Circular Economy: A Paradigm to Critically Rethink Sustainability in Tourism and Hospitality

The Circular Economy is at the centre of a growing debate and legislative initiatives both within Europe and globally. In 2015, the European Commission adopted the Circular Economy Action Plan as a policy to accelerate Europe’s transition towards a Circular Economy. The United Nations identified the Circular Economy Action Plan as a best practice to prompt the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It is striking, therefore, that despite the increasing interest in the circularity paradigm, academics and professionals in the tourism and hospitality sector seem only partially involved in the discussion. As a consequence, the implications of the Circular Economy for tourism and hospitality have remained largely unexplored and under theorised. This book chapter aims to fill this gap by shedding light on how the circularity paradigm allows a rethinking of sustainability and its implementation, planning and management in the tourism and hospitality sector. In so doing, it reviews and discusses the characteristics, potentialities and challenges of the Circular Economy and the ‘circularity’ paradigm’ in light of the current theorisations on sustainability and explores the implications of circularity in a service-oriented sector like tourism and hospitality.