requirements of sustainable development, but also is an important means to alleviate the contradiction between economy and environment, and is also a trend guide for the development of urban tourism hotels. 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